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Author Topic: Pitbull 18th May  (Read 548 times)

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deadlyfrom5yardsout

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Pitbull 18th May
« on: Monday 18-May-2020, 10:22* »

 
Lord Myners’ salary-cap report is significant for what it says about the importance of the cap in Premiership Rugby’s inherent struggle for stability. Professional rugby must take a long look at it, and its surrounding context, and make sure that business practices, based on specious thinking, do not again lead it to the brink of ruin.
All Lord Myners’ words must be prefaced by one, very sobering, fact – the annual turnovers of the whole Premiership and Everton FC are roughly equal. Rugby enjoys public exposure on three TV platforms and in every facet of print and digital media, but its top echelon is the size of one Premier League club.
From its inception, the difficulty of professional rugby balancing its books was apparent. A report by Deloitte and Touche LLP, in October 1998, made it clear that reducing “unsustainable player payrolls” was as critical to club survival as increasing revenues. The consultants also called addressing the player wage bill “the most immediate task”. In fairness to some Premiership clubs, they did get to grips with this issue to the point that, by 2005, almost half of them were profitable or close to it. What happened thereafter illustrates the thought pattern that must change.
Near solvency did not lead to consolidation and a goal of breaking-even or profit; it led most clubs to begin spending more on player wages. Though not proven, it is widely accepted that in the 2006-07 season a substantial proportion of clubs were breaching the salary cap. It is no coincidence that the cap was almost doubled the following season and, by 2012, cumulative losses among clubs who filed accounts were £21 million on revenues of £117 m.
Further increases in the cap and alterations such as expanding the marquee player allowance simply gave the green light to spend more. In 2018, with a lucrative new television deal signed with BT, revenues soared to £210 m, but losses also rose to £40 m. The salary cap was, and this report confirmed still is, accepted as necessary to maintain competitiveness between Premiership clubs and to help regulate player wage costs. Lord Myners’ report identifies the point at which its authority was fatally undermined. Some of us knew this at the time, but too few rugby journalists appeared to want to investigate and report on it and some seemed indifferent, either not understanding the significance or not caring about it.
 
The secret deal done by the then chief executive of the Premiership, Mark McCafferty, in relation to salary-cap breaches by Saracens and Bath in 2015 was completely outside the regulatory framework, undermining its meaning and authority. Thence forward, some clubs believed they could push the salary-cap boundaries without fear of the agreed sanctions, contained in the regulations, being visited upon them, even if they got caught.
Had disciplinary proceedings been allowed to be brought and a proper example made of the clubs involved, a lot of what subsequently happened might have been avoided.
Perhaps something as drastic as Saracens’ fall from grace had to happen to make plain how important the salary cap is. Maybe something as awful as the Covid-19 pandemic has been needed to make professional rugby understand that though glamour and popularity have been gained widely in the media, the economic imperative of solvency was always more important and henceforth must come first.
 
Lord Myners makes it clear that his recommendations – set out below, are not a menu from which to pick and choose and the Premiership should adopt them in full and quickly.
1. Greater flexibility for a disciplinary panel in relation to the range, and severity, of salary cap sanctions to ensure “the punishment fits the crime”. In addition to fines and points deduction, the PRL needs to find a way of securing sanctions currently only available to the RFU, such as suspensions and the removal of titles.
2. The promotion of greater transparency, which will broaden and deepen visibility and scrutiny.
3. Greater accountability for the board and the executives of the constituent clubs of Premiership Rugby Ltd.
4. Greater accountability for the players and their agents.
5. Increased reporting obligations on clubs. Stronger investigatory powers vested in the salary cap manager function and increased resource to perform this function.
6. Making the regulations easier for clubs to understand, and for PRL to administer.
Critics of the cap must remember that, without it, the natural temptation to simply convert increased revenue into increased, and unsustainable, player wages will be left unchecked. Ultimately this plays into the hand of the few richest clubs. Since it started over 25 years ago, eight of the 21 clubs who have competed in the Premiership have won the title; only six of the 49 football clubs who have vied for the Premier League title since it began in 1992 have done so.

raedarius

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Re: Pitbull 18th May
« Reply #1 on: Monday 18-May-2020, 11:45* »
Thought this was going to be about his offer to have a boxing match with Arron banks.
Funny Funny x 1 View List

 

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