Leigh confirm Cunningham, Lovett and Mortimer exits

[josie andrews]

Leigh have confirmed Keiron Cunningham, Kyle Lovett and Daniel Mortimer have all left the club by mutual consent.

Cunningham, 41, joined the club as head of rugby a year ago after a short stint as coach of his hometown club St Helens.

On the departure of Cunningham, Leigh owner Derek Beaumont said: “I would like to thank Keiron for his time at the club.

“He has been very loyal to me and was devastated by the shortcomings of the squad. He has received a lot of criticism about the recruitment but that was done collectively with Neil Jukes and myself and the players have shown they were good enough at times, in particular against Wigan and Saints in pre-season and then Salford in the Challenge Cup.

“He feels very much for me and the position this has left the club in and realises that it can’t survive unless the contracts it’s obligated to are removed.

“To that end he has terminated his contract with immediate effect having worked hard in the transfer week to find other clubs for some of the higher earners.”

Mortimer, 29, moved to England in the closing stages of last season from Cronulla Sharks. He scored nine tries in 19 games for the Centurions.

While Lovett, 25, joined Leigh from Wests Tigers in the off-season after making 50 appearances in the NRL. He played 10 times for the Centurions, scoring four tries.

On the exits of the Australian pair, Beaumont added: “I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Daniel Mortimer and Kyle Lovett who have also accepted some responsibility and terminated their contracts in the best interests of the club going forward to return home with no short-term future.

“I would also like to thank Peter Mata’utia, Harrison Hansen, Bodene Thompson, Jordan Thompson, Ben Crooks and Craig Hall for their time at the club and for agreeing to move to other clubs, terminating deals that went beyond this year and making personal sacrifices in the best interests of the club.

“I wish all of them well and hope Keiron can return to the game in the near future as I believe he has a lot to offer it and the sport can’t afford to lose its former stars.”

https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/le ... mer-exits/

[DaveO]

So, Leigh in a financial mess then.

Just reinforces my view the sport can't support more than 12 to 14 full time teams.

[Caboosegg]

So, Leigh in a financial mess then.

Just reinforces my view the sport can't support more than 12 to 14 full time teams.

If you read up leigh spent alot trying to get back into superleague this has all happened because the failed and need to get the costs from 1.6 mill to 1.2 mill

[fozzieskem]

Don’t think it’s really about them being full time,Derek gambled and lost it seems to me..I wonder if he will stay on in the end?

[josie andrews]

A STATEMENT FROM CLUB OWNER DEREK BEAUMONT

https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/blog/2018/08/1 ... -beaumont/

[DaveO]

So, Leigh in a financial mess then.

Just reinforces my view the sport can't support more than 12 to 14 full time teams.

If you read up leigh spent alot trying to get back into superleague this has all happened because the failed and need to get the costs from 1.6 mill to 1.2 mill

And this will happen again and again. It is what happens when you attempt to have P&R between two leagues so far away financially.

Leigh have not just got rid of players here but coaching staff as well. Championship RL is a semi-pro business. Get relegated or fail to get promoted having forked out the cash in the attempt to attract the calibre of staff and player to be a SL side and this is what happens.

Today people are out of jobs. It isn't just about the sporting side of it.

[DaveO]

Don’t think it’s really about them being full time,Derek gambled and lost it seems to me..I wonder if he will stay on in the end?

He is having to take them part time for the club to survive so I think it is most definitely a full-time v part time issue.

If you read the statement they got a £500K parachute payment when relegated that was only allowed to be spent on players wages in an attempt to get back into SL. They still lost £500K funding due to relegation anyway.

Then by failing to make the four, they lose even more funding as ther parachute payment goes and so players and coaches are losing their jobs. As he said it's not realistic to try and offer players one year deals while the parachute payment applies. Players who are professional players will quite understandably want a job and contract terms that last for longer than 12 months and you won't get enough (if any) decent players signing on those terms.

I think the problems at Leigh show the only teams who stand a chance of promotion and not going bust of they get relegated again are those like Toronto who have a millionaire backer and that assumes if they suffered the same fate as Leigh playing-wise, he would be happy to pump in £1m of his own money to compensate for the loss of the central funding.

For the Leigh's, Bateley's and the rest who rely on that central funding to pay wages at the right level you have this as your possible but IMO more likely probable future.

It's a complete joke and if Leigh's fate does not prove to people that P&R on merit alone without millionaire backers who will stick with the club if they get relegated again is a pipe dream I do not know what will.

The only way around this I can see is if SL membership was only allowed if a club could sustain itself to at least run a squad with a £1.5m wage bill with only whatever is the level of central funding in the championship, i.e. the £750K which is what I think Leigh get reading that. That would probably exclude all bar Toronto as potential promotion candidates and maybe even a few SL clubs might not be able to do that anyway!

