By SK88
July 14 2012

Every club dreams of a sugar daddy to fund their progress, their successes, and plenty of clubs are looking out for one. But what if you are a pretty loaded bloke looking to dish out some sugar of your own, who should you go for?

Wasps are an obvious choice, but they are fundamentally a weak investment, their only tangible assets are their Premiership Rugby P shares and perhaps the 5 or 6 of their squad who would fetch reasonable transfer fees. They have the potential fan base and the history but to ever get back to an even keel would require £20-30m+ to fund a new stadium somewhere in west London plus ongoing support.

Leeds have a PRL approved stadium (or rather squat in someone else’s) which is half the battle to gain promotion and have in the recent past attract 13,000 to Headingly, albeit for a Jonny Wilkinson Christmas visit. But typical Premiership attendances of 5,000 in a 22,000 capacity ground, which is due to be expanded, is a tough sell to convince the punters that they must buy a season ticket to ensure their place; Championship attendances of around 2,000 shows that the fan base is pretty conditional on quality of rugby too. A move to a suitable sized ground could help them and in these fantasy circumstances isn’t out of the question.

Coventry are an historic club in the sport’s heartlands that after decades of poor league positions still attract 1,500 fans despite the attractions of European Champions Leicester and Northampton roughly an hour away. They own their own ground, with one good quality permanent stand and plenty of room to expand further. Located just off Coventry’s inner ring road the ground is very much more city centre than the out-of-town Ricoh Arena. However whilst their core support is strong question marks have to be raised over the potential maximum size of a fan base when the south, east and north of Warwickshire is already pretty well targeted by the East Midlands behemoths. With the football club in dire straits this city’s rugby club could blossom with the right stewardship.

Blackheath are another grand name of London’s rugby scene, unlike any of the others they are located in South-East London rather than on the A316 and have a ground with a large enough footprint to build a PRL compliant ground, the planners and NIMBY’s might make that hard to achieve but Quins have proved anything is possible. London is something of a crowded market but its size is so vast that it can easily support a team in the east. Fan base is somewhat unknown but the growth of the south-west London clubs over the 15 years of professionalism gives plenty of hope.

Moseley has gone through some tough times in recent history but has come through it with a settled home on Billesley Common which has planning permission to become large enough for PRL approval. Low attendances are a worry but with Birmingham being a vast conurbation without a single top club a period of success could change that. A weak playing squad makes them favourites for relegation from the Championship next season which would delay any plans for a season at least.

So if you are a Russian Oligarch, an Arab oil billionaire or a rugby man done good where should you invest your cash? Coventry is the obvious answer. The football ground could be used for one off “Big Games” and the local area is a hotbed for rugby talent. Reviving the old rivalries with Northampton and Leicester should help to grow a fan base. If Northampton can become European Champions why not Coventry?

Loads-a-Money

Discussion started by TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk , 14/07/2012 12:20

TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk
14/07/2012 12:20

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:07:28:11:33:48 by Tiggs.

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Stopsy
14/07/2012 12:46

Thanks SK88 a thought provoking and illuminating article. I'll not be troubling any of them with my cash in the near future. Actually if a sugar daddy wishes to give me a few million I am sure I could disappoint them with th ereturn.

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odd-shaped vagaries
15/07/2012 10:07

If you've the kind of money needed to build a new ground then you really have free rein, so I would look from Kent to Dorset and probably settle for Bishop's Waltham .. easily accessed from my house, Pompey, Southampton, Eastleigh, Alton & Winchester, so the potential numbers as well as a likely audience are there .. I'd call the club Hampshire Hogs

Difficulty is a lack of an existing club with Plumpyship potential within a few seasons to base it on .. Newbury may nearest .. so buy Wasps and move them

'Lions led by donkeys' .. Lest we forget

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Beckenham Wasp
15/07/2012 11:03

Clubs that could potentially support a Premiership side would probably be Bedford, Penzance and Newlyn, Plymouth Albion, Otley. Anywhere were there is a tradition of watching rugby union below international level and rugby can claim to be one of the dominant sports of the area.

Unsurprisingly London Welsh is not on that list for a whole raft of reasons.

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Yorkie
15/07/2012 14:31

Not surprising really BW as it's your list!!

