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Outside SL, coaching Fax would still be a plum job for any up and coming coach IMO if fax could guarantee they can start and finish the season, It be an exciting job to rebuild a team.

Thought maybe someone like Mark Dunning would be tempted after gaining experience at Bulls and doing a decent job at Midlands.

Eastmond is just a bat #### crazy appointment. He's played the majority of his career as a union player. The games completely different to when he left 13 years a go.

Still would like John Kear but wouldn't be surprised if it's Gareth Widdop.

OK time to hold my hands up, I've been thinking this all season. Probably fair to say that much more was expected of him, however we were fairly stacked in and around that position which probably didn't help. Although players don't always make great coaches, someone with that wealth of experience wouldn't be a bad shout, even as a number two.

I say fair play to anyone putting their hand up to come here given the circumstances. I've no doubt finances come in play. I think our only hope is finding someone hungry for the job (it certainly won't be for the money).

Everyone wrote off Burgess before he started at Warrington.

Yeah for a team like us Im not sure it even boils down to someone who can coach rugby brilliantly. I mean the players can all play the game but I think we really could do with a good man manager, we seem to have a lot of players in their comfort zone, this isnt a new thing I think we have had it at Fax for years. We really could do with someone who could give them a kick up the backside and look to get the best out of them. I think that is why I wouldn't mind Alan Kilshaw I feel he falls in to that idea.

The silence is deafening! I don't think we've ever gone so long with an inactive news update on the club's website - still waiting for Tangata's signing to be knocked off its perch (nearly 2 weeks ago) which included "........We’ll be bringing you more squad news and contract announcements in the coming days and weeks ahead as we build up to fixture release day. Stay tuned!". Well we're still waiting. Also still miffed about Kenny's immediate resignation which seems to have left the Ship Fax with no captain. I thought his resignation was a prelude to a swift takeover by a new BOD.

Latest rumour is were after Tommy tumbleweed .

Agreed. At a time when we are trying to raise much needed funds and selling season tickets we are hearing nowt. Very amateurish and slightly worrying.

Seems Bradford will be looking for a new coach as well with E O’C moving on.

The Bulls fans seem very triggered by it.

I made a few points and apparently I have an agenda about them but I can't work out what I said that is going to be totally wrong.

They will have the biggest budget in the division. They have already put together a very good squad that should have a chance of topping the league. New coach will no doubt be allowed to bring in some of his own players. There is very little chance of them gaining SL status in the foreseable future. This could affect who they can get to come to them as coach as now natural progression isn't making SL but instead the position is a stepping stone for someone to get a head coaches position in SL. The majority of other teams in the division are lowering their budgets in line with having no chance of SL status after this year. What am I missing?

Just missing the bit where IMG /SL have stated their aims of having 14 teams in SL and the bulls suddenly appear in 14th place in the IMG standings.

Either way, they'll still have Nobby pulling the strings in the background. Having someone like that around any club is not to be underestimated,

Doubt if SL will be expanded to 14 clubs, only recently McManus moaned about reduced central funding. Bradford might have a chance if Salford slip up, or the ludicrous situation of having a French team in SL so Catalans going into a FRENCH league!!!!!! (wow who'd have thought!). And I reckon if Toulouse fail to get promoted this weekend, they'll withdraw from the Championship. Also imo London will call it a day, which might save Fax from relegation next season.

Out of the Championship clubs Bulls were scored as 3rd behind Wakefield and Toulouse are you suggesting that other clubs would score higher than the Bulls? If so name them.

No. I'm suggesting that the bulls score is rigged, with full approval from SL/RFL/IMG.

What i don't understand is how clubs like cas n wakey have had to improve their grounds in order to be safe in the superleague but Bradford can stick a scoreboard on top of an old caravan play on a subbutteo pitch surrounded by some old red brick dust from derelict council houses and start saying we're ready .

The bar is set ridiculously low when teams like Cas reckon they will be close to been an A grade. But the problem from Bradfords point of view is that after next season there is a very good chance there will be 12 A graded teams in SL and with it been near impossible for a Championship club to score 15 points the door to SL is slammed well and truly shut for them unless they to 14 teams which we know greedy SL chairman will not let happen.

There was talk that SL could be expanded because teams making these improvements to get the A grade should generate more income but as we have seen with the Cas situation its actually really easy to manipulate things and get more points and not increase income that much.

I said at the time that Bradford were the one team where I didn't expect their score to increase from their original mock score as it looked like they had over egged things so its going to be interesting to see the Bulls fans reaction if that actually turns out to be the case.

Well I'm under no illusions. The drawbridge has been pulled up. Barring utter implosion at a SL club I can't see them ever relegating anyone and expanding the division and sharing the money between 14 rather than 12 will go down like a cup of cold sick.

Unless they syphon off the remaining Champ/L1 funding....

The irony about the ludicrous IMG rating system is that 7 out of the 11 SL clubs (excluding Catalans whose accounts I cannot get hold of) are insolvent by over £2 million, far greater debt than the championship clubs. It doesn't matter who is owed the money ....... a bank, a sugar daddy or Larry the Loan Shark ......... debt is debt is debt. So if a dodgy "off field" system is concocted to manipulate the structure of SL, then solvency should be the biggest factor.

Please SKY, pull the rug and let SL implode. Then let's get back part time RL with 2 divisions where rewards are earned on the pitch.

There's a reason SL clubs pushed to allow ground values to be included in the 'solvency' criterion and why a couple had theirs revalued.....

Cas' 'improvements' have actually made it worse for the normal spectator but because the IMG stadium criteria are massively biased towards corporate/media facilities the club gains and their spectators lose out.

Aren't Fev knocking down the terracing behind the sticks replacing with hospitality boxes just to improve their own IMG rating?

Not really as it'll make no difference to Fev's IMG rating for stadium facilities. I suspect that it's because it's cheaper to do that than renovate the terracing for standing. Without said terracing I'm not sure what the capacity will be but it'll be getting close to the minimum requirement of 5k to be able to gain points.

At a fans forum not long after the provisional announcements the Club basically said that there was no way to ever get into SL under the (current) IMG scoring system so they wouldn't bother tying to.

Sky lost 224 million in 2023 so hopefully will happen sooner rather than later.

Quote: Listenup94 "Sky lost 224 million in 2023 so hopefully will happen sooner rather than later.'" I've no idea what the viewing figures are like for RL on SKY, but the BBC games were disappointing: https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/more-dis ... gue-97074/ Would of course be catastrophic for SL to lose TV coverage because sponsors would also pull their support if they're not having eyes on them. Did Channel 4 decline this season?

Quote: Listenup94 "Sky lost 224 million in 2023 so hopefully will happen sooner rather than later.'" I've no idea what the viewing figures are like for RL on SKY, but the BBC games were disappointing: https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/more-dis ... gue-97074/ Would of course be catastrophic for SL to lose TV coverage because sponsors would also pull their support if they're not having eyes on them. Did Channel 4 decline this season?