Castro insists he still wants to remain a Leicester Tiger

[johns]

Some better news today in the Mercury link here http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/s ... ticle.html

To the board get him signed we do not give one jot for the salary cap.

[salcombe bob]

I am sure he wants to stay but the lure of enough money to secure his future life must be so tempting. Very difficult decision for him, and presumably no real complications like children's education etc??

[norfolkexpat]

Unfortunately , the State Education system in France is one million times better than ours---unless he sends any offspring privately to Oakham or Uppingham !!

[voice of the crumbie]

The real problem in all of this is, if we do agree a new deal with Castro (which I hope we do) the precedent it sets for other players of equal value / talent in their own positions of which there are quite a few at Tigers. Croft, Cole, Flood, Youngs for starters.

Within the confines of the salary cap (which like or not is a reality at the moment) it is financially prudent and necessary for the club to have a limit beyond which they cannot afford to go for a single player.

Many on this forum have lamented our lack of depth of cover in certain key positions and this will only be exacerbated further if we pay our top players more and more. Our squad size has been reducing year on year for the past few seasons and this will continue unless we can find players who are prepared to come to the club to further their careers or experience a level of Rugby they don't get at their current club e.g. Geoff Parling, Ben Woods.

The alternative is to use more A League / Academy players. However doing this will more than likely lead to us having to accept a few uncharacteristic / unexpected results whilst these players are adjusting to a step up in intensity.

For me there are 2 longer term alternatives. Junk the salary cap or if this is not possible join a league where there isn't one e.g. Magners.

[POSTIGER]

To me it reads more like 'I don't really want to go but I probably will because I'd be a bit daft not too'. I think this is very much an attempt at softening the blow by both club and player.

Oh, and well said JG, some of us work very hard to provide a very good state education!

[ljbuk63]

The Salary cap is going to be a big issue. Props as a postion is the highest paid players in any squad, surprisingly a lot higher than flyhalves, (good props are worth there weight in gold and are hard to come by, plus the added inherent risks), i am not sure how we are going to be able to afford to keep three of the bast in the world on our books and keep it under the salary cap. If we did sign Castro I could see us losing Cole, because now he is an established international he is gonna want big bucks...

[el trombono]

Unfortunately , the State Education system in France is one million times better than ours---unless he sends any offspring privately to Oakham or Uppingham !!

Some of us, state education teachers and the like, would rather you kept your personal political opinions off this forum.

I read norfolkexpat's contribution - perhaps wrongly - as being ironic. At least I hope it was. Certainly some of those coming off the Oakham and Uppingham education conveyor belts are not necessarily a shining advert for "elite" education. At least not all of those who I have met personally and professionally, although some are clearly very bright.

I am minded of the observation that public schoolboys can often be compared to the "cream of society". Thick and with a tendency to float to the top.

[salcombe bob]

I did not mean to start an educational debate, it is just that often families will compare what the UK can offer by way of NHS etc against the money abroad. However, he is Italian so perhaps that doesn't come into it!!

[kornboy130]

Unfortunately , the State Education system in France is one million times better than ours---unless he sends any offspring privately to Oakham or Uppingham !!

I'd imagine on £200k + a year it'd be easy enough to put your kids through private education and private health care? but then that is expendature possibly not required elsewhere.

[Crumblies]

Can we keep our own personal agendas out of this thread.

The issue here is doing what needs to be done to keep not only one of our best players for we have ever had, but also our most charassmatic, and therefore a major crowd puller/pleaser.

The board need to ask themselves how much do they really value our position as one of the biggest clubs in the NH. Then act accordingly, we have a 24 000 stadium to fill on a regular basis. Supposedly they want us to be the Man Utd of rugby, the best club side in the world!

In my view they need to do whatever is necessary to keep Castro, there are other players who can be cut out of the salary cap (sorry but that is a fact of life which many others in other walks of life are facing at this time)

Then they need to address the issue of the salary cap. I've been saying it for some time on this forum now, it is hurting us and it needs to be changed, nobody is going to change it for us of their own volition when they have their own problems to deal with. If others simply will not recognise our position through rational sensible argument, then I'm afraid we need to take more drastic measures to bring them to an accommodation that is more in line with our requirements. whatever that happens to be, threatening to leave the AP, not releasing our EPS players etc.

The point here is that whilst Castro is Italian, he is a Tiger, his development into a top flight rugby player has been through years of investment by our club. Why should we just loose him now because we are hamstrung by an unfair salary cap compared to our competitors in the market place.

[tb1]

If we are as rumoured willing to offer Castro £250k, SF are offering £400k. After taxes, which I think are broadly similar across both countries, the difference might only be around half that so say £75k. Obviously its a lot of money but here Castro has great facilities that look after him and the opportunity to play in the HEC against the best teams in Europe, not the Amlin embarrassment against Bucharest. Add to that the fall in grace by both Ben Kayser and Julien, as well as the financial investigations surrounding SF and we may not be as far from a deal as we think.

[wolves tigger]

I would hate to see castro go to stade but look at who we have lost in the past to France . jullian depeee where is he now was brilliant for us here and the young hooker his name has gone but he went to stade as the next best thing for frances hooker situation where is he now .
I know we dont want to loose castro but life goes on and the wage cap sucks and i think that when our teams play in the h/c and win this shows that we have some great home grown tallent out there .
But when they get greedy and want away goode , fluety , sackey , haskell , etc not many go from strength to strength , only J/W done ok .

[Waggy]

To be brutally honest this is a no win situ. Can we afford to have two world class international props at tight head.Who we lose for the majority of the season to italy and england. And pay the guys at the top end of our budget !! Big question ?? My bet is he will go, and has good has Castro his, he will be replaced. Afterall Coley is not that bad is he . The salary cap is not getting increased so Tigers have a limited amount of funds they can pay, Simple as. Just my opinions

[SPIKE@srufc]

Sadly I think Castro will go. Let's face it £400K to £250K, which of us wouldn't as much as we love this club; that is one hell of a pile of fivers. Especially, as the window for opportunity is short in the game as it is now.

However, as others have mentioned if he goes (and I hope he doesn't) he will be replaced. My dad, a wise man (relevant at this time of year, isn't it?) once told me if I wanted to know how much I'd be missed by my employer at the time, I should stick my hand in a bucket of water, take it out and look at the size of the hole it left..............he was right.

I hope he stays, I doubt he will, however whoever replaces him will step up and be the "new king".