exactly. leeds can only spend the cap.not so much as the stands getting in the way as being complacent and taking your eye off the ball.

I think the ruthless streak has been missing recently. There are a few too many average players, but that is also the state of SL in general.

To my mind the new stands have been a distraction from matters in the field for GH, and rightly so. The new stands are about the long term stability of the club, and I think that it's come at a cost of short or medium term quality on the pitch.

whilst the stands are important to take your eye of what is your main source of income is stupid.
sorry but I don't agree. it's not hard to put aside a few hours a week to look at the playing side. there are more than enough staff.
complacency has set in I'm afraid to say

I doubt he's taken his eye off it but I think it's been more a cautious approach than complacent. Do you really think he wouldn't rather sign a bigger name than a Moore, Ormondroyd, Yates etc? When you don't know exactly how much these new stands are going to cost then it's hard to plan financially and spend a big transfer fee or tie someone up on a big long contract. Could he have splashed more cash to improve the squad in the last few years, yes, but at what risk that spending of money?

When your Chairman is also Chairman of one of the biggest UK construction companies I would say Leeds are in an almost unique position to know fairly accurately what all permutations of stands will cost. You're clutching at straws.

I thought the majority of funding was coming from outside investors, based on the pfi racket of financing. Still think as discussed before ,both caddick and Gary will sell up when everything is completed.

Which permutation do you budget for? Back in 2013/14/15 did we know Emerald Group was going to be paying for naming rights? Did we know about the London based firm behind it and renting it to LCC?

but that's what Caddick has specialists for. he'll do this all the time.
could GH not put 1/2 a day a week into team affairs/ recruitment?

Toovey leaving Bulls at season end, just saying.

It's basic business planning. Caddick will be dealing with far more complicated projects than Headingley.

Off to Gold Coast is the rumour.

looks that way. not using this as a slate mcd post but, would have liked him here.

It's not a time thing though. It's the not knowing for certain the costs until it was finally sealed.

What would've happened with the cricket side and their financial input if things hadn't have been sorted out in time for them to have World Cup games in 2019? Also let's not forget last year we were hoping to raise money by selling those two plots of land in Tingley and Weetwood.-

so you're saying there wasn't 5/6 hours a week to concentrate on team matters? on retainment and recruitment

No I'm not saying that at all, again it wasn't a time issue it was the uncertainty of the cost of building two new stands.

I see your point but I disagree sorry. caddicks been doing this year's.he does costing. he would have known roughly the cost and time scale.
the clubs got lazy with success and it needs a kick up the backside, starting with a different coach.this side is desperate for new young blood, especially in the pack

Wakefield have about the smallest budget in SL, have not known where they were playing, whether Belle Vue or Timbuktu, if they would even exist at all, yet they have put together a squad fourth in SL who embarrassed you last week.

Firstly, it's not like he's not been signing players or doing any work on the day to day running. There have been plenty of new faces over the last 2 years. However I would say the new stands have taken up a proportion of time which distracts from the day running day running of the club.

Most of our signings recently have either been make do level signings, or people right time right place like segyaro and ferres.

Secondly, finance is obviously an issue. Where a fee could have been paid in the past, splashing out six figure sums for players is not an option when you have new stands to pay for. Though I don't see this as an excuse for not spending full cap, though I wouldn't be surprised if we kept two or three hundred grand free to go in the stand kitty and hour no one notices

I think the short term transition could be worth it to provide stability for the club long term, however, if we mess it up badly there could be no fans left for when the stands are completed

I'm not saying they wouldn't have a rough idea, but a rough idea can end up sliding one way or the other if you're not cautious and careful. Just one line when announcement was made....

"Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington confirmed £35m of the estimated cost - which has risen by £1m during the delay - will be met by a private financial services company"

So just in delays alone it cost money and we aren't Man City or Chelsea with money to burn.

"Rhinos will fund the remaining £5m and Hetherington said that can be achieved without the club having to go into debt.

“We have made a profit for each of the last 14 years,” he said.

“We reinvest whatever surpluses we generate back into the business. The South Stand has always been something that had to be delivered and ultimately the north stand as well.


“We have built up reserves of £5m with the full intention of investing that into new facilities.”


You don't build up £5m easily in a sport that isn't exactly cash rich at the moment without being a bit safe and chucking as much as you can at players.

Are Wakefield investing the kind of money we are on two new stands? What does the future hold for Wakefield? Uncertain as usual off the field, the exact opposite of what Leeds will be after the completion of these stands.

you can't throw money at players. it's a salary capped sport. and if players leave like burrow and McGuire or are released like Delaney or JJB then you aren't spending at all. you simply replace them. to say they can't afford it is simply nonsense

Might be a salary cap sport but you can still throw money about. And it's not a case of not being able to afford it, it's a case of whether you want to spend that money on players or other areas of the club, such as the new stands.

People have questioned how we can be spending up to the SC with the difference in squad we have to several years/a decade ago but quite frankly I don't think we are.

we can't be. and two top players are going with one coming in.if leeds can't spend the cap, stands or no stands, something is wrong somewhere and nothing will convince me otherwise. always has to the cheap option and it's catching up squad wise

The board will discuss all major capex projects every month when they meet, then likely one individual will be a task leader on a particular project like the renovation of the ground. This will almost certainly be the board member with the most knowledge and experience in this area, which would be Paul Caddick. He will employ a contractor (perhaps his own company) to develop the project and report back to him. The reality is that from an early stage there will be a budget developed and then as the project design is moved on decisions will be made that either maintain the budget or expand it. This is how major infrastructure works, and anything else is either rank amateur or fabrication.

There will have been plenty of time and resources for the rugby side of the business, any lack of development there is down to lack of effort or deliberate underspend, most likely the latter to provide funds for the renovation project. I'd guess the current squad is at least £250k under the cap.

Which you can get away with when the squad just needs tinkering with.

You can't get away with that when the squad genuinely needs investment, which is rapidly turning into urgent investment with another 2 club legends retiring and other squad members creaking at the seams.

Bottom line is the problems we had last year, albeit in a lesser capacity this year are still glaring obvious this year and amplified further next year. The squad has been given a chance to rectify last years debacle and for the most part they have, but it's still crying out for a leader and crying out for solid investment (which hopefully has started with Myler)