Players asked to take pay cuts!

[Coops]

Saints added to the list of clubs managing to do this without bringing the club down and embarrassing the supporters.

What club has done that, because if you inferring it’s Tigers any embarrassment has been caused by posters on here random guesswork, poor journalism and someone, my guess would be a player, leaking confidential information

Quite right Mark62

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Saints added to the list of clubs managing to do this without bringing the club down and embarrassing the supporters.

What club has done that, because if you inferring it’s Tigers any embarrassment has been caused by posters on here random guesswork, poor journalism and someone, my guess would be a player, leaking confidential information

Quite right Mark62

Or their agent who also looses out.

[speedski]

Saints added to the list of clubs managing to do this without bringing the club down and embarrassing the supporters.

What club has done that, because if you inferring it’s Tigers any embarrassment has been caused by posters on here random guesswork, poor journalism and someone, my guess would be a player, leaking confidential information

If you can't keep control of your troops there's a problem. You can blame external parties all you like, but when other clubs of great stature and history do this without it going public its clear there are problems in your processes.

[Mark62]

Saints added to the list of clubs managing to do this without bringing the club down and embarrassing the supporters.

What club has done that, because if you inferring it’s Tigers any embarrassment has been caused by posters on here random guesswork, poor journalism and someone, my guess would be a player, leaking confidential information

If you can't keep control of your troops there's a problem. You can blame external parties all you like, but when other clubs of great stature and history do this without it going public its clear there are problems in your processes.

That’s fine but it doesn’t answer the question why has it been embarrassing for the supporters. Annoying that dirty laundry has been washed in public, but embarrassing I’m not so sure.
I know the analogy has been used before but comparisons with Manchester United are imo valid. No matter what our fortunes on the pitch, we are still the biggest club, not region, in the uk, and therefore the biggest stories will be surrounding us.

[speedski]

What club has done that, because if you inferring it’s Tigers any embarrassment has been caused by posters on here random guesswork, poor journalism and someone, my guess would be a player, leaking confidential information

If you can't keep control of your troops there's a problem. You can blame external parties all you like, but when other clubs of great stature and history do this without it going public its clear there are problems in your processes.

That’s fine but it doesn’t answer the question why has it been embarrassing for the supporters. Annoying that dirty laundry has been washed in public, but embarrassing I’m not so sure.
I know the analogy has been used before but comparisons with Manchester United are imo valid. No matter what our fortunes on the pitch, we are still the biggest club, not region, in the uk, and therefore the biggest stories will be surrounding us.

Embarrassing for supporters who, through thick and thin lately have been backing the club, who have donated the takings to get the job done and the team back to playing well (not necessarily winning) on the pitch. We all back the club to the hilt - but its rough to see other clubs navigate the good and the bad times with much less publication of internal function and division.

At the end of the day sure the history is epic, the size large, but its very hard to argue we have not be the most dysfunctional club in terms of team unity and business direction for quite some time - save Saffies of course.

[Duncan B]

Chris Foy has just tweeted that Manu and the club have not reached an agreement.

[Ian Cant]

Genge, Ford, Lavanini, Taute all staying according to Radio Leicester’s Rugby Club which was on tonight. Taute spoke superbly well and as these 4 played very well up to Lockdown it’s great news.
I hope Tuilagi stays but on the other hand how many times does he turn out for us? We get him fit for England then he often doesn’t come back to play much for us. As a top salary earner he could be one player who we wouldn’t miss! Sorry Manu, I’d hate to see you go but the club’s survival is more important than paying some players much more than others!
Other clubs seem to be offering slightly longer contracts(3 years) on a reduced salary. When many poor people are already losing their jobs then having a contract to negotiate is a luxury in itself.
I think that now we will know who really does want to play for us and like Saints, we could have a more settled squad for the next 2 seasons by developing and playing our youngsters like Heyes, Lewis, Reffel, Kerr, Olowofela etc who have a lot of talent.
Hopefully Tigers will, through this situation, get the players who really do take pride in wearing the shirt. Maybe some players should look at the examples set by Matt Smith and Sam Harrison: neither of them high earners but true Tiger Legends.

[sapajo]

Chris Foy has just tweeted that Manu and the club have not reached an agreement.

Presumably the club and/or the players agents have leaked this info???

[Jimmy Skitz]

if you are blindly backing the club over the players do you think Peter Tom would impose mandatory pay rises if the clubs finances went hugely up despite them having signed contracts?

It has always sounded to me that the players main problem is the way the club handled the situation which is fair enough IMO, you cannot have an "its my way or the highway" attitude in professional sport

[Tiglon]

if you are blindly backing the club over the players do you think Peter Tom would impose mandatory pay rises if the clubs finances went hugely up despite them having signed contracts?

It has always sounded to me that the players main problem is the way the club handled the situation which is fair enough IMO, you cannot have an "its my way or the highway" attitude in professional sport

When times are good it's the responsibility of the employee to fight for a bigger piece of the pie (which players and their agents do) and when times are bad it's the responsibility of the club to push to reduce payroll costs.

There are no heroes or villains in this, we don't need to try to make it into a pantomime. It's just a very difficult situation in which everyone is (quite rightly) looking after their own interests.

[johnthegriff]

It is clear that professional rugby has been overspending on wages. The wealthy French clubs have been paying silly money to some, Saracens breached the salary cap to compete, when they were caught out in 2015 the cap was raised to make it unnecessary for them to cheat and to allow them and clubs losing players to England to pay for decent back-up players. Agents immediately demanded more for existing players and a bigger share of the pot that did not really exist in terms of income. This pandemic has created a situation now that was going to happen sometime if more money did not come into the game.
Tiglon is right everybody has to look after their own interest, sometimes that interest includes the interest of their fellow workers, wages go onto the cost of a product, if costs are too high the product cannot be sold and there is then no jobs. A balance has to be found. I believe Tigers in the past have been guilty of paying too much to some players which has had the affect of reducing the quality of the supporting cast and team spirit. If you were part of a team playing 31 games a season would you be happy to be on just 20% of the wage of someone playing just half that number no matter how good they were.
The cap is there for a purpose, I believe that Tigers with recent changes to policy are on the right track, the new cap is what it is, it maybe that some clubs will attempt to find ways round it, but for our game to survive it must be affordable in the long term.

[mightymouse]

Saracens gross breach of Salary artificially drove the wage inflation. The authorities failure to deal with it for years drove many on the clubs close to breaking point. Covid pushed them over the edge. The re balancing that has been required to put the books straight is painful but necessary.
Many of us supporters have sacrificed The Season ticket money in the cause. Many of the players have sacrificed salary Reductions .. I would like to thank each and every one of them.
For those who cannot accept this in spite of being the highest paid in some cases then they must be allowed to leave. Those who the club have stood by through thick and thin, through one injury disaster after another, through one reckless play ban after another, through one international call up after another, then I think should be shown the door! Someone who has been paid extraordinary amounts of money and given very little back, season after season, and then will not accept these terms in these exceptional circumstances, I’m sorry but I do not think they are the kind of player I would want in my squad if I were in charge of a new look Tigers! I don’t don’t give a damn how good they are, on the odd occasion they play!

[sapajo]

Do you refer to a player that had the temerity to post a video to supporters stating " you are either with us or against us"? I wonder which camp he is in now?

[jgriffin]

Ian Cant, Genge's contract is a 3 year extension as you note other clubs are using, plus the chance to recoup wages as the club recovers. Seems pretty much in line with the Sale-type contracts.

[Mark62]

Bit more perspective, but from a different sport, Wigan Athletic have been placed into administration, buyer urgently sought.

This pandemic is affecting everyone