Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 10:13 am  

Acting Sheffield Eagles chairman Ian Swire explained the current situation at the club last night.

Ian Swire: "I must take responsibility for the predicament that the club currently finds itself in. Our problems date back to 2013."

IS: "When as back to back championship champions our ground was demolished with little notice."

IS: "Faced with a dilemma we received an unsolicited approach from an investor who offered to fund a team capable of playing Super League."

IS: "Having received proof of funds, I defy anyone not to have accepted the offer and, even in hindsight I consider it was right to accept."

IS: "After the 2015 season, the investor announced that he would make further investment and enable us to become a full-time team."

IS: "He gave Mark a much enhanced playing budget for 2016. As this season started the investor indicated he was no longer willing to fund this"

IS: "This has left the club in a precarious position. The only short-term solution being a huge investment to ensure we finish the year"

IS: "At this current time I have sat down with my wife and we have jointly agreed to make such an investment as a donation to the club."

IS: "The club is currently in negations with potential investors and hopefully this great club has a bright future."

The above certainly goes some to explaining their current season.

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:36 am  

So, basically, they're where we were back end of 2013 then?

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:37 pm  

roofaldo2 wrote:

So, basically, they're where we were back end of 2013 then?

Wish we were.

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:58 pm  

Easy to be wise after the event, but this does show the inherent flaw in the 'sugar daddy' scenario. Didn't the same happen to Featherstone a little while back?

It's hard to blame the chairman for taking the money, but its a shame that all the steady progress made by Sheffield over the past few years might all end up being wasted.

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:49 pm  

paulwalker71 wrote:

Easy to be wise after the event, but this does show the inherent flaw in the 'sugar daddy' scenario. Didn't the same happen to Featherstone a little while back?

It's hard to blame the chairman for taking the money, but its a shame that all the steady progress made by Sheffield over the past few years might all end up being wasted.

The Fev thing was the guy came in saying he was going to spend this and going to buy that, then when the club said that's very nice, can we have money he just said no and walked away. Think he did something similar at Cas?

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 4:54 pm  

paulwalker71 wrote:

Easy to be wise after the event, but this does show the inherent flaw in the 'sugar daddy' scenario. Didn't the same happen to Featherstone a little while back?

The problem is that the 'sugar daddy' has absolutely no idea how much he needs to pump in on a regular basis and when he finds out, he's a bit surprised.

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sat Jun 11, 2016 5:54 pm  

paulwalker71 wrote:

Easy to be wise after the event, but this does show the inherent flaw in the 'sugar daddy' scenario. ...

It's a flaw that doesn't matter. No club will reach the top without someone being prepared to plough money into it to a greater or lesser extent. Of course backers can and do walk away but would a Chelsea fan rather be (a) with or (b) without an Abramovich?

Sadly SDs are thin on the ground in RL, and the ones that are about are like paupers compared to Abramovich, but of course if one comes along then there aren't many reasons anyone would turn them down.

Wish we could find one.

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:06 am  

The Sheffield situation never seems to add up. So the investor did put some money in to the club prior to this season? He must have otherwise thats about 3 years of promises. It then wasnt until the season started that he said he was no longer willing to add funds which still shows what a shoddy job Aston did of putting together a full time team.

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:39 am  

Probably looked out on the park pitch, saw the 200 fans and thought this is stupid they don't want RL in this city

Re: Sheffield Eagles : Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:13 pm  

Has the switch to full time rugby done more harm than good for the Eagles? I know they've struggled to hang on to some of their better players when they decided to go full time as some of these players weren't in a position to give up other employment. If they're to progress they need a permanent home. Their current ground arrangements are embarrassing.