X2.

I see that Toronto have announced the signing of Westerman from Warrington for a transfer fee of £130k. Going to be very difficult to get top 4 next year with Leigh , Toronto , London , Fev , and Toulouse in this division.

Still struggle to understand why the amount of away fans affects the business. If I own a company, the last thing I do is base my earnings on the possibility that someone from a rival company will turn up. If you have to rely on them turning up then your business plan is fundamentally flawed and, as such, will always be at the bottom end of the spectrum. Think, and do, better.

I've said for years I would rather have a sell out crowd of season ticket holders than have to rely on 3- 4 thousand away fans any day.

At least for next season the Championship should be the most competitive for years, have more good quality games and maybe attract some interest because of that.
However with the rumoured changes and closed shop franchise murmurings, if true there are going to be a number of clubs, likely some of them mentioned, that will miss out on a SL spot because for every club added it means reduced money per club from central funding and the current SL clubs want more not less.
How many of the Championship clubs, including the ones mentioned and their current investors will stick around when the door is closed on them, that will be interesting to see.
Fax in the meantime will be as competitive as possible, do our best with what we can control and cut our cloth according to what we can afford.

similar was said about this season though.

No offence taken Mr Hall,I know exactly what you mean, myself I'm not to down at being relegated,as you say we have some good things to look forward to ,its no secret my admiration of Fax and Fev,and some good rivalry,look forward to my next Shay visit.

Potentially next season, depending on how it is fixed by Wood, could see some big changes. The thing about the 8's is that potentially there could be 4 teams that drop out of SL, and to be honest that's a bit bloody stupid having such a big change around. I'm sure plenty would disagree but that's just my opinion.

When I started following Fax, it was 4-up, 4-down. Everyone was pretty much part-time then, but we seemed to muddle along Ok! The problem we have now is the gulf in funding between the 2 leagues (and below). The current SL clubs would never agree to it, but a flatter funding structure down the leagues would make the whole game more competitive and make promotion and relegation just as important as the "ultimate" prize.

The club do look at potential gates for games and try average it out to try budget ahead but having a good away following adds the cream. Come on some clubs such as Swinton do rely on away fans it is understandable but dangerous.
For me it is the lack of atmosphere that no away fans makes its rubbish.

Same here. I struggle to even get mildly excited for about 70-80% of the games in this league.

Unfortunately, about half the $uperleague clubs see no value in funding an undercompetition. They reckon they'd be a lot better off splitting the cash 12 (maybe 14 or 16) ways. Don't underestimate Nigel as the glue holding together a 40 club competition.

Very true Griff the sport is a very different game on and off the field from what it was for many of us x number of years ago when we first started watching it.

It’s hard to accept it and adjust when your team is now part of the under competition and the powers that be want to make it permanent.

Can’t decide on Nigel and who’s interests he’s looking after but it certainly includes his own.

Never underestimate the glue holding together a 3**K plus pay check and a 40 stone weight bearing chair.

I can decide on Nigel but if I put it on here I'd be barred! Sportsman shudds, Dark Star Hophead 3.8% Mmm!