How very refreshing to see such an open and honest assesment of a clubs situation, though depressing to see the same issues bringing another club to the edge.

It would seem the whole future of the game seems to rely on a small group of wealthy individuals being able to support the lifestyle of players agents? I would suggest introducing the death penalty for persons found guilty of acting as players agents - might tidy up a few lose ends in the Odsal saga as well!

I like the new tough stance.

It is worrying with us, salford, cas? Hull kr at least, all struggling, wakey widnes and crusaders plus others in the lower leagues been through it recently, and other clubs relying heavily on individuals. Its nothing new I guess but it does feel like its gathering pace a bit, and I've no idea what the solution is.

The difference between us and HKR, Salford and (probably) Cas - the other clubs that seem to be heading towards an uncertain financial future - is that THEY all have wealthy owners (Cas less sure) who have been prepared to bankroll their losses.

People - including so many santimonious smug schadenfreude merchants from certain other clubs with wealthy backers (anyone noticed how few from Leeds, though? Remember that...) - have been so quick to point to Bulls as a "badly-managed" club that "overspent" - but hang on...the reason we fell over (leaving aside all the self-inflicted intra-shareholder politics) was because we did NOT have a wealthy owner to cushion the financial disaster that 2011 clearly was.

When history comes to be written, I suspect what happened to us will be seen in its proper perspective.

And, maybe, the RFL's very very robust stance with us will be seen by future generations as a desperate attempt [ipour encourager les autres.[/i Before the financial armageddon hit the SL game.

The game IS built on foundations of sand. And the sands, they are a'shifting.

Cas have traditionally had turkey dippers and ice pops from Jack Fultons to plug the gap, not sure how much he's putting into the coffers these days. I reckon they're the next club to go belly up.

For will it last forever?
Will it last forever - forever...

There's nothing you can do when you're the next in line
You've got to go domino.

If the game goes fully semi pro then all our best players will go to union and we can forget about ever competing internationally ever again.

I don't think we can turn the clock back. I just hope there's some sort of financial recovery in the next few years.

Too many clubs at professional level and too little money coming from The RFL to support them in a market where they are competing directly against Rugby Union and the NRL to attract and retain the best British talent there is. Also in the modern era kids coming through have far more options at other sports than rugby league.

As a side thought what does running the game at Red Hall cost..??

*** Warning *** Oxymoron Alert *** Warning ***

I don't think you can say that the financial disaster of 2011 was out of context. Income, attendances and results were all following a roughly similar pattern for the previous 3 years.

A return of some form of P&R I can see happening after this licence period, I'd guess if it was in today we'd already be in the Championship next year with a cap exemption of some discription for a year as punishment but with a clear way back.

A return to Semi pro en mass won't happen whilst there are enough weatlhy backers at enough of the top clubs. Its more likely that the top league will shrink and a few of the currently weaker SL clubs, which might well include us, will end up outside of the top league in the semi pro leagues.

Attendances and results - agree.

Income - or at least profitability - hardly:

The club lost c.300k in 2010 (first year of no Odsal Settlement deferred income release) after almost break even in 2009 (last year with the annual release).

In 2011, according to such information is available, the underlying loss was c. 1m, it seems the rate of loss likely accelerating as the year progressed. And it seems the trend of losing £100k/month continued into 2012.

That was the point I was making. When I saw the 2009 accounts, I concluded the club could maybe stand one more year of similar losses. What it could not stand was losses several times that (for whatever reason) - but that's what it seems we got.

Perhaps we're looking at things from different places. During 2008 I felt it became apparent that the squad we had was not only in decline but terminally so. Retention, recruitment and overall application was poor. Attendances were falling but not dramatically or irrecoverably. At the end of the season an ordinary Wigan side beat us comfortably in the play offs and the case for change seemed irrefutable or so I thought. The main case against change involved either the financial implications which had led us to where the squad was or the financial implications of sacking SM. Neither issue, real as they were, would be resolved by carrying on as before, nor it appeared could the club do anything about it.

The point I was making is that whilst there may be discrepancies in claiming a direct correlation between accounts and broader context, the key element in any business, the product was not only deteriorating but the club appeared both unwiling and crucially, unable to take radical action. The club was a beached whale at that point and the events of this summer simply waiting to happen.

We are confident, sorry smug, in our superiority.

I think your starting point is too late.

We were in decline from around 2006 with the cash account dropping as the Odsal settlement monies dried up and the Harrisgate losses came on stream. There was a big economy drive where we put the academy onto a part time basis, lost the chairman and coach, then sold such as Stuart Fielden to Wigan and lost several other 'names',over a period, to be replaced with lesser 'names', and in a final act, iirc the Chief Exec finally fired himself. We have never really recovered from this period