I don't know where you get your "ideas" from. They certainly aren't correct. When TWP got their promotion Toulouse were doing well and ambitious for promotion as well.

The RL papers spoke to Nigel Pearson and Eamon McManus about the future international make up of Superleague ........

Mr Pearson said that the the SKY contract covered "expansion" and SKY were understanding that the game here needed to accommodate expansion.

But SKY also needed "English content" to the tune of [uNINE ENGLISH CLUBS[/u so your just plain wrong mate. No problem, I'm not having a go at you, just bringing the thread back to being on topic, factual and polite.

Thanks for that. Where have I heard this sort of thing being done regularly elsewhere







Your man is lining up for a return to SL next year to save the fixture list, and I hope in return Superleague will therefore not operate P&R next season.

It's the last season under the current TV deal so there's a good argument to suspend P&R until we know what the SKY deal is and what SL may have to look like.

And again getting back on topic there were thoughts coming from SL bosses that a reduced SKY deal could lead to a 10 club SL, they even pushed a bit of a vote on it if you remember the "2X10" thing......

Leigh getting a SL place and no relegation would be justice for Mr. Beaumont albeit what Leigh face 2022 will be in the hands of SKY....

It is good to see intelligent debate and conversation, you are keyboard warrior personified, I doubt you'd have the guts to say most of the things you do to people in person. Silly, sad old man.

Wow, talk about Irony

Yes, DB is definitely positioning Leigh as a Club to be ready to take the place of 'any' SL Club that should fail, not just Toronto. In doing so I believe he has been using his smarts to achieve a level of success he wants for Leigh.

I really don't care what the likes of The West End Tinker believe or try to promote, Leigh are *the most ready* for Super League club there is, above Toronto, Toulouse, Fev & London because .....

Leigh has
1. None of the intrinsic issues of Toronto *though Toronto have value long term*.
2. Have been the stand out Championship Club more often & more recently than any other.
3. Performed well in Super League 2017 & did not finish bottom, beating Wigan, St Helens, Warrington & Hull & running Leeds extremely close, in fact Leigh were very close to most, only being beaten by a margin a couple of times.
4. We averaged circa 6,800 attendance across all SL competitions inc Play Offs, the 8th best supported club in Super League ! Given a half decent run in SL & with only a modicum of success *top 8 finishes* Leigh could easily match the average attendances of Cas for example.
4. We have a modern near 12,000 capacity stadium.
5. Leigh have more fans, a better stadium & are more successful than Fev & Toulouse !
*Fev are a strong club & Toulouse have massive value in terms of the Catalan/France development connection & I would love to see them both in SL eventually*
6. Leigh fans travel & in big numbers compared to others, Wigan for example are absolutely dire for the size of club they are, this puts cash through all the clubs they visit.
7. Leigh have an owner who has & is prepared to invest in the playing roster.
8. London appears to have some minor success in the amateur game but 800 home fans is a joke ! Any club that is outnumbered by away fans has issues, serious issues ! When a Club has to change name & location more often than a corner shop you just know that the people of London don't want it !!!!

Of course there is value in other clubs, Fev, Toulouse, York, Newcastle. I wish Halifax were stronger, Widnes seem to be in transition or decline.

I don't discount Toronto long term, but I believe the way they have operated is tantamount to treason ! I would love for Canadian & U.S.A RL to take off in a massive way but it should be in a very structured manner & transparent & fair, I just don't see that at the moment !

If anyone can truly say that Leigh will not offer as much value as Salford, Huddersfield, Wakefield or Cas I will listen *but not necessarily agree* !

That current Leigh squad is not anywhere near SL standard. All the clubs you mention in your last sentence would beat Leigh comfortably.
As for the rest of your post, have you not noticed franchising finished years ago.

I think there was an argument for this a couple of years ago but a number teams have fallen in standards recently. There is more an argument for a 10 team league at present.

I don't think the issue is the player pool I think the issue is having enough financial stable and well run clubs. How many teams outside the top 5 can you honestly say are being run well at the moment?

14 clubs would just drag the standard of the league down further.

Regarding P&R vs licensing (which the OP suggested we should go to straight P&R), I have been saying for a while that we need some sort of hybrid of the two. P&R doesn't provide the stability that clubs need, the impact of relegation is enough to put a team out of business overnight. However, 3 years is too long to guarantee clubs a place in the league with no ramifications for poor on/off field performance.

We require some sort of ongoing review system where clubs are given a minimum and maximum league to compete in while any large change on the clubs operation (Crusaders moving to Wrexham, Bulls going bust) triggers an immediate review.

Another one of your anti Leigh post. I see you keep popping over to the Leigh board showing your constant jealousy. Give it a rest. Leigh WILL have a decent standard of a squad, whether we are in the championship or SL, So trot on little boy.

Very astute as League express feels that Covid and a much smaller 2022 SKY TV deal will see the radical change you predict.

Interested in your comments on that thread?

Leigh proved themselves 2017 but for one bad game. See the TV deal thread, it may be Superleage ends up at 14 and that could be because the number of clubs that survive both Covid AND a vastly reduced SKY TV deal could be as little as 14. Leigh are strong enough to survive..........

Note that Rimmer went cap in hand for government money. and apparently according to League express he's doing an Oliver Twist and intends to ask for more.

It may be more than 14 clubs survive so maybe we could end up 2 x 10. That has already been proposed in the real world.

One thing seems certain given the TV deal news, and that is the reduced SKY deal 2022......

Which is certainly not going to be watered down even more by splitting it 14 ways.....

So, Leigh make a few big signings (allegedly) and you want in ?

I'd be happy for Leigh to earn promotion but, if its for sale then, lets just see who has most money in their pockets.
Leigh did brighten up SL while they were there but, no more so than London, who were very unlucky not to survive, only getting relegated on the last day.
It could make a right mess of fixtures but, if Toronto aren't coming back (I personally thing that they will), SL will have to run with 11 clubs.
Maybe Magic could instead be used for one of the Challenge Cup rounds (when the SL clubs join in) ?

Sorry but, it's a no from me.

I actually agree with this. I think we should call it the "Magic Challenge" Weekend.