Derek are there no forcast sheets for this coming week?

Maybe he/she isn't a Leigh fan, glow?

Bringing back Promotion & Relegation, hardly gonna make club's average attendances lower than what they are now right now, are they Leiiggh Leeiiggh ?
Impressive long posts by the way.....maybe it's not the answer, and my name is Boris and I live on the planet 'tharg', oh and have you got change for a 'plip plop' ????

Linda if your post does not set some sort of alarm bells ringing at rl hq I don't know what will.


As for leigh leigh his ideas are sadly what the clowns at rl hq follow and that unfortunaley is the path our game seems hell bent on

As noted elsewhere, we had crowds that were smaller ones than the ones we had now when we did have P&R, Licencing is just a convenient peg to hang the blame on, but it goes a lot further than that.
The regularly posted comment that 'without P&R it's just a long series of friendlies' is without much substance either - what does the SL champion win, other than the SL title? Do they get a chance to go and play in Australia or something? Of course not.

The fact of the matter is that we're a semi-professional sport trying to draw professional sport level crowds. Take a step back, stop trying to compare us to SL sides, stop trying to compare us to top level football attendances, and take a look at other sports in a similar position. We draw similar (if not better) crowds to RU clubs at our level, lower division soccer's semi-pro teams don't do much better, and professional cricket often sees attendances lower than ours.
All these comparisons are pointless though - if we want to increase our attendance, then we need to change the attitudes of the fans we have.

No one likes to be criticised, but the general air on this forum is 'It's everyones fault but our own'.
No it bloody well isn't, it is ENTIRELY our own fault. We've always overspent, leaving ourselves in the poo, we've always overestimated our income - why haven't we learned to live within 1/2 of what we're claiming and bank any extra? - and we've always cried that the RFL hate us.
Here's the bad news. The RFL couldn't give a flying one about us, one way or the other. The lower divisions are there to bridge the gap between the amateur game and SL, a way of bringing players through and up to SL standard.
This is how it should be - does anyone on here actually believe that if we get a great player we should hang on to him and deny him his chance at SL? Of course no one does, but to hear the flat cap mumblings about being a 'feeder club' you would think so. So what if we are a feeder club of some sort? I don't see any formal arrangement, do you?
What if we use our great RL player base as a breeding ground for prospective SL players - what will those players have to do to get noticed in the first place? Play to lose or play to win? I know which I think it is, and in the process they'll help us achieve better league position than we would if an SL scout had snapped them up and taken them away from us before we'd even given them a run out.
Similarly with DC players. If they're not quite up to SL standard, great - we'll take them and keep them fit. The big mistake is relying on these players, no one should do that as the consequneces of relying on them is too obvious.
Sadly, we've not learned that last lesson yet.

The bottom line is that clubs have to look out for themselves. No relying on SL to bail them out, no bitching if it seems the RL has done so to other clubs - if our club overspends then I'd not expect anyone other than Leigh fans and our few friends to give a damn about it. Similarly, I'll not throw money into someone elses pot if they've over reached themselves.

It truly isn't rocket science.

We can be, we just weren't good enough on and off the field.

Problem is - crowds in SL are up - so are Sky viewing figures. This gives the RFL the basis for doing what they do, despite the warning signs at Bradford.

Are they really? Well i never

What as that got to do with us? Ok most of us don’t like the ‘rules’ and hopefully they’ll change them but the clubs outside of SL need to stop blaming everyone else, feeling sorry for themselves and actually get out there and do something positive.

I’ve got shot down before for saying I would rather we had a good marketing person (with a budget) than a good half back (with boots) but I still feel it would be the best way forward.

Surely you must know that press releases are supposed to highlight positives? Surely you must know that the RFL know the game is struggling behind closed doors?
IF clubs the size of Rangers can go under, who are comparable on their own in revenues to the whole of UK pro RL then you know things are tough for the game.

Problem is glow that no matter how good the marketing is without a good half back or whatever people will not come and watch a losing team. How do you change human nature. How do you change peoples ideals that the US/Australian methods are better than the deep seated British way of rewarding on field achievements. All licensing has done is protect the weak.

Ultimately I’d like to think we can have both as IMO how good we are off the field will have a greater effect on how we perform on it than the other way round.

I should point out I’m by no means a fan of the franchising, US/Aussie ways etc but I’m sick to death of hearing people moaning about it, we are were we are lets just get on with it.

People thinking simply by bringing P&R back, removing the franchise’s etc will be the answer to all our problems, are the same ones who said “Build a new stadium and the people will come!” IMO I think they need to give their head a shake.

We are where we are because the turkeys will never now vote for Christmas. Hopefully they will see that some of the turkeys are now starving to death.

