Hello all,

I think the New River Stadium concept has a lot of mileage.

I'm told that the council owns the huge amount of land shown on the diagram and that there are teams leasing various space including Tottenham Hotspur and a range of Union and amateur clubs.

The council will be happy to turn over this land to be run by private enterprise. I daresay there may be a lot of reason to keep the council involved as I'd assume it is not profit making at present and bear all the costs.

London Skolars, the RFL and the other land renters are happy to move on whilst the Athletics guys seldom use the running track so that could go.

I think you could develop a Grand Stand opposite the current stand to hold several thousand more and maybe some terraces to join the two.

Whilst it might not meet the RFL criteria it wouldn't matter because we won't be removed from SL.

For me the dream combination would be a willing council with a patch of land in London plus a variety of contributors.

I don't see how any other option would get council support or the land and after squatting for decades this sounds good to me.

I know some people like the Stoop and the Bar but at £3.95 a pint I am not sure that it represents good value to the beer hungry visitors and I think these kind of price hikes in a recession can be traced to the RU club wanting more cash across the Board to sustain higher expectation.

Cheers
Rammo

Interesting stuff.

Do many clubs back home own their own grounds? I have no idea. I am aware that over here, not many do, if any, at all. Manly for example pay Manly Warringah Council hundreds of thousands in rent a year to play there. The council also allow other events there, from Local Rugby League grand finals to public events like an agricultural show, but not in the regular NRL season.

It makes sense here that teams play away from their home stomping grounds, as stadia offer clubs good deals to play at their purpose made venues, like the Olympic Stadium or the Footy Stadium (both with their various sponsored name changes).

As we no longer have a spiritual home in Craven Cottage as such, is it such a hardship to move? Again.

The Caro to St Helens one comes from a rumour up there that they want to sign a threequarter but the threequarter is yet to agree a deal because he's not sure whether he wants to leave the area he's in now. So suggestions arose that it was a London player obviously and Sarginson, Caro and even Clubb have been suggested.

The David Hughes Memorial Stadium?

You sick (unt

Thanks for that, I can well believe the Dorn and Sargy rumours. If I was Sargy I would not sign a deal with the current set-up! The New River thing is interesting, the Council want to get shot of it (true), the RFL would love a base in London (true), the Broncos are looking to move (true). It would take an awful lot of cash and work to make the stadium SL standard, but let us say Spurs wanted it for their reserve games, it may just all add up. There are some on here who just don't like north London...........................

Developing the New River would cost millions and I would say that in this economic climate, it is highly unlikely that they could raise enough money.

I put my hand up and say I don't like North London (not the part where the New River is) it's a horrid dump imo, but that wouldn't stop me going there to support my team (it would stop some of our regulars attending...but any move anywhere will reduce support initially).

There are four stands from the Olympic Hockey Stadium which have yet to find a post-games home. Stick them on top of the athletics track and you get a brand new stadium for next to nothing.

The problem as I see it, from a development point of view, lies in having the Broncos and Skolars in the same location.

I was going to suggest that you can get temporary stands such as we had in the South Stand previously pending a new stand being built. These would have to be rented and not bought or built so removing the need for spending millions. As we are a RL club and not a Premiership soccer team we are allowed to have terracing by the RFL anyway although im not sure about the local councils view.

If its true these stands at the Olympic Hockey Stadium are freely available still then that is even better.

I also think the club know things we don't when considering this. Maybe they know we can play with a 5,000 capacity initially come the franchise situation. Im more concerned about DH's ability to finance us when he retires than these other issues as im sure there is a way round them or we would not be leaving the Stoop.(allegedly)

Maybe end of 2013 when his contract expires

a 1000 seater stadium sounds about right for you lot

I wonder if they have tried to get Jim Dymock. He is a bit inexperienced but did well in his short stint at Cantebury and now has some experience underneath Des Hasler who is a premiership winning coach??

As for the issue between Powell and Dorn it apparently goes back to the beginning of the pre-season. At the end of last season Powell go the senior players to get their input into planning for this year and when everyone returned apparently Powell had decided to put his own "systems" in place. The players and back-room staff werent very happy with the setup and Powell got the senior guys together to find out what was wrong and it was Dorn who spoke on behalf of the players. Dorn was pretty quickly off the senior playing group and Powell has hardly spoken to him since, apparently even when he dropped Dorn the message was delivered by one of the players.

I dont think anyone can argue the fact that Dorn is playing poorly but for me it is alarming just how many players are going backwards at a massive pace under Powell. If you look at players like Randall, Howell and Dorn, while they may not be world beaters they were all reasonable players and they have gone down hill so quickly since Powell took over. Yes they may be getting on a bit but it is also the young guys who are going backwards as well. Sargy last year was fantastic and this season looks a shadow of himself as does JOC and if Powell stays I think the same will happen to Dixon and other youngsters coming through. All of this information came from an ex player who was in London recently so I think its pretty reliable and to be honest I think its all fairly obvious to see.

The other problem with the Powell/Dorn issue is that is causing a big rift in the club between Powell and the majority of players and back-room staff (what little there is left of them now). Seems like the only one who has the coaches ear is Chris Bailey but I dont think this is news to anyone as it has been rumoured for a while.

Dorn only has a year or so to go in his career so its not going to be a major loss if he goes but I am concerned about what is going to happen to all the young guys if Powell stays on any longer. A coach should be able to get the best out of his players and if Powell could do that with this squad then we wouldn't be sitting so close to the bottom.

Lets remember these are just "rumours" at present, not that I deny there may be some truth!

The very least it demonstrates that discussions may be under way and ones that may benefit the club, okay we may not agree with all of them but they are the start for real debate once substantiated, it is just becoming sad whatever the club may do now one and perhaps another few will never now agree with anything the club may say or put forward, but at the same time feel every statement they make is completely correct and has no faults at all.

Powell going to coaching such as the Under 20's is a possibility. only yesterday LMS in an article was praising the way he was developed before leaving and we have seen this with other young players, the new line up of coaching staff sounds interesting and I look forward to hearing more. You can understand perhaps that position with Gower currently and his decision has to be respected, he is giving the club first class service on the pitch at present. Regards Dan Sarginson, he has such potential, but as I stated with agents in another thread he wants to think carefully what is best for him now and not short term gain.

The Stoop, and what future there may be, this is going to disappoint some! as they will never see any wrong with it as a venue for us to play, but several press stories seem to be circulating only released today how the on the road matches were relatively successful!

I just think we need to see what does develop but we should all agree some action has to be taken.