Have Nottingham and Belfast outgrown the league?
- Thread starter Ocko
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#43
Even though the EPL would be more stable than the EIHL I dont think the club would see that as an option. What I could see is something like the BNL reforming. 8-10 imports with a wage cap but also a minimum spend. Like I said earlier the keys to this are us and Coventry. If we both pull out of the EIHL watch everyone else follow. Leaving Neil Black and the Giants. I think even the Steelers would buy into it. Although the crowds are up at the house of tin, there are undoubtably a lot of freebees. I also think Tony Smith would see the 'greater good' in obiding by this.
The similarities between the EIHL and ISL are becoming bigger by the year. The EIHL seemed perfect at the time and in theory was for the first few years until the gentlemans agreement of a wage cap became something agreed to something not even mentioned. Now it is just a timebomb waiting to blow up just like the ISL. A reasonable spend by most teams at first and subsequent arms race later proved arena hockey did not work then and certainly wont work now. At least in the ISL the lesser teams were still entertaining, that isnt the case now though.
Something that should also be looked out is local talent development. Not stealing Brits from other teams for large wages, but maybe a minimum amount of players that must have come through junior development to be in the matchday squad.
The similarities between the EIHL and ISL are becoming bigger by the year. The EIHL seemed perfect at the time and in theory was for the first few years until the gentlemans agreement of a wage cap became something agreed to something not even mentioned. Now it is just a timebomb waiting to blow up just like the ISL. A reasonable spend by most teams at first and subsequent arms race later proved arena hockey did not work then and certainly wont work now. At least in the ISL the lesser teams were still entertaining, that isnt the case now though.
Something that should also be looked out is local talent development. Not stealing Brits from other teams for large wages, but maybe a minimum amount of players that must have come through junior development to be in the matchday squad.
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#50
I'm assuming you mean two out of Roberts, Brown and Dickson. I would hardly consider those to be players that are anything other than warming your bench and making up the numbers.
Belfast have been around long enough to at least have some sort of successful development programme in place. Off the top of my head you have had Mo Morrison who was pretty useless and warmed the bench and Graeme Walton, who played a fair amount of games but wasnt great. That's a pretty poor record for a team that is in it's 14th year.
Belfast have been around long enough to at least have some sort of successful development programme in place. Off the top of my head you have had Mo Morrison who was pretty useless and warmed the bench and Graeme Walton, who played a fair amount of games but wasnt great. That's a pretty poor record for a team that is in it's 14th year.
I think smaller teams have shown by good management and good recruitment they can compete night in night out. Look at Dundee Stars and Jeff Hutchins.
Devils have been shocking this season but not sure why. Recruitment at the start of the season, Devils had a team as good as any in the EIHL. But you lose your coach Gerad Adams and Adam Ross, Andrew Conboy, Dan LaCosta and a top Brit Phil Hill.
I think the Devils have had 15 or more imports pass through their roster this season, but for what ever reason they sit 8th. The guys that have left the Devils this season have not been replaced properly. And say what you want about Phil Hill you can not replace top quality Brits, the more you have in the roster the better.
I'm sure Panthers fans will not think they have out grown the league this season. They have brought in 20+ imports this season and a quality Brit in Robert Farmer yet still sit behind the Stars who have recruited well and played as a team.
Giants brought back 12 of the same team as last season and added guys like Jeff Szwez, Evan Cheverie, Dustin Whitecotton, Chris Higgins, Calvin Elfring, Cody Brookwell. A lot of people looked at our roster at the start of the season and said we were a 3/4 placed team this term. But a massive reason for our success this season is a top quality coach who gets the best out of the players he has. The only player the Giants have brought in this season is Peacock.
Devils have been shocking this season but not sure why. Recruitment at the start of the season, Devils had a team as good as any in the EIHL. But you lose your coach Gerad Adams and Adam Ross, Andrew Conboy, Dan LaCosta and a top Brit Phil Hill.
