The stadia point is a big one and, in particular, how lenient they're prepared to be on that. My guess is that they'll be flexible at this stage but that 'borderline' clubs will need to have the stadiums built or on the way in a physical sense by the time the next round of franchise applications are due. On that basis, I'd imagine Cas and Wakefield will get in.

Spot on

Thought the had fallen out of cas' venture this week, some mention about the construction company pulling out and the area chosen was prone to floodings (its in yorkshire, HELLO!)

There's a chap posting the same on lots of team's boards.

If there is anyone on this board with experience of the construction industry it would be interesting to hear their thoughts on the following projects:

Salford
Cas
Wakey

I know WOTT informed Paul Youane and Behind the Stick about the Halliwell Jones construction in the past but other than that I'm not sure where our expertise lies.

Does anyone think that having Celtic in super league would be a good idea

I believe the taking of Millenium(?) Madness to Scotland is not a coincidence.

It would be good to have an old firm game in SL.

It can't hurt. The way I see it, Celtic were brought in to;

a) Level out the number of teams in the National Leagues due to Catalan being fast tracked into SL.

b) So the RFL can have one last ditch attempt at expanding to Wales. With putting them into NL2 at the time, no one would care or lose as much money as they did with PSG or the original Gateshead club.

Fortunately, things have turned out pretty OK and the club is rich in media exposure and playing quality. If they were to be in SL, it would reward those at the club for the hard work over the past three/four years, but wouldn't be a disaster if they were to be cut in favour of Salford, Widnes or Leigh.

Is there a guarantee that Hull KR are definately in? Perhaps with a better chance that Castleford, probably wakefield but without the applications in front of me it would be hard to say.

It is my understanding that Salford are already on site, although work has stopped due to items of archaelogical interest have been found.

As fut t'other two, I would imagine the developers have had their current funding offer withdrawn due to this credit crunch nonsense. So the whole round-robin of speaking to the banks, getting the land appraised will begin. It doesn't necessarily mean it is a dead duck, just gone back a bit.

[uThe Lineup As It Should Be[/u
Warrington Wolves
Bradford Bulls
Leeds Rhinos
Wigan Warriors
Hull FC
Hull KR
Castleford Tigers
St Helens
Widnes Vikings
Salford City Reds
Huddersfield Giants
Harlequins RL
Catalan Dragons
Celtic Crusaders

Wakefield Wildcats deserve to be dropped from the franchise until they can establish a proper club. (All of the other candidates have a decent stadium planned or already in place, Wakey do not!)

[uThe Lineup As It Will Be[/u
Warrington Wolves
Bradford Bulls
Leeds Rhinos
Wigan Warriors
Hull FC
Hull KR
Castleford Tigers
St Helens
Salford City Reds
Huddersfield Giants
Harlequins RL
Catalan Dragons
Celtic Crusaders
Wakefield Wildcats

I agree with what you said about Wakefield. Although they will land on their feet with a Wembley appearance I bet!

On a personal level, I'd like to see Widnes back in SL along with Salford. Celtic Crusaders? No thanks. I've got too many doubts over whether RL can become popular in Wales. I loved the yearly Cardiff trips but lets face it, it was only really the supporters of current SL teams who showed up to watch the games.

i think futurechampions has it spot on there...i agree with his shoulds, and think what we'll get is what he thinks. i do think that it is probably a year too early for the crusaders, but if they can get a few welsh union players to go across, get harris down, cunningham might fancy it, and you never know, even briers. to be part of something new may appeal to these guys whose careers are winding down