I admire your optimism that there will be a next season Orange. Hope you are right.

Hi all,

I have long since held the view that the club will not win a game this season; a view I held before the season started and which was only further confirmed in the first ten minutes v Widnes and again during the Whitehaven debacles.

The reason is that the side resembles one I played for.

In my days as a player, I played for Lancaster University in all four of the student leagues (National, North, North West 1 and North West 2) and we had a side when at its peak won the SRL plate v Hull University and which was capable of winning v sides with Super League academy players and had as many as five or six student Internationals including the Scotland Captain, the Ireland full back and both halves plus an England Prop.

But we had a period where nearly all the team graduated and we just have the collective quality to threaten the opposition tryline. In simple terms, we were just overpowered. I remember going up to places like Leeds and Leeds Met and they would have three teams and a women's side and we would have just the one team, sometime on a matchday with just 12 to 13 players and very much like the Coleman side just try to hold back a vastly superior side.

In simple terms I do not think that Latu, Macani or Grant are capable of regularly scoring tries in the Championship and all are marginal selections.

I did not think any of Thomas, Coates, Horsman or Leyland would play well in the Championship, though was mystified that Coates was fourth choice given the showings of the other three.

I thought the pack looked ok, although the starting front row v Sheffield of Lovell, Foster and the academy lad at Hooker was shocking.

So I think we are 3 to 5 players short.

If we could do a deal with someone like St Helens to get a house full of their better academy players or even Featherstone we might have a shot.

Dribs and drabs won't be enough.

Like my old University side in the National League, you have got to get to the opposition tryline to be a credible threat.

This is one of the few things that could save us.

I (and I suspect many) would agree with your analysis of the quality of the side. Given the lack of ambition in recruitment, why do you think the club made a ground move (especially one that required the additional expense of separate training and academy facilities) ? This is the thing that least makes sense to me given we were not going attract new fans with such a poor team.

Hi,

The key drivers behind a ground move were these;

1. Concern that the Super League Executive would not admit Ealing Trailfinders ground "back to Super League". The then Chairman of Super League had indicated as such.

2. Lack of opportunity to further develop the corporate side of things. The club has long held ambitions to run a business club or sponsor suite. However the gold seats were often already sold out. There were concerns that the club could end up with corporate types sat near idiots like me, daft Al, Cliffie or One Arm Bandit.

3. Lack of revenue opportunities. The Trailfinders were believed to have welcomed the club with "treat the club as your own" but the revenue all went to them.

The move to AFC Wimbledon was felt to give ample opportunity to provide an SL standard facility, open up as much commercial presence as needed and a revenue share where previously it was a revenue take.

Where the club went wrong was this;

1. The AFC Wimbledon ground, Plough Lane, appeared to have all the necessary planning permissions so that London Broncos could move right in, without further process. However the club for whatever reason reapplied and began the process from scratch. This added a year to the arrival date.

2. The way the club handled and interpreted both the Covid regulations and the AFC Wimbledon move was to be as severe as possible with deathly silence on updates. This alienated supporters especially when breaking the silence by doubling prices to the very many supporters getting in for a tenner or so.

3. Halving the quality was I think a sudden decision and perhaps not deliberate. But when you get a rich man, a privileged man and a small sports shop owner you might not have your finger on the pulse.

1. Trailfinders coped with SL before and the union lot have plans in place.
2. The club had access to a fully functioning networking group from 2006-2013 but didn't use it to leverage sales, upsales or simply create relationships. This strawman is of the ex commercial and inept CEOs making.
3. Why is it that these things were not negotiated PROPERLY at the start of a tenancy? It seems this time we don't have staff for corporate as volunteers are being begged for. Also, who negotiated the Trailfinders move and the Wimbledon move? Was it the same people? Why, when they obviously got done in the first deal.
As for the rest of it. It was doomed from the start.....Hughes has AGAIN made the wrong decisions and will AGAIN find someone else to blame

Before moving from a 4,000 capacity ground to a 10k one, why not fill the 4k one first?
Corporate/gold membership? Again I'll ask.....how busy is the gold lounge at plough Lane? I'd hazard a guess at pretty empty given the lack of any evidence to the contrary

I sat directly in front of Cliffie for all the time we spent at Ealing, I think he would be a star addition to corporate Lounge. I still recall him getting so irate on the referee one game he spat his false teeth out 1/2 way across the stand.

He is a real character, and I never had a problem sitting next to him

Is he the guy that shouted out “Ref you’re a khazi” at the HKR game and last year engaged Labousier in a conversation where he demanded a refund on his travelling costs to the cancelled Newcastle game. If so, I agree, he’s just what corporate needs.

Yep thats Cliffee

... He got his refund as well. And everybody was a Khazi not just the ref when he really got going. He did come out with some stuff.

And as we was sat right in the corner of the main stand at ealing (next to the away VP's and the radio commentators), it was amusing listening to the commentators having to keep apologising about some of his comments (he never swore, but he was not politically correct).

Interesting to see these, my thoughts:

1/ We had played SL at Ealing before. The club would have had a strong case that it was still fit for purpose and could have worked with Ealing to develop the ground if necessary. However, in the real world, the chance of SL any time soon was remote at best.
2/ Corporate money might be nice to have but the club should have been prioritising its core fan base (like those in the Gold seats) and trying to grow from there rather than alienating them. How much corporate money are we getting now ?
3/ As a tenant, this is all down to the deal you strike and the relationship you build. If a share of revenues was important why did they not negotiate that at Ealing ? How much are the club making from Cherry Red revenues. I can't imagine much.

The club was chasing shadows with this move and has failed on all fronts.

I sat with Cliff in hospitality at Trailfinders once, it was his birthday. He was with his brother and no trouble at all.

Mind you I travelled by train up to Leeds with Cliff in the carriage. It was first class and he had consumed quite a lot of ginger wine that morning. He was a bit loud to say the least. Quite entertaining though.