You can add to that Lewis allegedly going out on a limb to ensure that London Broncos were allowed to re-form without penalty in 2005 (?) when the other clubs were minded to apply a points deduction.

As for financial prudence it wasn't exactly difficult to improve on the performance of the previous administration, one which thought it a good idea to kick off a World Cup with a bunch of Englishmen pretending to be Irish taking on the Easter Islands on a ploughed field in County Fermanagh.

There's good and bad in this.

It's time for a change, but let's hope we get someone appointed with some real savvy and business acumen.

Let's not have any of this 'he's not a RL man' to cloud the next appointment.

Overall I'd put Lewis's tenure at 6.5 / 10

In reality, this is probably about the right time; jobs like this have a shelf life and it's important to know when you've reached yours.

His decision presents an excellent opportunity to appoint someone who can build on the successes of Lewis' regime, of which there have been many, whilst learning from and eliminating the things that have gone wrong; the appointment will send a strong message about the RFL's intentions for the future - if Big Nige gets the job, I'd suggest that the opportunity is being squandered.

I expect at least 2 dozen applications for the vacant post from the armchair experts who post on RLfans.

So go on, then – how do you know about this 'secret support' if it's secret?

because the likes of crusaders and bulls go 'tits up' and then the finances eventually become public and the RFLs involvement becomes apparent.

When the RFL bought the odsal lease the fat controller said it was to save an historic ground. That is all he said to RFL council clubs. Only when the bulls are on the bring and the reasons why are discolsed does it become apparent that the Bulls had a huge unpaid loan and this was part of the lease arrangement.

HTH.

This.

I think he's done a pretty decent job but we need some fresh blood in.

No.

Feel free to post or link to documents proving this 'secret financial support' here, though.

The number of flat earthers on here, who simultaneously actually believe they know anything, is bizarre.

Lewis isn't perfect nor claims to be, but overall he has spent a decade quietly doing a staggeringly good job. The game is now unrecognisable from when he took over, and all for the better. This is not to say mistakes haven't been made, but imho those have been made in the main by the chairmen of the SL clubs as a whole rather than any you could lay the blame for at Lewis's door.

As for finances, short of taking over every club and operating as some sort of collective - WTF more could he have done? SL is 14 multi-million pound turnover independent businesses. And some want to blame LEWIS for the financial management of these businesses? Did anyone blame David Bernstein for Portsmouth's troubles? Stewart Regan for Rangers' meltdown? I'm sorry, but that is barking.

The whinge and sarcasm about clubs being assessed on a financial basis, getting a licence then going into financial crisis is hardly a criticism of Lewis, is it? The RFL has negotiated a certain level of access into clubs' books and they are obliged to reveal a certain amount of salary cap related information but if any given club is in fact teetering on insolvency and do not declare the full picture to the RFL, then
a) how is that Lewis's fault and
b) what difference would it make?


This rather obvious point says it all really. Lewis has always been in demand because he has the particular skill sets, and contacts, that mean he can be effective. We will do incredibly well if we can find a replacement as good as him.

I'm concerned that Lewis has left before the World Cup, I don't trust Nigel Wood to run that tournament whatsoever.

Fantastic news that Richard Lewis is out.......but is this a sign of a rat leaving a sinking ship??

Oh.......and does this mean that the Challenge cup draw can return to the traditional 'hot ball cold ball' way of making the draw, rather than just repeating the draw until they get the fixtures that they really wanted, and then televising that version. If so will someone let Martin Offiah know this time please??

I'd say he's done a reasonable job, Crusaders fiasco apart, during his tenure. The game still has a long way to go until it fulfills its potential and hopefully the new person can take it there.