RL struggles because of incidents like this not because of its fans.

Badly thought through expansionist ideas that end up doing more harm than good. Just makes the people who run our game look hasty and stupid, which they are.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/celtic_crusaders/7839695.stmIndeed. Eight of them[/url

That occurred to me as well. However, rules are rules.

Who predicted otherwise?

I think you'll find that that was one of the aims of franchising – to allow clubs to have time to develop in the top flight.



'Cos Catalans have been an unmitigated disaster, eh?

Toulouse are coming in instead

Celtic is still a better choice than Widnes.

Duggan is unlikely to have been illegal until the visa rules changed late last year.

Its either accidental arrogance or deliberate fraud.

I hope the RFL treat the club as they would any other club in the circumstances. Remove their points, impose a heavy fine and this surely should be taken into account when franchises are reviewed.

Despite being a Leigh fan, I believe that Widnes should replace them. They were robbed last time.

(Leigh should replace Salford

)

But not to allow them to cheat, Leigh had 2 players turned down beause of these issues.

The whole situation is just a joke.

tbh, this embarrassing situation is what the RFL deserves in my opinion. Celtic were never (and never will be) a solid RL club with the desired infrastructure a SL team needs.

It will always be Aussie after Aussie after Aussie.

There are teams in tier 2 that can quite easily adapt to what SL needs.

I feel real sorry for their fans. They have been led down the garden path by Richard Lewis and the CC from day one.

I hope they survive!