Fully,
Wakefield are certainly equal to Cas if not better, youth development wise there is nothing to choose between the two clubs, commercially (and I'm speaking with first hand knowledge) Wakefield are streets ahead of Castleford with the much maligned block of flats generating more revenue than just about all of Castleford's commercial revenue put together, performance on the pitch I'm not sure where you get that Castleford are more consistent given that Wakefield have never been relegated from the super league yet Castleford have been, twice! In terms of community work Wakefield are streets ahead of Castleford.

If the Rugby football league take the potential that a city offers over that of a town then Wakefield come out on top.

I'm talking about in terms of this franchise period, which is what the RFL will be looking at - no one can deny both clubs in terms of youth development over the years. However, Cas's eagerness to promote youth and reduce the overseas quota puts us ahead of Wakefield and I stand by that.

In terms of commercial, I was actually talking about sponsorship deals and although figures are never released so I do not have evidence to hand to support that, I do know that our deals are extremely good and rival some of the top teams.

Not sure on community work. We do a lot of events for the community, visit schools, promote campaigns and have our own education facilities. I do believe that we are firmly on the right track and the stadium will complete the jigsaw for better things IMO.

Westerman and Owen were signed on senior contracts from the outset and were never part of Cas's Academy set up, they are products of other clubs junior systems one of those other clubs being Wakefield.

I won't argue that Castleford have a better record of promoting young players into the first team but some of that has been forced upon Castleford. The reduced money that Castleford were on whilst in the championship meant that they had to promote a number of younger players to the first-team squad, I don't think for one minute that Terry Matterson would have promoted so many young kids if he had the means to buy senior players.

Westerman and Owen both played in Cas's academy and came through it into the first team. They are homegrown and counted as Cas juniors. You can keep reverting back to scholarships if you want but we all know that means absolutely zilch.

I'm not denying that both players appeared for Castleford Academy, but take my word for it or not, both players were signed on senior contracts from the outset. They weren't bought as prospects they were bought as first-team squad players very much like any other player transferred from another club only a quirk of their age made them available to Academy games. I'll give credit to Castleford for integrating them into first-team football but to claim any credit for developing them as youngsters is stretching it too far.

Forced? The only players that came through when relegated were Boyle (2005), Shenton (in 2005) Westerman (2007) and Owen (2007) and three of those have left. Massey also played 1 game in 2007 but he's made more SL appearances than NL so can't really count him.

The other youth players we brought through in those years were (might be some errors as not sure on some but included them in any way): Brambani, Cooke, England, Hamilton, Andy Kain, Stu Kain, Knowles, Lunt, Maloney, Mossop, Robinson, Rowe. All of those have left.

2007: Bassinder, Croft, Duckworth, Johnson, Jones, Alex Shenton and Liam Watts. (Again, all of these have left).

Since licensing we've brought through: Joe Arundel, Jordan Thompson, John Davies, Jon Walker, Oliver Holmes, Adam Milner and this season Billy Harris, Daryl Clark and Sam Orange are in first team squad. None of these played one game in NL1! That's 9 players in little over 2 years. Walker, Milner, Arundel and Thompson are likely to be an integral part of the squad this season with the rest filling in for injuries.

So you're REALLY trying to claim that both of those were developed by Wakefield? Give over. You keep trying to claim Westerman as your own and from what I've read on here, he never played for you?

I've really got to question that like I did earlier in thread but you never replied. How do we know this is the case? Cos the king of Spin Dickey Wright told you The last week has seen some very strange going ons at Cas regarding sponsorship something, just doesn't add up. How do you know that a low profile unknown company have give one of the biggest ever SL sponsorship to a struggling lower SL club with a low profile. Wouldn't they just approach a team with a higher profile to maximise their exposure? I just can't see how you can attract the same level of sponsorship that the top teams can. Don't be so gullible, not everything is what it seems with these official club statements. I think you've yet again been guilty of taking Dickey Wright at Face value.

I'm not trying to claim Westerman and Owen, I'm not that petty, but the fact is that neither player came through Castlefords Academy.

So the fact that they were a) young; b) played in Cas's academy before they played first team, doesn't make them Cas academy players.

What you really mean to say is that their rugby education has been split between clubs but even so Cas would get the majority of the credit, not the other club. It's like you trying to claim Gledhill as your own in reality. He did play for Cas but he'll be known as a Wakefield youth graduate no doubt, ditto Liam Watts at KR.

Gledhill is recognised by me and most other Trinty fans as a Cas junior that got away, to Wakefields benefit.

Westerman and Owen are not Castleford Academy products no matter how you want to spin it, Like I said credit to Cas for bringing them through to 1st team football but don't try and claim them as Cas juniors.