This was basically my reaction too.

Crowds of 400 watching a team playing out of a school field is not the basis of a Full Time club.

It just doesn't add up.

Good luck to the Eagles and their fans, I hope they find an answer to their problems.

Spot on. Give it one season at full time if that doesn't get you promotion go back to being part time, unless to have a rich backer, ie Leigh and London.

Except they had a rich backer, Leigh and London could find themselves in a similar situation if the backer the pulls out

The format of the Middle 8's is part of the problem, and the same for Bradford. How can you budget for the season ahead when the big drop in income comes before it ends? It's one thing budgeting for the year ahead in the close-season, but it's ludicrous that a team is faced with losing half a million pounds half way through. The only way to sustain it is to budget for the loss, but then how do you recruit the talent?

Exactly. The best option for the Bulls now, which looks like being enacted, is a focus on a much cheaper much smaller more affordable squad but with a core of quality (Chisholm, obrien, sidlow, Moss, welham, pryce(?)) with some championship quality players (with champ wages) and a heavy reliance on the academy program which is starting to bear fruit again at odsal, so this year's 4 or 5 Academy products (lumb, Ryan, mellow etc) could be added to by another 5 or 6 next season. So rather than this year's bloated 40 odd squad size we'll be running with about 26, at least 10 of which will be recent Academy products. So a much more realistic base to develop from than banking it all on going up.

I would imagine that Leigh and London would soon revert to part time if they didn't have a rich backer.

I think we are going to see a lot more of this due to how championship clubs are funded (based on league position). If a club finishes a few places lower than expected (like sheffield and bradford this year) they are going to be missing a big chunk of income and face financial difficulty.

This is not a sustainable funding set up for rugby league IMO, we haven't got a big que of clubs ready to replace them like in football.

As would the Giants , possibly HKR and a few others

So your point being ?

As would a lot of clubs in other sports. I'd guess most of the clubs outside the premier league would struggle without financial support.

Is this a case of a club aiming above its current means? And if so is it fair to say that the system we have in place might have encouraged this issue?

how can you sustain a full time squad on the size of crowds they get. pure madness. i suppose the problem in that league is that if a couple of teams go full time, the others are tempted to play follow the leader. if a club like bradford is stuggling with a full time squad, that should send alarm bells ringing with the smaller teams

Huddersfield or Salford?

A bit like Wigan and Widnes did in the 80's, which forced Uncle Maurice to throw the game at Sky.
Unfortunately, The Championship clubs dont have that option.

Perhaps the available monies should be shared equally between the Championship clubs, with a some additional prize money for finishing in the top 4.
Not only does the current format encourage clubs to over reach themselves but, it's creating a second tier competition that is unbalanced financially.

Bearing in mind that part of the new format was to allow a pathway into the top flight, surely it would be better just to promote the top club and they would then receive the additional spend (from Sky monies) and to take some pressure off any relegated club, there would need to be some form of parachute payment.

The new format is just a mess and to be fair to Leigh, they should be promoted on merit.
Topping the league 3 years on the bounce should be sufficient, without the need to "prove themselves" any further.

Who cares?
SL clubs don't as as FYJIA is rife and they cripple the game by taking all and giving little back.
Another 2nd rate crocked pension seeking oceanic anyone?

I wonder wether Mr Chansiri fancies a rugby team to go with his football one. Hope they can get things sorted.