St Helens’ Eamonn McManus on NRL takeover, Nigel Wood and Super League club bankruptcy in state of the game review

St Helens owner Eamonn McManus has warned of future bankruptcies and criticised the previous leadership of the RFL, citing frustrations from fellow owners and clubs across Super League. 

McManus discussed his thoughts on the recent resignations of former CEO Simon Johnson and his team on Jenna Brooks and Jon Wilkin’s The Bench podcast.

He slammed the recent running of the governing body, complaining about a lack of communication, empathy and action to progress the game forward.

The St Helens owner also talked about future bankruptcies if the league continues in its current form as well as a potential partnership with the NRL and his thoughts on why Nigel Wood is the best man to take rugby league in this country to the next level.

Comparing rugby league financial issues to those in rugby union, he said: “Probably the worst business model in British sport over the last twenty to thirty years has been club rugby union, whereby individual owners have had to pony up between four and five million pounds per year and clearly that eventuated in the bankruptcy in the same season of three clubs and there’s another one that’s going to possibly happen now.

“If that happened in rugby league and take it from me, unless things change, it will. We’ve seen it with Salford already. They don’t have owners who are prepared to put in three to four million pounds a year, which we are facing at this point in time.”

St Helens owner criticises RFL for rugby league’s decline

He touched on a proposed salary cap abolishment from the RFL with no approval from the owners late last year, calling it ‘non-sensical’.

Following that decision, he said: “We got together and had a vote and reversed it by 11-1 because on top of the already two to four million pounds per club that we were losing, to effectively abolish the salary cap would cause hyperinflation, was non-sensical.

“How could that happen? This is what I’m saying in terms of lack of communication, lack of empathy, lack of action and that has got to change.

Following McManus’ strongly-worded statement from last week, he explained more on that.

He said: “If you look at the last two to three years, there’s been frustrations behind the scenes. Should we say with a lot of the clubs, owners and the wider game as to the financial performance of the game or the non-financial performance of the game?

“Each year, there’s been a negative swing in income into the game and the clubs that were always historically breaking even or profitable are now losing between £3 to £4 million a year.

“I think everybody recognises on the international stage when you actually look at the last three or four years, there’s been a further deterioration in terms of a loss-making World Cup, an announcement for the World Cup in France that didn’t take place, and an England team going to France, playing in front of a crowd of two to three thousand.

“The state of the game has significantly deteriorated.”

What should happen next in rugby league, per Eamonn McManus

That has led to multiple resignations of key RFL figures and a re-appointment of former chairman Nigel Wood in the interim.

St Helens chief McManus was not shy about sharing his views about where he feels the RFL has failed in recent years and why he’s backed Woods to make a successful return.

He added: “We want a governing body that recognises it, works with us to improve it and has an empathy for the clubs because if you don’t have that, you don’t have clubs, you don’t have a game.

“What we want to see going forward is a new team which is qualified, capable, understands commerce, understands and passionately feels about the game of rugby league, that we can work with in order to improve the position.

“Certainly, Nigel Wood is a figure that the vast majority in the game, as members of the council, put a resolution forward whereby he could be appointed as an interim chair during what is a difficult period.

He criticised the previous board, citing ‘a detachment’ from the owners and “no recognition that the situation is as bad as it is”.

The St Helens chairman is open to dialogue with the NRL on a potential collaboration but admitted the sport needs strengthening over here before that can happen, although no plans have been formally put forward yet.

He said: “Even if it does develop, we should be looking to discuss and negotiate from a position of strength. We have to improve our game. First of all, let’s get our own house in order.”