Surely though, if we are ultimately allowed to carry on in SL, albeit through a protracted and painful process with a reduced ability to compete in the short term, this will not deter a chairman who needs to stop losing, say, 500k a year from going down the insolvancy route? They probably already feel they have a reduced capacity to compete in the short term anyway as they struggle to justify the current costs. The only real action that would deter others "choosing" insolvancy would be to remove us (and therefore anyone following) from the competition.

If delay is a deliberate tactic to hurt us and therefore show an example to others, its totally flawed IMHO and wont acheive its aim, whuch is why I'm not convinced it is. Could it not be just that the rfl are genuinely struggling with the decision, not so much just for considerations regarding us, but for what they can see coming over the hill in terms of licencing review, p&R, other clubs on the brink? And don't get me wrong i want the decision asap, if not sooner, but they do need to get this right, for every club involved, as I feel if the rfl take too many wrong turns now the game as a whole could really suffer, thanks to those foundations of sand.

The RFL are in an impossible position IMO. There are only 2 ways the game is going to expand.
1. A sugar daddy takes over every club & can pay top British sportsmen big bucks to play the game. Not going to happen.
2. RL gets the same media profile as tennis, cricket, yawnion etc. so top British sportsmen want to play the game. Not going to happen.
Consequently we are stuck in a rut which I cannot see the way out of. Unless the brilliant business plan of part-time sport with P&R is going to attract thousands of young Sam Tomkins to say sod football, I want to play in front of 1,200 at Post Office Moyles Big Fat F[iU[/icker stadium on a cold, wet Wednesday night.

Its just becoming increasingly hard to see why else the RFL are acting as they are, that's the trouble. If they have reasons other than to make sure others are not tempted to go down our route, they are not making a good fist of explaining them.

A lot depends on your definition of expansion: more money coming into the game, or more people playing and supporting the game? If only the game was more widely played in schools just in our own M62 ghetto for starters - then to my mind that would be a "real" expansion in the longer term - and if more people participate it becomes harder for the media to ignore.

So......I wonder if Sammut is leaving........

Trying to get a thread back on topic? Shame on you, sir!

Haha. Usually I am the one derailing threads haha. I would probably contribute to it if I knew anything about it. I don't therefore im keeping out

I think all the OOC players that can secure employment elsewhere will be off.

No matter how loyal you are you're not going to risk joining the dole queue by holding out to find out whether the Bulls are going to be in SL or not, because by that time other clubs may well have signed somebody else for the spot they've offered you.

The longer it takes to find out our future the more its looking like next year will have to be a team filled with journeymen/ youth players that aren't quite ready for first team football (though may be of benefit to them in the long run).

I'm actually more confident of our quota players staying than out British players.

I believe most clubs will have committed to next years quota signings for their clubs, and players such as Kearney, Lestrange and Purtell will already be on sizable wages, which they may not be able to command at another club.

I'm not hearing much in the way of positive noises coming from the British players we want to keep, this Friday is going to be a another twist on the roller coaster.

Cheer up, let me sing for you.

I gotta feeling
Friday night's gonna be a good night
Friday night's gonna be a good night
Friday night's gonna be a good, good night


Are you listening, Simon Cowell?

Thing is though, as said previously, they aren't hitting the people who led us into all this, they are long gone. All their sanctions, fines, prevarication etc will do is [idis[/icourage others - that is to say, discourage the others who want to come in and rescue stricken clubs; ie the ones they and we need to be [ien[/icouraging.

I put the RFL's indecision down to an expectation that there will be other clubs going bust in the next couple of months. They just dont know how many and which. They dont want to commit to a solution for the bulls which creates a new precedent without knowing the full scale of the impending catastrophe.

I'd guess that's fair comment but there is nothing to be gained from the RFL's point of view in alienating the very people who are coming in to try and help. I mean, going by recent comments on here and elsewhere, the sort of people they are likely to be desperate for in the future, are ones like OK and GS. I ask myself, what is Omar Khan going to say to his business friends if they ask for his advice about coming in for a failing club? If the RFL continue as they are then I can't see him advising them to take it on.

Finally a breath of fresh air.



What do we actually know how what discussions are taking place between RFL & OK/GS, rather than old T&A footage?