So Ian Lenagan didn't actually look at the deal before voting yes to it?

If you say so

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ts-6670912 Hard to tell if that is taken from the parody Twitter account of the Dr, or not.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ts-6670912 Hard to tell if that is taken from the parody Twitter account of the Dr, or not.

If he's going to be that excited I'm glad they' re not playing Hull

The polite word for him is 'character'

BOy that Koukash fella knows how to spin a yarn. Better than sex.

I'm sure IL would have been perfectly happy if the RFL, having received the offer, had told Sky to get lost and not presented it to the clubs. There would have been no criticism. Not a peep would have been heard.

Exactly. I sign off on contracts all the time.usually takes me around an hour to read and digest it and around 5mins to decide if it is a good deal or not. 24hrs isn't enough for them, wtf?

IL is making himself look a right fool by constantly whinging about the rfl in a ploy to undermine them. If he wants SL clubs to break away from the rfl he should have the balls to just say so instead of damaging the game in the media.

He's lucky he isn't an NRL chairman, if he brought the game into disrepute like he is doing here they would have hung him out by now.

Bless, he's not happy....who cares.

Now, without wishing to sound condescending, could you tell us how many multi-million pound deals you've read and digested, and then spent 5 minutes (or 300 seconds if you like) deciding are good for your company over a 5 year period, starting in 3 years time? Hey, I agree that IL should have said "nope" there and then, but I'd be very concerned about signing off on a deal that is supposedly this big with that short amount of notice.
SKY pulled a fast one on the RFL and got a good deal.....but who cares? It's still shed loads more than we get now and give the game a stable platform and timescale to build on the RLWC legacy.


The media really care little for RL in the UK, so the damage (if any) will be small. IL and Dr Marwan and their sort are good for the game. Compare them to Hughes in London or even Davy in Hudds who just throw money about with little in the way of proper investment, only spending for the now and I'd take a moaning owner any day.


Doubtful. There are plenty of "colourful" guys to the fore at NRL clubs who generate interest in the game. They polarise opinion and get the media going....more the merrier in my book!

The RFL have been in negotiation with SKY over this for months.
They gave clubs 24 hours notice of the meeting with no details I'm led to believe, once there they were then told accept it or lose it.
This was a stitch up or scam to get a deal through in an hour or so that wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.
The RFL should have given the clubs the usual notice prior to meetings as per normal. They obviously didn't want them to see and scrutinise the detail.

According to rfl the clubs were given a comprehensive presentation and then voted on if to put it to the vote. They agreed to vote on it and voted in favour of the offer. Again this is SL clubs making the decisions not the rfl. At any point they could have agreed to wait, turn it down, ask for more or what ever they chose. But they voted yes please, IL and coldcash need to be blaming their fellow club chairmen if they don't like the outcome.

Given the complete lack of (publically disclosed) detail about how the competition will operate from 2015, and with no knowledge of exactly which teams might be playing in which league (or even who might even still be in existence) I think its a win for the RFL that they got Sky to sign up to anything. Albeit - I did see this on the Mirror website - don't know if its been confirmed elsewhere: 2014: Bottom two clubs relegated from current 14-team Super League at end of season and four from Championship. 2015: Top 12 in new elite division, relegated clubs join 10 from Championship for a 12-team second tier. After 23 rounds, divisions split to form three leagues of eight. Top eight carry points forward and play seven more times, making 30 matches. Top four play-off in semi-finals followed by Grand Final. Middle eight teams start new mini-league of seven games. Top three go up automatically with fourth and fifth play-off deciding remaining place. 2016: Elite division is top eight from 2015 plus four promoted clubs. In theory, those 12 could be the same as started 2015 www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-lea ... z2sSZ4p39H

Given the complete lack of (publically disclosed) detail about how the competition will operate from 2015, and with no knowledge of exactly which teams might be playing in which league (or even who might even still be in existence) I think its a win for the RFL that they got Sky to sign up to anything. Albeit - I did see this on the Mirror website - don't know if its been confirmed elsewhere: 2014: Bottom two clubs relegated from current 14-team Super League at end of season and four from Championship. 2015: Top 12 in new elite division, relegated clubs join 10 from Championship for a 12-team second tier. After 23 rounds, divisions split to form three leagues of eight. Top eight carry points forward and play seven more times, making 30 matches. Top four play-off in semi-finals followed by Grand Final. Middle eight teams start new mini-league of seven games. Top three go up automatically with fourth and fifth play-off deciding remaining place. 2016: Elite division is top eight from 2015 plus four promoted clubs. In theory, those 12 could be the same as started 2015 www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-lea ... z2sSZ4p39H

What's Neil Hudgell's opinion on all this?