As long as we don’t throw huge money at overpriced injury prone imports.. build from a local core is the only sustainable way.

Looking at the signings I think a few are for next year and beyond but a few are for now so I think they are trying to get the blend right so it is a case of just adding a bit more quality as the club gets more stabilised

I have no doubt Derek will be ' inputting ' more than the cost of my ST

What do you define as ' stability ' ?

Plenty of clubs start at ' square one ' every year , so what is the other option ? , building slowly ? , that involves giving out longer term contracts , something we've suffered because of recently

Frustration is all part of supporting any team in any sport , ask those 74,000 at Old Trafford every other week

Better a back seat driver than no driver at all

For me this year is about 2 things

Avoid relegation

Play attractive attacking RL at the LSV

Next season I'll worry about next November

Agree , it has over the last 15 years or so seemed to become ' de rigueur ' to have a couple of Aussies , a Kiwi and a couple of Islanders in every squad , be that SL or Championship

Given our historical position in the RL pyramid and our geographical location we should be the top target for every west of the Pennines part time player , of which there are plenty given the players produced by the community game in this area

Rereading your post from my perspective Drax , sustainability will only ever come from our local core , but my local core is ' fans ' , that is our local core , build that , and we become sustainable

To me that should be our , and indeed Dereks main aim , we achieve that by playing attractive attacking RL at the LSV , away from home it's win any way you can ( to me if I was a club owner those 2 requests would be my instructions to my coach ) and then the responsibility to get people in to see that attractive attacking ' product ' lies with me

Come on Derek , you are a ' salesman ' time for you ( and every fan ) to start selling ' our including your club to the people of Leigh , by hook or by crook , get them into the LSV

Me too.

Quite a few people saying this, yet they were big favourites in 2018 and didn't make it. I don't reckon they are going to have it their own way, especially in a lot of their matches over here.

What do we think will happen to them if they fail to make SL this time around? (not an anti-Toronto post but a serious question)

Irrelivant what Toronto or any other club does or doesnt do , we as a club need to build our core support base if we ever want to move up from 13th-17th in the UK RL ladder

It really is that simple

As an aside to my above post , to any suggesting that building a bigger fan base outside SL isnt possible , I would suggest since the introduction of full time proffessionalism with the introduction of SL in 1995 , Leigh Centurions have won more matches than any other RL club , and with a reasonably stable future over the next few years that should continue , that and the LSV should allow us to build that fan base

I appreciate that we have more significant hurdles to clear, but I was responding to Neil's suggestion that our owner will re-emerge 'once Toronto are out of the way'. It is of interest how they fare. Their potential success, in the form of elevation to SL, could possibly attract other 'foreign' teams into our leagues, and then our aimed for stability & growth, may just encounter a whole new raft of obstacles.

Its not though is it? Very easy to write down on a forum but in reality it's very difficult

Cmon starbugs always right

I think he meant that the theory sounded simple. (especially when you say it fast!) However, after the twelve months we've had, I would venture to suggest it really will be very difficult! I'd love to see crowds of 3,000+, to start next season, but would be very surprised if that happens. OK, some of us have been 'won over', by our survival, and the announcement of fifteen players, but I encounter many who are not happy, at what happened last season, and what has followed.

Anyway, season tickets tomorrow!