I said I would contribute to a scheme that was managed and designed to help bring in some talent NOW. DH contributes enough to development and community work and as nobody would ever consider raising a fighting fund for promotion or marketing, I chose the lesser of 2 useless Evils.

Quote: gutterfax "Whilst I applaud anyone who comes up with anything in the way of an idea that "could" help the club, surely there are people at the club who are paid to come up with these ideas? Hey, what the hell. Put me down for £150 a year if you ever get it off the ground, but to be honest.....on the pitch performances are the least of the clubs problems. As I said...finish last and the "development" ticket may save us, but finish last with the wost average gate and we'd better pray that Salfords Stadium is all pi55 and wind.'" According to the BBC the Salford stadium has been approved by the council news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 560140.stm

Quote: gutterfax "Whilst I applaud anyone who comes up with anything in the way of an idea that "could" help the club, surely there are people at the club who are paid to come up with these ideas? Hey, what the hell. Put me down for £150 a year if you ever get it off the ground, but to be honest.....on the pitch performances are the least of the clubs problems. As I said...finish last and the "development" ticket may save us, but finish last with the wost average gate and we'd better pray that Salfords Stadium is all pi55 and wind.'" According to the BBC the Salford stadium has been approved by the council news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 560140.stm

I think we should quit SL, get a commitment from 1500+ fans to buy a season ticket for 3 years, rename ourselves London Broncos, find a compact modern stadium where someone wants us and go semi-pro.

as down as I am on the club, do you really think we should jump before we are pushed?
Semi-pro would mean being dropped from SL and if you look at the gates of teams such as Widnes when they ent down, I think we would be lucky to get 500 people signed up to a 1 year ST, never mind 3.

No way- Investment in youth is the only way to go. We are suffering today because we didn't invested early enough(I know we have a great programme now which will bear fruits) This is a transition period to greater things.

Leeds, Saints and even Wigan(this year) are sticking with home grown players- The clubs(through the SL rules) want English players- the likes of Wakey etc(just an example) although above us currently will get caught out either by lack of home grown players or finances

We just have to be patient.

Recent history in some sports show it is difficult to buy success- Man Utd, Leeds RL core foundations are built on youth teams. You look at clubs in sports that have bought success Blackburn, Leeds FC etc and it is short lived. The Broncos are an example of that.

I'm beginning to realise why Big Mac isn't worried. He's playing the long game. He knows that we'll eventually have the talent coming throught he ranks. Those young players he's blooding now will gain valuable experience from playing in those matches.

He made an interesting comment on the radio on Weds about being disappointed at bringing Kyle Bibb in on loan - he would rather have relied on London Youth

London youth is definitely the way IMO. LMS and Clubb are just the tip of the iceberg. It may take a few years, but we will become very strong because London players and not in spite of them.
Plus because they will have come through the youth ranks, they will probably be on low wages to start with.

Unfortuantely we do not have time to wait and see if they are any good or not. Clubb has been a pedestrian so far this season and LMS' impact seems to be decreasing every week.

I'd sooner see us bending the rules with a team full of foreigners tbh, at least we would be competitive rather than "blooding" half cooked youth players who are nowhere near the standard needed for SL.

Clubby and LMS have regressed over the last two years. If the same happens to all of the other talented young lads coming through then it will all have been wasted.

There has to be a balance between local kids (and they are just that, kids) and imported talent (whether from up north or over the ocean) and the club just isn't getting it right. And that is the coach's fault, he has put this squad together no-one else. For example, Wilkes is a good player, not great but a good super league player. For him to leave Wakefield and come down here the club must have offered him a very sizable increase in his wages. Is he worth it? Instead of signing Matt James and Ryan Esders would it not have been better to sign one big bugger prop forward?

I know it's a difficult job, but I think Brian Mc is consistently getting the big calls wrong which means we have a championship team playing in ESL. Ultimately, that puts off fans and investors.

Which is why I would like to see someone new at the helm.

Sorry nadera78 I cocked up your quote and got my J O'C / Bolger comment mixed in with it - sorry

I rarely do the quote thing 'cos I always end up messing it up somehow!

If only we had a talented coach coming through the ranks. When does McD's contract run out ?