Life is like a box of chocolates

Top 4 next season in the Championship will be close with any of the following winning it............... Fax, Barrow,Leigh and Widnes.

True, potential is the key, but I don't understand the 'difference'. Barrow aren't on the doorstep of umpteen clubs including arguably the biggest club name in the sport - namely Wigan. On paper Barrow has far more potential than most of the 'smaller' (non-SL) Lancashire and Yorkshire teams.

You forget that Barrow lost a generation of fans during our very dark days over the best part of 20 years. The likes of Leigh, Widnes and Fax have pretty much always been in the 1st or 2nd tier of the sport over that period and therefore retained more fans and start from a much higher baseline. Our crowds were up 65% last season - and that was from being the best supported NL2 team by an average of over 200 in 2008.

Whatever happens, I could never have dreamt that we would have done so well in 2009 and that we would be seeing average crowds of 3,000 for the 2nd half of the season. A Super League application is on the cards as is a major redevelopment of Craven Park. Happy day's indeed.

Some great games (and crowds) await in 2010. Can't wait.

the major advantage that of course Widnes, Fax and us have is that we have a SL ready stadium to play in, the RFL won't look highly on promises next time around so Craven park had better start its 'facelift' and soon.

Steve McCormack done the damage last year, his recruitment was poor in quite a few positions.

And Cullen was sacked at Warrington because ....................

Of course we know that the major obstacle is our ground. However, we also know that our BIG advantage is that we are based in Cumbria, well away from the over-saturated M62/Lancashire/Yorkshire area.

We can redevelop our stadium, but you can't move your Town. If we keep competing at the top end of the Championship (maybe even win something else) and make good progress with stadium developments - who knows.

One thing is for sure - the club is going flat-out to meet all requirements (as get as close as possible to them) in the timescale available to us.

In no way I am knocking Barrow.Leigh have been thereabouts in NL1 for a long time and our fans have got used to it.

Last season has been a wake up call for our club and hopes are high because of IM.

We and other clubs in the Championship have a lot to do however in bringing back new and lapsed fans.

Wether we like it or not we watch a regional sport and in our case we are surrounded by premiership footie clubs.

Leigh is a rugby town however and our location will always provide better potential for higher crowds if the club can give our town something to be proud of.

It,s all about getting speccies to enjoy the RL experience and,in a lot of ways, that does not just mean results on the playing field. It,s about making the whole afternoon a good day out.

We have a lot to do to achieve that.

And the year before that there was other excuses of McCormack not having time to put a team together and next year when you finish 4 or lower it will be another excuse.

Care to have a wager on it? £50 to go to the steve prescott fund.

He wasnt sacked you plum.

Good luck with McChoker.

Nope.

Tart.

Just because i wont bet, doesnt mean that it wont be true!