There was a time when wire were struggling to pull in decent crowds, even though they were in super league and alot of clubs were nearer and brought more fans. Congratulations to wire for making such a vast improvement on attendances but dont look down on other clubs who's circumstances havent been so favorable and tell them they should merge as at this time they arent pulling in alot of supporters. Mergers are terrible ideas that always (in this country) result in one club dying, and thats the last thing rl needs.

So this ' new ' team would be watched by who exactly ? , not Haven fans , Not Town fans , definatley not barrow fans ,,Barmy

In this post you highlight why barrow are not anywhere near ready for SL because of their lack of support , No club that cannot pull in the 4,000 ave that Widnes get outside SL is strong enough to enter a franchised SL

As for Leigh's Future , I have long ago accepted it will not be in SL , and the fact Leigh are not in Cumbria seems to make them not relevant to this thread

with the exception of Widnes but only because they were a hugely successful team in the 80's and still (just) living off that
it's catch 22 as regards crowds, no big games means no big crowds but by just putting them in SL 1st couple of seasons isn't going to light any said towns fans alight.
So ok forget the merger but having two leagues instead of three would give in the 1st few years more opportunity to the smaller clubs to play the bigger clubs without having to freeze relegation or artificially mess with the leagues.
granted at 1st there would be either a 2 tier league or possibly a 3 tier league but the opportunity is still there.
Surely you have to agree that would be better for game and improve crowd numbers

Barrow's crowds have increased 65% on last season, up to 2,300. There's still 2.5 years to go until 2012, so plenty of time to get many more through the turnstyles.

BTW, Widnes didn't average 4,000 this season. On official figures they averaged 3,646 in the league which included the 'Free entry' game which grossed their highest attendance of 5,236. So taking that out of the calculations that's a league average of 3,501.

If you include their NR Cup games, then their average was 3,412.

For a club that spent several years in the Super League and many more at the top end of the 2nd tier, I think Barrow's attendances stand up very well indeed.

If they were ready for a SL club, they would be in next season.

Take into account the away support a team like Widnes would get in super league though, they would average around 6,000 and with success would no doubt have crowds like Hull KR.

Widnes should be next in super league IMO. Get rid of Salford!

While Barrows increase on the back of some success is to be applauded and I hope it continues , they are at the moment well behind the support Widnes are getting and would get in SL , dont take it as criticism of Barrow , but just cold hard facts , there chairman has started the building of something good , but there is still a long way to go

Personnally I would have a 10 team SL [ 8 would be more realistic ] as at the moment we dont have 14 SL quality teams , and if you are going to follow the Franchise path , then you have no excuse for any club that doesn't cut the mustard

No offence and im not blowing my own clubs trumpet but your a million miles behind us in terms of setup and crowds.