Joke Fail




Believe me, it wasn't an easy transition for me either.....of all the Union clubs to pick

The South African cricketer and fieldsman [iextraordinaire[/i Gus McKay delivered the news of London's relocation to Barnet on the BBC. Does that mean that he remains CEO for 2014?

Yep.
He is the only back office staff member with all administrative and marketing duties taken over by the team at the Hive in return for a fee and a share of the gate revenue and ALL the bar and food revenue.
The move protects nothing about top flight RL in the capital, but does give him a chance to brush up his CV,

Gutterfax's last posting could be written about so many RL clubs.

Maybe one day someone will bite the bullet and say enough is enough.

If that means the end of sacred clubs then so be it.

RL is touted as a business, so deal with it as a business and make the decisions that need to be made.

If some clubs disappeared I don't think many would be at the wake as things stand at the moment.

Gutters, or anyone else for that matter - A few genuine questions here, given the situation the club are in at the moment do you think moving to Barnet is a good move? Either as a stop gap or as a firm relocation to build from?

If a place to build from do you think they'd be better off renaming themselves after the local area? Barnet Broncos? Rather than as London?

The Stoop was costing £200k a year (in the 2012 report I have been shown). This cost represents 9% of the loss made by the club that year (£2,200,000) and when you take into account that ticket sales and ST revenue generated £323,000, then it is hard to fathom exactly why the move has happened? Administration costs of £630,000





is where I would have swung the ace but as the CEO is part of the admin cost, he was hardly going to sack himself.

What they Club have done is remove nearly 100% of their overheads using the threat of administration and bullying tactics against staff members, some of whom are still owed money and have had to borrow to make ends meet. The new agreement with TK and the Hive is based purely on the Club paying a fee to The Hive to carry out the marketing and administration for the club with ticket revenue also going to the Hive, as well as bars and food takings.
The Club will be responsible for the Shop and other commercial revenue (sponsorship if any) and the Players and Coaches. This will be funded by the commercial revenues, SKY cash and David Hughes in 2014, at which stage, TK at the Hive will be able to see if there is any point in continuing with this agreement or cutting us loose.

This deal is NOT what was under negotiation for 7+ months. TK was supposed to be an investor, but in reality, we are paying him and he gets to try before he buys. The deal is not, IMHO good for the club in the long term and is only acceptable for 2014 because without it, we would be dead in the water.


TK and the Hive are a money making venture. Running a SL side from 2015,based on the revenue figures from 2012, would see him have an income of £2,200,000 per year from all areas including SKY money. David Hughes currently tops that up with £2,000,000 and we still finish at the ty end of the comp, so I can't see TK investing a bean, the club, if they survive 2014, will slowly whither and die and RL in the capital will disappear as a valid career path to thousands of youngsters.

The London Broncos, in there return season, sold less than 500 Season Tickets. For the venture to work and for TK to want to invest in the club, he will need to see crowds of 4k+ in 2013. A quick glance at the pricing for the footie shows an average ticket price of about £20 a pop.....£1,000,000 a year in ticket revenue for 13 games and then he might invest a little.
Given we have no latitude to sign extra foreigners and are now scraping the barrel in regards to 2014 recruitment 8 weeks out from season start, I see the prospect of watching a hammering 13 times at a new venue as not appealing to the faithful.

The Stoop era and essentially the club, was killed the day IL was told by the RFL to relinquish his interest in the club. He would never have let this happen and God only knows what he's make of the CEO that has done a very efficient hatchet job on the club



David Hughes cares little for the £14,000,000 or so he has "lost". He does not accept any form of criticism or critical advice, he employed and then stuck with Powell, he employed the Current CEO with little in the way of formal interviews or background checks, he stands toe to toe with the RFL on a number of issues and essentially treats the club as HIS hobby. Some fans will accept this and to be fair, he is a ing legend for propping the club up, but a 5yr old could tell you that it is not a business model that would deliver any sustainability.

So in order to get Mr K involved in 2015 the club needs,by the end of 2014,to be getting close to 4k or 5k gates with an average admittance price of £40 a month ,and Mr K ,Barnet fc and the Hive have been given the Task?

in a nutshell? Yep!

A big job on there hands,lets hope the locals buy into it

Just to clarify the long term prospects for the London Broncos thanks to the new deal:

1. No club with an average under 10,000 in SL is self sufficient. They ALL make losses.
2. TK (guy at barnet) we are reliably informed does not invest.....he expects his teams to pay their own way
3. The Hive is currently a 5,200 capacity stadium.
4. See points 1 & 3 then re-read point 2.

Feel free to use a calculator if necessary!

