Bath in pursuit of Faletau

First topic message reminder :

http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/story-17699820-detail/story.html?

NOOOO....... Not our Toby! Will be gutted if he leaves.

Will there be any Welsh internationals playing in Wales in 5 years time?

Scrumdown wrote:But use tuilagi and tanderaw's salary to top up faletaus. Dragons appear to prefer to sign up 5 journeymen rather than two world class homegrown players. I think charteris made a similar comment when he left last year.

I don't think there salary combined meets what clubs will be offering players like Faletau.

Scrumdown wrote:But use tuilagi and tanderaw's salary to top up faletaus. Dragons appear to prefer to sign up 5 journeymen rather than two world class homegrown players. I think charteris made a similar comment when he left last year.

I'd be very surprised if he did.

maestegmafia wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:But use tuilagi and tanderaw's salary to top up faletaus. Dragons appear to prefer to sign up 5 journeymen rather than two world class homegrown players. I think charteris made a similar comment when he left last year.

I don't think there salary combined meets what clubs will be offering players like Faletau.

But say faletau on 100k, tuilagi on £50k tanderaw £70k

Get rid of tuilagi and tanderaw and just give faletau £220K. Replace tuilagi with Jack Dixon, and tanderaw with hal amos, both of whom are already in the squad and ready to step up. Did I have to spell it out for you?!

Similarly lydiate should have been kept and his salary topped up with those of tom brown, adam jones and ashley smith, journeymen who need to move on. Quality and potential instead of quantity should be the order for our regions.

Yeah good idea. Lets cut down our small squad further to try and keep players who are likely to leave anyway.

You're also completely wrong about Tom Brown, who is a pretty handy player for us. But it's fair to say any of the players you don't rate are better players than you anyway, so you can't really criticise.

Also, are you not going to back your Charteris claim up?

Risca Rev wrote:Yeah good idea. Lets cut down our small squad further to try and keep players who are likely to leave anyway.

You're also completely wrong about Tom Brown, who is a pretty handy player for us. But it's fair to say any of the players you don't rate are better players than you anyway, so you can't really criticise.

Also, are you not going to back your Charteris claim up?

I'm not having a go at the players but the administrators who are not making the most of the funding that they receive from WRU.

Better to have a team of a few current welsh internationals with up and coming players than journeymen who do not have enough ability to take the dragons to the next level.

The likes of hal amos, jack dixon and jonathon evans look to me like future internationals and the dragons could have a strong team in a few years but not if they just allow faletau and lydiate to leave and replace them with rejects from other clubs.

Scrumdown wrote:
I'm not having a go at the players but the administrators who are not making the most of the funding that they receive from WRU.

Better to have a team of a few current welsh internationals with up and coming players than journeymen who do not have enough ability to take the dragons to the next level.

The likes of hal amos, jack dixon and jonathon evans look to me like future internationals and the dragons could have a strong team in a few years but not if they just allow faletau and lydiate to leave and replace them with rejects from other clubs.

Dear Lord, there's some real frickin clownshoes stuff in there. What's the weather like on your planet?

Stone Motif wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:
I'm not having a go at the players but the administrators who are not making the most of the funding that they receive from WRU.

Better to have a team of a few current welsh internationals with up and coming players than journeymen who do not have enough ability to take the dragons to the next level.

The likes of hal amos, jack dixon and jonathon evans look to me like future internationals and the dragons could have a strong team in a few years but not if they just allow faletau and lydiate to leave and replace them with rejects from other clubs.

Dear Lord, there's some real frickin clownshoes stuff in there. What's the weather like on your planet?

Cut it out

His sentiment is right. I think we would all rather see the best Welsh players stay at the regions we support.

maestegmafia wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:
I'm not having a go at the players but the administrators who are not making the most of the funding that they receive from WRU.

Better to have a team of a few current welsh internationals with up and coming players than journeymen who do not have enough ability to take the dragons to the next level.