I think the Devils have had 15 or more imports pass through their roster this season, but for what ever reason they sit 8th. The guys that have left the Devils this season have not been replaced properly. And say what you want about Phil Hill you can not replace top quality Brits, the more you have in the roster the better.
I'm sure Panthers fans will not think they have out grown the league this season. They have brought in 20+ imports this season and a quality Brit in Robert Farmer yet still sit behind the Stars who have recruited well and played as a team.
Giants brought back 12 of the same team as last season and added guys like Jeff Szwez, Evan Cheverie, Dustin Whitecotton, Chris Higgins, Calvin Elfring, Cody Brookwell. A lot of people looked at our roster at the start of the season and said we were a 3/4 placed team this term. But a massive reason for our success this season is a top quality coach who gets the best out of the players he has. The only player the Giants have brought in this season is Peacock.
Part of the success is definitely down to recruitment and coaching. Giants however have managed to stay relatively injury free which in turn has allowed settled lines. You could see that on the weekend. Nottingham have a team with a lot of talent but the lineup changes every week and the players are having to adapt to that.
A salary cap like they used to have in the MLB would be good. Don't know if they still do it but it basically goes along the lines of all the teams have a salary cap for the year. If you go over you have to pay that same amount into a pot which gets added to the cap of the teams that stay under.
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Long time lurker, first time poster. I had to register to address this apparent 'setting the record straight'.
Far from being "welcomed to use" Neil Black had to fight to secure usage of the National Ice Centre. When the NIC was built IHUK (or more specifically members of IHUK who owned teams in the BNL) tried their hardest to prevent the ISL from being recognised as an 'official' league under the UK controlling body (IHUK). A condition of tenancy at the NIC was that any professional team had to play in a league recognised by IHUK. Such was the tangled mess that Panthers didn't secure usage of the NIC until just over a week before the season started.
As for Panthers' relationship with the NIC, Panthers have little if any more 'benefits' than any other promoter who uses the arena. They pay full market prices for the use of the facilities, both on match nights (circa £15k) and for training (£136 p/hr). On the subject of training though, Panthers have no more access to ice time than any other ice sports that use the facilities, indeed figure skating and short course speed skating actually have priority with regards to ice time, this being another condition placed upon the arena due to funding sources for its construction (BOA funding was sourced for figure and s/c speed skating).
As for Neil Black's spending on Panthers, you're correct, he did restrict funding on the Panthers whilst they were at LPS for the reason you mentioned. The funding didn't magically pick up once Panthers moved to the NIC though, in fact the season they moved to the NIC funding dropped (and dropped again the season after). Why? Because rather than being a Daddy Warbucks type character, taking out the cheque book and buying success, Neil Black (as he has always done) insisted that Panthers be self-funding. Their outgoings just on arena rental and ice time had gone through the roof compared to LPS but the crowds had yet to rise to break-even level for what was the wage cap in the ISL at the time (£500k). so something had to give. In a season when other teams were hitting and breaking the cap limit Panthers had a self-imposed limit £100k+ below them. He did do something different to many smaller teams now. He accepted putting out a less competitive team (and potentially alienating fans, which by the angry letters pouring into the Nottingham Post it evidently did ) in order to ensure that the club developed gradually to a level at which it would be self-supporting.
Yes having a shiny new arena is handy, but it doesn't come complete with fans. Break-even for the NIC is circa 3,700, LPS had a maximum capacity 2,500ish at a push. Simplistically that is a shortfall of 1,200 fans, not taking into account season ticket holders etc. The 'handy city centre location' is also a double-edged sword. City centres contain other attractions and when you are putting out a team that the owner has forced to be less competitive than those of your rivals those other attractions may seem more attractive. As it was, Neil Black's gamble paid off, and the fans kept coming and crowds increased over time but it could have easily gone the other way were it not for the loyalty shown by the majority of the Nottingham fanbase. Hell, we've seen some teams lose fans after a winning season have we not?
