We have to agree to disagree.

Perhaps if we had got the sixth spot and the extra £237,000 that goes with it we may have been able to go FT. Sadly losing to the seagulls has probably ended those hopes.

We aren't close enough to the £ numbers to make an informed decision but I am a believer in the saying that if you accept mediocrity that is exactly what you will get! That longer term view from the BOD and RM is admirable but if we stay out of the middle 8's for a couple of seasons then that loss of revenue could prove a real stumbling block to future progression.

Going FT will not mean we will be anymore successful than what we have achieved this year-we could end up not even making the top 4 like London and fev. People often think if we go FT then we will be automatically better-I disagree. If its the same player standard but they are getting each a 100 Pounds more will it increase our standards? And would a quality player often be prepared to drop down a league with the chance we might get promoted? I feel we are in a phrase where there is a hope one Championship club has a small chance of promotion and that we should throw everything to get it-but then forget how they actually intend to stay there! I would rather us spend money on things that will be rewarding us long term rather than chasing a goal that for now is unrealistic. I have a feeling some clubs will be busting a gut and bank balance to get/to stay in SL and that it will hurt them in the future when they realise that they could have used that money in a better way. For now we are best staying PT and working hard without the potential of going bust-we saw how we was very lucky to ecape that last time.

Superb.

With respect TLBC surely being full time means most of our players will not have to play matches after shining up ladders or braying lump of rock or wood all day etc?

Being a full time athlete allows time to fine tune what pay the bills, your body, in the gym or on the track whatever? There will also be a psychological aspect of course and a professional mindset.

If we cannot go FT, we should be looking at what we need to do (financially) to get to a half-way house maybe with half or most of the team being FT as despite our best efforts, this could backfire.

Our realistically nearest benchmark rivals (Eagles) have realized this....

The other point is that, as we all discovered in 1995, it's very difficult to find sufficient players to make the leap in a single close-season.

Agreed and just as difficult to get them all to gel as a team.

Looks like half the team is being dismantled with further discussions with others underway to see who stays and who goes, no wonder he is scouring and he will have to do a Brillo job of it.

Some good players on their way out, MA must been thinking he has taken this squad as far as he can.

If Eagles are an example to follow all this and more is involved in going FT and it will be interesting to see out it works out.

I agree with this poster,it's good to Concentrate on rugby and not delivering milk or working as a postman,we need to compete we must be looking at better than 4th next year ,the top 2 is not out of reason,I like to attack my opponents let's show our rivals we mean business.

Am I in some kind of time warp ?

Who delivers milk these days ? The night-soil man ?

Ill still go with the people we can afford and that Richard and the board think can strengthen us full time or part time. Just when we are getting back upto speed I'd hate us to change tact, stick to the plan I say, in 12 months time with the development we've already seen we may all be applauding the cautious costed approach. We haven't lost 3 on the bounce because we are part time, its because the other sides played better, our curve is still massively positive. We've waited this long, another 12 months banking the finances and building wont do any harm, if other clubs want to go boom or bust, good luck to em, they cant and wont all succeed.

No disrespect to anybody but perhaps the full time money doesn't add up to a day job and part time pay. If you're a teacher then that jib is going to last longer than playing RL so if it were me I'd being keeping that stability along with PT rugby money. If you're in a lower paid manual job then FT may well give you significantly more money over 5 or 6 years so you'd take it. As I don't know what jobs our players have then it's hard to quantify which way would be best but I'd hate to lose a good player on the basis of pushing him to FT.

Agree, as some of us have previously posted.

Although I so also recognise and understand why some people want to push on now, and ride the wave of optimism. There is a risk on not doing it now, of course there is, but as I've said on other threads I trust RM completely and if hes happy, im happy to go with it.

The only risk I see with our cautious strategy is that SL Clubs come sniffing for Richard and poach him, and we lose our key man, but this is also a risk part time or full time. I expect more clubs to be full time next year, but having 10 or 11 clubs full time from SL and The Championship scrapping it out for 4 Qualifier places in SL means some of them will be scratching their heads next year thinking 'hmmm that was an expensive failure, what do we do now the numbers don't add up' and we know that road all too well. Now is not the time to lose half our squad (and a very promising one at that) because they cant afford to live off what we can currently offer.

Nobody expects us to walk blindly into it. Of course circumstances will govern however we need to be smart and more importantly, entrepreneurial.

Are the coaching staff full time BTW?

Ian Croad has said FT had been considered and RM had been asked and for now all parties agreed it wasn't right for the club at the moment and they are as aware as anyone to know where we are.

He also stated that the club would be doing all it could to be better placed both on and off the field for a future move towards it.