York Wasps chief executive Ann Garvey has defended the club's decision to lower players' wages this season in the wake of comments made by former coach Dean Robinson.

She revealed that late chairman Trevor Cox had insisted on a realistic wage budget at the start of the season to avoid the pitfalls of previous years.

"Trevor was adament that we stick to a set figure. Some of the wages which players were on last year were atrocious - £20,000-plus. We couldn't afford that.

"So we were adamant we would cut it and set a budget which Dean decided how to spend," Garvey told the shareholders' annual general meeting.

She said they had agreed to increase the budget by £20,000 at the request of Robinson, who she claimed was responsible for setting the contracts.

Garvey confirmed the budget had been based on 18 wins and, with only three wins recorded so far, there was still money set aside for players.

But so far any attempts to attract new players had been unsuccessful. "The players we have been looking at have been asking for big money to sign on," she said.

Garvey also reacted to one of the incidents which Robinson claimed had contributed to his resignation.

He said a training session had been cancelled less than two hours before it was due to start after Garvey had previously confirmed the Huntington Stadium pitch would be available.

Although accepting there may have been a valid reason, Robinson claimed he should have been informed much earlier so that all players could be contacted before setting off.

However, Garvey said she was not informed by Stadium staff until late that afternoon that the pitch would not be available because it had been double booked with an athletics meeting.

She claimed she contacted Robinson immediately and had even tried contacting Oaklands Sports Centre as an alternative venue but with no success.

Asked by a shareholder if the Stadium owners would be prepared to pay out of pocket expenses, Garvey said they would take the matter in hand.

The Wasps board are still declining to make any statement about the resignations of Dean Robinson and assistant John Paterson because of legal reasons. The pair are expected to seek compensation for constructive dismissal.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.