: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:31 am  

Saintsnut wrote:

He always did talk out of his booty, Sport is a business, if clubs go bust its just tough other clubs will come along.

Think you'll be in the minority there. Rings even more true today when reading the article; frightening that it was forecasted 15 years ago.

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:32 am  

Saintsnut wrote:

He always did talk out of his booty, Sport is a business, if clubs go bust its just tough other clubs will come along.

Think you'll find that sport is... well, sport actually.

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:36 am  

Saintsnut wrote:

He always did talk out of his booty, Sport is a business, if clubs go bust its just tough other clubs will come along.

Try life down here cock it aint so pleasant.

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:47 am  

Does he have a chrystal ball

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:07 am  

waterfield's finest wrote:

Think you'll find that sport is... well, sport actually.

I assume then that we can live without paying players, charging at the turnstyle, taking money from Sky etc etc?


Nope, thought not.

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:42 am  

Sport is not business.

It has to be run with some business rules, but it is sport and not business.

If sport were business, then most clubs simply would not exist, as they do not turn a profit and there is little possibility of ever turning a profit.

There are not as many money sinks in the business world as there are in the sporting world - simply because it is sport and is about competition, not profit.

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:18 pm  

Saintsnut wrote:

He always did talk out of his booty, Sport is a business, if clubs go bust its just tough other clubs will come along.

If it is a business,I think your clubs financial reports would make interesting reading over the years,our current Chairman baled you out years ago.

Extremely successful on the field but not spent a penny off it,I envy all your trophies but that does not mean you have the right to belittle other clubs who frankly are ran as bad or well as Saints but do not have the Sky money to support them each year.

: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:35 pm  

Absolutely uncanny read!!

AJM displays Nostrodamus like foresight!!

: Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:20 am  

The only reason for what has happened in our game over the last 20 years is the RFL's obsession that we have to beat the Aussies. We copied everything they do thinking in time it would make us better than them. 20 years on and we are still behind them. I'd say the exercise has failed. Murphy was spot on with everything he said. How many clubs have gone bust, or reformed under new names. Even we did it. The game can't go on like this and the short sighted saints fan who posted on here may get a shock one day very soon. Try going over St Helens accounts and you'll see not everything's rosy even at the most succesful club in the SL era.

: Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:46 am  

Don't see the "nostradamus" connection tbh. Murphy was a great player/coach in his time. Don't mean what he says here is true. Nothing much in it that is relevant to now and should stay in mid 90's where the game was on its knees. One of things I agreed with (which again is mid 90's related not now) was the crazy transfer fees at the time - we went down that road too.
He is against salary cap - proven to be wrong. He mentions nothing of ideas of how to stop the decline apart from stay as we where, where a massive clubs like Leeds & W1gan was struggling to survive for example.
This is the very 1st season of franchises for goodness sake- give it time. It took 100 years to spread the game to mainly the areas they started from in 1895, by having very little interest in spreading the game especially at club level where self interest was more important (including us).
As for clubs merging - As Barry Mac said in his book, everyone was totally against it and campaigned against it because of herritage and history etc etc.....but where was those fans since ?
So sorry if most of you agree with views from '94, but IMO they are stick in the mud views if you still agree with them. Not relevant to now.
As for RL being a sport - hmmmm. Its not anymore, just like football isn't. Its the ones with the most money - of course some exceptions that mis-spend and mis-manage their club. W1gan bought their way out of relegation trouble - was that sporting ?
But the romantic notions and having the dream of seeing small clubs like our own in the SL GF would never happen, even without the "F" word. Now 20 years ago - in Murphs era then it was possible.....