The likes of hal amos, jack dixon and jonathon evans look to me like future internationals and the dragons could have a strong team in a few years but not if they just allow faletau and lydiate to leave and replace them with rejects from other clubs.

Dear Lord, there's some real frickin clownshoes stuff in there. What's the weather like on your planet?

Cut it out

His sentiment is right. I think we would all rather see the best Welsh players stay at the regions we support.

Cut what out? The realism? Good luck getting 'sentiment' to pay for these players development and contracts in the current system. The post was utter garbage written in total ignorance of what is going on at the Dragons, the lack of squad depth and the unwillingness of benefactors to subsidise the WRU bonus scheme to name but two issues he's skirted.

But seriously though, reduce the squad by 6 players to afford the wages of 2? You'd still need players to replace the culled 6. So, if Jack Dixon was to step up instead of Tuilagi then you'd need someone to take Dixon's place on the bench. That will still cost, and the likelihood is that you either put another even more inexperienced player there (Jack Dixon is, what, 17?! Shall we put a 15 year old there in his place?) or just another journeyman who would be worse than Tuiliagi obviously otherwise he would have been picked instead of Tuilagi in the first place..

This is obviously the big coaching dilemma. How many bums on seats does Lydiate and Faletau actually contribute to? Are Lydiate and Faletau, as good as they are and playing only a handful of games for the region each year, as valuable to the coach and/or the business plan as 6 average players? It's a tough one. I don't know the answer. Some will say this much overused word - 'Ambition'. If a team can't match a player's wage and lifestyle demands then they are not 'ambitious'. But, if meeting those wages means you'd struggle to make ends meet and could go down the pan then it's good financial planning to think about ditching them. The 'ambition' is not to go bust.

Put it this way; since Lydiate and Faletau emerged on the scene as world class players (Faletau debatable) the Dragons attendances haven't rocketed. They're about the same as when they first broke into the team. So, if they have little or no impact on your attendances, you can't afford them, they only play a couple of games for you a season and they want to move away, what is the point of trying to bankrupt yourself to keep them? It would be great to have a team full of millionaire players that challenged in the HC, but let's be realistic and admit that the Dragons simply cannot afford that so have to make difficult decisions.

Stone Motif wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:
I'm not having a go at the players but the administrators who are not making the most of the funding that they receive from WRU.

Better to have a team of a few current welsh internationals with up and coming players than journeymen who do not have enough ability to take the dragons to the next level.

The likes of hal amos, jack dixon and jonathon evans look to me like future internationals and the dragons could have a strong team in a few years but not if they just allow faletau and lydiate to leave and replace them with rejects from other clubs.

Dear Lord, there's some real frickin clownshoes stuff in there. What's the weather like on your planet?

Cut it out

His sentiment is right. I think we would all rather see the best Welsh players stay at the regions we support.

Cut what out? The realism? Good luck getting 'sentiment' to pay for these players development and contracts in the current system. The post was utter garbage written in total ignorance of what is going on at the Dragons, the lack of squad depth and the unwillingness of benefactors to subsidise the WRU bonus scheme to name but two issues he's skirted.

Still no reason that you cant have a debate in a civilised fashion about it is there? The clown shoes comment was particularly unnecessary.

You are right, there are mitigating factors withstanding. But you could outline those and educate a man who didn't know about them rather than spitefully poking fun at him.

maestegmafia wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:
I'm not having a go at the players but the administrators who are not making the most of the funding that they receive from WRU.

Better to have a team of a few current welsh internationals with up and coming players than journeymen who do not have enough ability to take the dragons to the next level.

The likes of hal amos, jack dixon and jonathon evans look to me like future internationals and the dragons could have a strong team in a few years but not if they just allow faletau and lydiate to leave and replace them with rejects from other clubs.

Dear Lord, there's some real frickin clownshoes stuff in there. What's the weather like on your planet?