Its now hitting home what the end of P and R means, its was the start of a slow death for some of the heartland clubs. Unless changes are made and fast we will lose some of the founder members.

Look at Oldham theyve just parted company with Tony Benson and he did get them to all those GF and through no fault of his Oldhams money problems meant he had to sell players and then the chance of going up was taken from him.
Theyve moved to a ground where I dont think that will be accepted into the Championship even if they did win promotion, what chance had he got really? His replacement will have a very difficult test being stuck in Championship one.... or is their P and R between the Championship and Chamionship One next season?
If so how many go up and how many go down?
Rochdale are also in this position too.
We at Leigh are lucky to be playing in a new staduim with great facilities and even those at Redhall can see the potentual we have and hopefully we will get considered for a SL licences next time around,( See below though )if we dont then I really do worry for what effect that would have on future crowds in the years that follow etc.

This is not me being negative just saying what it is really like, I just hope that those at the top look at our great game from top to bottom instead of just looking after SL.
IMHO we should go for a SL 1 10 teams and a SL two 10 teams we could be one of the SL2 and do really well and I think the club would benefit from this rather then going up into a 14 team SL and being one of the bottom clubs year on year, if we are trying to get new fans espeically kids, they like to see a competitive team, not one that gets battered every week.

I don't think we are currently good enough to put our party dress on and go to the big posh house for Christmas anyway.

But in the mean time whilst their party is dieing down we should be having fun at our own party next door and making so much noise that it upsets the posh neighbours, they'll soon come round banging on the door. (Well that’s how it works in our street!

)

I see your point but not enough of the clubs down here want to make a noise.

and the one that does it alone cops it

Unfortunately you’re right, the only noise they make is moaning about the posh neighbour’s.



Why who has? And what did they cop?

Im a fev fan and ive watched fev for over 20 years with 16 of my mates.we have bought season tickets year in year out but as 5 of my mates are from wakey we have decided not to renew our season tickets at fev next year with the RFL being the way they are and were sick to death of watching friendlies week in week out.So we have looked into getting season tickets at wakey next season and if we buy them before the end of october we will be able to watch wakey for the same price we pay to watch fev.We hav'nt made any decisions yet but one we have made is we wont be renewing our season tickets at fev next season.The RFL have drove fans away from the teams they love and we have come to the conclusion if we cant beat em we might as well join em.

Won't Wakey will be playing in SL under the same criteria as Fev will be in the Championship?

But if viewing figures are up and attendances are up then surely the game has never been healthier

Indeed, JC....WE have nothing to worry about.
The game has never been in a healthier state because we are copying the way the NRL run their game.
Non relegation/promotion and franchising is the future. We can get BARLA clubs & championship/1 clubs to produce the 'young talent' that any SL academy clubs have missed out on, we have all the clubs in SL that we need right now, unless we decide to invite an 'expansion' club to the elite, that is.
We are quite happy to bail out most clubs in SL, if they meet the criteria that is, if they somehow manage to 'be heavily in debt' despite the STRICT salary cap we have in place, then so be it.
Rugby League in the UK has never been so popular.......do YOU believe the hype ????

I don't agree with that just like I'm sure the governing body would either. Its a difficult time for the sport, and the last thing you wanna do is let 80% of the posters on this thread to write a press release for marketing the game - because lets face it who needs snipers outside the game when we can safely do that ourselves.
The trend of this thread is blaming RFL for virtually everything - primarily franchising the main culprit that has apparently decimated the bumper gates we was getting in 2006 and 2007. Fans that no longer go is all because of franchising and RFL hating us, and this despite RFL ensuring we never got relegated recently (which would have been disastrous IMO), and the fact we was assisted with our finances to ensure we could continue. Both great opportunities for the RFL's Dr Evil to achieve their evil plan of eliminating Leigh once and for all.
All I did on this thread was highlight that the return of P&R would not end clubs being run badly, and you would not see any major increase in the weekly rounds gates. The benefits of P&R now are virtually nil, until more money from outside the game comes in so we can maybe have 2 full time SL1 and SL2.
Problem is hysteria kicks in on this kind of subject and logical arguments go out the window, and you get posts just above mine for example.
Lets be crystal here, I am not for one moment saying the game is in a healthy position, and I am not saying RFL are always right or don't make stupid mistakes but I am a realist and offer an alternative point of view. That's all I offer, a point of view. And for the record I am just as desperate for P&R to be back as anyone, and I hope we will get there. Its just a pity Sky never saw the potential of the Championship to help make it happen.
Nobody on this thread is correct, they are just opinions.

That's nowt new, top clubs in all sports have always done that.



That could be true

people all over the country watch the sky games, loads of footballers twitter about the games, as plenty of football clubs including the England football camps watch Friday night matches prior to their own week end games.