Sounds like Lam putting someone else's money in his mouth

PRECISELY none of the owner-investors who finance professional club rugby in England are in obvious need of a tin of beans from the local food bank, which may explain their inability to embrace the spirit of togetherness in securing a sustainable future for a domestic game on the breadline.

The “spend, spend, spend” caucus on the Premiership board resent being told how much they can splash out on players, accusing the fiscal conservatives of driving the sport to the brink of a star-less abyss. Meanwhile, supporters of a tight salary cap fear the free-market fundamentalists will send the elite league clean over the edge and leave everyone kicking their legs in thin air like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote before plummeting earthwards.

A sport that has spent the last few months with its pants around its ankles saw its divisions laid bare in the starkest terms – or rather, starkersest terms – in this paper a week ago. Paul Rees’ comprehensive account of the financial tensions at play included some revealing thoughts from the Bristol rugby director Pat Lam, who threw his reputational weight behind a steroid-enhanced version of Trussonomics.

“I think clubs should be allowed to spend what they can afford,” he said, adding: “The cap should go, or be increased towards £9m. It would be up to each financial director to set the budget and if clubs went bust, it would be their fault…Keeping everything down comes at the expense of the quality of the competition. I know the argument over what happened to Wasps and Worcester this season, but where were the financial directors?” Crikey.