Firstly good luck to the stakeholders of Bradford in their quest for survival.

Secondly when will we stop this franchise experiment that simply isn't working and killing non SL heartland clubs.
The process is obviously a joke eg Wakfield and Cru, and how many SL clubs have hit financial meltdown in recent years after being given the green light for finance by our impartial auditors
Two divisions of 10 must be implemented from next season, it will allow the Bradfords to build again in a FT culture, it will allow the Fax/Fevs/Leighs to challenge themselves to build a FT culture, It will allow the cream to improve intensity without resting players en bloc eg Wigan at Widnes, and making a mockery of the fixture, It allows a second French club in and provides a platform to expand the game and the player pool.

Scrap Franchising in its current format NOW !!

You are just using this circumstance as an excuse to introduce the measures you think are in your own club's best interests. There is no guarantee than the Bulls would have been better off under P & R. This is financial mismanagement and looks to me pretty unrelated to p & r. The RFL should have probed into this better than they did, no mistake about it, but this is pretty low.

This two league of ten idea has been touted in good and bad times and the second you suggested it, it became obvious what your motivations were. It's not a very good suggestion no matter when it's forwarded.

I'm not sure Promotion and relegation would help now. Especially as Saints are 9th and could possibly go down

And your clubs interests and your motivations for saying it is a bad idea is what Chris ?

I have always thought P&R is the fairest way to run a sport, the problem will be that if two divisions of 10 are introduced sooner or later the 10 in the top tier will want to choke off the 10 in the bottom. Our sport has a habit of maintaining self interest of the wealthier clubs over the rest.

Could you rearrange your sentence into something which makes sense?

Actually, let's pretend that the following 10 page conversation about mine and your motivations have already been played out. We could both construct it in our minds by now.

Maurice words his post like two leagues of ten is something of great urgency. It isn't. It would have done nothing for Bradford, in fact, it's completely irrelevant. Ergo, it's pretty crass and desperate.

Ok , you are suggesting that Maurices idea has Leighs best interests at the heart of it , you suggesting it is a bad idea has your clubs best interests at the heart of it

Is that simple enough for you ?

So would there be some sort of system for vetting those teams that would make the 2x10 divisions,looking into the financial stability or their youth set up etc. ??

I made it clear, I knew what you were getting at. I just think it's a completely boring and unhelpful game to play for 30 odd pages. It's a stupid argument to be having and I can't be bothered.

Now is that simple enough for you?

The game itself matters much more than petty club jealousies and rivalries at a time like this.

But the RFL and the wholefranchise system certainly deserves to come under the microscope and the blow-torch of forensic and pointed questioning. There have been some shady goings on have there not ?

I do hope we're not going to receive SOME bland statement from the powers-that-be followed by 'no further questions will be answered on this subject' as so often happens.

I mean, isn't it about time they were answerable to the game's true stake-holders - the fans ?

Almost pi$$ed myself then

Having a license system is not the problem. Its the clowns running the sport that are the problem.

In my eyes (again I am using this to support what I already thought) this looks like more evidence the league needs to be reduced and the sky money shared out 10/12 ways rather than 14.

Looking forward it would be good to have a larger league with more teams but at the moment we are losing too much quality. There are still 4/5 teams in the league that struggle to stay in business and operate well under the salary cap. Then at the same time the top teams are not allowed to pay their players the money required to stop them going to the RFU and NRL.

The current league does not provide elite teams or a competitive completion.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the franchise system as it is. The problems arise when it isn't implememented and monitored properly. I mean, weren't Bradford granted a "B" Grade less than 12 months ago? Surely a black hole in there finances to the tune of £1 million would have pretty visible when their books were looked at?