1 Super League clubs are gifted over £1 milion a year 'Sky' money.

2 Nobody FORCES directors of clubs to pay higher player salaries than they can afford.

Directors of clubs should IMO pay basic salaries they can afford under any scenario and then, on top, agree a schedule of player bonuses that increase in line with the home crowd they they play in front of. [A bit like the rental deal London Broncos has with Barnet FC.

Don't misunderstand me. I think RL players 'deserve' all the money they get and more (especially when you see what soccer players are paid).

But it stands to reason that directors can only afford to pay them more as crowds go up.

When the potential of relegation comes in under the 2x12, 3x8 structure, it will be up to club directors to decide if they want to try to 'speculate to accumulate' by paying higher salaries using their own money. If they fail and the club does get relegated (for which they have to be REALLY poor given the way the 2x12, 3x8 structure will work) another club will step up from the league below and see what they can do with the £1m+ Sky money each year (& the crowds they will then get).

There needs to be much clearer penalties for entities owning clubs suffering an insolvency event including points deduction for going into Administration and relegation to the bottom division for going bust.

THEN the Salary Cap nonsense can be scrapped. It costs a fortune in time, effort, avoidance activity and money to adminster. And it is serving no purpose. Apart the the game in this country shooting itself in the foot.

If an owner wants to boost his club (and the game here in general) using his own money to sign Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Shaun Johnson, Leigh Halfpenny or whoever, let them.

Sadly it would appear so.

I think the move is potentially a good one. Looking increasingly like another stop gap, though as the 'deal' is utter speculation, unless someone can point to real and public information on what it actually is?

As for a name any specific geographic name of an area within London could as equally limit the interest as a non specific name does. Problem is Barnet are currently based in Harrow! So which are we rebranding as?

They should NOT be in SL until they have at least capital of £3million per year to manage the club. This should be for all SL clubs.

How many clubs would be left in SL if that was applied?

Genuine question, I really do not know.

Capital is not the issue, it's [iincome[/i. If you start with £10m capital but make a trading loss of £2m every year you are just in the David Hughes situation, and basic arithmetic shows where that takes you. Clubs don't necessarily need to be highly profitable, but break-even , ideally a small surplus, is what most clubs aspire to.

As a London Crusaders fan, I wasn't happy at becoming a Bronco, I wasn't over-the-moon at being gifted a SL spot as it was clearly going to cause resentment, since then, apart from the one Wembley appearance and the WCC victory against Canberra, theres not been a lot to smile about.

Attendances have been allowed to dwindle back to not much more than in the Crusaders days and once again we are Nomads.

Maybe Barnet will be the answer, maybe it won't, I just don't know but after 22 years of following I'm just about ready to give up!

Ofcourse being allowed to stay in SL with a Stadia that just about holds 6k, is no doubt gonna cause' further resentment, Keighley, Fev', 'Haven immediately spring to mind (No promotion cause yer ground ain't big enough).

I'm sure there is resentment from some quarters, but I do think that for the majority of SL fans, if there is any bad feeling it's mostly disappointment. Disappointment that the club could not progress from a promising start. The whole ground thing for me is far less of an issue than the drop off in fans. If London where pulling in 5-7k I doubt many would talk about them at all.

Lets be fair, London never merged to escape relegation, never broke the cap, have not been in administration (although have sailed close to the wind), never lost a Franchise, never been relegated.

I do wish London well, but I want them to do well, not to have to be seen as unviable constantly moving, with no real base.

2005 was a "dallasesque" dream then was it

....we went under but then Ian Lenagan steps out of the shower and it was all a dream?

Londons problems as they stand are entirely of their own making. Yes, I would have preferred a centrally funded model for expansion but as that didn't happen, then quite simply, a business plan should have been put in place to grow the club. Instead, a megalomaniac owner has flushed millions after million of pounds down the drain and when the public had the cheek not to turn up when he announced KO times, has decided that this is his last year.

London, depending on relegation arrangements being confirmed in January, will be a championship club in 2015 or 2016 and have only themselves to blame.

All I can really think about that is "What a waste"

What I really mean though 'shadows, is London should have been left to "evolve". We had a club emerge outa the defunct carcass of Fulham RL. We gre from around 600 or so diehards from Fulham to around 1200 Crusaders (I know I was one of those noobs). Then we get 'bought' by Brisbane and suddenly Sky TV are demanding a 'London' club in the new Superleague.

You can't make Bread until you've properly prepared the dough, well ye' can, but it comes out crap!

Yay, they finally updated the website to essentially tell us there'll be an update in January!

Well like all RL clubs, I wish you the best financially and fanwise so long as you all finish one place behind us and one ahead of Wigan.

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