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Beckenham Wasp
15/07/2012 15:22

More to do with a London Welsh not having any of the attributes for being a sustainable professional outfit. If 4 much more established clubs have failed to make professional club rugby work in the South East I doubt London Welsh will.

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Yorkie
15/07/2012 17:18

Quote:

Beckenham Wasp

More to do with a London Wasps not having any of the attributes for being a sustainable professional outfit.

There. Fixed that for you!

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Rich W
15/07/2012 20:56

But they are a smug old middle class club, Yorkie.

...

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Beckenham Wasp
16/07/2012 00:52

History, a high profile, one of the best academies in the Premiership and, having been briefed by our new owners last Thursday, a plan to build ground that the club owns as quickly as possible.

Also Rich W Wasps have always been viewed as the down at heal and unfashionable club in London compared to those multi-coloured prima donnas South of the river. I don't think anyone could ever really accuse Wasps has being a bunch of toffs; that is Quins and Bath.

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Duncan Keene
16/07/2012 07:44

Good article! Cov and Moseley certainly have the history of anyone ever invests in them.

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Rich W
16/07/2012 10:18

The idea that you can think that BW just illustrates how far from grasping the point you are.

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Beckenham Wasp
17/07/2012 12:15

Rich W you seem to come across as a bitter and rather snide individual.

Did you ever go to Repton Avenue and have to share the same loos as the players? Have even been to the Wembley area? Wasps were never the temple of public school privilege and wealth that you seem to imagine

Brian Moore accurately describes the differences between Wasps and their estranged multi-coloured cousins in this Telegraph article.

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

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Rich W
17/07/2012 14:24

i take it that was a joke?

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Beckenham Wasp
17/07/2012 15:13

What? The part about the loos? No. The loo block in the Sudbury club house had two entrances. One from the changing rooms and one for the public. Is that middle class enough for you?

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Rich W
17/07/2012 20:15

And you think that's all that defines the 'class alignment' of a club? You cannot be that simplistic.

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Beckenham Wasp
17/07/2012 22:49

Well Wasps were not 'rich' in the sense that Harlequins or any of the big gate taking clubs in the provinces were. Neither was the membership socially exclusive or discriminatory. The club lived within its means but did not attract large crowds to raise money in the amateur era, like Leicester, Gloucester, Northampton, Bath etc and did, and they did not live off the charity of its wealthy membership like Quins used to. The strength of the club has always been the quality of the its playing and coaching staff. They played to win and then usually did.

Here is a good piece of rugby trivia. Which are the only two clubs to have won English League/Premiership in both the amateur and professional era?

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SK 88
17/07/2012 23:49

That isn't really "good trivia" as the answer is pretty obviously Leicester and Wasps. Only 7 clubs have won it and 4 of those have a single victory so are automatically ruled out.

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Beckenham Wasp
18/07/2012 01:22

Well believe or not virtually all of Fleet Street's finest rugby correspondents seem to omit Wasps Championship win in the 89/90 season. Some even leave out the 96/97 win too!

Some nonsense about how only wins during the 'Premiership era' counting.

Old school.

[">www.youtube.com]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012:07:18:01:27:01 by Beckenham Wasp.

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SK 88
18/07/2012 11:52

The way they ignore the first 10 years of league rugby really annoys me some times. Especially when they talk about "Most Premiership Appearances" because they are basically excluding Neil Back and Chris Shearsby for no reason. I think one of those still holds the "most top flight appearances" but because 10 years of their careers are ignored George Chuter has the record instead.

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Beckenham Wasp
18/07/2012 18:39

Well it is like soccer where Sky Sports think that English football only started in 1992. Annoying drivel.

League records should include all the seasons from 1987/88 onwards, however tempting it would be to wipe Bath's six titles from the record books!

I think they like to start in 1997/98 because that was when Premier Rugby was founded. Spurious if you ask me.

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Johns
21/07/2012 09:45

Quote:

compared to those multi-coloured prima donnas South of the river

Who do you refer to BW? If it is Quins last time I looked they were North of the River Thames.

Of the clubs listed I would prefer Otley a fine town on the River Wharfe, however I guess one of our own from East of the M1 may well decide to invest his millions in this fine old club.

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Tiggs
28/07/2012 11:32

Many thanks SK88.

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