Great Centre remember him well used to run a great insdide line off Greame Steadman and Mike Ford for Cas and was a really strong centre in the mould of a Newlove etc at the time.

To be honest his playing career matters not we need a coach whos on the way up and will use us as a stepping stone to a big SL job like Ian Millward if this happens we will have had a good season or two and built on Ians sucess. Hopefully if its him he is that man.

Yeah Yeah i love the way your thinking.

Reality mate.

We can go back to Murphy in 71, Millward in 98,11

Fact is if we find a young hungry coach who does the buisness then its all good for me.

Reality is it that leigh rl is now a feeder club?

I would sooner call us a stepping stone club John.

If we can attract a string of good coaches, and they use us as a stepping stone, then we will soon rise above that status. The key is to keep finding them!

I agree with that comment Michael.

Thats what i was eluding to.

So how do we as a club rise above being a feeder club /stepping stone for others when the only real investment comes from the rfl?,which can only invest in rl outside of sl when the sl clubs vote to allow more money to drift down to the rest of the pro game and as we now know they've voted to cut that investment?

As long as there are clubs who are bigger than us then we will always be a stepping stone. But in the same vein we're bigger than other clubs. Just our place in the food chain.

The answer to your question is simple we dont.

We make the best of what we have and enjoy it.

you sound like wembley71,hes another who thinks we might as well all forget it.

[size[MW - Edited, no personal insults. AUP 2.1][/size

Added a bit to Matts piece which to me is the important bit.
Admittedly in football the last bit is easier to alter as they still have the promotion and relegation, however I'm not convinced that we will still have franchising in 5 years time or that SL won't be 2 Divisions but I think at the moment we have to aspire as high as possible.
Ours would be to be the best club in our division...
Off field - with the highest gates, most sponsors and best day out money can buy with a visit to the LSV seen as a 'most do' come matchday.
On Field - to win the League , League Play offs, NRC and to go as high as possible in the Challenge Cup.

If we keep doing well on field and work very very hard off field then that movement will happen as no-one will want to keep a success down.

The important bit is not standing still and accepting what just went as success, last years team did terrific , but it wasn't good enough, last years crowds rose (again) but it wasn't good enough - aim to go one better this year.

Was there any need to for that???

I am entitled to my opinion.

If you want to pull the wool over your own eyes and live a pipe dream then so be it some of us are realists.

When Ian Millward came to the UK in the late 90s do you think he believed he could pick up a small town team and take them to the summit of world RL and world club championship glory????..............Stepping stone ta achieve his dreams! Had he not had off the field problems we would never have seen the guy again. It was either a decent paid assistant role in Aus or a well paid head coach role in Championship with a decent budget and squad and a realistic chance to land a SL job again no brainer.

Do you think Murphy came here from Saints in 69/70 thinking he could make Leigh the household name in world RL. Yes he won a Challenge Cup and Championship in 82 but reality is Warringto flash the cash bigger town bigger club................Stepping stone!

All greats will reach the top eventually we will never be at the top we need to identify the potential greats and ride on the back of there sucess for a couple of years and slowly build a steady club without overspending. Thats the way i see it as realist. We wont ever be a Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Bradford, Warrington dare i say it a Widnes.

Get real.

A very good post that JENKY.