Quote: rugbyreddog "We haven't got a scrum half or backup. And not sure we will keep AOB or Gaskell or both. Gaskell may have said he will see his contract out but with a year to run he is a saleable asset and finances could force us to sell.'"
See this is the bit I never get. because it never works, not unless you are content to be condemned to be a permanent lower-leagues club, and to use your best players as a cash cow.
For many smaller clubs, that's the reality and they want to do well, but know they can never really become a player. So they accept that, and so do their fans. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as a club has ambitions within its realistic grasp. If you think about it, in both RL and soccer, there are whole divisions of clubs, both inside and outside the main leagues, where their bands of fans are happy and are not so stupid as to think that they can ever make the top grade, much less compete in it.
For us, though, that would require a major re-think, and a decision never to be a major force again. It is hard to stay near the top, but so far we have managed it. Our 2015 crowds were still amongst the best in the game. But if we choose to step down a level and become a permanent low-budget low-aspiration selling club then that would be it for me. Not because I have anything against the many (majority) of sports clubs who do not have any choice but to be that, but precisely because we do have that choice. My attitude is the Bulls have to go hell-for-leather for SL. However ambitious that is. No club can forever be an always successful club, all will have thin times. But I won't accept accepting failure.