Can you give me a reason why we would be a shoe in over the others? Perhaps I'm looking at it from a different angle

I don't see it making a huge difference for them RE: SL. For the club it's great to have cleared debt but it won't go unnoticed that the club didn't pay it and a external benefactor did, hardly looks positive for them to the RFL also considering sold Brough yet still couldn't pay it. Stadium again last min and be interesting to see how RFL view grounds as none will be ready for franchise descision time.

Who goes? I think general consensus is it's between yourselves, Wajey & Cas but I can't see Wakey surviving, the only side with unbroken time in SL since promotion yet the furthest behind in most of field criteria and nothing to show for on the field bar 1 / 2 playoff spots.

In the last 3 years the club has

Investing in the youth policy, providing Young english players the opportunity to play at the highest level rather than old expensive ozzies other clubs do, this was the whole point of the francise system to give the youth a chance

We arnt carrying a huge amount of debt, The directors run the club correcly and dont go for the win or bust some do and hope for a fairlygod benefactor to save the day

Even with the worst financial world meltdown since time begain the stadium has gone from drawings on paper to real life digging and hopefully building soon, we are ahead of Castleford and Wakefield and even St Helens so to drag us into this Cas/Wakefield battle to the death who to my understand have only just got permission by their own council for it to build and have yet to go to the goverment or the highways agency is wrong imo

They have invested in the Manchester area to try and expand into areas Rugby league havnt had any sucess in the past with some success im lead to believe

On the field we have progressed finishing one place higher with more points that last season, with further investment and this being the last season at the willows i can see a higher league position if we stay clear of injuries.

As soon a 1 brick gets laid on that field We are home and hosed in my opinion wont be long now, drove past it today and its nearly finished they are inthe process of making it flat and have even marked out bits which tells me it wont be long till we see a structure there..

Not a chance... Salford could be on the cusp of something really exciting..
Brand new ground, exciting signings, some decent young players... I think Salford will do okay next year and it will be an interesting 12 - 24 months for the Reds.

I'm not so convinced... Outline planning permission still means there's a long road ahead of them as you guys know only too well.
I do think that it is now incredibly tight between Wakey and Cas. Tigers fans must feel very wobbly over this news.

The tax bill wasn't for the day to day PAYE stuff. It was a one off payment requested by HMRC to do with money paid to overseas players as Image Rights over a period of time. The word is that Wakefield are the first club to be pursued for this and that bills (some larger, some smaller) have now been presented to other clubs.

I agree, I think its between Cas and Wakey. For some time it looked like Wakey who were getting left behind but 2 pieces of good news regarding the tax bill and stadium and it puts them level at the very least. I also don't think the chief exec at Cas has been very forthcoming with the truth in the past regarding the stadium development, so until their stadium actually starts to get built, its anyones guess as to how far they really are with their plans. They could be ready for building for all I know or they may be a million miles away, but they certainly would never admit it.

Have any of them though? All would of been built years back if you took everything at face value. Only Saints tbf seem to have been honest with timescale and they have at least built roundabout and got a lot of ground work done. I don't quite get how Saints have done that yet are still 'officially' cautious for 2012 opening yet Wakey feel can have one built from scratch in what 10 months?

How often are Bookmakers wrong?

Wm Hill The RL Bookmakers no less :-


Last time I saw the prices were :-

1/1 Wakey
1/1 Cas
8/1 Us


To lose the Franchise.


If anyone has up to date prices please post.

Not quite. On GMR about April/May this year the Saints CEO said that they'd be in their new ground by June 2011 and would play at Widnes for the start of the 2011 season. When I was lucky enough to fly over the North West taking photos at the end of August, Salford had a clear site with lots of remediation work going on and Saintw had a roundabout and site entrance, and then a factory where the ground will be.

Wakefield get licence/ Not yet if this happens. www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 6607267.jp

Wakefield get licence/ Not yet if this happens. www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 6607267.jp

I'm sorry but those who say we wont be given a franchise come the time, seem to be living on another planet.

Ok Salford's result's on the pitch are below average, but as pointed out if the RFL were so bothered about results they wouldn't have done away with relegation/promotion. Fact!

Secondly if were to be judged off the field I think some people are forgetting one of the biggest possible positives in our favour which is the BBC moving there HQ to SALFORD !!! that alongside our new stadium/retail park. new signings, youth development program etc gives us a leg up among wakey/cas who as mentioned previously play in a overcrowd geographical area.

I think allot will be determined over the next 12 months but i think St's and Salford's Stadia are the only 2 likely to be completed come the franchise handout.

I wouldnt start the celebrations just yet but I think we have much more reason to be confident over other competing clubs.

And in terms of results I feel 2011 will be Salford's biggest season of improvement which again cant hurt.