I can understand some Cardiff fans' frustration at the moment. 'Back in the day' you were one of the big teams, indeed its widely accepted that you were one of the original 'chequebook hockey' teams (wasn't it the hiring of Steve Moria and the Cooper brothers that started it all?) Admittedly my knowledge of British hockey back then is pretty shaky but were Cardiff fans at the time worrying about where their spending was taking the league or did most sit back and enjoy the ride?
If anything my experience has taught me with regards to British hockey (and to be honest, sport in general) that teams take their turns at the top. Cardiff have had their turn, Coventry their's, Sheffield have slipped off a little and Panthers finally managed after so many years of apparently having an advantage (13 years at the NIC) to take the top prize. Cardiff's turn will come again and I hope that when it does it will be with them competing against the best ice hockey teams in the UK rather than, a'la Manchester, by slinking off to a smaller pond.
Just my two cents worth.
Far from being "welcomed to use" Neil Black had to fight to secure usage of the National Ice Centre. When the NIC was built IHUK (or more specifically members of IHUK who owned teams in the BNL) tried their hardest to prevent the ISL from being recognised as an 'official' league under the UK controlling body (IHUK). A condition of tenancy at the NIC was that any professional team had to play in a league recognised by IHUK. Such was the tangled mess that Panthers didn't secure usage of the NIC until just over a week before the season started.
As for Panthers' relationship with the NIC, Panthers have little if any more 'benefits' than any other promoter who uses the arena. They pay full market prices for the use of the facilities, both on match nights (circa £15k) and for training (£136 p/hr). On the subject of training though, Panthers have no more access to ice time than any other ice sports that use the facilities, indeed figure skating and short course speed skating actually have priority with regards to ice time, this being another condition placed upon the arena due to funding sources for its construction (BOA funding was sourced for figure and s/c speed skating).
As for Neil Black's spending on Panthers, you're correct, he did restrict funding on the Panthers whilst they were at LPS for the reason you mentioned. The funding didn't magically pick up once Panthers moved to the NIC though, in fact the season they moved to the NIC funding dropped (and dropped again the season after). Why? Because rather than being a Daddy Warbucks type character, taking out the cheque book and buying success, Neil Black (as he has always done) insisted that Panthers be self-funding. Their outgoings just on arena rental and ice time had gone through the roof compared to LPS but the crowds had yet to rise to break-even level for what was the wage cap in the ISL at the time (£500k). so something had to give. In a season when other teams were hitting and breaking the cap limit Panthers had a self-imposed limit £100k+ below them. He did do something different to many smaller teams now. He accepted putting out a less competitive team (and potentially alienating fans, which by the angry letters pouring into the Nottingham Post it evidently did ) in order to ensure that the club developed gradually to a level at which it would be self-supporting.
Yes having a shiny new arena is handy, but it doesn't come complete with fans. Break-even for the NIC is circa 3,700, LPS had a maximum capacity 2,500ish at a push. Simplistically that is a shortfall of 1,200 fans, not taking into account season ticket holders etc. The 'handy city centre location' is also a double-edged sword. City centres contain other attractions and when you are putting out a team that the owner has forced to be less competitive than those of your rivals those other attractions may seem more attractive. As it was, Neil Black's gamble paid off, and the fans kept coming and crowds increased over time but it could have easily gone the other way were it not for the loyalty shown by the majority of the Nottingham fanbase. Hell, we've seen some teams lose fans after a winning season have we not?
I can understand some Cardiff fans' frustration at the moment. 'Back in the day' you were one of the big teams, indeed its widely accepted that you were one of the original 'chequebook hockey' teams (wasn't it the hiring of Steve Moria and the Cooper brothers that started it all?) Admittedly my knowledge of British hockey back then is pretty shaky but were Cardiff fans at the time worrying about where their spending was taking the league or did most sit back and enjoy the ride?
If anything my experience has taught me with regards to British hockey (and to be honest, sport in general) that teams take their turns at the top. Cardiff have had their turn, Coventry their's, Sheffield have slipped off a little and Panthers finally managed after so many years of apparently having an advantage (13 years at the NIC) to take the top prize. Cardiff's turn will come again and I hope that when it does it will be with them competing against the best ice hockey teams in the UK rather than, a'la Manchester, by slinking off to a smaller pond.
