Both our current owner & previous owner have tried to "sweat" the asset that is the Southbank. It hasn't worked yet. I'm sure the owners before that also tried but without quite as much advertising.

The bottom line is that our last 3 owners aren't mugs. They're all successful in business in their own fields and none of them have been multimillionaires. There is no way, without massive corporate backing (Catalans) or massive crowds (Leeds) to make money at this sport. The best you can hope for is cost-neutral.

Maybe not in this thread but you certainly have previous for asserting your opinion as stone cold fact.

This was one of yours from less than a month ago:



This was despite Leigh having already turned over Salford in the middle 8's.

FA is the physical embodiment of stone cold fact. I have heard the words "I am completely fact" directly from his own lips.

We should buy him a t-shirt with it on.

If I have an opinion about promotion (or anything) in the future, how can anyone mistake that as a "fact"? I may be very certain something will happen, but unless you don't understand how the arrow of time works, then you can't really mistake it for "fact". I don't claim psychic powers.



Except that I was talking about the route of getting to the MPG and then WINNING it. I haven't changed that view. I did though also say, several times, since LAST season, that the only realistic if unlikely possibility of promotion was finishing 3rd, i.e. not via the MPG. Maybe you overlooked that in your research.

This was all my OPINION, and not statements of fact, in case you're wondering, the giveaway is that I was talking about future events that hadn't happened yet.

First of all, I'm delighted that Leigh have done it, but they have done it by repeated wins against SL clubs, and if you want to know then I will frankly admit that I didn't think that could be done. But it wasn't quite the point, they have done it via the automatic route I suggested, albeit done it better than I thought was achievable to boot. Kudos to them.

The route to SL that I had suggested was to beat the Championship clubs plus one SL club, and hope other results conspired against that SL club. If you beat everybody, nobody can argue with that, you don't need to rely on any other club SL or otherwise. And that's a fact.

If you are up for a quick recap, this started in the discussion about who played who in the Super 8 qualifiers. Some felt it was better to finish 2nd and maybe even just finish in the top 4, and that finishing top was less advantageous. I argued (and produced my customary spreadsheet) showing how finishing top does give you a decided advantage in home and away fixtures and so it made the regular season very important, and not a mere warm up for the business end, as some seemed to argue, and that therefore the Bulls should strive to finish top, and go for the 3rd spot. We may have been a bit short on striving though.

No you weren't. I didn't edit your post or only quote part of it. That was the full post.

You made no mention of MPG or Auto promotion, you simply stated that "There is no chance of a SL team being relegated under the current "promotion" smoke and mirrors." which was wrong.

Then followed that up with "The system guarantees no relegation." which has, again, been proven wrong.

Anyway, I am not here to argue and I think the Bradford fans have been very complimentary of Leigh in the past few weeks which is appreciated.

However you in particular seem quick to shoot down the opinions of other posters and assert your own opinion as a better one. And maybe you weren't claiming 'fact' but you did 'guarantee' that nobody would be relegated...

In this case it would be nice if you could admit that your 'opinion' has turned out to be utter bollox

OK. I imagined all my posts on the subject, Dallas-shower style. Happy now? It never happened, and everyone who read them and has discussed them is delusional cos it was just a figment of their imagination. That OK?







If I do, it's only for their own good. It hurts me more than it hurts them, and they'll thank me for it one day


It is, though. Fact. I can't help it.


You are Nigel Wood and I claim my £5

Seriously though we all know (well, most of us) that Leigh going up this year will be vaunted as a vindication of the present system, despite it being grossly unfair, and completely loaded against the Championship sides. But, if you think that's utter bollox, it is indeed your right to be deluded. You earned it when your particular sperm hit the mark, but that didn't make it a fair competition for the 500 million losers, did it?

Perhaps the system is vindicated. We would have been promoted last year but for a brain fart from Jimmy with his team selection in the MPG and Leigh have been promoted this year.

My fundamental objection to it was that a team with a million or so less to play with, playing all season at a lower level, could not hope to compete with a SL team in the intensity of the MPG.

I know that at least in theory the salary cap restriction has now gone - but in practice unless someone puts in the difference between SL income and Championship income, there remains a huge imbalance.

If a Championship team is good enough to finish top of its pile then the time has come for at least one automatic promotion spot. Playoffs for a potential second if you like, but the Championship winner deserves to go up, and SL bottom to go down, full stop.

During the time we've had this system the standard of the Championship has markedly increased but it isn't SL. The top C. team deserves to go up, and then have the chance to prepare and upgrade for a crack at SL. The old objection, that they would be doomed to "yoyo" and hopelessly uncompetitive at SL level has been seriously holed by the exploits of Leigh, but even if they were, the performances of some SL clubs have not been awe-inspiring and the jeopardy of a banker relegation spot might perk that league up.

One of the original objectives of this system was to bridge the massive gap that existed between the 2 leagues after so many years of the franchise system. That is happening and so the strategy is working. The next step in the strategy surely is to go to 1U1D, perhaps if a second Championship club wins automatic promotion in the 8's in the next season or so. The biggest issue for me with the current system and this applies to Mcbbbs relegation topic too, is that the standard of refereeing needs to be improved to provide a level playing field between the 2 leagues.

Whilst you are correct in a perfect worl in the real world a team can't survive in SL without somebody putting a huge wedge in.

That is looking increasingly to be the case, at least if you want to be a proper player in the league and not just another Wakey.

The Leigh experience has shown that is actually possible, with solid, and significant, financial backing. It maybe also crystallises in the mind whether or not we'd really [iwant[/i to go up without something similar?

Leigh still have to make it stick, of course, and not come straight back down, and for the good of RL as a whole we have to hope they can. It does also, as mentioned above, lead to the conclusion that straight P&R would work,[i if all[/i clubs at our level were generally better funded.