You are a CEO - what do you do with your budget?

Ok, after watching some of the utter mince played by Edinburgh (and to a lesser extent) Glasgow this season, I think I have come round to the Anglo-French way of thinking that HC qualification must be merit-based. I now agree that the Scottish sides are resting too many of their alleged big names from Rabo games to keep them fresh for a good pumping in the HC. My only concern with this line of thought, though, is that the French and English sides have much bigger budgets and so can afford more let's call them, Tier 2 players i.e. not a Daniel Carter etc but the next level down of top SH player or one of the top performers from the home nations, and so are better placed for a long campaign.
Question to test this theory - if you had £1m extra in your side's budget per year, would you sign a Dan Carter or a Richie MccCw etc or would you (and these names are illustrative purposes only before anyoen jumps down my neck) use the money to bring say 3 or 4 "lesser" players back e.g. Gethin Jenkins, Steffan Armitage, Nathan Hines etc. The latter option would increase your squad depth but not give you a game breaker.

InjuredYetAgain wrote:Ok, after watching some of the utter mince played by Edinburgh (and to a lesser extent) Glasgow this season, I think I have come round to the Anglo-French way of thinking that HC qualification must be merit-based. I now agree that the Scottish sides are resting too many of their alleged big names from Rabo games to keep them fresh for a good pumping in the HC. My only concern with this line of thought, though, is that the French and English sides have much bigger budgets and so can afford more let's call them, Tier 2 players i.e. not a Daniel Carter etc but the next level down of top SH player or one of the top performers from the home nations, and so are better placed for a long campaign.
Question to test this theory - if you had £1m extra in your side's budget per year, would you sign a Dan Carter or a Richie MccCw etc or would you (and these names are illustrative purposes only before anyoen jumps down my neck) use the money to bring say 3 or 4 "lesser" players back e.g. Gethin Jenkins, Steffan Armitage, Nathan Hines etc. The latter option would increase your squad depth but not give you a game breaker.

IYA, from the perspective of Exeter Chiefs, I'd take the latter option, no question - I think we're 3-4 players of that calibre short of regularly competing for a play-off slot in the AP at the moment, so that would hopefully go some way to solving that issue. More importantly it would have to 3-4 players with the right mindset to fit in at Sandy Park - it's not going to be an atmosphere that will suit everyone, what the Clermont fans described as "rien n'est plus fort que le collectif" - I took it as a compliment!

Sorry, ASBO. My Higher French was a bit too long ago to have any idea what the Frenchies are battering on about.
Anyway, up until this season, I would have agreed with you but having watched Edinburgh and Glasgow fritter away a lot of money on journey-men (Strauss, Maitland and possibly Rees excepted), I would like to see DC in the black and red although I have no doubt some would look upon it as "another bloody NSQ player taking up a position that could be filled by a Scot".
It would have been interesting to see how the Larkham gig that was mooted when the Carruthers brothers ran Edinburgh would have gone

I think the Warriors recruited pretty well last summer - Araoz and Fainga'anuku are fairly handy prop cover, Swinson has been a decent replacement for Gray (given that he was irreplaceable), McDonald again adds decent depth, Strauss is a superb signing, as is Matawalu, McGuigan and Paris admittedly not so much, but its good to have Sean Lamont back, excellent signing plays with such heart, and then Maitland speaks for himself - all in all, some excellent business without getting in a level 1, DC-type superstar

Spend it wisely on lesser players and slowly build. Can't expect a big signing or two to go well in the long run.

Perhaps spend the money on the background staff/facilities, more chance of buying a lesser player and turning them into more of a player.

Take the money and head to Vegas.

"the money was only resting in my account"

Delegate everything, play golf, shout a bit, do just enough work to appear on top of my brief in meetings and shag my secretary.

Unless you can guarantee to sign a couple real game changers then you buy the lesser 'team' players. Don't know about Scottish structures but in England you raid the academies or sign from the Championship. Don't like the use of the overseas market much when there's talent here. In Edinburgh's case you find the right coach first as a good one will get the best from what he has and be cute enough to recruit to shore up the weakest areas.

Glas a du wrote:Delegate everything, play golf, shout a bit, do just enough work to appear on top of my brief in meetings and shag my secretary.

I was going to say hookers and coke but I think your answer is better.

Actually I would do up a player spread sheet like the fat dude did in money ball, buy a bunch of misfits then win the league.

Glas a du wrote:Delegate everything, play golf, shout a bit, do just enough work to appear on top of my brief in meetings and shag my secretary.

Plus a lot of long lunches.


Seriously though, implament a top rate academy set up and target players on the fringes of the international scene with a point to prove rather than the big name signings.