Genuine question as I don't know, but was it or was it just SL clubs?

The SL clubs had 2 votes and the Champ clubs only counted as 1 vote so the SL clubs voted in favour of franchising to ensure their snouts stayed firmly in the trough and the rest of the clubs could then take part in a SL reserve competition a few years further down the line. The SL clubs don't give a toss about the rest of Rugby League and it cuts their costs to run a SL reserve league by twinning with Champ clubs.

This is pretty much how i understood it but bottom line is a vote was carried out a majority reached and the rest as they say is history.

The point being made even had the not brought in franchising we would not have been in SL since 2005 and are not in a position now to go into SL now if they scraped it so its not relevant to were we find ourselves at the moment anyway.

Let Sheffield, Featherstone and Halifax worry about SL lets concentrate on building a team lub that can run without having to put its hand out every couple of months and bring in fans and sponsership and maybe even an investor with a long term goal of maybe one day having the right structures in place to launch a realistic bid and not one based on hope and blinkered belief.

Voting system is designed to favour SL clubs even if all championship clubs vote against. The double vote of the SL clubs carries it everytime. So not really a vote at all

It wouldn’t matter anyway, we voted for the British government but have had rules overturned by the European Courts, as I said in an earlier post the fall out from the Rangers Court case (if they decided to act) could have implications to a wide range of leagues/business.

Who says you have to be part of a Franchise to be part of RL’s elite?

Do you have to have a Franchise to open a store selling Burgers in London’s West End or the Champs-Élysées?

I have avoided this particular site for several months ( just getting drawn in again when frustration gets the better of me ) and as I put last night, I will be taking a ' sabatical ' after this post,

I enjoy the VT ' mind games ' and discussions on other boards on mostly administration issues, as for watching, I might take in the odd match as a neutral, my last 2 being the Salford v Wakey game at the LSV and prior to that the Swinton v Fax game , but ultimatly I see a very bleak future for RL, especially at non SL level

Anyway loads to do so cherrio for now, maybe stick my nose in again in the close season

Do that and we end up as a SL reserve team in the new wonderland created by the RFL.

We need to increase income and secure investment to win a franchise next year, if they are not scrapped - if we fail then I pray its two tens and we are in the second tier

To do either, the club needs to increase income. Investment would be great if a wealthy investor like Dr Koukash could be found. But they are very few and far between, so don't hold your breath.

Somehow, the imaginations of the people of Leigh need to be stimulated to want to support the team. There are all sorts of ways that can be tried to achieve that, but combined with attractive hospitality packages for corporates, in and around the town, it should be possible to build up the necessary coffers to support the team that the presently few hard core fans desperately want. It will not, however, happen overnight.

A good Challenge Cup or National Rail Cup run would help, but frequent wins in the Championship should also be an attraction. Instead of looking at the negatives, "big up" the Championship competition and take a serious look at when you will host home matches.

Last weekend, to me, was a disaster from Leigh's point of view. There were 5 SL matches being played at the same time as they played. Also, to what extent the announcement of cash shortage affected the players is a ponderable.

I have read that many prefer Saturday evening. It wouldn't be my choice because Saturday evening is frequently a time when couples will go for a meal, or to see a band or just go for a few drinks. Also, Sky, more often than not, will televise a match on Saturday evening. My preferred choice would be Sunday afternoon. But that means nothing! Has anybody canvassed the preferences of the people of Leigh?

Advertising and marketing are major issues which need to be addressed. The club seem to have recognised that one of its players is probably the Championship's nearest thing to Super League's Sam Tompkins, but do the people of Leigh know that?

PS. And he's not my son!

So far as Glow's comments about the Wigan fans are concerned, I can confirm that at that time I was a season ticket holder at Wigan.

Ian Millward was coach, having been at St Helens for a number of years, and most of the fans welcomed him with open arms. At the beginning of what should have been his first full season, the team played very badly. An insider at the club told me that this was principally down to the new conditioning regime that Millward and his conditioner had introduced and that the players actually didn't feel strong enough to compete.

As a, then, Wigan fan, I was never in any fear that they would be relegated, nor did I get that impression from any of the fans around me. Most had cherry and white eye balls and despite the poor performances, the team could do no wrong! To suggest that the threat of relegation drove the fans to greater passion and support is, in my opinion and direct experience, a total myth.

I can only go off those I know and my MD and his family plus others I work with where concerned but it’d not be the first time that I’ve been wrong.

Although your comments and opinions are welcome, they are about as accurate as if I was to tell Wigan RL how to run its business. To fully understand a clubs/towns culture you must be a part of it.
Leigh was a RL town but in the past 20 years it has spent 2 seasons in the top division, this has eroded both the player and supporter base - especially with the monolithical rise of Soccer during that period and the access to two Manchester and Liverpool clubs, Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan for Premiership soccer for most of that period. If you go into a street in Rochdale does little Jimmy want to be/watch Jim Green Dales number 9 or Wayne Rooney? That is the task facing a lower league RL club - the only way you can change it is by getting into SL and the FT cultural benefits/opportunities that brings.
Our fan base is dieing, literally, and getting older by the year - we are the ones with LRLFC running through our veins, that scenario gets rarer as we get older.
Can we do more to increase gates and attract investment - of course we can. Can we survive another 5 years as a non SL club looking to attract 2000+ gates who PAY to watch - I don't think we can. Can we attract the gates we need without a clear SL mission statement and supporting consistent and sold strategy - NO CHANCE.
Is it all doom and gloom -NO we have so much going for us but we need to find that way of unlocking the door.

Maurice, I agree with you about the competition, but to suggest that only a Leyther with 25 years of supporting the club can know how to market it is, frankly, preposterous. If those were the only qualifications needed, we wouldn't be having this debate because you and others would have solved the problem and be enjoying bumper attendances in the Super League.

It is a common belief that the demise or troubles of a business are due solely to outside influences when, in reality, the major problem usually lies far closer to home. That fact has to be recognised before any progress towards recovery can be made.

Its not a case of doing it it is reality and what is happenng in front of our own eyes.

There doesnt seem to be investment on the level required to fund a full time club available nor sufficient hope of increasing revenue streams in the time frames for the next bid.

We are scratching around for 40k thats not signs a buisness is stable and ready to kick on to the next level.

I am not saying that, what I am saying is that to sell any product you must understand your market and the LRL market is a fairly small radius.
In any business you reap what you sow, and when things don't go to plan you look in the mirror first - every one knows that.
The vast majority of our income will come from within that small radius, fans and corporate and a 10% drop has huge bottom line impact unless alternate streams are found. The key to our success in the short term is a unified club with a clear strategy that its stakeholders want to be a part of and invest in. The Goal must be SL, the timeline 2014 for 2015 - the rest is built around that but we are running out of time, although the box is ticked this time..