"You'll end up like Leeds Utd", Spedding warns RFU

Richie Spedding had some words of advice for the Rugby Football Union today, as the player drain from League continues.
Chris Ashton will move to Northampton for a reported salary of £140,000 per annum. This is big money for a teenager, let alone one who has hardly played the game in the past, and certainly more than most - all, even - Rugby League clubs would be willing to pay. "I see a similar example from the football world and that is the catastrophe that was and is Leeds United", said Spedding in an exclusive interview. "The example I would refer to specifically is that of Seth Johnson, the then Derby winger signed by David O'Leary". Johnson was then an England U21 representative and making his way in the game. Leeds paid Derby a big fee, over £7m, and shelled out astronomical wages. "This is very similar to the case of Ashton, albeit on a smaller scale to reflect the differences in rugby income cf. football. He wasn't going to get £140,000 a year at Wigan and I doubt he'd have asked for it. Johnson was on £12k a week at Derby. He ended up with over £35k a week at Leeds. The RFU need to be careful. Many more of these raids will leave big holes in their finances. As we saw with Leeds, the gravy train comes to a halt somewhere - in their case, totally derailed and with a large number of casualties. The fans, mainly."
Spedding also cited flaws in Wigan's management of the strict salary cap as a contributory factor in Ashton's departure. "Maurice Lindsay may complain all he wants, but he's responsible for Wigan and has consistently mismanaged the cap, putting too much of it into too few players - mainly ageing and/or big-name overseas stars. This has led to him releasing a huge number of younger players to keep those few happy. It is he who must take responsibility for the drain of players away from Wigan."
There is a positive to the small but steady flow of players to the other game, however. "One thing it does say for our game", said our hero, "is that we're producing good players in good numbers. It's sad that the union game's youth development is so weak that they need to take what they perceive as a ready made player off the shelf from League rather than do their own dirty work. But it will bite them on the bum before too long."