News: Notes from Jimmies End
By Paul Shaddick
June 18 2014
Posted a little early this week as Editors will be hors de combat at the weekend
Notes from Jimmies End
Last time I wrote, I had a slight dig at Jim Mallinder's skill at talking for hours without actually saying very much, a trait he shares with people involved in high level sport across the globe. You almost have to think there's a correspondence couse they all take before being allowed in front of a microphone. No, that can't be right, as footballers do it too. Maybe there's a cartoon they all have to watch.
Uncle Keith, on the other hand, really doesn't know the meaning of the phrase 'keep your gob shut.' In fact, when I first spoke to him on starting my brief tenure as communications manager at the Saints, he straight away warned me of his tendency to run off at the mouth and told me to feel free ro wield the blue pencil when looking at his programme notes.
He has long had an issue with the salary cap applied to the english premiership cap, and his most recent comments on the subject prompted an interesting debate with well-argued opinions here on COYSDC.
I'm not going to rehash any of those arguments here, except to say that a free-for-all would not ultimately be to anyone's advantage, but those clubs that do put in the hard work to make themselves sustainable both on and off the pitch should see some benefit.
One aspect of the whole issue which I did not see mentioned this time around, was that of the payments the RFU gives to clubs to compensate for the release of EQPs. Those details of the current agreement between the RFU and PRL that I have been able to uncover are murky to say the least. Apparently only those premiership clubs which supply players to one of the three 32-man EPS squads (England, Saxons, and U20) or have an RFU licenced academy qualify for payment under the agreement. So that's all of them, then, surely?
So I'm not really sure if the premiership clubs are compensated on a pro rata basis, or if the dosh is equally split between 12 brown envelopes, but I suspect it's the latter. What I do know is the payment is outside the salary cap.
I would like to see the compensation being exactly that - paid to those clubs providing players to the national side. It would be a fixed amount per player in the England squad, with a Saxons player being worth perhaps half as much. That money could then be used on top of the salary cap, but only for a young Englishreplacement player's wages.
So if Dylan Hartley is selected for the England squad next season, and Saints gets £50k compensation from the RFU, then that money can be used on top of the cap to pay an England-qualified hooker aged under, say 23. There would be nothing to stop the club topping up that £50k with money from within the cap. This would enable Saints to retain more of their England players, and also encourage clubs to take a cjance on developing young England players rater than hiring older, or foreign, journeymen.
The real danger facing Saints is over the horizon. It is easy to forget that our current crop of England players are still relatively young, and as they improve their potential earnings can only go up. Each would be perfectly justified in asking for an increase in wages when his contract is up for renegotiation, and as our other, even younger, players come through their value will rise too.
As far as I am aware, most of our current crop of England regulars earned their first full cap after joining Saints. Jim and his team have done a great job of spotting latent talent and turning it into international class - it would be a shame if the club is prevented from retaining those players.
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Tetleys Block F E143
Not sure what the answer is maybe only a percentage of the wage should count if players have come through the clubs academy?
As for the compensation system, to act as an inducement to all clubs to develop English players it would have to be spread out over all the clubs regardless whether they had qualitfied players at any point in time. I suspect that is why Saints ignored player development for so long as they were paid anyway.