Pop tart, getting to the top grade is the point, but you cannot get there without money = investment, but more important while you try to grow talented players will be picked off as they will want to be a grade A team player, if my son came home & said dad, I have a chance of playing for a grade A team or stay with my home club a B rated side what should I do ? Any father would say go & secure your future !
Therefore, category B clubs WILL be feeder clubs !

Couldn’t wait for the grand final , kids n grandkids down for a great evenings entertainment , but what we got was a shadow of a classic and felt flat compared to others I’ve watched in recent years . Nothing to do with the same old faces but for me because one of the teams was below par on the evening and brought their B game to the final . when people are constantly sniping about saints or the top 4 , or that’s me done , done look to blame saints but to our own clubs for not driving standards up to try and emulate them ,not knock them .If half the tales and rumours are to believed we’ve done ourselves no favours on the discipline front and that in no big part manifested itself on our table positions bar for a few blips . I say don’t knock the leading clubs but strive to be more like them in their professionalism both off and on the field . Yes it takes big buck to get to the top of the tree ,but by getting new facilities, and a new culture at the club ,we can take small strides to achieve our goal of being a more competitive club ,and one that doesn’t just have the odd giant killing game in a season amongst all the average or below par ones . We are in the entertainment business , let’s entertain both on and off the field . Scores of fans I drop on have fallen by the way side over the years due to various things , but most cite the dour games as one of the main reasons and it’s hard to disagree to some extent . Hopefully with the upgrades to the ground , a new coach at the helm we can breathe some new life into the club , get the first game at a tenner again and get some old and some curious back in , get the team playing open attractive rugby and fingers crossed people will see that we have turned a corner and looking forwards to a brighter future , one which they are happy to be part of .

I kind of get your points but also I don't... I agree that small steps are the way forward... I lived the excitement of the Pearman year when he spent money like it was going out of fashion and the excitement building around seeing the new team play... but honestly they weren't that good and when we realised the "messiah" actually had no money... we were left to suffer at the hands of disappointment and embarrassment.

Glover proved that cheap tickets don't result in permanence... cheapies attract scroungers ... and how do you reconcile a couple of thousand cheap tickets to season ticket holders who have paid in full... further the attendance fees directly reflect the amount the club has to pay players and grow the club. either the game is worth the attendance fee or it isn't... there's no middle ground for me.

Finally I have also thought the team well capable of playing an attractive brand of football, though often the quality of performance of the opposition is not reflected in how much partisan home fans judge the quality of the game.

there's no magic formula and I think IMGs pathetic entry into the debate proves that... hard work and luck are the factors that turn out successful teams

What I was alluding to the tenner was to get in was when we have the new stand up and running , grand opening if you like and get some new faces in and have a look at what we are about ,and hopefully they’ll like what they see as well as a good game of rugby and come back for more . Even I as a die hard fan can’t really say anything really positive about our present stadium , so as a first timer through the gates it must be a massive let down , seen as it’s the only professional club in the city it’s not good by any stretch of the imagination. But hopefully things are slowly coming together ,and whilst not hoping for a saints quality team anytime soon , we could do without those relegation sweats every season to build the fan base back up

Really.

I thought it was one of the best I've seen in years, open RL and Leeds were never out of it.

I agree. We all came away from the stadium saying we really enjoyed it.

And that’s what’s great about RL , everyone sees something in a game differently, for me having Dwyer and Sezer unavailable certainly put a big dint in the Leeds Attack ,and that for me killed the game , as they were aways second best and chasing their tails . Suppose in a way it wasn’t a bad game but I preferred the game between Saints and Salford better in the previous round .

One person responsible for Dwyer not playing or in the Leeds squad. The buck stops with him

Spot on again Spook, summed up very well indeed.

TBH I wasn't there so I'm only commenting on the game, don't know about the atmosphere. I've been to four GF's including the first and they have all varied in atmosphere but all have still been good. But nothing can compare when it's your own team, we can but dream.

So this is something that was talked alot by Saints fans in the lead up to the final. I think we would have definitely seen a higher game standard with Grace, Dodd, Walmsley, Sezer, Newman and Fusitu'a playing, and half a dozen more on both side playing with injections/ carrying injuries. It seems endemic at the moment that so many clubs have their seasons curtailed by injury on injury. You ultimately want the best players in the competition playing in your showpiece games.

Injuries have always been part of the game, but we definitely seem to either have far shallower squads than the early 2000s (entirely possible with the stagnant salary cap leading to real term drop in cap size), or are picking up far more injuries (likely due to how many more games we play being incompatible with the advances in sports science leading to more broken bodies)

So are you saying all B grade clubs have got to go to a football stadium get a sugar daddy ,do not own there ground, and go hundreds of thousands in det. Sounds to me like Mr Carter is wasting is time going the way we are .I just hope England flop big time in World Cup that is the only way some teams chairmen will same up and smell the coffee

Should read wake

No. Clearly.
But I do think teams should be in safe stadiums that allow players to be their best and supporters enjoy there experience.
And clubs should be financially sound with a plan to gather investors, both big and small.