Bath Plan Another Swoop From Tiger's: Tom Croft

[mohamed_ali12]

From thisisleicestershire.co.uk:

Leicester Tigers star Tom Croft wanted by rivals Bath


Leicester Tigers are preparing to fend off an audacious bid from Bath for their star England flanker Tom Croft.
Having prised flanker Lewis Moody and utility back Sam Vesty away from Welford Road in the summer, Bath are now lining up a raid for Croft, the Mercury understands.
The British & Irish Lion, one of the world's best blind-side flankers, is out of contract in May and Tigers have made him an offer and are hoping to reach agreement.
Simon Cohen, Tigers' head of operations, is far from happy to hear that one of Leicester's biggest rivals have targeted one of their prized assets.


He said: "I have heard the rumours and I will be disappointed if it's true because it's a clear breach of Premier Rugby's code of conduct."
Asked if Tigers were worried they may lose a player who has made 87 appearances since making his debut in 2005, he said: "We hope that, given Tom's desire to remain a Leicester player, and our desire for Tom to remain a Leicester player, we will be able to reach agreement.
"Tom is a very fine player and very important to the club going forward. Our offer to him has reflected that."
Croft, who will miss the next six to eight weeks after suffering a broken shoulder blade in England's defeat by South Africa, is the second Tiger linked with Bath this week.
It is thought Bath wanted to re-sign prop Boris Stankovich but he has agreed a new deal with Leicester.

 

[Duckdee]

Gerroutofit!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Can't see it happening myself,

But then again, I expected Moody to stay at Tiger's until he retired!

 

[cyRil]

Hoho! The ex/Tigers fan/resident ****-buddy is having it off me!!!

EDIT: Not like that...

FURTHER EDIT: Well, actually, yeah like that. But she'll get a ribbing for this story too!!!

 

[Teh Mite]

Bath Tapping up Players

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co....vals-Bath/article-2969447-detail/article.html

Rumour has it both Croft and Geraghty are in talks with Bath. Interesting to see how this pans out when they're not allowed to do that until mid January-ish.

 

[Duckdee]

Geraghty to Bath seems odd, when they already have Vesty as an average bench-warmer, for when James is back.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Maybe they're looking to offload James?
No idea when his contract is up or anything, but he could be eyeing a return to SA/the Boks

 

[Teh Mite]

Looks like Luyke Watson is off, so the Croft story apparently has some credibility: http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_6556636,00.html

 

[Duckdee]

Dayum. :/

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Bath captain Luke Watson opts for South Africa switch

Bath captain Luke Watson will leave the club at the end of the season and return to play rugby in South Africa.

The 27-year-old has signed a three-year deal with Eastern Province Kings, based in his home city Port Elizabeth.

The back-rower described the decision to leave the Rec as "incredibly tough" and announced the move on Twitter.

"It's always been my dream to see top-flight rugby established within the Eastern Cape and I am very excited to be able to be a part of this," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/bath/9261049.stm​

 

[mohamed_ali12]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/bath/9261049.stm​

OUCH

this one genuinely, genuinely hurts. Thought he would be around for quite some time.

It's Michael Owen to Madrid all over again.

 

[Dougydeluxe]

It is hard for me to understand (but I think it is because I am use to Hockey), but in North American sports the captain is picked not only on skill/leadership/Popularity, but also on the fact that they will be with that team for many years to come. It is really done for two reason's, the first is that they are a great athlete and the second is by making them captain, players tend to stay longer and also the club generates more merchandise/sponsorship profit from this one key player.

So to wrap this up, I don't get why Bath gave Luke the role of captain, just for him to walk away at the end of the year. Why not pick someone they knew would be around for a while.

 

[mohamed_ali12]

It is hard for me to understand (but I think it is because I am use to Hockey), but in North American sports the captain is picked not only on skill/leadership/Popularity, but also on the fact that they will be with that team for many years to come. It is really done for two reason's, the first is that they are a great athlete and the second is by making them captain, players tend to stay longer and also the club generates more merchandise/sponsorship profit from this one key player.

So to wrap this up, I don't get why Bath gave Luke the role of captain, just for him to walk away at the end of the year. Why not pick someone they knew would be around for a while.

This is much more a case of Luke Watson ******* Bath over, football style. He made it pretty clear he was here for the long run, and said as much when he was signed. Then, when he was made captain, Meehan implied the same thing, and reading the BBC article Watson even said something along the lines of making sacrifices to become Bath captain.

He's a religious guy, and intent on kicking racial prejudice out of SA rugby with his Dad, but I can't see his name being cheered quite as loudly at the Rec now. Really quite ****** off now, rather than disappointed. Left us right in the lurch.

 

[Dougydeluxe]

I see, but all is not bad at Bath, at least your new owner still is living up to the promises he made at the start of this year.

 

[Getofmeland]

Big Loss for Bath, but it could lead for someone of a better calibre to come to Bath...

On the James note, I think he may be heading off soon... been very injury prone since arriving, so he may go back to SA...

 

[Teh Mite]

Good riddance to the dirty, over-rated thug (James that is). That also lends some weight to the Geraghty rumour.

 

[Teh Mite]

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_6562450,00.html

Leicester Tigers' board members have called for a fresh look at the salary cap imposed on clubs in England's top flight.

Aviva Premiership clubs are held to a £4m salary cap and Leicester's bosses believe the financial restrictions are hampering the club from reaching their goal of being "the best club in world rugby."

"A salary cap of £4m makes it extremely difficult for any English club to compete successfully in both Europe and the Premiership," said Chairman Peter Tom at Leicester's AGM on Tuesday.

"For a club like Leicester, this presents us with a major challenge which could, potentially, seriously inhibit our future playing success and our vision to make Tigers the best club in world rugby.

"Nobody wants to see players' salaries spiral out of control as they have done in football, but we need to get the balance right to ensure English clubs are not at a competitive disadvantage in Europe."

Executive director Peter Wheeler added that "the salary cap is making it difficult to retain the players that have come through our Academy."

"It is tough but we are working as hard as we can to keep those players," he is quoted in the Leicester Mercury.

Despite an increase in turnover and nine per cent financial growth, Leicester's squad is slowly dwindling.

"In the 2007-08 season, we had a squad of 48 players. In 2008/09, we had a squad of 45. In 2009/10, that figure fell to 41 and, for the current season, we have a squad of just 39 players," added managing director David Clayton

"To enable Tigers to be competitive in both the Premiership and the Heineken Cup, changes will need to be made to the salary cap which will allow us to have a squad of sufficient size to compete successfully in these two arenas."



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So in other words Tigers cant afford to keep Croft's wage demands underneath the Salary cap.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Apparently a load of clubs have requested the salary cap be lowered to £3.5m

 

[Teh Mite]

I'll bet the ones who want that are Sale, Newcastle, Quins, Wasps & Leeds - You know, the broke clubs.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Well with only Northampton and Leicester turning a profit, it's not surprising
I don't think it'd be a good move anyway