Glenn Delaney column

By Glenn Delaney
Nottingham director of rugby

It was not easy to tell the players and staff that they will need to take wage cuts to keep the club alive

November was a difficult month for Nottingham Rugby.

We announced that the club had serious financial difficulties due to the effect of the credit crunch and significant investment was required to get us through to the end of the season.

We are still in financial difficulty and to keep driving the club forward we need significant investment.

But the support has been fantastic - we have raised �40,000 of the �150,000 needed to keep us going until the end of the year.

There has been significant cost cutting and it was not easy telling the players and staff they need to take wage cuts to keep the club alive, especially when on the field we have been going from strength to strength.

I am delighted that the team has really pulled together but to be honest I wouldn't expect anything else from them.

We have a very special group of players and, despite being a much smaller squad than most of the teams around us at the top of the league, we are still performing at a consistently high standard.

'Focus after Leeds loss'

If you compare our playing budget to the top six we are way down the list and have consistently punched above our weight.

Sunday's loss against Leeds was disappointing but our focus is to finish in the top four this season and we are well on course for that at the half-way stage.

We have lost three games now this season and I would be surprised to see Leeds lose that many in the remainder of the term.

The league restructuring that is likely to take place next season is an exciting prospect and we want to be one of the front runners in the new 12-team Championship.

A top-four finish could mean a place in the main Anglo-Welsh Cup which would mean some fantastic fixtures at Meadow Lane against Guinness Premiership and Magners League opposition - something I am sure our fans would love to see.

'Fantastic home'

The most important thing in the short term is that we continue to keep moving the club forward on and off the field.

The players are doing a fantastic job, their focus is to keep winning and playing the exciting brand of rugby that we have enjoyed over the last two or three seasons.

Off the field the fight continues and the players have been busy selling their calendars all around town even popping into workplaces to the delight of the female staff.

Everyone at the club and many of the supporters have been working extremely hard to keep the momentum and keep driving the club forward but there is still a long way to go.

On the field we will be hoping to get back to winning ways this weekend in Plymouth before returning for the Christmas cracker at Meadow Lane on 28 December against Esher at 1945 GMT.

Glenn Delaney was talking to BBC Nottingham's Heather Hinchley.