KingBlairhorn wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:46 amThat’s interesting. I have very little feel for the politics of the situation, but I cannot see the English clubs taking it well if they become perennial also-rans in European competition. Of course there is no guarantee that will happen, but I think most could see a scenario where there is a firm Irish/French duopoly in the competition if English teams cannot compete.
But we've been perennial also-rans for a long time. Exeter and Saracens have been outliers - if you're a fan of Quins, Northampton, Wasps, Bath, Sale, etc the best you can hope for is a quarter-final humping every few years, and nothing outside of that. Maybe one year - like 2016 - English clubs benefit from a drop off in the Irish or French (or both), but generally if you're a fan of an English pro club, Europe is about a once in a blue moon QF appearance. An increase in the cap requires agreement, and most clubs care more about being a going concern in ten years time rather than winning Europe...
Biffer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:08 amIt'll go back up in a couple of years. It's substantially about income dropping during the pandemic
It probably will go up but the push to bring it down pre-dates Covid. There was a big review into the whole thing when Saracens were exposed as dirty cheats. The idea is to get clubs operating on a more healthy financial basis before it goes up again. Whether that'll happen, I don't know - there's the threat of the hedge fund wankers and of course Sarries and Bath still exist.
Anyway, derail over, sorry!