When's the enquiry into salary cap breach?

RFL are investigating us for salary cap breach, by all accounts it will be either a fine or points deduction. Lots of people werent even aware there was a salary cap in our division but there is and when Mr Hope was throwing money around it looks like we were breaking the rules so will have to take whats coming to us

THE RFL tribuneral into alleged salary cap breaches by the Panthers has been put back until Monday at 5.30pm.

Fine would be senseless. Can't afford wages so how can we afford a fine!?

Are points deductions applied in season now? Used to always be dealt with the following season.

Salary Cap is a live cap and is monitored thoughout the season. This being the case I would imagine that points could be deducted once a SC breech has been proven

Hearing has been put back till a week on Wednesday to give us more time to prepare legal case according to Radio Lancs Sport.

What times the hearing?

no idea, all we know is that it was moved to today, we'll probably hear by tonight or tomorrow morning most likely.

Hearing was at 4pm today, im am waiting on a phone call as to what has happened.

Taken from BBC Sport.

Blackpool Panthers have been deducted ten points after being found guilty of a number of breaches of Rugby Football League rules.

The Championship One side were found guilty of breaking registration and salary cap rules by an RFL tribunal.

The club have said they will not be appeal against the decision.

The deduction means Martin Crompton's side will have to fight for promotion this season, having dropped from third place to sixth.

quite severe, but with no accompanying financial punishment viable like the super league clubs would probably see i guess its probably fair.

still in the playoff hunt with the coach and players at the club so lets just hope the Blackpool Storm can find the early season form for the playoffs. at least, i assume, no further punishment can be handed out now? certainly won't be making any more questionable contracts or registrations before the end of the season.

wonder how much detail we'll get to hear. boots'n'all suggested it related to irregularities over 12 players.

and am i doing my sums wrong? all the reports suggest we're now sixth, but i make us 5th, ahead of worky on points difference...

We are certainly 5th with over 350 points on workington on points difference. Our remaining fixtures being, london home, gateshead away, hunslet home, and rochdale away, I can see us winning at least 3 of those matches, if not 4 as surely with the whole salary cap issue dealt with the players and coach can refocus and push for as strong a finish as possible, plus if we play to our potential there is no reason we can't win against hunslet, it will certainly be a close game, as for the other games we should win comfortably, although rochdale away could be a banana skin, and possibly the game to determine 3rd place.

4 points behind, 4 games to go, and a game more than york to play, 3rd imho is still going to be ours as we have the significantly easier run-in of the teams vying for 3rd, and then on to the playoffs.

I bet Bobby Hope didn't even know there was a salary cap! The man seemed utterly clueless about the club. Would imagine that he has been paying players off the cap or only a proportion have been going through the books.

Seems a reasonable penalty from the rfl- if the league was more even, then it would have had more of an effect though. Should at worst finish 5th or 6th which will give at least 1 maybe 2 home games, and got a couple of easy games coming up to refocus the team.

Find some of the comments on the totalrl fourms boards pretty pathetic. A few saying we should be fined- ok well how are we meant to pay the fine? We could pay it and go bankrupt, thus causing them to lose money as a home fixture for them disappears next year. A couple labelling us as cheats- well if that is aimed at B.H. then fair enough, but considering the fans have almost zero input into the club, then it is ridiculous to aim that at us. Quite ironic as well- haven't Oldham and Rochdale 'cheated' the tax man previously by going bankrupt? Think most of the fans knew that the 'Hope era' would end in tears.

To the_cow.

Oldham have never cheated the tax man - ever. Yes the Bears went bankrupt in 1997, and a new club reformed, and after much debate with the RFL a completly new club was set up in the lowest possible pro division i.e. Div 2 and originally not allowed in the Challenge Cup. The club had no assets, no ground, no players and no kit. Everything was a brand new club.
Contrast that to Widnes & Harlequins that have wound the club and reformed and allowed to stay in the division they went under.

Oldham had tax difficulties over the past few years, which is not suprising as we had been playing all over the place since 1997. However, we paid the tax man back WITH interest. So no cheating there.

We got caught because Hope was a flash harry who couldn't keep his trap shut about his money.

As the Cow has said, most of us who've been around a bit knew it would all end in tears, the only surprise was that it's taken quite so long.

To label the fans as cheats is hilarious, there really are some clueless clowns around

There's a good chance that if what's left of our squad can keep the effort levels up for the last four games, we'll probably finish 3rd or 4th anyway and be in virtually the same position as we would have been with the 10 points added on.

The biggest worry is our injury list, Leather, Ballard, Keavney, Anderson & Ratcliffe all out and with Haggerty gone to Widnes & Fairhurst to Rochdale the squad is looking very threadbare indeed. From those left who didn'ty play on Sunday I reckin we've just 3 playsers left who can come into the squad, Boland, Svabic and Miller. I'd expect at least 2 of those to get a run against Skolars.

It's good to see though that virtually all the other players have stayed on, despite the cuts in wages. I think that speaks volumes for MC and his standing in the eyes of the players.

The best thing we can do now is to prove em all wrong and go and win the playoffs