Bears v City

[Eddie Notgetinya]

Pleased to see the Bears playing well but as a side note there has been fairly credible press recently (telegraph and others) that Bears tried to sign Marcus Smith from Harlequins for 800k per year but he chose to remain at ‘Quins.

 

Is it a case of Bears needing to stay competitive as they are a top premiership team (RFU sets 6.4 million a year salary cap)? Would Lansdown give City heavier backing if it wasn’t for FFP? Are the Bears now Lansdowns main interest? I don’t know the answers but I thought it was an interesting point to raise. 

[Northern Red]

That £800k figure on it's own gives you an idea of the disparity in finances between the two sports. Marcus Smith would be the equivalent of signing someone like Phil Foden or Cole Palmer, yet that wage is probably slightly higher than your average Bristol City player is on, and some will be on more.

[formerly known as ivan]

I know very little about rugby so can’t comment on knowledge. What I have been told by rugby following mates is that Lansdown’s spending on the rugby side is the equivalent of Man City spending on the football side.

I have no idea what the average gates for the Bears are, but I would question where the money on the rugby side comes from.

[W-S-M Seagull]

We spent over 10 million in the summer...

[Eddie Notgetinya]

15 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

That £800k figure on it's own gives you an idea of the disparity in finances between the two sports. Marcus Smith would be the equivalent of signing someone like Phil Foden or Cole Palmer, yet that wage is probably slightly higher than your average Bristol City player is on, and some will be on more.

Exactly what I mean by needing to keep the Bears competitive and exactly why they can afford a world class coach - I was shocked by the 800k though, never really considered Rugby wages before 

[CodeRed]

8 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

I know very little about rugby so can’t comment on knowledge. What I have been told by rugby following mates is that Lansdown’s spending on the rugby side is the equivalent of Man City spending on the football side.

I have no idea what the average gates for the Bears are, but I would question where the money on the rugby side comes from.

The salary cap is £6.4 Million so every team has the same wage costs, I don't see how SL can spend any more than anyone else. Of course he can spend on the training facilities like he has done but that's about it.

Saracens tried a method of paying players more using a scheme whereby star players had a property business set up for them that the owner " invested" in but that was ruled illegal and they were fined and demoted so I doubt SL is doing anything underhand.

With a squad of 40+ players and given the academy players don't earn much I guess the average Bears player earns £4 or £5k PW.

[BigTone]

17 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

 

I have no idea what the average gates for the Bears are, but I would question where the money on the rugby side comes from.

Circa 18,500 I believe

[Phantom]

13 minutes ago, Eddie Notgetinya said:

Exactly what I mean by needing to keep the Bears competitive and exactly why they can afford a world class coach - I was shocked by the 800k though, never really considered Rugby wages before 

Putting him on a 7 year contract helps 

Out of interest, what were you shocked about with regard to the figure? 

High or low value? 

Personally I find it amazing one of the best players is only valued at that 

[ExiledAjax]

16 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

We spent over 10 million in the summer...

...and Steve made the trip to Boro yesterday when he could have stayed home for Bears v Saracens.

It's like with the "is Bristol a rugby or football city". The answer is that it's relative. In rugby Bears are a relatively  rich club, in football City are relatively poor.

But in absolute terms, Lansdown spends far, far, far more money on City.

Edited Sunday at 12:17 by ExiledAjax

[Phantom]

2 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

...and Steve made the trip to Boro yesterday when he could have stayed home for Bears v Saracens.

I was really surprised by that, with the bears being a top of the table clash. 

Possibly to do with paying his respects to Theo? 

[Rob k]

Can’t you pay 1 player whatever you want outside of the salary cap? Definitely used to be able to but not sure on the rules now

[Lanterne Rouge]

12 minutes ago, Phantom said:

I was really surprised by that, with the bears being a top of the table clash. 

Possibly to do with paying his respects to Theo? 

I expect it was and also an opportunity to catch up with his mate Steve Gibson.

[Eddie Notgetinya]

14 minutes ago, Phantom said:

Putting him on a 7 year contract helps 

Out of interest, what were you shocked about with regard to the figure? 

High or low value? 

Personally I find it amazing one of the best players is only valued at that 

Both!

Smith is an international with a high ceiling and in football would be worth millions!

By the same token I’d never considered Bears would have that sort of revenue.

On the whole Bristol sport should be very thankful to SL. We do need to start learning on the football side though - maybe one day it will click.

