But that's exactly the short-term planning that will cause them big problems should Mr Samuel ride off in to the sunset, as they simply didn't have enough time away from the pressures of Super League to build up their both their playing base and supporter base. In my mind, the only time they'd have been truly ready for promotion would be when they could compete on a level pegging with the Championship clubs, as otherwise it's nothing more than an artificial rise.

Its a professional sport alright. But in owden days a team could be relegated, then promoted, then champions in 3 seasons. It was possible. Because of money involved now its all different and sets clubs back years.
City would be relegated and in serious finacial trouble had it not been for us winning the biggest lottery in the world.
Being a Man U fan you would never understand what the feeling is like being 2-0 down in Div 2 playoff with a couple of mins to go. Believe you me, as a loyal fan it was heartbreaking knowing another season playing against clubs that in reality we shouldn't be.
But its sport as you say and you accept it in a proper tiered league system in football.
But P&R in football is flawed.

In 2006 we had a strong team on paper - on field a half decent coach would be able to get his team to rip us apart, Thornton showed it
The win v Hull KR was a massive "shock result" no doubting that, did we play them off the part or did they think all they had to do was turn up & win

Never been a fan of the palyoffs, belittles the week in week out league competition.
Leigh will largely make the championship playoffs as the championship will never have that many strong teams - just like SL will never be a strong competition in terms of playing strength.

The RFL made the disgusting decision scrap P & R (and ambition and to award failure.....), time will tell if it works, so far IMO its gain 10 fans in Bridgend, lose 10 fans in Whitehaven - its not expanding the game like you or I really want to see, its shipping figures around with towns and areas losing interest in RL whilst others gain it, true expansion is building up your league/ fanbase across the area's of the sport.

Whatever you may or may not think the Franchise system on field is currently not doing very well with 3 of the franchise clubs all sitting in a very lowly league position despite having had more of a head start than all promoted clubs.

They can't compete tho. Its impossible for them to, or would take decades. The very rules Leigh have to abide by are there for reasons that don't apply to a new club not in the heartlands.
In ideal world what you say should go, but if you was running the game would you have done this any different in same situation ?

Ask the same question of Mr Thomas at Leigh , how does he guarantee he gets Leigh into SL as quickly as possible , ie 2012 ?

I win the Euro Lottery next week , 50 Million , Can I guarantee that my money buys a SL spot in 2012 ?

I cannot , why ? because of the location of my club

Mr Samuels on the other hand asks the RFL what he needed to do to guarantee a SL place in 2009 , they told him exactly what he had to achieve , and they gave him the tools to achieve it

Not a problem with that

If they had stated that from the start

If we had had Mr Lewis make a statement back in 2006 " We intend to expand the SL competition into Wales , Mr Samuels has committed to finance this expansion and the Celtic Crusaders will take a 3 year Licence to play in SL in 2009 "

" We understand that some clubs will be unhappy with this but we feel that for the long term benefit of the sport we cannot miss this opportunity "

" The franchise system will cause upset to many fans and officials of clubs excluded , but we will make it our priority to help these clubs prosper in the competitions they are in and to genuinley make a success of these competitions "

I'd have lived with that , and personally I think so would many others

And how long do you stifle ambition of progressive clubs s whilst awaiting/hoping Newcastle to get upto speed or realise there potential ?

A drop down will bring them a chance to regroup, win a few games, build relationships up with lost/disgruntled fans and come back stronger - if unable,Tough.

The interest in Hull this season has been more than the interest in many other established clubs, I don't think its all bad , Wigan Athletic proved what can be done as did Fulham, if the door had been kept shut on Fulham to allow a sliding Leeds Utd to stay in we might not be looking forward to seeing a different British team in Europe next season.

IMO With 50 mill nad different CEO (Mr Samuels on the other hand asks the RFL what he needed to do to guarantee a SL place in 2009 , they told him exactly what he had to achieve , and they gave him the tools to achieve it

Not a problem with that

If they had stated that from the start

If we had had Mr Lewis make a statement back in 2006 " We intend to expand the SL competition into Wales , Mr Samuels has committed to finance this expansion and the Celtic Crusaders will take a 3 year Licence to play in SL in 2009 "

" We understand that some clubs will be unhappy with this but we feel that for the long term benefit of the sport we cannot miss this opportunity "

" The franchise system will cause upset to many fans and officials of clubs excluded , but we will make it our priority to help these clubs prosper in the competitions they are in and to genuinley make a success of these competitions "

I'd have lived with that , and personally I think so would many others'"

I spent a season watching Utd playing in the 2 nd division because we were not good enough to stay in the top division

I then spent around 13 years watching little relative success and it was only after I stopped going for financial reasons that the success came

Sorry but that is pure ' snobbery '

Sport is sport wether that is football , RL or anything you expect all the clubs to be playing to the same rules , City will be competing with Utd and all the others on a level playing field as far as the ' rules ' of those competitions

This is football of course which is not same when you see money involved. 30mill just for finishing last - its crazy money.
As I have said P&R is great for football for the interest involved, but because of the amount of money in the game now P&R is flawed.
Democracy is the correct way to go of course but that is flawed also especially when it comes down to the hard but necessary decisions against losing votes. This is for a different forum of course
Clubs like W1gan/Fulham/Hull will never win Premier League, and that goes for most of others. Money involved stifles progress. Champions League is damaging Prem, because now the top 4 are in every season it will take some miracle to change it. Because best players want to be in CL. City with all money they have still can't compete, but hopefully 5 years down the line we can. Sorry Bolton have no chance

You Utd fans don't know you are born. "relative success" is a trophy here and there - we dream of them

Also reference the snobbery, I would like to think that is untrue but maybe my posts didn't show me so well. But being from top flight big boys to the 3rd tier of football - now that is hard times. Also seeing our neighbours over the border win the treble when we are probable years away from even being in same league is a much harder pill to swallow than "relative success"

So RL fans and media are not interested in P and R

But league fans are interested in P&R. How many at that Wakey-Cas relegation game a few years ago? How many at the Leigh-Whitehaven NL GF? How many at the Hull KR - Cas games??