I have spent quite a lot of time on the Barrow board and on the whole they are a good lot of people. They love their RL and have managed to scrape together very decent sums of money to try and improve their club and ground. It is a crying shame that this prat has been allowed to do this to them. Admittedly they have had their head in the sand over the last couple of years but then who wants to think the worst of their club? Having said that they are facing a charge of Gross Misconduct so this isn't just putting a + where you need to put a -.

This whole saga could have been made a little more palatable if for example, Barrow had gone to these lengths to try and kick start some sort of a revolution up there. If they had put in place measures after 2009 to try and entice fans from surrounding areas to the club in droves by slashing ticket prices and brightening up their ground. Instead they upped ticket prices and said to hell with the stadium. It was nothing more than one man's pursuit of self aggrandisement. So he could be personally presented with trophies.

Time to strip them of their 2009 title. I can't see them handing the title over to someone else and don't believe that they should.

Interestingly enough also. At the time I was fully empathetic towards their disappointment at not being in a position to be promoted, but what a complete injustice and travesty that would have been if a team that had so blatantly cheated had been awarded such a big prize over those that played by the rules.

I think it's the 3rd mate, which is this coming Monday.

I've heard the 3rd, but also the 6th - so who knows. All I know is that the last 3 weeks have been a nightmare for the Barrow faithful.

Chin up mate... you deserve better than this and at least you'll have a club to support out the back of this (hopefully with someone that can realise the potential of the club).

The last few weeks have had a "waiting to go to the gallows" kind of feel. I'll be glad when it's all over - no matter what the verdict. I guess you've had a similar situation when a certain Mr Vaughan bestowed himself upon Widnes (although he had plenty of 'previous' - ironically some of which was at Barrow AFC).

I think we'll be relegated at best. We've already lost Thackray, Blackwood, James and Knowles - arguably our best 4 performers in 2011. I haven't a clue who'll be pulling on the jersey next season - if we don't go out of business that is.

Build for the future and bounce back, weve had our differences but i would never wish anything bad on any club.

All the best

Barrow deducted 29 points and disco dessie banned for 8 years.

Thus barrow relegated, I feel for the fans, what a mess.

So do I. Barrow in the days of Willie Horne and Phil Jackson [etc] were a proud club. Now their loyal fans have been let down very badly.

I don't feel too bad for their fans now.

As I see it the punishment they have got away with seems fair if not a little lenient. They are effectively back to where they started and the fans will still have a team on the park next year. The RFL could (and should) have gone further in my view and stripped them of their titles in the period in which they cheated. But I suppose that those victories are now tainted with the knowledge that they were gained with a distinct unfair advantage. Makes our NRC win a little more impressive knowing that Barrow were up to serious no good.

Des had the opportunity to build something up there. Something that he could have been proud of. It's no secret that a good percentage of the RL world would like to see a successful side up in that part of the world and I genuinely believe that he could have gone some way to making that happen.
Instead he did what he did for personal glory and in doing so has become infamous.

To be honest my sympathy has been tempered a little by posts like rlthisrl and others made through the recent years particularly by people like Mick Wilson who was quick to sling mud in our direction to cast doubt on Widnes' credentials but I remind myself that my trip up there a year back was very hospitable and no one really deserves to have their hearts ripped out like this.

But the club left the RFL no choice. And I'm with you, they should be stripped of the title. It wont achieve much but the history books will show the true story. They cheated, massively, to the cost of all of the other clubs and the credibility of the league, and didn't deserve the success they briefly achieved. The fans have been taken for a ride, the other clubs have been taken for a ride and a whole years worth of league fixtures might as well be in the toilet.

As far as I'm concerned, they've got off lightly. 8 years should have been a lifetime ban, their trophies in that period taken off them.

As far as I'm concerned, they've got off lightly. 8 years should have been a lifetime ban, their trophies in that period taken off them.'"

Tell you what. I'll run it.

A couple of years ago I stayed in the same hotel as a group of Barrow fans , for the cup final. We had a good laugh, but 1 of them was a mate of Dessies, or so he said, and he predicted that this would happen back then.

Actually they all said they were just enjoying while they could before it went tits up. They told me then that there were backhanders and sooner or later they would get caught out, mainly because Des thought he was untouchable and not very inconspicuous.

How hard can it be to be honest & straight?

These are the rules, you all abide by them or else!!!

But as the governing body we have decided there are certain clubs that don't have to abide by these rules.

Fine with that, just make it plain to all clubs & fans this is the case, rather than the underhand crap we have had for the last however many years

Exactly. If you're going to give clubs dispensations and exemptions. Don't lie about it. Stand by it and justify it. People will still complain but at least they'll have the truth.