Spot on Alan.

Leigh will never EVER be Wigans feeder club. We can't be because our club is finished should that happen.

I know that after well over 50 years watching the team I support and that is without personally having any influence at our club.

I don't need a statement from the club to tell me that and just to show how confident I am' of that if I am proved wrong everyone on here who wants one gets a free pint.

A clear and concise statement ends the bullpooh if thats the case.

Harrison as seen that we will be getting our D/C players next season from Wigan and put 2 and 2 together and come up with 20.............the club as said that we will get our D/C from Wigan next season instead of numerous clubs that we did last season (Wigan,Cas and Wire).

Cant see us becoming a feeder club and will just have 5 D/C from Wigan - end of subject.

Neil,

I'm not sure what the FACTUAL rumour is? (a bit of a contradiction of terms there, surely?) I would repeat that I do not believe anything has been agreed with anybody, about merging teams/departments - as that's what you seem to allude to. On a point of interest, we would find it difficult to merge our U/23's or Community departments with anyone - as we do not currently have the luxury of either of those entities at our club.

I'd normally agree with the club not commenting on rumours but York, Dewsbury, Swinton and Hunslet are all now in effect looking at becoming training clubs with there SL partner clubs they signed with so things are happening in our league which has serious consequences on the league set up next year,.

If the current board want to be seen as open and honest then I actually feel this is the most important time to be so as just doing a announcement after deals have been done will infuriate a large section of our support to the point some may see this as the final kick in the teeth.
I don't think we can afford to allienate fans (and I'm equally certain our current board wouldn't want to intentionally do that).

I think now is a good time for the board to at least let the supporters know which way its thinking on this very emotional and contentious issue as after all that wouldn't do any harm if it had decided Yes or No to 'merge' a youth (or other) team with any other Pro RL club.

Frank you are right about the club being finished if we become some sort of feeder club for Wigan or anyone else, but all this are we aren't we stuff is undoing a lot of hard work the club as done over the last 12 months, and will stop people buying season ticket, shirts and other merchandise till the club comes out and says WE are not going to become a feeder club for anyone we have ambition. All in my opinion of course.

At the last fans forum the "Twinning " was denied.

Why do the club have that flag in the East stand ? Is anyone suggesting the club should change it to 'Wigan's Reserves " Leigh's first team haven't lost to them in living memory.

There is no evidence for this ridiculous suggestion.

For myself I would prefer the flag said' "BeLeighve' our club detests Licenscing"

For goodness sake folks get a grip and don't believe everything Karl Harrison says.

I don't think any Licensced club's reserves are good enough to beat any of the current top 5 Championship sides. Infact although there are some promising young players in their reserve sides I don't think the standard across is that high.

Any club who agrees to a twinning arrangement has no ambition and once they go down that route there is no way back.

For myself I think licenscing has already seen to that for a number of founder member clubs already.

Well the club read this and so if its not true Im sure a statement will follow soon to end all the rumours

If you go to the RFL site you may be interested to see Saints have partnered with Rochdale (and will even coach them). But more interesting is the statement that Saints have already partnered with Whitehaven. Has anyone heard this before ?

Alan, I don’t expect the club to make statements about every rumour, and I don’t believe half of what’s written on here. But this is different the RFL have made a statement about SL clubs and championship clubs going into ‘partnership’, so all I want to know is “What is my clubs view on this statement from the RFL, are we going to be in partnership with a SL club or not?”

I believe at the last forum, when this issue had already been mooted in the press, Trevor Barton stated that the club would not become a feeder club of Wigan, or anybody else. His view on that has not changed. If you look at this week's Journal, Paul Rowley is reported as saying we may take three D/C's from Wigan - so there could well be some aspects of our organisation that take advantage of linking up with Wigan. But that will only be done, in my opinion, where there is advantage to be gained by Leigh Centurions.

Reading between the lines all the Championship clubs that have "twinned" will have to play the "duals" before their own players, Paul Rowley does'nt want this so I cant see it happening, not saying we wont have three or four duals, but maybe we are looking to take up some Wigan players on season long loans instead, which would be much better.

Alan I appreciate the reply and I know I’m probably looking for issues which may or may not be there, as on one side you say Trevor said we are not being a feeder club and in the next say we may take advantage of a link up.

Are we going into Partnership with Wigan or not?

without wanting to sound like im in your face,as chairperson of lisa and a director of the club shouldnt you be looking into this a bit deeper than reading between the lines?

From the first tier of 25 players, SL sides will have a changing pool of 8 players that are not match tied. As I understand the (non RFL communicated) proposals, these 8 players will form the core of the agreement with the 'partnership' club. Up to 5 will be allowed to play in any given match, but obviously all 8 will need rotation to keep them match fit. So partnership clubs are essentially looking at a pool of 8 players. That is a lot to expect from clubs such as Leigh and Fev, but presumably acceptable for clubs like Rochdale and Hunslet who are not as well off.

Clearly if Leigh only took 2-3 players per week from Wigan (whether you called it D/R or partnership), it would leave them with a problem. I can not see how it would work, and furthermore the RFL, now matter how they presented it, could not claim it was a 'partnership'.