Cut it out

His sentiment is right. I think we would all rather see the best Welsh players stay at the regions we support.

Cut what out? The realism? Good luck getting 'sentiment' to pay for these players development and contracts in the current system. The post was utter garbage written in total ignorance of what is going on at the Dragons, the lack of squad depth and the unwillingness of benefactors to subsidise the WRU bonus scheme to name but two issues he's skirted.

Still no reason that you cant have a debate in a civilised fashion about it is there? The clown shoes comment was particularly unnecessary.

You are right, there are mitigating factors withstanding. But you could outline those and educate a man who didn't know about them rather than spitefully poking fun at him.

Sorry Mrs Scrumdown, but your husband by his own admission was having a pop at the people running the Dragons, making it quite clear in his post he had all the answers and indicating he could do a better job than said multi-millionaires in the process.

In short, what he wrote was pure clownshoes, sorry.

Also, once one big player leaves eg Charteris, then other players must think that There's no ambition and also want to go. Martyn Thomas, Brew and Tovey all left too. Players will only be loyal for so long. Players want to be playing HC rugby and challenging for honours.

What's the point in ambition in the current system? The O's have been as ambitious as anyone in Europe and look where it got them, staring down the barrel of a WRU gun with their benefactors threatening to refuse to pay for the team anymore.

I know, it's frankly ridiculous that the Ospreys were targeted as a potential team to be disbanded. They're the only ones who've managed anything!

There's far too much cloak and dagger stuff going on with the WRU. I mean, there always has been with the WRU. But it all seemed to be getting so much better with fortunes turning around on the pitch (from 2005 onwards), clearing debts, etc. The the WRU returns to form and starts to look like like it used to - a laughing stock.

I think the WRU disposition was far more to do with Cuddy than with the Ospreys as a region.

With Cuddy gone, they have no issues.

That's as may be, but the Ospreys certainly have a big problem with the union.

Do we think that they will actually let Toby go a year early?

No. Hazell has said you can sod off. Looks like Bath offered 100k but we will get 50k if he makes the Lions so not that great a deal.

Stone Motif wrote:No. Hazell has said you can sod off. Looks like Bath offered 100k but we will get 50k if he makes the Lions so not that great a deal.

Of course he has, every owner would say the same thing, but I don't believe everything I hear. Just wondered if you fans thought it might actually be realistic or just another case of 'player near end of contract linked to Bath' type rubbish story

Well he's always stuck to his guns in the past and as I stated we'll make half the transfer fee offered if he makes the Lions. You know, the ones coached by the Welsh national coach, who rates our Toby very highly.

Let's face it, a combination of Bath's money and a gullible journo is easy money for an agent. Plant the story that Bath are interested and maximum return for minimal effort.

It would be pretty strange for Bath to pay out a 'transfer' fee, which is included in the cap when they're right up against it. Instead they could just wait a year or look for someone else.

It does sound like agent cowpat

HammerofThunor wrote:It would be pretty strange for Bath to pay out a 'transfer' fee, which is included in the cap when they're right up against it. Instead they could just wait a year or look for someone else.

It does sound like agent cowpat

I agree.

I don't think that Faletau will tour with the Lions though for what it is worth. He needs to have a blinding 6 Nations. Back row and back three look the most fiercely competitive slots

Stone Motif wrote:No. Hazell has said you can sod off. Looks like Bath offered 100k but we will get 50k if he makes the Lions so not that great a deal.

All hail the messiah Martyn Hazell, except I wouldn't believe a word the likes of him and Peter Thomas say.

Over £75million pounds of funding given to them by the WRU to sort regional rugby over the last 5 years has been wasted due to their lack of vision and general incompetence.

It is outrageous that not a single regional game has been played in towns such as pontypool and ebbw vale given the history of these sides and yet hazell moans about the lack of supporters at rodney parade. He doesn't have any answers so should step aside.

