Have been thinking the very same over the last year or so.

Agree with this.

We have cash to keep all the projects ticking over like Central Park, the Welsh link up, the academy set up etc but ultimately we should be able to go out and cherry pick the players we want (within realistic parameters) now rather then feed off the scraps that may be left out of contract. We've already showed a willingness to do that last year by signing Smith, Green and Taylor for decent, yet realistic fees and that needs to continue. We've again done that by signing Hopkins and it sounds like they will do the same for Clubb (rightly or wrongly).

It's players like Daryl Clark, Danny Kirmond and Dean Collis I'd be looking at. All reasonably realistic options that would add to our squad. The rumours are the first two are Warrington bound though.

Lenagan floated the supporters bar/club idea at a fans forum a few years back but wasn't the rumour that Whelan had threatened to put the rent up at the stadium if we went ahead?

He was supposedly miffed because this type of club would take away from the taking inside the stadium and its bars pre and post match.

I'm more worried that we don't seem to have been in for the top quality SL players that have become available, the likes of Moon, Chase and it now appears Clark and Briscoe are being added to that bracket. Yet underwhelming and so-called "project" signings like Lauaki, the apparent signings from London and to some extent the signings of Dudson and Gelling keep happening. The only one under this policy who can be deemed an outright success is Ben Flower IMO.

It's suggested we'll get £700k for Sam. Over 3 years that's approx £230k+ a year.
Mossop will fetch £100k over two years so that's £50k a year.
Hock £250k over 2 years - £125k a year.
So that's over £400k a year for two years then Sam's last £230k.

IL may put some into the finances of the club and try and get rid of the historical debt. He's been doing that and not far to go so he may wipe it out.
Then he has a trophy winning team, plus a profitable club which is debt free.
Some acheivement is that!

There have been rumours Tom Briscoe may come here but that won't take a fee and I can't see him earning more than Pat.
There are replies here saying we need a left centre and we all know why. However, Thornley had an imposiible job replacing Carmont and with no one readily available I'd like to see how he goes next season before bringing in an NRL player.
We'd all like to see the squad strengthen but we aren't going to get Clarke here to play sub to MicMac. Wire are after him as both their 9s will retire in the next two years. I'm like most on here, want a position filling but can't come up with a name that is ever likely to sign for the club.
If Briscoe doesn't sign then I'd willingly go with Burgess and Manfredi for the 5 shirt.
One thing we do need is a top class goal kicker. Pat won us many a game by out kicking the opponents kicker, like HullFC away! Either Smith and Charnley had better start practising big time or we need to sign some one.
A top class kicker would be my spending priority.
Owens has just signed a new deal at Widnes so that would take a fortune to prise him away. He's a good wingman and a far better goal kicker. That's one!
Any other names?

Getting to Wembley and winning the cup will help there too

Transfer fees, probably not, as I don't see anyone likely to be available that would dramatically improve our squad - the top clubs are unlikely to sell, and the cash-strapped ones don't have anyone we'd really want.

just a thought, if Briscoe goes to Leeds who out of Ben Jones-bishop or Callum Watkins would be surplus from the current backline.

There is nothing wrong with the scouting and player development as it is. As an example we just signed a young lad on pro forms from Cumbria on a four year deal. It's working well as it is.

The money needs to go on new players, period. Central Park? South Wales? No way.

People can argue there are no world class players about but this misses the point. Whoever is the best available is who we need to sign. Not signing the best available because they don't come up to some false measure of the standard of who we should be signing is nuts.

We also ought to be able to prise away players who aren't officially available. If the NZW can do it to us, we can do it to other clubs here.

Kirmond and Briscoe spring to mind as two candidates that in the current climate you could easily justify spending cash on.

Their clubs may even hold out for a larger fee than you might expect given we are cash-rich but so what? The market will determine their worth and we either pay it or pass up the chance to improve the squad with these kind of players.

rlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/24233382rl

I agree. It really is time to move for players like Kirmond as opposed to Clubb.

Why would it take revenue away from takings inside the stadium? It wouldn't be in the stadium or near it I assume and wouldn't be a game-day venue would it?

In Australia as someone else mentioned they used to have their leagues clubs that generated a lot of revenue for the teams but I am sure this was based on the fact they operated as small casinos with slot machines and the like and this came to end (the gaming aspect not the clubs themselves) a while back.

So the idea of a bar/club that generated revenue for the team would be good[i if it did in fact generate enough revenue.[/i

You would want a really high and pretty quick return on any such investment to make it worthwhile and while I have no figures or idea how much you could expect from such a club my gut feeling is not a lot. Pubs and clubs don't seem to be big money spinners!

More Ethan Hunt technology.

The investment in disguising Adam Blair this season has been good but the technique needs some improvement.

According to Mark Bitcon the club are preparing to use more of this technology to disguise players such as Billy Slater and Sonny Bill Williams in 2014.

Tony Clubb and Dan Sarginson? - Yeah right.

Not good enough if true.

The whole article is pretty depressing and IL's usual platitudes such as it being flattering are worn out.

Possibly the best players from the teams in SL which don't really challenge for the CC or GF?

Clark from Cas
Tom Briscoe
Kirkmond
etc

or even try to offer a big money move for one of the best players from the other top clubs?

Watkins? Lomax? Dealings from SL team to SL may be more likely, it's common in Aus for a top player to leave one club to play for another.