Quote: Trojan Horse "I totally understand there will be some shortfall but it’s imperative if we do end up in the championship but we will still have the biggest following, likely biggest sponsor deals and the new facilities along with the Wakefield afc income.
I’m not saying for one moment we will be running at 1.3/1.4 mill salary cap approx like we are now. But I reckon we could put together a good 800/900k full time squad. I would hope we go with mostly some young lads or early 20s with some experienced championship players.
How much do teams get now for winning the championship? Just wondering how much it’s worth to invest and push for it? Honestly though Leigh did it right when they got relegated and invested to top the championship and came back in better shape. We need to do the same but with a bit less extravagant spend.
I was thinking this morning though. I’m not sure Apelgarth is the one to take charge of that. I think if we could get a more experienced coach in I’d consider he drop down to assistant for a couple of years to continue learning his craft. If not maybe a strong director of rugby needs to come in.
The more I think about it I think Lingard may have been one of the best available. What he’s achieved on shoe string is impressive.'"
You're a bit off with the cap spend for this year. We were at 1.72m before all the loan signings and Gale joining so closer to 1.8m now. That goes to show how difficult it will be to put a competive side full time squad together without external investment. Our sponsors may well stay with us but it all about exposure and getting value for money. Only the larger companies will likely stick at anything approaching this seasons remuneration levels smaller companies just won't have the justification to pay top level rates for a second tier product, especially given many are stuggling compared to where they were a short while back thanks to a massive increase in interest rates, fuel & energy costs etc and following on from the pandemic. Obviously we will lose the more valuable central super league sponsorship deals for the lesser value championship ones.
As things stand there is still no tv deal in place for either division next year so planning is difficult and most within the game expect at best the same level of deal that there is now if not a slight decrease. Championship clubs currently receive 200k central funding a year from broadcast and sponsorship rights. Thats it. And prize money isn't fantastic in super league so it isn't going to be great the lower down the pyramid you go. We will have bills to pay and a stand that down the line will be a valuable assett but will be a slow burner to get it up to full capacity. We just aren't going to be swimming in money and being able to put together a top of the table side is far from a given.