Quote rugbyball="rugbyball"You are right clan there is much to be admired in you franchise application, however you have to remember that most of it was underpinned by poor finances, Your club went bust achieving many of these things! And the only reason you are turning a porfit at the min is due to your poor first team and the fact that you have so many youngsters in there (low wages)! who knows it may turn out to be a good business model and a trick missed by the RFL.
As for Oakwell it could have spelt the end of a Wakefield club with Newmarket in the balance, granted Newmarket gets passed no worries, but should newmarket not get passed then The wakefield club would have been sold down the river for a few years in Super league!
The fact is your club were finding it difficult to pay the bills whilst in there own ground in there own city, so logic would dictate that moving into someone elses ground incuring the costs that go with that would have been a difficult business plan to sell!'"
Don't get carried away with the idea of sustainable business plans and book balancing within SL clubs.
While I won't stand up and defend the old owners I can tell you that their business plan was closer to being balanced than just about every other club in the SL. Income was outbalanced by expenditure to the tune of about £200k per season which is almost exemplary when compared to the negative balance sheets of other clubs. Only philanthropy and sugar daddy donations make those clubs sustainable yet many of those associated with clubs like that feel justified in villyfying Wakefield.
Wakefield are now profitable and while I agree that the salary reduction has helped there's also increased revenue streams right across the board. Those revenue streams are fuelled in no small part by a 16% increase in attendances which is pretty amazing when you consider the gloomy climate and dark clouds that have hung over Belle Vue since November last year.
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