Quote: The Devil's Advocate "I'd hazard a guess that now the Super League T.V. gravy train has financially dropped dramatically, so the club's ability to offer decent salaries has done the same.
Getting people through the gates is the best way to increase revenue, but how do you expect people to rock-up when the only elation you're likely to achieve is avoiding relegation!
Every club in S.L. (barring Toulouse) have been to a major final in recent years,I've just turned sixty & the only time I've seen Wakey in a major final was forty odd years ago!'"
I suppose it's the old chicken and egg situation isn't it. Bradford did it under Peter Deakin, he transformed that club in a short space of time, crowds from around 4,000 up to 10,000, then as success on the field happened, they were getting over 20k for Leeds games etc. The switch to Summer was embraced by them better than everybody else. I know it all fell apart eventually, but it wasn't like they were one season wonders, they had almost 10 years of trophies. He was innovative, and took risks and it paid off, whether you liked what they did on match-days or not, it worked. I guess it helped having Odsal because it was so massive, even though it was run-down, he saw the potential. I believe he went to Saracens and transformed them too. I think we need to look at other sports, globally as well, see how American Football teams get 50, 60k attending with populations of 100k etc. We need to explore other avenues apart from the tried and trusted, as eventually we probably will run out of luck.....