By DANNY LOCKWOOD
THERE are plenty of ways or clubs to relieve supporters of their hard-earned cash, from the latest home and away shirts and drinking out of a novelty mug, to the obligatory season ticket and club scarf.
So much for getting the cash in the till, along with the healthy central funding of around £1.8m, which is in itself enough to cover the salary cap.
Spending it meaningfully however seems to be a problem for our Super League clubs. With the end of every campaign, they increasingly remind me of a piece of wisdom handed down by an old golf pal. Golfers will tend to keep the basic tools (their irons) for several years, but the ‘holy grail’ is driving and putting. They always want another 20 yards off the tee, which makes them susceptible to the cash-relieving latest ‘big dog’ driver.
Does it revolutionise their game? Nope.
And every time they miss a couple of three-footers for par (which even Rory can manage, and Lee Westwood always manages) the putter gets thrown in the back of garage and another one is bought.
My pal had the solution. He reckoned that at the start of every year all dissatisfied golfers should throw their putters in a pile, then just pick one out at random and make do with it. It’s a method I’d recommend to club chairmen.
No offence to the individuals involved, but Andre Savelio from Saints and Dom Crosby from Wigan, both to Warrington? Tommy Lee from Salford to Saints and Luke Burgess from Salford to Catalans? Morgan Escaré from Catalans to Wigan and Matty Smith from Wigan to Saints?
Anyone else sense a massively overblown case of swings and roundabouts here? And there are dozens of other similar examples to boot.
Club chairmen should just throw players’ contracts in a pile and pull out half-a-dozen new squad members each. If nothing else they’d save on the fees of the Mr 10-per-centers.
