Disquieting and perturbing interview with Hendo in League Express. Reading between the lines he was saying that in the current way of things he cannot see a way forward and that he could not promise success with the budgets that he has been given for next season. All the departures in the squad will be covered by the young players. The only real conclusion from this is that Hughes is cutting the budget drastically and hendo felt He could not promise success in this situation

If the budgets have been reduced, then Langley/Ward seems the more likely option .

Neither of them have played or coached under current modern coaching techniques. Ward has been with the club whilst it has gone south as has Langley at the Bulls. They would be a disaster.

From my point of view Jamie has done an excellent job with the Academy - they played for him and each other and held their own against teams whose players had been playing League for more than 5 years than any of our players. He is an inspiration to that group, but that doesn't mean he's ready yet for Head Coach in what will be a whirlwind 2018 season as the Championship as we know it probably comes to an end. I know Jamie is a great coach, and will become a great Head Coach if that's what he wants to do. I hope that when we have the correct plan in place to regain Super League status that he will be our Head Coach then.

Still suspect we will plump for the easy option of ward/ Langley

My honest view on super league status, sadly I am going to have to agree with dog on this, in our current guise we are not a super league team. We don't have the ground or the financial backing. London Broncos as it stands is in the competition where it deserves to be.
I am a DH fan, he has kept us afloat, but without a massive inject of cash we cannot even contemplate super league status. Problem is I don't see where that investment is coming from, currently if DH walks the club goes with him. The RFL have bigger fish to fry with Toronto and NY and who ever else gets up and running over there to worry about us, and quite rightly, we have had 30plus years to establish ourselves.

Is this an NB/GF(Dog to you NB) love in??

Of course!!!!

Firstly, colours to the mast! I have never been a fan of a RL team in London - it's been tried before and failed.

However, as you point out, you have been around for 30+ years and, as such, are now part of the Game's history - especially the history of the modern, Super League era. For RL to gain any credibility in this country, there will have to be a team in London. In fact, for the game to gain credibility in North America, the 'home' of the Sport will need a successful team in our capital.

Crikey, I never thought I, as a confirmed 'flat capper' would say that! So, stay positive, and good luck for the future. Looking forward to our games with you next season.

Alan, get everything you say but it's a fact now that the RFL have got there eyes on that n America market.

Toronto's first league game was in London. Their first home game was v Oxford. Toronto agreed that with the RFL in order to ensure people mulling over whether or not to try a new sport out viewed it as credible opposition i.e a place they had heard of.

North American expansion is creating a real opportunity for London assuming franchising returns, pretty much nailed on, and there is someone willing to run a franchise. That bit may be the challenge but don't totally write it off.

A very reliable birdie told me there was a serious attempt to put a consortium together to buy Broncos three or so years ago. Franchising and a possible return to the top tier may see another go. Stress may, I have no inside info on any current plans.

A consortium 3 or 4 years ago means nothing today though.

The problem is the more the word of rugby league spreads in N America, the less important "known city names in UK" is! When the word has spread the importance to Toronto, NY, Hamilton, whoever, will be names in rugby league not big city names!!! They are going to want to see Wigan St Helens Leeds not London Skolars or Oxford Cavaliers.

The hard part with franchise is going to be how many teams. So assuming similar business set up you will have: leeds wire saints wigan hull hkr Hudds Catalan Widnes cas wakey leigh salford Toronto london broncos
That's 15 possible teams
Stick with 12 who do you lose? Out of that lot at the moment wakey, due to stadium, us same reason, the rfl will want Toronto in so Leigh Widnes or salford are out
Make it 14 teams that could play better for us, but even when we were SL our crowds didn't really stack up. So even if we got a stadium I don't think our history helps outr cause, Toronto would get the nod ahead of us

I suspect the ultimate aim would be conferences which would allow you to have more teams in Superleague. That won't be for a while, if ever, realistically.

I'd agree London franchise would be a leap of faith financially by the backers and would probably have to happen early in the process. The cachet of the name London would be at its most valuable then.

Whether a consortium a few years ago is still relevant depends on what the potential members think. Franchising would change the situation substantially, whether they would consider it attractive enough to try to get involved is down to them. If it happened we wouldn't be up against Toronto for a franchise, it would be the British teams in danger if a London franchise happened.

i disagree, selling something in NY, Hamilton etc would be easier if you have to say "and we will play London" saying "and we will play Widnes" doesn't have the same ring to it..........

Quite right Brian, Most North Americans would have no knowledge of where Wigan, Widnes or St Helens are. London they would know.
Their knowledge of the outside world is not that good.

Brian, bosty, true for what happened with Toronto, but they are now up and running and the success of other teams will be built on the back of what they do. Toronto was in effect virgin territory hence the mention f known cities in the uk rather than rugby league. May I suggest that next year Toronto will not be saying we need london first!!!
Hamilton if that rumour is true, is not that far from Toronto, the marketing (sounding like dog now) will be very different to an audience that has already had exposure to the game.
Once knowledge of the game spreads so will the names of the teams involved.