[Caboosegg]

Don’t think it’s really about them being full time,Derek gambled and lost it seems to me..I wonder if he will stay on in the end?

He is having to take them part time for the club to survive so I think it is most definitely a full-time v part time issue.

If you read the statement they got a £500K parachute payment when relegated that was only allowed to be spent on players wages in an attempt to get back into SL. They still lost £500K funding due to relegation anyway.

Then by failing to make the four, they lose even more funding as ther parachute payment goes and so players and coaches are losing their jobs. As he said it's not realistic to try and offer players one year deals while the parachute payment applies. Players who are professional players will quite understandably want a job and contract terms that last for longer than 12 months and you won't get enough (if any) decent players signing on those terms.

I think the problems at Leigh show the only teams who stand a chance of promotion and not going bust of they get relegated again are those like Toronto who have a millionaire backer and that assumes if they suffered the same fate as Leigh playing-wise, he would be happy to pump in £1m of his own money to compensate for the loss of the central funding.

For the Leigh's, Bateley's and the rest who rely on that central funding to pay wages at the right level you have this as your possible but IMO more likely probable future.

It's a complete joke and if Leigh's fate does not prove to people that P&R on merit alone without millionaire backers who will stick with the club if they get relegated again is a pipe dream I do not know what will.

The only way around this I can see is if SL membership was only allowed if a club could sustain itself to at least run a squad with a £1.5m wage bill with only whatever is the level of central funding in the championship, i.e. the £750K which is what I think Leigh get reading that. That would probably exclude all bar Toronto as potential promotion candidates and maybe even a few SL clubs might not be able to do that anyway!

P+R is a joke format currently anyway mainly due to how you point out funding. The problem with the old franchise system is teams like London and that failed welsh team get picked to grow the game at the expense of a teams like leigh who had an established fan base.

[DaveO]

P+R is a joke format currently anyway mainly due to how you point out funding. The problem with the old franchise system is teams like London and that failed welsh team get picked to grow the game at the expense of a teams like leigh who had an established fan base.

I don't think franchising is a bad idea, it was just badly implemented and policed by the RFL. Remember they had no clue Bradford were about to implode which rightly led to condemnation because Bradford were not if I recall correctly even one of the lower rated teams on the frnachise scoring.

They used to award a status of A, B & C and if you were a C then you were in danger of losing your spot in SL but I think Bradford were an A or a B and promptly went bust!

I also think the three years grace for a promoted team was a good idea. It would have stopped Leigh facing these troubles. The three years assumed you get your act together in the meantime. Widnes certainly benefited and are the only team who did. They were the only team who were actually promoted under the franchise scheme and got that protection. The Crusaders went bust before they got started so were not there three years anyway and should have never been there (though there were some irregular financial goings on surround all that IIRC) and London were already in SL st the time.

I also think Wakefield have been the luckiest team to avoid losing their SL place. One time I think the Championship side declined promotion when they were due the drop and I think they kept their place in the very last time a franchise review took place much to the surprise to all at the Wakefield club. They thought they were gonners having judged themselves against the criteria but the RFL said they kept their place! That did it for me. I always thought the RFL were bad but that proved it.

In the end franchising was badly run but it was also never (properly) run for long enough. As ever the RFL under Woods could not resist changing things.

[Mike]

P+R is a joke format currently anyway mainly due to how you point out funding. The problem with the old franchise system is teams like London and that failed welsh team get picked to grow the game at the expense of a teams like leigh who had an established fan base.

I don't think franchising is a bad idea, it was just badly implemented and policed by the RFL. Remember they had no clue Bradford were about to implode which rightly led to condemnation because Bradford were not if I recall correctly even one of the lower rated teams on the frnachise scoring.

They used to award a status of A, B & C and if you were a C then you were in danger of losing your spot in SL but I think Bradford were an A or a B and promptly went bust!

I also think the three years grace for a promoted team was a good idea. It would have stopped Leigh facing these troubles. The three years assumed you get your act together in the meantime. Widnes certainly benefited and are the only team who did. They were the only team who were actually promoted under the franchise scheme and got that protection. The Crusaders went bust before they got started so were not there three years anyway and should have never been there (though there were some irregular financial goings on surround all that IIRC) and London were already in SL st the time.

I also think Wakefield have been the luckiest team to avoid losing their SL place. One time I think the Championship side declined promotion when they were due the drop and I think they kept their place in the very last time a franchise review took place much to the surprise to all at the Wakefield club. They thought they were gonners having judged themselves against the criteria but the RFL said they kept their place! That did it for me. I always thought the RFL were bad but that proved it.

In the end franchising was badly run but it was also never (properly) run for long enough. As ever the RFL under Woods could not resist changing things.

Wakefield were saved by the Welsh club going bust a day before the franchises were announced (despite being rumoured to have been awarded a B). The RFL couldn't have two teams gone because they didn't have two teams to come up - so all of a sudden Wakefield met the criteria.