Did not know barrow have nearly 60,000 fans?

You're all correct of course. Barrow have no chance, crap crowds, crap stadium and have no income other than Des Johnson's cash.

Great to be completely igorant of the facts and plans isn't it !

BTW, there could very well be more than 1 team 'promoted' from the Championship in 2012.

If the RFL want Barrow there, they'll be there regardless. They'll be put up and given time to sort themselves out with stadia just like Celtic (or just Crusaders now I should say), Cas, Salford etc. 'Rules' don't apply to the rule makers.

How very bitter you are! Haha must come from winning nowt again.

I believe your average crowds, (not inc NRC) was all of 30 or 40 more than Barrows.

True the ground is a dump, but who made you the auditor for what is acceptable for the Championship? The reason the ground is a dump is obvious, it is owned by the club and therefore maintained by the club. When times are hard (and they have been mighty hard at Craven Park in the last 20 yrs) the ground is the least priority. At least now with some success, increased crowds and a desire to improve CP, we should see some improvements. Who knows it may even meet your exacting standards TLBC.

The Poll is a load of b0ll0cks. I would suggest looking at it that some wag of ours has written a cheeky bit of code. haha

As for Franchise, Widnes deffo. Fax? I cannot see or what they would bring to the competition. All talk Fax.

Not too bothered about going up to Super League, its all a big mess up there anyway.
Championship is keeping me entertained.

I have to say I partially agree although it seems the RFL are doing their best to keep this league part-time and under funded.

yeah the only thing you have is location

lets face it you dont have much else going for you at this point.

as for the franchise, most fax fans i think are already ready to be shaffted by the RFL and left out in the National leagues for years to come, so i am already prepared for it.

the only good thing Barrow have is location, what else can you say ticks your franchise box apart from winning the grand final of course and congratulations again on that achievement, but there is nothing else but them 2 things going for you.


i fully expect Widnes to get in, who else, although we dont have the location we have other things, so Halifax, Baroow or Toulouse for the last spot, if 2 go up.

but rest assured i am already prepared for dissapointment, were just not in the expantion zones now are we.

now excuse me am off to do a protest outside RFL headquarters until my demands are met

In response to Faxtastic, (and on 2012 franchise applications in general)

If I am brutally honest, I don't think it would be good for Barrow to get a franchise in 2012. I also think it wouldn't be good for Fax. Neither of our clubs has the fan base or I suspect youth development programmes at present to support a successful SL franchise.

The only club approaching these necessary standards and infrastructure is, may my tongue turn black for saying it, Widnes! However I still think it would be a big step up for them, possibly too big, unless they establish/demostrate the financial viability that SOC is striving for and add another 2 - 3k to the gate. Possible but ambitious and no criticism or offense is intended.

The problem both Barrow and Fax share is we need to more than double our existing gates to be a viable franchise, with a salary cap of £2m pa thats a £4m turnover. Not sure how many clubs are currently doing that in SL, tho the info is available, but none of us in the Championship are anywhere near that. This is also where expansion will always fail unless the club can be underwritten by a substantial financial backer until the sport/club starts to attract the nembers and sponsorship required to support itself.

Which should be the main focus of the RFL for all Championship clubs , but do they really want us to achive that , if we did , it makes it more difficult to bring expansion clubs through the lower tiers

well they have the biggest attendances in the league and may be able to draw more in. they are certainly in the best position. whether thr RFL think they are a club that is expantion enough is yet to be seen.

i dont think the RFL will have be able to turn Widnes down 2 franchises in a row.

Steve O'connor has threatened legal action if we dont get in.

I doubt it would be as simple as that , unless of course the RFL have stated to him that the only reason last time was because of the financial situation