Couple of related questions with everything going on.......

With all the recent signings we have made and the announcement of our assistant coach going full time etc, etc has this been financed by what we currently have and is affordable on last years budget or is it financed on the belief that the door to SL starts to open and P&R returns in the sporting sense ?

Just wondering if our club will be immediately ok and unaffected from the fall out if the SL clubs decide to shut themselves off from the rest of RL forever in chasing more greed ?

The other thing that is glaringly obvious is that any progressive championship/1 clubs need a voice, I'm hoping behind the scenes that unlike the RFL who are distracted by planning the World Cup that these club owners use this time to form a collective and start to put there view across more strongly - now is not a time to sit and wait.

Ask Starbug how he went on trying to get the Championship clubs to work together

I have a feeling the championship clubs are about to be shafted and must react accordingly if it materialises

In answer to your first question, the BOD is on record as saying they are committed to raising the additional funding to finance a bigger squad than last season. This was obviously with the proposed, and seemingly guaranteed, (!!) structural changes coming in. Whilst I should imagine they are still fully committed to raising the extra funds, (we've signed the players now!) I don't know what the point would be (for any Championship club) should the SL clubs decide to scupper the deal. (It's worth noting that the SL clubs have already voted THREE times, to reduce to 12 teams, and are now being 'asked' to vote for a fourth time on it!)

The Championship clubs have had their own forum recently, and were reportedly becoming quite bullish, but whether they still have that forum, I don't know.

5 years ago the time was ripe for the Championship clubs to start working together on building their own income streams, by now they would hopefully have been seeing the rewards to start to filter through, and would have given much needed strength and power to the clubs faced with what we currently have

Would they listen?

The players also voted to leave the vote on the restructuring till after the World Cup as well, they are not happy about playing the extra games.

DELETED IT.

I understand the Wigan Chairman wants to go back to straightforward promotion and relegation from the Championship instead of the muted Super Leagues 1 and 2.

Well if he has the backing of the majority of Super League Chairmen then that is what will happen.

I have refrained from posting on here since I joined the Board but feel this is too important to let it drift.

We have built next year's budget on existing funding levels (ie without any structural changes).

Hope this helps!

Michael Norris, FD

No worries Keith, it wasn't aimed at you particularly but yours was the best quote to pin it too!

Thanks Michael, bit of a relief that as currently the way the game is turning I was getting a tad nervous we'd be left 'holding the baby' so to speak as events elsewhere scupper our growth.

That is good news. I'm sure I'd heard Michael mention it before but glad to have it confirmed again.

According to skysports the players have also voted against the proposals.

Is that just the SL players? I see Michael Steele at Fax has ripped into Leneghan calling him self centred and selfish

And I wonder if that will be 'held against' Mr. Steele?