Just my two cents worth.
A great post with plenty of meat to it. You seem to know your Panthers history.
Just a couple of things that leap out. When LPS and the NIC was built the ISL was already in full swing with Panthers firmly a member of it. The league was already ratified by IHUK with the winner given the national title and sent as the UK representative into the IIHF european cup competitions. The IHUK ratification issue came at the infancy of the EIHL with the IIHF stepping in the force the peace in the end. Therefore the Panthers and Neil Black were firmly in the driving seat to take residency of any pro Ice Hockey in the new arena. Not saying negotiating a package suitable wouldn't have been easy but the Panthers not residing in the NIC. That would have to have been Blacks call.
The finances yes are prohibiting playing in that arena but a small note of interest must be that that ice time must have a deduction or subsidy behind it as in Cardiff we are paying (my rec team) approx £160 p/hr for ice time so to be paying £24 p/hr less than a going rate in Cardiff seems generous and slightly anomolous for an arena with the attached overheads. A nice package. Now yes the arena is a noose but also in its own right a selling point one which cannot be played down. Kids will go just to have a night out with a coke and hot dog not having a clue what is on the ice and people can in essence make a night of it with drinks and food before and after the game also. To not be able to hit 3700 on average would be going some.
Granted Neil Black cut his cloth when forced knowing his golden goose was coming but he should also now that the ISL failed because the arms race made the bottom of that league fall out. By his refusal to adhere to a wage cap within the EIHL era and driving with others the number of imports up and not down he in my eyes is guilty of forgetting himself. Is it simply he believes imports offer the product he needs to sell to get his needed 3700 through the door so his model isn't as robust as it appears on the outside. He needs to address that growth in the UK depends on the national team. He needs to drive the import limit down. Fine throw your money at the brits but 11 is to strong. He has to take another gamble. His last one worked like you said.
Great and enjoyable debate by the way.
Just a couple of things that leap out. When LPS and the NIC was built the ISL was already in full swing with Panthers firmly a member of it. The league was already ratified by IHUK with the winner given the national title and sent as the UK representative into the IIHF european cup competitions. The IHUK ratification issue came at the infancy of the EIHL with the IIHF stepping in the force the peace in the end. Therefore the Panthers and Neil Black were firmly in the driving seat to take residency of any pro Ice Hockey in the new arena. Not saying negotiating a package suitable wouldn't have been easy but the Panthers not residing in the NIC. That would have to have been Blacks call.
The finances yes are prohibiting playing in that arena but a small note of interest must be that that ice time must have a deduction or subsidy behind it as in Cardiff we are paying (my rec team) approx £160 p/hr for ice time so to be paying £24 p/hr less than a going rate in Cardiff seems generous and slightly anomolous for an arena with the attached overheads. A nice package. Now yes the arena is a noose but also in its own right a selling point one which cannot be played down. Kids will go just to have a night out with a coke and hot dog not having a clue what is on the ice and people can in essence make a night of it with drinks and food before and after the game also. To not be able to hit 3700 on average would be going some.
Granted Neil Black cut his cloth when forced knowing his golden goose was coming but he should also now that the ISL failed because the arms race made the bottom of that league fall out. By his refusal to adhere to a wage cap within the EIHL era and driving with others the number of imports up and not down he in my eyes is guilty of forgetting himself. Is it simply he believes imports offer the product he needs to sell to get his needed 3700 through the door so his model isn't as robust as it appears on the outside. He needs to address that growth in the UK depends on the national team. He needs to drive the import limit down. Fine throw your money at the brits but 11 is to strong. He has to take another gamble. His last one worked like you said.
Great and enjoyable debate by the way.
Sorry "Mooney#16", just need to clarify a few things. In my defence the shenanigans that went on regarding the NIC happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.....
