Exeter boss slams Premiership funding
Exeter CEO Tony Rowe has slammed funding in the Premiership just two weeks before the season is due to begin.
Exeter beat Bristol in the Championship play-off match at the back end of last season to win a place in the lucrative Premiership. A Premiership place means greater funding and sponsorship potential for a promoted club.
However, Rowe argues that the league is run in a very backward way and this is translated down through funding that is handed out to each individual club. The pressure of trying to stay in the Premier League is massive and this may have prompted Rowe's criticism.
Exeter need the additional spending to spread across a variety of areas within the playing squad and the rest of the club. He argues that the speed funding will reach the club could threaten the club's future.
Spending in different areas
Exeter are not one of the biggest rugby clubs in the country. They do not have a lucrative financial backer like Bath and they will be relying on the funding from the Premiership to advance.
Facilities within the club need to be upgraded. This means a refurbishment of the gymnasium as well as the training ground. If this does not happen then it means that Exeter are already one step behind their rivals in terms of gaining an advantage to stay up.
Greater funding will also give the club a better chance of attracting higher quality players to the club. These players will ask for a little bit more money but if Exeter get the funding then this is a price that they will happily pay.
Rowe said: "The way the Premiership is set up, it's an old boys' club in that the longer you're there, the more money you get. Everything is stacked against us. We've got one hand tied behind our back. I think it's disgusting."
Future of the club
The reason that Exeter have this hand tied behind their back is because the funding is crucial to the future of the club. For any club coming up to the Premiership, the main aim is survival and use any funding to stay secure and eradicate the threat of any trouble in the future.
This means Exeter cannot push for any additional areas of funding that they may feel entitled to. It puts them onto the back foot straight away because the security of the club will be at the very front of all minds.
Rowe added: "I let Premier Rugby know how upset my management team was over that. We are massively disadvantaged – I'm a half-full rather than a half-empty person. We're the only club that has ticked all the boxes on minimum criteria coming up. We've got a massive responsibility to our supporters. We're the senior sporting club in the West Country."
Betting advice
Exeter have made sensible additions to their playing staff throughout the summer and they have a very solid group of coaches in at the club. They have a very large support base and therefore they already have a lot going for them.
They will start the Premiership season before they receive a large amount of the funding they are entitled to. This means it will be down to the players and coaches to get off to a good start and they cannot use funding as an excuse if they lose their first few games of the season.
Exeter should just about be fine by the end of the season so if you were thinking of backing them to stay up then don't be afraid to do so.
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