Barrow would have no trouble attracting players if we got a SL license - that's the least of our concerns. Look at the players we signed in the off season prior to our first year back in the second tier. If we get into SL it maybe that players have to re-locate, but people in just about every profession do that as a matter of course.

The very fact that the RFL are looking to expand the SL footprint means that there is no way they would look harshly on a club away from the M62. If you're playing in the top flight the players will come.

eh?
Re-locating must be a Barrow thing

Who gives a feck about Barrow? We all know both clubs (Fax & Barrow) realistically will not be in SL for a long time due to the RFL-still doesnt mean we cant try.
Barrow have a stadium that is a joke-No proper working lights and a cow shed in some farmers field is probably better condition than the stands at Craven Park. CP needs a major overhaul costing millions and a miracle to even be finished for 2013 let alone 2013. One good year and they think they should be in SL. Lets see how Barrow go next year and see if after a few defeats Desperate Des doesnt throw a few wobblies and if the fan base can stay. Its easy to support a team doing well-lets see them being also rans like Fax have been for most years.
Barrow go on about the potential fan base etc-yet there is no evidence to suggest many people from places like Workington, Morecambe, Lancaster etc would flood to Barrow to watch a SL team likely struggling to win games at first. London have a potential of Millions-yet are lucky to get 4000 to games! What does Barrow offer SL? As much as Fax and that to the RFL is sadly nothing as they want to expand the game to cities not little towns and a wasteland in northern Lancashire.

Wash your mouth out

We had our fair share of defeats this year and the fan base still increased by 1000+ from last year.

You say Des may throw a few wobblies next year if we lose a few games ? Unlike Chairmen from other clubs, he would likely (as he did this year) refuse to be 2nd best and put his money where his mouth is, work his off till the early hours and bring in reinforcements. He may be reviled by those of you looking up at us but I can bet that you wish he was your Chairman. Slate the guy as much as you want but he aint done to bad a job has he ? Some of his decisions were questionable BUT in the long run they were the correct ones and were decisions he felt benefited the Clubs goals. The guy is no mug and if any Chairman can get us into Soopa Doopa League, he can. He may fail but judging his tenure so far as Chairman, he will fight tooth and bloody nail to get it I tell thee.

Barrow alone has a catchment of 100,000. Far more than Cas for instance. If you go a bit further afield you're talking 250,000.

I just thank goodness our Chairman and BOD don't have you're defeatist attitude.

There are big announcements imminent from Barrow RL. Just wait and see, although I'm sure all the fans of clubs who see us as a real threat will, as usual, keep their heads well in the sand and dismiss us time and time again - just as they did when the 2009 season kicked-off.

your not losing another top player are you?

Do you not know how ironic that remark is ??????

you are then.

Hey I can assure you we DO NOT wish we had your Chairman only his MONEY.
I have never ever liked Chairmen that think they can run the club from top to bottom, meaning they interfere with team selection and who you sign etc...
What does Des know anyway he is a football man come on admit it, RL is not his sport.
He has done well for Barrow but something tells me his gambling ways will go wrong at some point as we all know that you lose out eventually when you gamble. He won't get 14 to 1 odds next season on Barrow will he???
I prefer a quiet achiever like our very own Chairman personally.

Achiever ? finishing 2nd ? If he had anything about him he would have stopped the rot like our Chairman did. Your team (which at the start of the season were flying and looking like a Champion team) would not have run out of steam and ended up loosing top spot & The Grand Final.

Des Johnston got it absolutely spot on this season and im sure he isn't ar*ed whether opposition fans like him or not. He has played a massive part in rebuilding Barrow RLFC and Im sure our Amateur & Youth teams will only benefit in the future. Rugby League was a dying sport in our area with open age & junior player numbers in decline. Im sure numbers will increase and local kids will want to play for their hometown club instead of buggering of to a SL club to be used and spat out.

I fail to understand this crack about his gambling causing problems. If he chooses to have a bet that his own team will win the Championship then what is the problem ? The guy was laughed off stage at the start of the season when he told an audience Barrow would win the Championship this year......Who's laughing now eh ?

I'm thinking Celtic here, sure the players will come, by hook or by crook