That's the one. Scumbag. Now he's at Leeds. Best place for him

You may be right mate, but then, Northampton are a rather bigger catchment than some of the existing SL clubs. Leeds are partnered with the SW, and our big cities... Bristol, Plymouth, Cheltenham/Gloucester, Swindon, Bournemouth... are significant places, with our second-string towns - Exeter, Taunton, Torbay, Bath, Weymouth/Dorchester, Salisbury - punch above their weight as regional centres. If one or more of those were to head into pro RL, they wouldn't necessarily aspire to be anyone's feeder, in the longer term. It's all about establishing local roots in new towns, as I posted earlier.

I've always said, Leigh's 'natural' level is Division 3 or 4 of a national game that has clubs like Birmingham, Newcastle and Bristol in it's top division.... but the gateway has to be open for a club like Leigh to travel all the way to the top, with the right backer and the right business plan.

Just as a continuation of this, in regards of the costs/income needed for a Champ 1 club, these are recent figures on attendance:

Championship One Average attendances;

2011 – 528 (10 team competition)
2010 – 546 (11 team competition)
2009 – 690 (11 team competition)

Cross-section 2011 Average Attendances;

Whitehaven - 904 (highest)
Oldham – 644
Doncaster - 603
Gateshead – 273 (lowest)

The figures that a new club needs to aspire to, in order to live within the means of existing clubs, are not really that high. In Northampton, if all the registered players and juniors turn up with their families, they'd have more than enough. Then again, if that happened in Leigh, LSV would be full every week.

Poor old RFL, damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Do we really want to be seen as a little sport watched by the proverbial man and his whippet. We need to get behind these plans and make sure they work or we'll still be having this discussion in 50 years time.

I hope all the new Championship 1 clubs do well in 2013. I intend to watch Coventry when I can in 2012 and I hope they make it in. I may watch Northampton too, though they're slightly further away from me. Whoever the next 3 clubs into the competition are I think it will be diluting the league to start with but I think the long term benefits far outweigh any short term problems in attendance.

It wont matter what ' we ' do , it is what the staff at the new venture do that will decide if they succeed or fail , as pointed out earlier there are plusses to having multiple new clubs in that they will be competing against each other from the start other than purely against established clubs [ be they heartland or relatively new ]

The main issue on this thread has been the effect that 4 potentially very weak clubs will have on the established clubs who will be competing with them next year , now even the RFL when they announced the changes suggested that we would have a drop in standards and that the sport and clubs would have to be prepared to take a ' leap of faith ' for a while , to ignore the possible problems it might cause would be stupid

As a sport we are weak enough as it is , we cannot really afford ' casualties '

Is this a new club or continuation of the Demons.

I hope this isn't just a new club without any of the people that have turned the Demons into a success as a community club.

A new venture, run by Northampton Town FC.

I wonder how long this will last when they discover that you won't make any money out of RL at this level?

They could always do what your club does every few years and go into admin?

The interview with the chairman clearly shows he's not in it to make money. He just wants to see the stadium used all year round.

That was the case under past regimes. But Carl Hall is now running the club under strict financial guidelines and we have just ended another season in the black. The players don't get picked if they don't fully commit to training and if they don't play they don't get paid. At this level that is the way it should be.
The point i am trying to make is how do we know how committed to an RL team will a soccer chairman be when it starts costing him money for possibly not much return attendance and success wise.

Great news.

You can say that about anyone that takes over a club though. And your track record on this subject has shown that you'll look for anything to talk them down.

If they can support their existing brand at break-even, it's still a win for them.

There are 3 ways for any business, in any sector, to increase its sales:
1) sell more of your existing product to existing customers;
2) sell new products to existing customers;
3) sell to new customers

A RL team in summer at a winter pro sports club ticks at least the last two of those three boxes. To football clubs, our salary cap makes RL a strategically attractive option. I've costed a C1 club, and I think it's affordable at break-even, maybe even with a small profit margin. But we're only talking plus or minus ten grand. And if a club progresses to SL in, say, 20 years, those clubs turn over 20 times as much, and as the sale of Hull FC shows, they can be worth £2-3m. Bloody good return for a soccer business.

I hope Northampton succeeds, and I'd extend that to all the expansion clubs. If nothing else, it will draw hundreds of talented, ambitious teens into
our game in new areas.