Shaw Lane Aquaforce manager Simon Houghton has heard a lot of incorrect figures about their playing budget
Simon Houghton has admitted that he has heard a whole host of wild estimations about Shaw Lane Aquaforce’s budget this season.
Ambitious Aquaforce are in the mix to win promotion out of the Toolstation NCEL Division One and are second after Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 defeat at AFC Emley.
Highly-rated Shaw Lane chief Houghton, who built up a solid reputation as a manager when he was in charge of Pontefract Collieries between 2008 and 2011, has been quite shocked at some of the figures that have been quoted at him.
Houghton told Sports Performer: “I’ve heard some ridiculous claims.
“Somebody said £3000 a week and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“People have been talking about Jason Price. Jason has taken a pay-cut to come to us and it is nearer home for him.
“If people think he is on Conference wages then they’re living on a different planet.
“Everybody thinks we have thousands to play with and unfortunately it is not like that. It’s not good for the club when people are making incorrect claims and it adds pressure.
“But, that’s what the lads have to deal with. If you’re at the top you have to deal with that pressure.
“The message to people who think we have a bigger budget than what we do is really that some of the players we’ve got have already taken a pay-cut to play for us.
“We have gone for players and we have missed out on them because they wanted too much money. Some think it is a bottomless pit and it is not how it works.
“We look after the 16, not just in money. They get kit and are looked after in other ways. We’re a very professionally run club and they’re all little things.
“It’s not just about ‘thank you very much lad, here’s £100 for playing’. It is not even nowhere near them type of figures anyway.”