Unfortunately, there is a certain amount of kudos related to being involved at the top end of welsh rugby and therefore these individuals will not be easily moved. The WRU therefore need to make these individuals work harder for their priviledged positions. They should demand that regions report their non financial as well as their financial results on a quarterly basis. They could also publicly rank the regions on a regular basis according to specific performance criteria.

Those currently running our regions into the ground may then realise that there is an easier life for them outside of welsh rugby and we can then appoint professionals to run our regions who have a chance of making the regions work.

As long as peter thomas is in charge of the blues and hazell at the dragons these regions will continue to underperform and more and more money will be wasted. This has to stop.

My earlier clownshoes comment vindicated in spectacular style. Worst pile of nonsense yet, well done. Go away and do a bit of research on how the game is funded, ffs.

Stone Motif wrote:My earlier clownshoes comment vindicated in spectacular style. Worst pile of nonsense yet, well done. Go away and do a bit of research on how the game is funded, ffs.

Why is it a pile of nonsense then Miss know-it-all?

How about the numerous occasions where he's said exactly the same and stuck to his guns, the fact the majority of funding 'given' to the Dragons is competition money earned fair and square, or the fact that Brown and Hazell put in about four times as much of their own money as the WRU put in the Dragons last season for starters, clownshoes?

On the comment about Faletau not making the Lions. I think he'll be in there. That's why he needs to leave the Dragons. He needs a better stage to showcase his abilities.
On the comment about it being a scandal that the Dragons haven't played at Eugene Cross and Pontypool Park. Those grounds aren't fit to host a school sports day! They're not suitable facilities. I get your real point that in theory games should be spread throughout Gwent, but there aren't any suitable grounds. Although saying that, If crowds continue to fall, they could maybe stage a few games in Brynithel!

Stone Motif wrote:How about the numerous occasions where he's said exactly the same and stuck to his guns, the fact the majority of funding 'given' to the Dragons is competition money earned fair and square, or the fact that Brown and Hazell put in about four times as much of their own money as the WRU put in the Dragons last season for starters, clownshoes?

Dragons would have received £1.55 million from WRU for player release last season plus £150k for the academy. So that's £1.7million in total. Brown and hazell, according to you also put in 4 times this amount last season so that's another £6.8 million. Add £2.2 million for tv money from heineken cup etc.

Total funding received by the dragons last season according to you therefore of £10.7 million before any gate receipts. You really have surpassed yourself this time. Total nonsense.

Scrumdown wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:How about the numerous occasions where he's said exactly the same and stuck to his guns, the fact the majority of funding 'given' to the Dragons is competition money earned fair and square, or the fact that Brown and Hazell put in about four times as much of their own money as the WRU put in the Dragons last season for starters, clownshoes?

Dragons would have received £1.55 million from WRU for player release last season plus £150k for the academy. So that's £1.7million in total. Brown and hazell, according to you also put in 4 times this amount last season so that's another £6.8 million. Add £2.2 million for tv money from heineken cup etc.

Total funding received by the dragons last season according to you therefore of £10.7 million before any gate receipts. You really have surpassed yourself this time. Total nonsense.

Except they built a new stand that cost 5m, far in excess of anything put in by the WRU. TV money they earn, and the academy money is patently an irrelevance. Ok (though we don't know what Dylan Matthews is contributing) 1.7 still plays a new stand plus the earned TV money, clownshoes, who is doing the most for the Dragons again? Oh yes, the people you want strung up by the WRU. You haven't got a clue!

Blydi hell this is a long period.

Stone Motif wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:How about the numerous occasions where he's said exactly the same and stuck to his guns, the fact the majority of funding 'given' to the Dragons is competition money earned fair and square, or the fact that Brown and Hazell put in about four times as much of their own money as the WRU put in the Dragons last season for starters, clownshoes?