Just bought my Norwich away tickets so I’m still following in blind loyalty, circa 350 left.

 

 

[Northern Red]

6 minutes ago, Rob k said:

Can’t you pay 1 player whatever you want outside of the salary cap? Definitely used to be able to but not sure on the rules now

Yep, that's still in place. They did increase it to 2 players briefly during Covid times, but it's reverted back now.

[ExiledAjax]

19 minutes ago, Phantom said:

I was really surprised by that, with the bears being a top of the table clash. 

Possibly to do with paying his respects to Theo? 

+

6 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

I expect it was and also an opportunity to catch up with his mate Steve Gibson.

Quite possibly both. Another reason could be that he's the owner of Bristol City FC. All sorts of reasons probably fed into his decision.

[NDW4CITY]

I do follow the Bears pretty closely and this season they have been awesome and then terrible in equal measure in most games. In yesterday’s game they scored some unbelievable tries only to cough up possession on the restart, allowing Saracens to reply almost immediately each time. The last 5 minutes were like a car in slow motion….losing possession, conceding a penalty and losing on the last kick of the game. Somewhat reminiscent of many City games, but  I sort of digress. My point was about salaries in the 2 sports. I have nothing  but admiration for these rugby players, paid much, much less on average than their football  equivalents, and yet risking life and limb in every game. If you don’t follow the egg chasers, I thoroughly recommend checking out a Bears game. Win , lose 9or occasionally draw) You won’t be disappointed.

[Davefevs]

Out of interest Bears wages bill at last published accounts was:

£17.033m (155 staff)

City

£26.307m (205 staff)

(normally if I was comparing one football club to another I’d caveat and include the Bristol Sport wage bill, but on this occasion, they support both sports, so no need)

 

[steveybadger]

1 hour ago, Northern Red said:

Yep, that's still in place. They did increase it to 2 players briefly during Covid times, but it's reverted back now.

And that’s the point of difference in rugby - spending extra cash on marquee players. A lot of teams spend to the salary cap but not many have Bristol’s spending power in this area.

Not that I’m a bitter Gloucester fan who resents rugby markings on our football pitch

[Malago]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

We spent over 10 million in the summer...

Minus the £5 million we got for Tommy, gives a net spend of £5 million.  Given we netted over £30 million the year before, not an unreasonable expenditure.

[Davefevs]

20 minutes ago, Malago said:

Minus the £5 million we got for Tommy, gives a net spend of £5 million.  Given we netted over £30 million the year before, not an unreasonable expenditure.

Firstly I don’t believe we got £5m for Tommy.

Secondly I don’t think we spent £10m either…a bit less from what I heard.

Thirdly we didn’t net £30m last year…nor netted that if you add last year and the year before.

But otherwise bang on

I just, Seriously though, we haven’t seen the accounts for 23/24, but Scott £20m was our only significant sale (Massengo small amount), and we spent £4m(ish) on Knight, McCrorie, Murphy, TGH, Stokes and Bird).  It’s possible we might receive some add-ons for Scott and Semenyo.

Re 22-23’s accounts, we made £9.5m mainly from Semenyo, but spent £1.75m on Wilson, Mehmeti and Cornick, plus due to accounting period change another £2.25m on Dickie and McCrorie.

 

[Phantom]

18 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest Bears wages bill at last published accounts was:

£17.033m (155 staff)

City

£26.307m (205 staff)

I know that it has been mentioned in the past, but 205 staff is an incredible number

16 hours ago, Malago said:

Minus the £5 million we got for Tommy, gives a net spend of £5 million.  Given we netted over £30 million the year before, not an unreasonable expenditure.

As Dave mentioned above, that is unlikely to be the amount we got, in addition I would be very surprised if 'Boro paid that amount in one go and not over a longer period of time

[Davefevs]

29 minutes ago, Phantom said:

I know that it has been mentioned in the past, but 205 staff is an incredible number

It’s about par for the course for a championship club (football side).

[The Bard]

20 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

I know very little about rugby so can’t comment on knowledge. What I have been told by rugby following mates is that Lansdown’s spending on the rugby side is the equivalent of Man City spending on the football side.

I have no idea what the average gates for the Bears are, but I would question where the money on the rugby side comes from.

Sorry your mate's are talking rubbish.  There is little difference between Bristol, Bath, Leicester etc because of the cap.  If anyone is pushing it at the moment it's Bath whose squad seems remarkably deep given the cap.