Wigan get Fielden

[deluded pom?]

Maurice ?

 

[Stan's Number 1 Fan!!!]

Don't swear on here

 

[deluded pom?]

I think you know where I'm coming from Stan ;-)

 

[terracesider]

Maurice ?

Who else? Speaking of which:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/wigan/5113124.stm

 

[bender]

Obviously this contract was worth 450k Stan .If they were worthless then Bradford wouldn't be getting a penny from Wigan .I still haven't seen any news items telling me Wigan are releasing any players with immediate effect . For tonight's game against the Wolves they must be over the cap , musn't they ?

Dont forget, (I think from this thread people are saying the move is immediate) that the $450,000 would be a yearly contract and he only has a half year left this year, so this would equate to only $250,000 for this years cap.

Also, dont forget that (presumably) much of Wigan's salary cup budgeting for this year would have been done on the assumption that they would win X amount of games (presumably enough to win the league) and they will have won nowhere near that amount. Combine this with the injury count and provided that most players are paid huge win bonuses and smaller salaries, which would make sense for a Wigan side to structure their contracts like this, then there would be an unexpectedly large amount available under their cap this year even though this wasnt foreseen earlier in the season.

Not saying this is the case, but it is possible.

 

[deluded pom?]

Dont forget, (I think from this thread people are saying the move is immediate) that the $450,000 would be a yearly contract and he only has a half year left this year, so this would equate to only $250,000 for this years cap.

Also, dont forget that (presumably) much of Wigan's salary cup budgeting for this year would have been done on the assumption that they would win X amount of games (presumably enough to win the league) and they will have won nowhere near that amount. Combine this with the injury count and provided that most players are paid huge win bonuses and smaller salaries, which would make sense for a Wigan side to structure their contracts like this, then there would be an unexpectedly large amount available under their cap this year even though this wasnt foreseen earlier in the season.

Not saying this is the case, but it is possible.

Yes the move is immediate , Fielden played for Wigan on Friday night and won the MOM. Secondly bender , its pounds not dollars (£450K = $1,118000 approx). It's not a yearly contract . Fielden did not earn that sort of money at Bradford .It's a simple buy out of Fielden's contract at Bradford to allow him to move to Wigan with immediate effect .This money is paid directly to Bradford from Wigan and doesn't , as far as I'm aware , come under the salary cap . Knowing Wigan they would pay huge salaries and smaller win bonuses . Wigan don't live in a sensible world . Even a couple of SL sides are asking questions of Wigan's salary cap limit . With the vast majority of games left to be played at the JJB it now looks increasingly like Wigan may escape the drop .

 

[East Coast Tiger]

After days of anti-Wigan fans banging on about the salary cap and Wigan fans in defence mode the fact remains that no one knows the slary cap situation at Wigan except for the club's bosses. Fans can hypothesise all they want but doubts and suspicions don't prove anything. St Helens' salary cap situation has been in question for a long time and I'll bet there's been Wigan fans (and others) crying foul about that and now the shoe's on the other foot and they're copping it. It's the same here with the Roosters etc. Wigan may well be doing something dodgy and breaking cap rules but so could every other club in the competition. Until any or all of it is proved it's all rumour and inuendo. What signing Fielden has done, apart from delivering Bradford a tidy sum that they obviously agreed to take, is helped set up a great finish to the season on the field and that's what I'm looking forward to. I'll admit I do hope they stay up and Wakefield go down but only because I think that's the best thing for the game as a whole. Wakey need to get their act together. If they can win NL1 with a British side plus one and/or get a franchise with a new stadium I'd be happy to have them back but until then they offer SL far, far less than Wigan.

 

[terracesider]

The best thing for the game as a whole would be for ESL to be run like a proper league.

 

[deluded pom?]

The best thing for the game as a whole would be for ESL to be run like a proper league.

As long as that league was an even playing field with regards to spending on players . What use is a £1.8m salary cap if you can only turnover enough revenue to spend £1.2m ? If teams like Wakey , Salford etc were allowed to compete with the big guns then maybe they could increase their income and their spending power . As it stands the rich just walk all over the poor . Parity is just pie in the sky when the likes of Wigan throww money around like they do .I just hope Mr Whelan hasn't forgotten why his team now play at the stadium he built .

 

[bartman]

Wow, I go away for a few weeks and come back to Fielden getting MOM for Wigan?

They are clearly desperate, and desperate measures call for desperate solutions. Why wouldn't Fielden take the money, presumably there's an escape clause should they get relegated, and if they escape then he could claim a reputation as being the key man that made the difference.

But it takes more than one guy to make a team, and Fielden like anyone else could cop an injury at anytime, and same if he had stayed at Bradford. Bradford's laughing though as they've got money in their coffers, so have done a lot better than if Fielden came down with an injury for them, and are presumably happy enough that their playing strength can cover.

The salary cap as it stands is unfair, as it is above the reaches of many teams in the competition. If a cap is meant to equalise the resources available or save the poorer clubs from spending above their limits, it currently serves to do neither. If anything it encourages clubs to go bust trying to match the bigger spenders.

Will Wigan stay up? I'm hoping Wakefield and friends get themselves safe this season. I don't think it would be bad for the game at all for a big club performing poorly to serve a year in NL1, assuming they'd buy their way to the title and promotion again the following season.