DaveO wrote:The successful Leeds side of the Sinfield era had one big thing going for it and that was a settled squad key players like him, Burrows and Mcquire there for a number of years.
Yet here we are at Wigan with rumours that an equally influential player may be leaving and one the coach has just handed the goal kicking duties to (an issue not addressed since Richards left until now) and we look to have a potent weapon we have missed the last couple of seasons. No sooner is he back from injury on form but the rumour is he is leaving! Wane must be tearing his hair out if there is anything in this.
As to this being a chance for one last big payday, Sam just turned 29 in March. He's not "old" and is clearly offerting the team a lot. He can't simply be replaced.
If the club does let him go and cites such a reason for letting him leave you have to ask for whose benefit is the club being run? The club and its fans or the players and their agents?
I always thought the idea was to assemble the best squad you could to entertain the fans and win things and not let a key player leave as soon as someone comes sniffing just because you want to do the player a favour.
The club should get this sorted and issue a statement given it's now basically official Les Cats view that they want him.
It's also interesting that a club like Les Cats think it is worth a punt at prising a key player away from Wigan whereas we never seem to go chasing other clubs contracted players.
I agree 100% too. Neither Escare nor Hardaker are replacements for Sam. Sam creates space for others, picks the right pass or kick mostly. Escare & Hardaker are users of space not creators of it. Sam is the only member of our current team that does it. Sad loss if he goes and raises yet more uncertainty about where we are heading. Spot on DaveO.
If the club are trying to negotiate a deal whereby Sam takes a substantial pay drop and Catalans are offering the same salary then big decisions have to be made by both Sam and the club.
Sam is our best player and crucial to the success of the club over the next few seasons. Although being Marquee has little impact on the salary cap it still has a tremendous influence on the balance sheet.
IL put in over £600k last account year and over the past few years has funded around £2m. That cannot go on. Crowds are diminishing and ways have to be found to make the club financially sustainable and not dependent on IL.
Savings have been made with FPN and MM leaving plus Tierney and a few juniors. Increments plus up grading Williams to Marquee style salary from 2018 will have taken an amount of money.
I do hope a deal can be negotiated which is acceptable to both parties. Sam left us before for the NRL. He went to NZW an NRL offshore outfit with a lousy culture.
He's surely not going to come back to SL then go off to another offshore outfit with a lousy culture?
I meant to add as we have an option in the clubs favour for another year it should take it up.
Sam agreed to this in his contract so should have no complaints about it being exercised and for once the club should exercise the option because doing so is good for the team, not the bank balance (as in they should not take it up with the motive to cash in by forcing Les Cats to pay a fee for him).
If IL has issues over his marquee wage and decides the club can't afford to keep paying it so weakens the team to help balance the books by letting him leave then that is a serious issue. It means Wigan can no longer afford a top team.
Wiganer Ted wrote:
IL put in over £600k last account year and over the past few years has funded around £2m. That cannot go on. Crowds are diminishing and ways have to be found to make the club financially sustainable and not dependent on IL.
Savings have been made with FPN and MM leaving plus Tierney and a few juniors. Increments plus up grading Williams to Marquee style salary from 2018 will have taken an amount of money.
Don't forget the Sky TV money covers all the basic salary cap wage now. Clubs/owners have to find less money now than they used to in order to fund a first team. In effect all the club/IL has to fund in terms of players wages is those of George and Sam's marquee wages and note even the first £75K or £100K (can't remember which) of each of their wages is from the Sky TV salary cap pot anyway.
The club certainly has other overheads with a large staff and junior players to pay who are not covered by the Sky money but if it's got to the stage where finance is dictating offering a player the club can't replace talentwise an uncompetitive wage the priorities are wrong.
Seems an odd move all round really the only real explination being that Sam has been told he has to take a pay cut on his next contract. He is already our Marquee player so i cant see him getting a "huge" pay increase offered by a club the size of catalan. They certainly dont look like winning things anytime soon, they are in the same league as us and it means uprooting his young family to another country
just doesnt seem to make any sense unless like i say theyve offered him substantially less to stay at Wigan.
Its strange how the tables have turned when george wasnt Marquee everyone wanted to swap him and Sam in that respect since Geore became the extra marquee i was hazard a guess that people would swap them back now if it was a case of boiling back down to one
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
If the club does let him go and cites such a reason for letting him leave you have to ask for whose benefit is the club being run? The club and its fans or the players and their agents?
I always thought the idea was to assemble the best squad you could to entertain the fans and win things and not let a key player leave as soon as someone comes sniffing just because you want to do the player a favour.
DaveO hits the nail on the head!
Odd that we would invest in Sam with little return over last couple of seasons and then, just as he is slotting back in, we get rid?[/quote]
DaveO wrote:The successful Leeds side of the Sinfield era had one big thing going for it and that was a settled squad key players like him, Burrows and Mcquire there for a number of years.
Yet here we are at Wigan with rumours that an equally influential player may be leaving and one the coach has just handed the goal kicking duties to (an issue not addressed since Richards left until now) and we look to have a potent weapon we have missed the last couple of seasons. No sooner is he back from injury on form but the rumour is he is leaving! Wane must be tearing his hair out if there is anything in this.
As to this being a chance for one last big payday, Sam just turned 29 in March. He's not "old" and is clearly offerting the team a lot. He can't simply be replaced.
If the club does let him go and cites such a reason for letting him leave you have to ask for whose benefit is the club being run? The club and its fans or the players and their agents?
I always thought the idea was to assemble the best squad you could to entertain the fans and win things and not let a key player leave as soon as someone comes sniffing just because you want to do the player a favour.
The club should get this sorted and issue a statement given it's now basically official Les Cats view that they want him.
It's also interesting that a club like Les Cats think it is worth a punt at prising a key player away from Wigan whereas we never seem to go chasing other clubs contracted players.
Totally agree with you there Dave
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
I'm with you Dave on this. Would the plan be to make one if he left?
Sometimes, with that comment, I wonder if Waney shares a brain with Boris Johnson?
When John Byrom plays on snow, he doesn't leave any footprints - Jimmy Armfield
