It [iwould [/ibe superb if we were talking about equals, but we're not.

Four clubs in the middle eight have the advantage of double the money to build their teams, and in a game like RL, where you can't just pack your defence and hope to sneak a winner, the better side invariably wins often enough to say it's very unlikely the 'lesser' team is going to win promotion. I don't think 'deserving' comes into it, to be honest, so whilst you can never say never , I won't be holding my breath.

That is a very good point,

if that was the case and they were wiped, then surely it would work if a club was already resigned to the bottom 4 and purposely went into administration (clearing off large debts ahead of the following season) knowing that they start back on 0 with everyone else.

Maybe they should bring in a new ruling if that happens like automatic relegation for admin

I haven't been through the whole trail... but does anyone know how it is decided where the games are played??

all SL1 teams at home??

or like now... it will be who ever finished highest?

if you mean in the "Quailfiying Super 8" super dooper playoff seris for the million £ match ([sizeTM[/size);

Top 2 championship teams get 4 home games 3 away,
9th and 10th place SL teams get 4 home games 3 away,

11th and 12th place SL teams get 3 home 4 away,
3rd and 4th in the championship get 3 home 4 away.

I am looking forward to the super 8's, particularly the promotion/relegation ones, four teams used to losing and probably with loads of players injured taking on four that are used to winning and in all probability a lot more of the squad fully fit, with the incentive of being underdogs and promotion.

Ironically a team like Wigan could have a squad of 25 players of international standard whether full or academy and stay within the £1m cap @£40k per home developed player.

There will be teething problems, but they have got something right by calling it the Super 8s and by incentivising the use of home developed players.

Hmm, I'm not sure I see it that way. Injuries are completely random so I'm not following your logic on that one, and in any case I am fully expecting the bottom SL clubs to be out of the running for the top 8 with several of the initial 23 games still to play.
They'll just rest their key players, get them fit and ready for the qualifiers and then smash the champ teams with their £1.8m priced squad.

I doubt very much that Wakey and a few others will be spending £1.8m on the gates they get. We can "officially" spend £1m. They underspend by a few 100k and we do some imaginative accounting with partners working in the shop and a few supermarket openings and we may be able to spend a few 100k over. We are not too far apart then and it might just come down to coaching quality and injuries. I do believe the bottom SL clubs could be vulnerable to Championship clubs that are playing well.

I like that idea

Micheal Carter has said Wakefield can run on the full salary cap with gates of 6,300. It remains to be seen whether it can be achieved without cheap season tickets, but they aren't a million miles away from it.

How much funding will SL clubs be receiving next year? I thought they were getting £1.8m each, but perhaps not if wakey need those crowd figures in order to spend the full cap.

Against Leeds they were a long way from that.What was it against Widnes recent 4 something,think they could be in danger of losing 12 points next season but still been ok

No Super League side will be going into admin next season. Michael Carter is an accountant, he won't be spending money on players they can't budget for.

It's what astute businessmen and competent chairmen are supposed to do. Just because we've been run by a series of morons up until recently, it doesn't mean everyone else is unable to live within their means.

I don't think Wakey will go under with MC in charge. As Northus says, he is an astute businessman. However they do need to increase their attendances (MC has said this himself in numerous interviews) otherwise they won't be able to pay to the cap.

Chris Caisley was [and is] a solicitor and senior partner in a firm of lawyer specialising in business and company law, which I'd assume includes contracts and the like, but we still managed to get into an awful mess over Iestyn Harris' contract. I think the old adage, about commonsense flying out of the window when professionals become involved with sports clubs, became a cliché because it's probably true.

There is no degree,qualification,experience that can fully prepare anybody for trying to run a pro sports club, especially one like RL