Dragons would have received £1.55 million from WRU for player release last season plus £150k for the academy. So that's £1.7million in total. Brown and hazell, according to you also put in 4 times this amount last season so that's another £6.8 million. Add £2.2 million for tv money from heineken cup etc.

Total funding received by the dragons last season according to you therefore of £10.7 million before any gate receipts. You really have surpassed yourself this time. Total nonsense.

Except they built a new stand that cost 5m, far in excess of anything put in by the WRU. TV money they earn, and the academy money is patently an irrelevance. Ok (though we don't know what Dylan Matthews is contributing) 1.7 still plays a new stand plus the earned TV money, clownshoes, who is doing the most for the Dragons again? Oh yes, the people you want strung up by the WRU. You haven't got a clue!

Still do not understand why you have to be so aggressive whilst discussing accountancy? Post a link to your sources for the Regions ins and outs and we'll all have a look.

Stop with the name calling you be little yourself every time.

Blydi hell, here's scrumdown's boyfriend again. You see that new concrete thing at Dave Parade? Who do you think paid for that, Uncle Roger?

As for the exact bank balances of the benefactors no I don't have these but I know enough to comfortably state that the various pensions, property and offshore businesses that the ST Rich List doesn't take into account are worth considerably more than the value of Hazell, Brown, and Matthews companies!

What he wrote is clownshoes and calling a spade a spade is what I'll do while your boy is rubbishing people who've done more for Gwent rugby in a season than he'll do in a lifetime of pointless posts.

Stone Motif wrote:Blydi hell, here's scrumdown's boyfriend again. You see that new concrete thing at Dave Parade? Who do you think paid for that, Uncle Roger?

As for the exact bank balances of the benefactors no I don't have these but I know enough to comfortably state that the various pensions, property and offshore businesses that the ST Rich List doesn't take into account are worth considerably more than the value of Hazell, Brown, and Matthews companies!

What he wrote is clownshoes and calling a spade a spade is what I'll do while your boy is rubbishing people who've done more for Gwent rugby in a season than he'll do in a lifetime of pointless posts.

You should definitely apply to become the dragons new press officer in a spin doctor type role. On second thoughts you'd probably be as convincing as Comical Ali! Less posturing please.

Scrumdown wrote:

Stone Motif wrote:Blydi hell, here's scrumdown's boyfriend again. You see that new concrete thing at Dave Parade? Who do you think paid for that, Uncle Roger?

As for the exact bank balances of the benefactors no I don't have these but I know enough to comfortably state that the various pensions, property and offshore businesses that the ST Rich List doesn't take into account are worth considerably more than the value of Hazell, Brown, and Matthews companies!

What he wrote is clownshoes and calling a spade a spade is what I'll do while your boy is rubbishing people who've done more for Gwent rugby in a season than he'll do in a lifetime of pointless posts.

You should definitely apply to become the dragons new press officer in a spin doctor type role. On second thoughts you'd probably be as convincing as Comical Ali! Less posturing please.

I don't think they'd have him after what happened with Paul Turner.

Scrumdown wrote:
You should definitely apply to become the dragons new press officer in a spin doctor type role. On second thoughts you'd probably be as convincing as Comical Ali! Less posturing please.

Who's posturing? I was simply demonstrating you were talkin BS, clownshoes. Way to back out of the debate btw, you could have just admitted you were wrong, but then they'd probably throw you off the bitter anti-regional bandwagon.

Stone Motif wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:
You should definitely apply to become the dragons new press officer in a spin doctor type role. On second thoughts you'd probably be as convincing as Comical Ali! Less posturing please.

Who's posturing? I was simply demonstrating you were talkin BS, clownshoes. Way to back out of the debate btw, you could have just admitted you were wrong, but then they'd probably throw you off the bitter anti-regional bandwagon.

But it is very difficult to have a debate with someone who reverts to childish name calling when someone does not agree with their point of view.

