You want it both ways - he's a great businessman because RL is in the right market, but it isn't his fault that RU didn't work despite the club game in the UK being financially viable in a number of other locations in the UK?

Just on the Rugby Union issue. I am not a fan of what GH did with it, and would rather have stayed away. But wasn't he sold a bit of a poop bag. The rumblings were that RU was going to some form of franchise/geographical split, and that a a top flight Yorkshire club was deemed necessary as part of those plans.



With that in the pipeline, he set up the club ready for it to gain a permanent fixture at the top table. Only for those plans to be abandoned, and the rest is history.

Gareth I take your point but I think you are wrong with regards to Caddick not putting any money in. Initially he did guarantee the 7m overdraft but where did the 350k that it cost to buy Harris come from? Who owned the RU club we accquired?



I totally agree re the good work GH has done on the Rhinos - without Caddick's money the financial turn around would not have been possible. The club could not afford to stay overnight for a fixture in London let alone put a team together like the one the Murray managed. When people talk about GH being some kind of business guru they need to put things into context Leeds is a tiny business - and compared to the likes of Ken Davy, Lenagan and McManus his business experience is very limited.

I thought that too. IIRC a decent amount of Premiership teams were in favour of it, can't quite remember why it faltered.







But as mentioned previously, to take a team like Leeds to a good position in the Premiership and win the Powergen Cup is a worthy achievement. Especially as their academy was starting to produce results. IIRC the salary cap in Union got raised and the French clubs went crazy with their money, and Caddick couldn't/wouldn't fund it anymore, hence selling it off.



I think Sal is being very disingenuous here, Hetherington's management of the club, with very limited financial input from Caddick (not a criticism of Caddick btw) has been superb.



I'm still interested in how he managed to convince the RFL Board, Council and Richard Lewis to give Nigel Wood a job though.

That is what having a power base does - Wood went from FD a Halifax where they were bankrupt when he left into the FD role at the RFL how does that happen? because GH needed to have a voice at the top table, Wood would never have got that job on merit - a bit like Rimmer also - he needed influence to get it - you scratch my back etc.



No one is criticising GH achievements at Leeds RL but the union is just an example that not everything he touches turns to gold. You would have to be pretty bad not to make a success of Leeds RL it was a sleeping giant, do you think if GH and Caddick had gone into Halifax instead the results would have been the same or for that matter why not stay at Sheffield?

Sal-A couple of things firstly just because Wood got the RFL job where does the evidence come from that it was because of GH??

Secondly onto the Carnegie issue their Acadamy has produced some top players who the likes of Leicester and Northampton have picked off plus when they got promoted the new team doesn't get the same ££ from the Premiership as the other sides do so are already behind money wise which is hardly the said Clubs CEO's fault.

When do you think Wood got the FD job at the RFL Sal?



I used to have a girl working for me who was his assistant at the RFL, and that was 2002. Did GH really have any influence with the RFL then?

As Rhinoms and Gotcha point out, that was a long time ago and where's the evidence for this?

Not to mention you've drastically changed your tune. You've gone from saying he got the top job to only his financial director role.

Which is it?

Or have you been making stuff up and are now trying to wriggle out of it now you realise you've cocked up?





I think you're being very disingenuous, to both what he and Caddick achieved with Carnegie and the "easy" nature of turning Leeds into a top club (not just top team). The club was a complete mess when he and Caddick took over. They professionalised the club and brought in quality leadership at the club. To get the club from where it was in 1996 (8,500 average crowd, £7m in debt, £2.8m turnover) to where it is today (15,000 average crowd, £2.5m in credit, £10/11m turnover with a healthy profit) is pretty good going and requires very good management (especially of a sporting club) to achieve that in such a short timescale.

Absolutely he did - Other than Maurice Lindsey he would have been the best connected man in RL as he still is today - no wonder the likes Pearson are very wary of him.

On Wood GH had an influence on him getting the FD role to begin with and it is inconceivable that Wood would have morphed into the top job unchallenged without GH's backing. GH is the most powerful voice in the game in the northern hemisphere. What is odd is with the issues around the game i.e. lower participation, reduced funds from Sport England and lack of sponsorship that GH has no comment to make? An example of his influence is how he got Smith out of Leeds and into the England job - again another point you have omitted to challenge!!



On Leeds RL I have repeated said what a good job GH has done - some on here obviously struggle with reading simple English. My point is this it would not have been possible at many other clubs - I mentioned Halifax and Sheffield - I note as usual you have failed to respond on that point, seems this is not the only thread on which your fingers have been very selective!! It also helps if you have a strong financial backing - Leeds were able to reduce the overdraft in a controlled manner whilst still being able to borrow to invest in other projects e.g. the hotel. Also they were be able to invest in the team early doors by buying the likes of Harris something lesser funded clubs would not have been able to do.

So basically a conspiracy theory with no actual proof?



Better put the tinfoil hat back on, they might be listening

A bit like when Briscoe was said to be coming to Leeds, no proof at that time - GH denied it - where is Briscoe playing for the next five seasons.



This board is full of this stuff what is strange is how much of it actually ends up being true!!