I know I'm risking being banned for making an optimistic suggstion, but could this mean that now the club's got a settled base that the support's drifting back?

Pardon my ignorance, but is there P & R between C1 and the Championship?

Yes there is - 2 up 2 down I think

P+R is back to how it was before last season
1st-automatic promotion
2-7 playoffs, grand final winner promoted

bottom 2 in championship go down

Are there any plans to increase the amount of teams in C1?

Coventry Bears are set to join in 2014. Northampton were supposed to be in the league this year but backed out.

Has there been anything else said about the planned Manchester C1 team? From a Broncos perspective it'd be nice for at least one Southern club to get promotion so we could loan players to a Championship team as well as C1.

they have an amateur team Mancunians RL who registered interest when the bidding first came about.. i assume either they or the RFL deemed them unfit at the current time to step up, which is fair enough as it's still early doors for them yet. Hopefully they can keep building and in a few years be ready. There was also some rumours of a Chester based bid with Warrington Wizards relocating. Would be nice to get another north west club up and running after Blackpool were lost.

I reckon Skolars will be in the end of season mix despite a bad start, kept much of last years squad together and have been improving year on year, the way expansion should be done. My moneys on Crusaders for the top spot, i just hope they don't get thrown in at the deep end too soon again though. They need to build their roots slowly because they have the potential to be one of the top semi-pro clubs

Coventry have a pretty tidy looking stadium too rlhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Butts_Park_Arena_-_stand%26park_27s06.jpgrl

Is the Northampton idea dead and buried then?

There were rumblings of a Manchester club (separate from Mancunians), Chester and a few others.

I'd love to see Bristol join. Great set up down there. Wonder if Scotland can ever get into a position to get a club involved.

Seems some good positive news on here. Don't tell me the RFL have actually done something right.

Yes. It was the football (Cobblers) club, and nothing to do with us at the amateur rugby league club, although we did offer advice and helped with contacts and networking. They realised it was going to take more time and effort and money than they thought it would.

That's a shame. Might they be interested in the future should situations change do you think? Or were they in it for SL ambitions only?

I don't think there was ever a real SL ambition. Just a hope to get some income from a stadium.

Far too early for any conclusions to be drawn yet