NPR

Margin__Walker wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:33 pm Is Homer still Japan bound?

Could do a decent job somewhere

Northampton Saints is delighted to announce a further 19 first-team players have committed their futures to the Club by signing contract extensions.

Seven internationals are amongst those to pen new deals, with England’s Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Teimana Harrison, Piers Francis and George Furbank joining Wales fly-half Dan Biggar and Scotland centre Rory Hutchinson in agreeing terms to stay at Franklin’s Gardens.

Alex Mitchell, Alex Moon and Fraser Dingwall – three Saints Academy graduates who all received their first England squad call-up during this year’s Six Nations – have all also put pen to paper on contract extensions.

Meanwhile the likes of Club co-captain Alex Waller, Mikey Haywood, David Ribbans, James Grayson, Ehren Painter, James Fish, and Lewis Bean have all also been rewarded for a string of impressive performances in Black, Green and Gold this term, plus Alex Coles and Samson Ma’asi move from Northampton’s Academy set-up into their first senior contracts.

Hal Jordan wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:04 pm I see Saints have been infected with the "is" disease.

Saint wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:49 pm ouch. Not sure where they think they will get their income from

Margin__Walker wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:58 am Yep, 'stood down' for the moment. I think actually dismissing them could get a bit messy. Assume the likes of Taufua and Veainu may just walk into contracts overseas anyway. Manu may fancy packing it all in for a big payday somewhere too.

Margin__Walker wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 8:23 am Yeah, I guess that would make sense. Youngsters will be on the way up and may have been at the point where they are signing a big leap in contract from Senior academy money to a squad wage.

I think in many cases at the worst impacted clubs, players will sign for lack of any other option. As in the column though, the problem will come later on. Retention will be tougher and players will be more inclined to jump ship to a more secure club when the market it less depressed.

Saint wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:00 am I think circumstances have favoured Saints quite heavily during this period. At the start of the season we had a couple of large salaries drop off the books due to un-planned retirements, which left a fair amount of breathing room in the cap (and a decent cash saving for the year). Soo we ended up with more flexibility that we might otherwise have had

Un Pilier wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:51 am The more I think about what has happened at Tigers, the more distant any sort of turnaround seems. Genuinely hard to believe they have messed up on this scale over such an extended period of time.

Saint wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:00 am I think circumstances have favoured Saints quite heavily during this period. At the start of the season we had a couple of large salaries drop off the books due to un-planned retirements, which left a fair amount of breathing room in the cap (and a decent cash saving for the year). Soo we ended up with more flexibility that we might otherwise have had

Hal Jordan wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:30 pm

Saint wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 10:00 am I think circumstances have favoured Saints quite heavily during this period. At the start of the season we had a couple of large salaries drop off the books due to un-planned retirements, which left a fair amount of breathing room in the cap (and a decent cash saving for the year). Soo we ended up with more flexibility that we might otherwise have had

We? I thought it was a singular entity. Unless it's the royal we.

;)

On the Leicester front, Tuilagi especially ought to be careful with his injury history, he must have missed half his career to being crocked. Yesterday's superstar quickly becomes today's forgotten legend.

SaintK wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:24 pm

Un Pilier wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:51 am The more I think about what has happened at Tigers, the more distant any sort of turnaround seems. Genuinely hard to believe they have messed up on this scale over such an extended period of time.

They just keep rearanging the deckchairs in the boardroom where the main problem lies. The coaching appoinments have also been poor over that period
God knows what Borthwick will make of it all?

Saint wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:04 pm Saints announcement today that everyone at the club, bar low earners, is taking a 10% pay cut for the next 12 months, replacing the 25% temporary cut since April.

SaintK wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:27 pm

Saint wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:04 pm Saints announcement today that everyone at the club, bar low earners, is taking a 10% pay cut for the next 12 months, replacing the 25% temporary cut since April.

Sounds like they've handled all hs pretty well.