Naholo

[Neils]

Same rumour merchants who got the Launchers news completely wrong now saying Naholo could be Irish bound instead of us.
Also had missed them signing Mafi on £500k per year. Good use of CVC money that wasn't supposed to be used that way I thought.

[RBB]

Irish are doing their level best to smash the cap to smithereens, if we believe everything we read. Paddy Jackson won't be cheap, plus all of the other marquee names that are being mooted. If Naholo rocks up in the UK, it will be almost certainly be linked to a comfort zone, I would back playing with Sopps and Fekitoa as almost a default position......

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I'd like to think he'd come to us, we need someone like him.  Time will tell though.

[westwaleswasp]

I think we need to consider very carefully how many big name S hemisphere players we sign from a playing point of view, especially those without much experience of the NH game who may take time to get used to it up here. We may be able to have one more, but there will be a point where we can't. More importantly, from a crowd POV, we need some top English names to get bums on seats, jokes about dropping the gold are all very well, but Wasps have spent the whole of the pro era with a very English identity and are trying to settle in a new city with a football club dispute hanging round the neck. The potential for crowds to drop is high, for me having a few more English stars would make me feel a little less worried.

[RogerE]

Interesting to see what would happen if they smash the Premiership salary cap whilst in the Championship and then get promoted.

Would they have to then release players to bring themselves down to the cap?

[BG]

In theory they would... of course what they could do (indeed any rich club in the Championsip) is front load players contracted wages for the season they are in the championship and then by agreement with the player reduce their wages when promoted to the premiership.

Do LI have some new rich backers or something then or were they always well financed?

As an aside, I've not heard about the takeover of Wuss and how their new backers are changing things, if at all?

[Hymenoptera]

I think we need to consider very carefully how many big name S hemisphere players we sign from a playing point of view, especially those without much experience of the NH game who may take time to get used to it up here. We may be able to have one more, but there will be a point where we can't. More importantly, from a crowd POV, we need some top English names to get bums on seats, jokes about dropping the gold are all very well, but Wasps have spent the whole of the pro era with a very English identity and are trying to settle in a new city with a football club dispute hanging round the neck. The potential for crowds to drop is high, for me having a few more English stars would make me feel a little less worried.

Be interested to know what sort of English names you think would put bums on seats?

Would i rather go see a Bauden Barritt or a George Ford, A Damien Mckenzie or Mike Brown, a Fekitoa or a Max Clarke....I know who i'd choose.

[westwaleswasp]

Sounds trite, but Wade, Cipriani, Robson, Daly are all Englush players who are exciting, and probably more so than their replacements in two cases at least.
They are not easy to replace. Fortunately we still have Robson.
I have high hopes we can sign a couple of exciting youngsters (e. g Vellacott rumour) and promote from the academy to balance things out.
I was not aware we were in the market for Bauden Barritt style A list All Blacks, we are signing at a level below that. Offer me a sixty cap Aussie like Kurtley Beale and I will bite your hand off, as I would for Bauden, so it is a bit of a false comparison, especially with Fekitoa and Clarke. I mean if we are comparing Fekitoa with Daly, then I would rather watch Daly of last year in all honesty.
Nobody wants to see Mike Brown, but I would welcome a footballer like Goode or a Jonny May winger with pace. Sadly Eddie's houdehold names are rather prosaic more often than not. I am not against another AB, but we have to be careful with the balance, and more careful than most.

The Barritts and  even Retallicks of the world will put bums on seats, but we don't seem to be linked with sixty cap household names from the SH. Shields was an ideal situation with his English qualifications.

Final edit- Antony Watson if he ever stayed fit would be a bums on seats type English player.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

It's worth remembering that after Barrett had a complete mare and Lima came off the bench and saved the game he actually displaced Barrett from the starting shirt. He pulled out of the game when his wife went into labour and then decided his priorities in life were different when he was a father.

So yes we haven't signed Barrett, we signed the man that took the AB starting 10 shirt from him.

[BG]

Do particular signings put bums on seats? I would have thought most people that go to the games are broadly supporting the team as a whole and not going to see a particular player.

[wasps]

I don't think that a particular name puts bums on seats.
If you're not going to Wasps games at all, you won't suddenly change your mind even if a Kurtley Beale signs.
However, if these kind of players make us more exciting to watch, then we will attract more fans gradually over time.

That's presumably the theory anyway

[westwaleswasp]

I think the question for us is about attracting a portion of the extra 12K at the Bath game - the casuals. Football fans who maybe just watch the 6n and odd international, the rugby curious rather than the enfranchised. Rugby supporters and followers are a spectrum, of course, rather than crude binary categories of enfranchised and curious, but for the most part I think people will understand who I mean.

For them I think there are many potential factors, such as style, winning, star names, kids facilities, gimmicks even. Star signings are a part of that, it generates good back page headlines, in the same way that star players leaving generate negative ones. In the long term style is probably the most important for a club like us- we don't have the geographical loyalty of Tigers, Saints, Glaws etc. Different rules apply to us for various reasons, and it might not be a huge impact but I would be surprised if top signings don't increase attendance directly and indirectly. 

[RBB]

As a resident of Solihull, the next generation Wasps fans will almost certainly be West Midlands/Warwickshire based but the club has to focus on attracting support from traditional rugby heartlands, Solihull and surrounding areas into South and North Warwickshire and of course Coventry and it's broad conurbation, e.g. the town of Rugby etc.. The Greater Birmingham area is not traditionally a rugby heartland, notwithstanding Solihull or parts of the borders with Warwickshire and Worcestershire, football reigns supreme even it has fallen on hard times. The appeal of the 'package' is what will get casual supporters becoming regular/frequent supporters, the kids I coach all support Wasps, apart from the odd 'Warrior' or 'Tiger'. Most of them go to The Ricoh with their families now, I think part of the attraction is the 'package', Under 10s free, the Fanzone and The Ricoh etc., to youngsters Wasps are 'cool', adding star names strengthens the appeal. Whether we agree with southern hemisphere imports or not, the club is a business and the outcome for the business is dictated by results, and therefore needs to look at all options to grow the club but focus on the results, after all that is what makes us smile or not. Results are part of the package. The Greater Birmingham / West Midlands area offers a great opportunity, Wasps are doing the right things, e.g. partnering with JLR and other local employers such as Lear, DS Smith and Purity. The more profile the club gets, the likelihood of casuals becoming supporters increases.

[Raggs]

Apparently he's liking a lot of London Irish stuff on Instagram. Maymean Irish have him.

[Neils]

Must be lots more money as the pull of ex team mates should have been enough.