I completely forgot that 'certain BNL owners' actually made two attempts to prevent Nottingham Panthers from using the NIC, one during the ISL days and one, as you quite rightly state, when the EIHL was being formed.
The argument used when Panthers played in the ISL related to a perceived lack of development potential for British players in what was an import dominated league. Because funding was provided by both the BOA and the Sports Lottery towards the building of the NIC those 'certain BNL owners' argued that an ISL team using the NIC was not compatible with the BOA and Sport Lottery's goals of attempting to increase participation and quality of players at the highest level of the sport.
This could be seen as a fairly sound argument being as the ISL was import dominated and all teams playing in it generally went for imports over Brits. To be fair to ISL teams though this choice wasn't solely one of their making. The BNL at the time was a fairly good league itself and tempting British players from their comfortable places on BNL benches, where often they would have been playing for some of the historic names in British hockey, was no easy thing.
To be honest I'm only going off what we (a rec team) pay for ice time per hour. It could be that as Panthers are a professional team they are charged more. We as a rec team may get a lower rate due to the underpinning policy of 'encouraging participation' which is written into the NIC contract. I'm guessing there must be some sliding scale of charges in order that it is affordable for say two figure skaters to use the arena pad after we have finished for the night. Are they really paying £68 per head to use the ice?
There was no certainty of a 'golden goose' coming. Nothing was certain back then. To lead on though, Neil Black has always insisted Panthers 'cut their cloth', that is the reason for their stability (and lack of league titles) ultimately. Look at the teams who have multiple league title wins in the EIHL-era, how many haven't Phoenixed at some point?
Its a cheap dig but lets not forget, it was an arms race Cardiff were very much part of. Not saying two wrongs make a right but once again, Cardiff are acknowledged as being the first 'Chequebook Hockey' team. Its easy to cry foul when you lose the race, but its only becomes a race because of the participants.
There is no wage cap in the EIHL and hasn't been since well before Panthers started flexing their financial muscles after many years of buying cheap in order to stay within their means.
Imports offer the most affordable option if you want a competitive team. The import cap artificially inflates the wages of what decent Brits there are, indeed there are less capable Brits on wages comparable to those of much more capable imports purely as a mechanism of need.
Growth of ice hockey in the UK is not dependant upon the national team but it could be argued though it is the other way around, the quality of the national team is dependant upon growth of ice hockey in the UK. Growth of ice hockey in the UK isn't hindered by the top league allowing 11 imports on the 20 place bench though, the hindrance to growth in the UK is far more fundamental than that, money and accessibility. I'm sure I don't need to explain why money is an issue but accessibility? Well we live in a country dominated by soccer in the same way that my home state is dominated by hockey. "Small boys in the park, jumpers for goal posts" is all that is required to get into soccer. Ice hockey on the other hand.....
As it is at the moment if the import limit was lowered teams like Hull, Dundee, Braehead and perhaps even Cardiff would suffer. The little known fact about the increase of the import limits the other year was that it was the 'smaller' teams asking for it. Why? Well as I've already said, decent Brits are expensive. EPL fans may mock EIHL imports as being "has beens, never rans and flops" (though what that makes EPL imports I'll never know!) but quite simply this perceived lack of interest in NA is what makes them so useful to smaller teams in the UK. The standard of the EIHL is broadly comparable to ECHL/CHL, the players we generally see in the EIHL are generally players from those NA leagues. They aren't expensive, not by a long shot, and they don't generally cost anywhere near what a 'top' Brit will cost. Look at Dowd, generally accepted to be on the highest wages in the EIHL. Is he head and shoulders better than the imports on his team?
He is a team owner, not the league owner. There are eight other team owners in the EIHL who have a say on what goes on and to be honest the 'arena teams' are very much in the minority. The reason the EIHL is how it is at the moment isn't because its what is good for the arena teams, its because it is what is the best option at the moment for all teams.
Say the non-arena teams forced though a reduction of the import limits, what good would it do?
