If the reports of Crusaders' annual loss are about right, it wouldn't seem to be much different to the amount that David Hughes puts into Quins.

The difference being that Hughes is happy to loose 2 million a year whereas Moss and Roberts were not.

True, but I was more thinking in terms of club finances in general. From what I can make out, any club with average gates much under 7k can't afford to be full time on its own resources.

Or certainly not competitive.

My recollection from when Crusaders went to Wrexham was that the new owners stated publicly that they were in it to make money for the football team. Perhaps things have changed slightly, but ultimately, they were in it for the profit. Some owners, like Ken Davey, are in it for the love, and that's why it works there, and at Hull KR. I'm not sure where AG fits at Wakefield. Probably somewhere in the middle. I think he wants to make the club self-sufficient, or as near as damn it, but sees the club as a bit of a sleeping giant. To some extent, I think he's right, as the fans will turn out in great numbers when it suits, but the good patches are not long enough to sustain it.

Moss and Roberts, however, were merely speculating with no historical evidence to back it up. Most people on here said it wouldn't work, but those who did were denounced as flat-cappers. Well, tug that plaid peak, because they were right.

The main problem is the disparity between the wealth and support of the bigger clubs, like Wigan, and those nearer the bottom, but equally Wigan shouldn't be penalised for their success. Achieving that balance between allowing clubs to build on and obtain a reward for their success without making other clubs go bust is a tricky one. The sugar daddys stop it being a permanent one-horse race.

Maybe they need to bring the salary cap down to a level that is sustainable for all clubs? In the NRL they are working towards the salary cap and the grant being equal. Maybe the RFL needs to do the same?

As said anything under 7K is going to leave a hole, throw in a lack of corporate support and that hole becomes much larger. Until the RFL can afford to give any new expansion team double the normal grant they should stop being deluded that RL is a big enough sport to plonk teams in non heartland areas and expect them to be sustainable at a SL level.