royc wrote:biffer wrote:[
I'm not certain I believe the whole 25% thing. It sounds like agent talk, trying to squeeze more out of clubs. The very top end probably has that level (you wouldn't get Hogg for £350k now) but half way down I doubt it's that much. And we were never shopping at the top end anyway.
It was Frank Dodson who said that IIRC, which makes it more credible than agent talk. Even if wage inflation was a fifth of that, 5% (and stands to reason it would be a good bit higher), the Edinburgh budget would still be regressing if it's only growing at under 2% a year.
The point I'm driving at in all this is that it looks like Cockerill is being expected to do a good bit more with less, which is pretty unrealistic, no matter how good he is. Unless they gave him some extra bunce to beef up the squad this season, which we won't know until the Annual Report later this year, or for next season.
Here's the quote from Mark Dodson: “We’re trying to cap our investment into the pro teams. At the moment you’ve got two per cent inflation in the domestic game and 25 per cent inflation in the professional game, there comes a point where you have to make difficult choices.”
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-un ... n-1-426424You have to remember that he's trying to make a point, to get the club's to vote to allow external investment. Over-egged? Almost certainly. Does he say 25% per annum? No. Is it implied? Probably. Will Finn Russell double his salary in one year? Yes, but the SRU wage bill won't because they don't play in that market. Will Dougie Fife be on 50% more than he was a couple of years ago when last at the club? Nothing like it.
I picked the 4 year comparison that Biffer correctly identified a) to cover a full World Cup revenue cycle, and b) to compare apples with apples i.e. Same number of Six Nations home games etc.
In that time, the total SRU wage bill for all staff has gone up by 20% , +£4.1m. My guess is that the pro player inflation makes up a big chunk of the £4m, and therefore far higher than the overall 20% - but over 4 years.
The international and pro team budget has also gone up by £4m, circa 20%. That covers all costs though, marketing, matchday, transport & accommodation will have been relatively static, so again the increase in playing budget could be a lot higher. We don't know. All in all, SRU expenditure is up £12m and debt falling fast - hats off to Dodson.
There's been a massive increase in domestic & performance rugby (not including club support) - part of this is for the academies, which have an impact on the pro team's (player pathway, McCallum, Crosbie et al) - but not included in the pro team numbers.
Stepping away from the (incomplete) data, the evidence is before us. Edinburgh and Glasgow are performing at a higher level in the league relative to the Irish and Welsh regions. More wins, more points. And that's in a league that is well represented with home ties in the QF of the Champions Cup, so it's not as though the quality of the league is falling. Indeed, 10 of the 14 are from countries that just finished in the top 3 of the 6N.
Is the quality of the Edinburgh squad higher this year than last? Yes - partly through coaching, but we are not diluting the quality. Next season, the consensus is that with Barclay, Scott, Socino, Hickey, van der Walt, we are likely enhancing the squad further with a couple more to come. Yes we lose Du Preez, Sam, Hardie, Burleigh but generally it looks like we are getting stronger relative to our peers.
Something's working.