I think I'd believe saints, jammer and Royce over skytext.

Over the years I have praised Saints players and I supported the new ground, but the way the club has been run not just in the past was the reason I went to the first Fulham match, I could not even drive at the time and I continued supporting them since, sponsorship of players, match balls etc and I also believe in the expansion of our game. Though for my sins I have supported West Ham since I was six, yes it may have been easier to have followed Liverpool, Everton or Manchester United but I have values and do not just support a winning team!

Yea because Fulham,Broncos,Quins have all been wonderfully run.
Nothing duplicitous there.

Let him go anyway, he's on the injuiry table more times than Karl Pryce.

Well Wigan have set no high standards in running the club, the sale of the century to Asda of Central Park and what have they to show for it now, Whelan could kick them out anytime and why would the current owner of Wigan not sell his shares in Quins as was ruled by The Rugby League and leave a guy who did not own a majority to pick up all the bills??

Knowsley Road was often run by a Board who spent more time socially at Moss Lane than their own ground, there are not many rugby league clubs that shine when it comes to the running and control of their clubs.

* duplicitous - A very strong accusation to make, have you evidence of this "deliberate deceptiveness in behaviour or speech" Ernie Clay worked hard with Fulham, The people from Australia made a very professional approach to the Broncos, Yes Branson soon got bored, but if it had paid off and he had produced the sparkle he has had in business it could have been another story.

Anyway we are going way off topic, it was about Eastmond, is he fully recovered yet? is anyone taking a risk with him Saints or Bath?

I did say nothing duplicitous there
You made a point about haveing values that stopped you from watching Saints. Only to jump ship to another poorly run club/s.
Your right you did go way off topic.

We have a 50 year lease, and it was tesco

I started to follow Saints in the late 70's when I was a kid and believe you me we where anything but successful at the time.
The first trophy I saw Saints win was the Lancs Cup in the 84/85 season when we beat Wigan at Central Park.
Obviously being A Sintelliner my Dad started to take me to watch Saints and I have followed them ever since with a great passion,it has nothing to do with following a successful team.

Agree with you there cj.I've stuck with Saints through thick and thin both on and off the field.But as i said in numerous letters to the Chairman,its the team i support,not the board.As a born and bread sintelliner i could never even consider supporting another team.
I've watched them for 40yrs,its only lately that the club has been succesfull both on and off the field

From an outsider's (Leeds) point of view, you've always seemed to do exceptionally with regard to retaining the services of your key players. There must have been many occasions when better offers were available to them elsewhere. Keeping hold of them has been no mean feat given that you've never been the wealthiest of clubs. Having said that, I do wonder whether the likes of Graham are becoming frustrated by the lack of recent trophy wins.

To be quite honest i think it is very clear that Graham is frustrated with no trophy wins recently. His conduct after the Grand Final last year showed that clearly. It depends whether this frustration will spur him on to make a big push to win a trophy with Saints, or will he simply give up and jump ship.

He wouldnt be any good if he wasnt frustrated, but he's had more success in his career at saints than most great players have in their entire career.
I would be very concerned if any of our players, or for that matter any sportsman is not frustrated when they dont win! If its trophies he's after his best chance is at saints, its much less likely in the NRL

Completely agree, all players should have an element of frustration, its the competitive streak and desire to win. Its just keeping it under check and not letting it boil over as he did after the Grand Final. Understandable in a sense, but compeltely out of order in another. Let's just hope he uses that frustartion to further his already flourshing career at St Helens.

The RFL need to pull their fingers out and get some publicity on our great sport otherwise the Ashtons, Eastmonds, Robinsons etc will keep leaving to show their talent on the world stage in RU.

Theres no point burying our heads in the sand in the knowledge that our game is superior in fitness, skill and speed when nobody outside th M62 corridor bothers with it.

Analagy of the day, you could be the best looking person in the world but if you don't get out and get noticed you aint gonna get laid.

The RFL in a nutshell needs to -

-Resurrect GB and the Ashes tours (Aus and GB playing against club sides, a bit of jiggery pokery with the time of the year the seasons start in the NRL and SL so this could happen, maybe with Aus and GB playing sides that finished outside the play offs or the teams knocked out along the way)
-Get Max Clifford/Similar etc to publicise the game to the masses aswell as other media gurus.
-Players that have come through the academy don't count on the salary cap or some dispensation
-Get more games back on terrestrial TV e.g. Revive the Regal Trophy (Obviously called something else, a major sponsor paying less than a small sponsor paying more would be prefered to get maximum publicity) and have it on the BBC/ITV
-Resurection of 'A' teams to cope with the extra games (Mainly reserves and decent National League players)

I know this would cost more to the clubs but with the extra publicity we would gain we could attract bigger and better sponsors.

We had Branson and Murdoch on board 15 or so years ago and made nothing of it, RL could have been ahead of Union or at least competing with Cricket rather than competing with Speedway and gaining less publicity than Darts and Snooker.

At the end of the day if most of the country can get glued to watching 'z list celebs' ice skating/dancing/singing/brass rubbing on a Saturday night then I'm sure we can get them all into RL.

Otherwise Eastmond won't be the last but at least we will get a mention on National TV when they score a try or are interviewed playing in front of 80,000 at Twickers.

Rant over.