Short-term, the arena teams are going to have to throw money at every Brit who can lace up a pair of skates. How is this going to help the smaller teams? The 'haves' will still have the better players and the 'have nots' won't be able to resort to bringing in cheaper imports to compete because, well the import limit is lower. Long-term the 'haves' will start to struggle because they'll be paying even more over the odds for the better Brits than they currently are and the 'have nots' will be getting tonked week in, week out playing barely better than NIHL teams. Oh and where would such a move leave the EPL? As it is some of the bigger EPL teams have budgets not far off those in the EIHL but with smaller crowds.
Yes, long-term it would be great to have more higher quality Brits (though I have no interest in the national team as I'm not from around these parts) but such a movement needs to come from the bottom up. Simply creating demand at the top won't produce more capable Brits whilst the nepotism rife in junior hockey and sheer lack of facilities exists.
The EIHL is not perfect, far from it, but it is currently at the most stable it has been for a long while and is seemingly weathering this current financial malaise fairly well. Whatever you may think of the coverage the EIHL has attracted a regular broadcaster to cover weekly games, something I don't believe has happened since the Heiniken days and looking at the league shows that, Belfast aside (who have been extremely lucky with injuries), it is very competitive overall.
As I said before, yes you are no doubt frustrated with Cardiff's position and the quality of your team but this is more an issue of Cardiff's making, or more specifically, Ragan's. As an outsider it is horrible to watch what has been going on at your team this season off-ice so I can only imagine that it is even more so for yourselves. I can fully understand that this frustration can manifest itself in many forms and looking for an external factor for being the cause is only natural. As a Panthers fan I've felt frustrated before and in moments of madness jumped on the "its a league conspiracy to stop us" bandwagon when, for season after season (even with us being the most stable team in the EIHL) we once again failed to end those "1956" jeers we get when travelling all over the place. How frustrating do you think it is to be told by opposition fans that Neil Black is the anti-Christ because he has the league in his back pocket, yet fail to see the fruits of his apparent ownership of the league result in a league title (once again)?
Yes it is, thank you very much.
I completely forgot that 'certain BNL owners' actually made two attempts to prevent Nottingham Panthers from using the NIC, one during the ISL days and one, as you quite rightly state, when the EIHL was being formed.
The argument used when Panthers played in the ISL related to a perceived lack of development potential for British players in what was an import dominated league. Because funding was provided by both the BOA and the Sports Lottery towards the building of the NIC those 'certain BNL owners' argued that an ISL team using the NIC was not compatible with the BOA and Sport Lottery's goals of attempting to increase participation and quality of players at the highest level of the sport.
This could be seen as a fairly sound argument being as the ISL was import dominated and all teams playing in it generally went for imports over Brits. To be fair to ISL teams though this choice wasn't solely one of their making. The BNL at the time was a fairly good league itself and tempting British players from their comfortable places on BNL benches, where often they would have been playing for some of the historic names in British hockey, was no easy thing.
To be honest I'm only going off what we (a rec team) pay for ice time per hour. It could be that as Panthers are a professional team they are charged more. We as a rec team may get a lower rate due to the underpinning policy of 'encouraging participation' which is written into the NIC contract. I'm guessing there must be some sliding scale of charges in order that it is affordable for say two figure skaters to use the arena pad after we have finished for the night. Are they really paying £68 per head to use the ice?
There was no certainty of a 'golden goose' coming. Nothing was certain back then. To lead on though, Neil Black has always insisted Panthers 'cut their cloth', that is the reason for their stability (and lack of league titles) ultimately. Look at the teams who have multiple league title wins in the EIHL-era, how many haven't Phoenixed at some point?
Its a cheap dig but lets not forget, it was an arms race Cardiff were very much part of. Not saying two wrongs make a right but once again, Cardiff are acknowledged as being the first 'Chequebook Hockey' team. Its easy to cry foul when you lose the race, but its only becomes a race because of the participants.
There is no wage cap in the EIHL and hasn't been since well before Panthers started flexing their financial muscles after many years of buying cheap in order to stay within their means.
