Couldn't agree more & not because we're 14th. It just validates the competition with no daft loop fixtures & a way out of the magic less weekend. Sure the SL clubs will get a bit less but if IMG are about increasing revenue, let the clubs get out there & secure it. But of course self interest wins again as it's easier to wait for your handout than source it yourself.

Let's hope those people who were waiting for the grading to come out are interested enough to get involved.

firstly, congratulations to all at the club who have contributed to achieving this 50% hike. I'd temper this with a nod to IMG who it would seem have dragged the sport and its club owners to the trough that is "21st Century CRM & Marketing".
Secondly, I would ask how do make the next step up without investment......which dovetails nicely into

thirdly.....IMAGINE IF THEY HAD DONE ALL THIS LOCAL ENGAGEMENT ,MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITY BACK IN 2009????
You aren't wrong GF. But are you like me debating if you go full menbership, 40-20 or write the club off ? I am undecided at present. For instance, what does £350k get us ? If the target is not reached then what ? Too many qs.

I bought a ST last year and my daughter or her friends used it occasionally. I would have bought a quartered shirt but am at the risk of divorce if I add to my increasingly NZ Warriors themed wardrobe, but this year they get nowt from me until I know EXACTLY what the money will be spent on. I will not pay a cent towards Loubser's' wages should he remain and in reality believe he should pay back 9 years wages where he essentially took what Hughes gave him and acted as a payroll clerk!

40-20 Memberships aren't a bad idea for expats like me, but I suspect 20% off selected merchandise means those black T-shirts or an infamous bobble hat and not a playing shirt.

On that topic. The club will need to have found £350k or a new sugar daddy by November 10th to have any shirts in the shop by xmas......or does anyone believe that will happen before Loubser secures his salary?

That's it, orangeman. Outside now! Bobble hat is the best thing at the Broncos since McLinden .

More seriously, I wonder if we'd been placed 14th in the IMG rankings last year, rather than 24th, whether the club might have approached this season differently.

And then I sober up.

Of course they wouldn't.

It's a hypothetical question because we got the provisional rating we deserved but I think it could have been very different.

Hughes didn't invest in the squad because relegation was predetermined. If we'd been ranked 14th we would have had every reason to recruit more quality into the squad and had a fighting chance of staying in SL.

Eccles seems like a decent bloke and, with what he was given last year in SL, a more than decent coach. Try to keep hold of him.

Best wishes from someone in the (much maligned) M62 belt.

Ps: there are no railway stations anywhere on the M62 either.

All the Best!

Cake is doing his best to sell the club to investors and makes a good point that it is probably now or never for someone to come in. He is without doubt the best asset the club currently has. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl-LKAjZfK4

Cake is doing his best to sell the club to investors and makes a good point that it is probably now or never for someone to come in. He is without doubt the best asset the club currently has. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl-LKAjZfK4

Agreed he has more than stepped up both as coach & spokesperson.

It would have been so easy for Mike to just walk away. I understand that there were offers out there and he chose to stay.
If Broncos do survive and thrive, a big part of it will be down to Mike.

If we ever set up a London "Northerners" Hall of Fame, Cakeman would be in there along with Danny Ward, Rob Purdham, Roy Lester & Harry Genders.

Edit: My heart won't let me include David Hughes.

He really has. By the looks of things he’s also had to get up to speed on how to be an executive in a company as well which really is probably something he didn’t see coming. Love to have been a fly on the wall to conversation between Mr H and staff on how this was all going to go. We read things into it that are probably not far off the mark but suspect it’s a bit more complicated.

Must have been quite tough for Jack as likely he knew what was coming before anyone else.

One would hope so as club ownership is actually in his name.