Says the man who's original post on the matter was so full of myths, hyperbole, and ignorance a five year old could probably do better. Do some research before posting or be prepared to be called on it, clownshoes...

You can't pull Scrumdown up on comments that have no substance. I'm still waiting for him to back up his Luke Charteris claim from the other day.

Careful, you'll have his mum/boyfriend on you (Maesteg)

Risca Rev wrote:You can't pull Scrumdown up on comments that have no substance. I'm still waiting for him to back up his Luke Charteris claim from the other day.

When Charteris left he mentioned on scrumv I think, that homegrown welsh internationals were unable to command the salaries that foreign players at the regions were. At the time, the highest earners in welsh rugby were the likes of xavier rush, tom wills and if your a current international such as charteris, you would expect the regions to offer a comparable salary.

In my opinion therefore, funding should be allocated based on number of welsh internationals in the welsh squad so that the dragons do more to try and keep the likes of faletau and lydiate.

After all the blues appear to have been able to keep cuthbert happy, so why not the dragons, lydiate and faletau? Both regions receive the same funding and the same salary cap applies. Unless the owners show more ambition then the dragons are destined to become a development region when in reality they should be one of the stronger regions.

Best Wales vs Wales argument 2013 award winner...

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote: Best Wales vs Wales argument 2013 award winner...

There'll be better than this. Stick around

Scrumdown
So in order to make the Dragons be more competitive, you would give them less funding and make the board put more money in? Well, the board don't want to put more money in. That's the problem. It's ok saying they should be more ambitious, but they're not going to throw huge amounts at the Dragons to make up the short-fall. The damage has already been done. If the Dragons were going to push on then they should have spent after the 2011 season. They brought in Chavhanga and then allowed Charteris, martyn Thomas, Tovey and Brew all to leave. Willis and Burns had to retire.
I'm not sure where the money is being spent on foreign players that'll help us keep Danny and Toby at the Dragons. Tondi and Tuilagi can't be earning a fortune and with the likes of Willis and the other stars I mentioned off the wage bill, it comes to one thing. The Dragons aren't wasting money on overseas players, but they just haven't or don't want to pay the wages that it'll take to match a French team. Not just that. If I was Danny Lydiate, I'd be thinking. If the Dragons can pay as much as Racing Metro to keep me, but that means they have no money to improve the squad, then why would I want to hang around at the bottom of the Rabies league, playing in a poor team and in poor competitions. I'd be thinking I'm off to compete in quality competitions that I may actually have a chance of challenging for!

"If I was Danny Lydiate, I'd be thinking. If the Dragons can pay as much as Racing Metro to keep me, but that means they have no money to improve the squad, then why would I want to hang around at the bottom of the Rabies league,"

I think that's called catch 22!!



I hope all concerned parties in Wales sort out the Union v Regions thing. Unfortunately we are in an age where money talks and players will change teams if they are not getting paid what they think they are worth.

To my mind, the WRU created the Regions (then immediately dumped arguably the most promising one). They need to find a way, together with the paying public, to keep your best players in Wales.

It's not an easy one, I know. But I said on another article that the Regions need fans to be coming through the turnstiles first and foremost to generate income.

If you care about your rugby, then support it.

Manofgwent,

My solution would be for the wru to allocate an amount of £3.25 million each to the regions as a base figure and then for each player that appears in the national squad during the year, that region receives an additional amount of £100k.

The decision to let faletau leave would then be a much more difficult one as the dragons would be losing both a world class player and £100k.

As martyn hazell has mentioned elsewhere, he is not interested in the £100k bath have offered them for faletau as the dragons are likely to receive £50k from the lions in the summer, which makes letting him go less appealing.

So this kind of system where the wru reward regions based on players supplied for the national team could work very well as it would motivate the owners of the dragons to keep hold of their best players as there would be financial consequenses to letting players go and not just from signing them up on improved contracts.

'Let him leave', 'let him go', 'show more ambition in keeping players', 'try to keep'.