Imports offer the most affordable option if you want a competitive team. The import cap artificially inflates the wages of what decent Brits there are, indeed there are less capable Brits on wages comparable to those of much more capable imports purely as a mechanism of need.
Growth of ice hockey in the UK is not dependant upon the national team but it could be argued though it is the other way around, the quality of the national team is dependant upon growth of ice hockey in the UK. Growth of ice hockey in the UK isn't hindered by the top league allowing 11 imports on the 20 place bench though, the hindrance to growth in the UK is far more fundamental than that, money and accessibility. I'm sure I don't need to explain why money is an issue but accessibility? Well we live in a country dominated by soccer in the same way that my home state is dominated by hockey. "Small boys in the park, jumpers for goal posts" is all that is required to get into soccer. Ice hockey on the other hand.....
As it is at the moment if the import limit was lowered teams like Hull, Dundee, Braehead and perhaps even Cardiff would suffer. The little known fact about the increase of the import limits the other year was that it was the 'smaller' teams asking for it. Why? Well as I've already said, decent Brits are expensive. EPL fans may mock EIHL imports as being "has beens, never rans and flops" (though what that makes EPL imports I'll never know!) but quite simply this perceived lack of interest in NA is what makes them so useful to smaller teams in the UK. The standard of the EIHL is broadly comparable to ECHL/CHL, the players we generally see in the EIHL are generally players from those NA leagues. They aren't expensive, not by a long shot, and they don't generally cost anywhere near what a 'top' Brit will cost. Look at Dowd, generally accepted to be on the highest wages in the EIHL. Is he head and shoulders better than the imports on his team?
He is a team owner, not the league owner. There are eight other team owners in the EIHL who have a say on what goes on and to be honest the 'arena teams' are very much in the minority. The reason the EIHL is how it is at the moment isn't because its what is good for the arena teams, its because it is what is the best option at the moment for all teams.
Say the non-arena teams forced though a reduction of the import limits, what good would it do?
Short-term, the arena teams are going to have to throw money at every Brit who can lace up a pair of skates. How is this going to help the smaller teams? The 'haves' will still have the better players and the 'have nots' won't be able to resort to bringing in cheaper imports to compete because, well the import limit is lower. Long-term the 'haves' will start to struggle because they'll be paying even more over the odds for the better Brits than they currently are and the 'have nots' will be getting tonked week in, week out playing barely better than NIHL teams. Oh and where would such a move leave the EPL? As it is some of the bigger EPL teams have budgets not far off those in the EIHL but with smaller crowds.
Yes, long-term it would be great to have more higher quality Brits (though I have no interest in the national team as I'm not from around these parts) but such a movement needs to come from the bottom up. Simply creating demand at the top won't produce more capable Brits whilst the nepotism rife in junior hockey and sheer lack of facilities exists.
The EIHL is not perfect, far from it, but it is currently at the most stable it has been for a long while and is seemingly weathering this current financial malaise fairly well. Whatever you may think of the coverage the EIHL has attracted a regular broadcaster to cover weekly games, something I don't believe has happened since the Heiniken days and looking at the league shows that, Belfast aside (who have been extremely lucky with injuries), it is very competitive overall.
As I said before, yes you are no doubt frustrated with Cardiff's position and the quality of your team but this is more an issue of Cardiff's making, or more specifically, Ragan's. As an outsider it is horrible to watch what has been going on at your team this season off-ice so I can only imagine that it is even more so for yourselves. I can fully understand that this frustration can manifest itself in many forms and looking for an external factor for being the cause is only natural. As a Panthers fan I've felt frustrated before and in moments of madness jumped on the "its a league conspiracy to stop us" bandwagon when, for season after season (even with us being the most stable team in the EIHL) we once again failed to end those "1956" jeers we get when travelling all over the place. How frustrating do you think it is to be told by opposition fans that Neil Black is the anti-Christ because he has the league in his back pocket, yet fail to see the fruits of his apparent ownership of the league result in a league title (once again)?
Yes it is, thank you very much.