All of these sayings are being trotted out which make it sound like the regions are doing absolutely nothing to try to keep the players. The regions in most cases are offering as much as they can to keep the players, but if they can't afford to match the French offers then it is hardly the fault of the regions. If a player gets offered £700,000 in France, then there's no way that a region should use up 20% of it's available wage bill on that one player. 5 of them and that's the wage bill spent. As an example, Jamie Roberts was made an offer by the Blues to make him the highest paid player in Wales, yet it wasn't enough to match the offer from abroad. What more could the Blues have done? They offered to make him the highest earner in Wales, and this for a player that only played for them twice last season (if memory serves). People need to stop blaming the regions all of the time and consider the player and their motives and influences.

Scrumdown wrote:Manofgwent,

My solution would be for the wru to allocate an amount of £3.25 million each to the regions as a base figure and then for each player that appears in the national squad during the year, that region receives an additional amount of £100k.

The decision to let faletau leave would then be a much more difficult one as the dragons would be losing both a world class player and £100k.

As martyn hazell has mentioned elsewhere, he is not interested in the £100k bath have offered them for faletau as the dragons are likely to receive £50k from the lions in the summer, which makes letting him go less appealing.

So this kind of system where the wru reward regions based on players supplied for the national team could work very well as it would motivate the owners of the dragons to keep hold of their best players as there would be financial consequenses to letting players go and not just from signing them up on improved contracts.

Wouldn't that £100k go on the extra wages you'd need to pay the player to stay? Faletau is probably only on about £80k as it was his first contract (total guess). The most the Dragons could probably afford would be maybe £200k (again, a total guess)? However, the French are known to pay upwards of £500k, so to keep him surely we'd have to make up that short fall or he'll go to the highest wages???

Scrumdown wrote:

When Charteris left he mentioned on scrumv I think, that homegrown welsh internationals were unable to command the salaries that foreign players at the regions were. At the time, the highest earners in welsh rugby were the likes of xavier rush, tom wills and if your a current international such as charteris, you would expect the regions to offer a comparable salary.

Funny I can't find this quote anywhere on the internet. Even given I know Clart was one of the highest earners at the Dragons, why should the regions pay more for players who spend most of the season turning out for a competitor side?

Scrumdown wrote:
In my opinion therefore, funding should be allocated based on number of welsh internationals in the welsh squad so that the dragons do more to try and keep the likes of faletau and lydiate.

Given point 1, above, how will linking funding to the amount they are willing to hamstring themselves strengthen the regions?

Scrumdown wrote:
After all the blues appear to have been able to keep cuthbert happy, so why not the dragons, lydiate and faletau? Both regions receive the same funding and the same salary cap applies.

The Blues have just lost Jamie Roberts, what exactly is your point here?

Scrumdown wrote: Unless the owners show more ambition then the dragons are destined to become a development region when in reality they should be one of the stronger regions.

Finally you state something reasonably close to reality. Whatever you think of the benefactors at the Dragons you have to accept that they are capable of committing large amounts of cash to the region. What do you think is stopping them? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, throwing their money away to ultimately subsidise a union that underfunds them, competes with them for the same fan base, and sits on half their company for no apparent reason other than to prevent investment, might be something they're not willing to consider, particularly as they got burned once already by the merger with Ebbw Vale?

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:
To my mind, the WRU created the Regions (then immediately dumped arguably the most promising one).

Least financially viable one you mean, as proved not once but time and again by one of their parent clubs.

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:
It's not an easy one, I know. But I said on another article that the Regions need fans to be coming through the turnstiles first and foremost to generate income.

If you care about your rugby, then support it.

How many UK clubs survive on gate receipts? Pro rugby runs on comp money and benefactor generosity. English clubs are allowed to run themselves as a business, helped by the fact they have a decent league product. This brings the fans in turn. Welsh regions have neither of these things in their favour.