Taken from BBC Sport.

Blackpool Panthers have been deducted ten points after being found guilty of a number of breaches of Rugby Football League rules.

The Championship One side were found guilty of breaking registration and salary cap rules by an RFL tribunal.

The club have said they will not be appeal against the decision.

The deduction means Martin Crompton's side will have to fight for promotion this season, having dropped from third place to sixth.

quite severe, but with no accompanying financial punishment viable like the super league clubs would probably see i guess its probably fair.

still in the playoff hunt with the coach and players at the club so lets just hope the Blackpool Storm can find the early season form for the playoffs. at least, i assume, no further punishment can be handed out now? certainly won't be making any more questionable contracts or registrations before the end of the season.

wonder how much detail we'll get to hear. boots'n'all suggested it related to irregularities over 12 players.

and am i doing my sums wrong? all the reports suggest we're now sixth, but i make us 5th, ahead of worky on points difference...

We are certainly 5th with over 350 points on workington on points difference. Our remaining fixtures being, london home, gateshead away, hunslet home, and rochdale away, I can see us winning at least 3 of those matches, if not 4 as surely with the whole salary cap issue dealt with the players and coach can refocus and push for as strong a finish as possible, plus if we play to our potential there is no reason we can't win against hunslet, it will certainly be a close game, as for the other games we should win comfortably, although rochdale away could be a banana skin, and possibly the game to determine 3rd place.

4 points behind, 4 games to go, and a game more than york to play, 3rd imho is still going to be ours as we have the significantly easier run-in of the teams vying for 3rd, and then on to the playoffs.

I bet Bobby Hope didn't even know there was a salary cap! The man seemed utterly clueless about the club. Would imagine that he has been paying players off the cap or only a proportion have been going through the books.

Seems a reasonable penalty from the rfl- if the league was more even, then it would have had more of an effect though. Should at worst finish 5th or 6th which will give at least 1 maybe 2 home games, and got a couple of easy games coming up to refocus the team.

Find some of the comments on the totalrl fourms boards pretty pathetic. A few saying we should be fined- ok well how are we meant to pay the fine? We could pay it and go bankrupt, thus causing them to lose money as a home fixture for them disappears next year. A couple labelling us as cheats- well if that is aimed at B.H. then fair enough, but considering the fans have almost zero input into the club, then it is ridiculous to aim that at us. Quite ironic as well- haven't Oldham and Rochdale 'cheated' the tax man previously by going bankrupt? Think most of the fans knew that the 'Hope era' would end in tears.

To the_cow.

Oldham have never cheated the tax man - ever. Yes the Bears went bankrupt in 1997, and a new club reformed, and after much debate with the RFL a completly new club was set up in the lowest possible pro division i.e. Div 2 and originally not allowed in the Challenge Cup. The club had no assets, no ground, no players and no kit. Everything was a brand new club.
Contrast that to Widnes & Harlequins that have wound the club and reformed and allowed to stay in the division they went under.

Oldham had tax difficulties over the past few years, which is not suprising as we had been playing all over the place since 1997. However, we paid the tax man back WITH interest. So no cheating there.

We got caught because Hope was a flash harry who couldn't keep his trap shut about his money.

As the Cow has said, most of us who've been around a bit knew it would all end in tears, the only surprise was that it's taken quite so long.

To label the fans as cheats is hilarious, there really are some clueless clowns around

There's a good chance that if what's left of our squad can keep the effort levels up for the last four games, we'll probably finish 3rd or 4th anyway and be in virtually the same position as we would have been with the 10 points added on.

The biggest worry is our injury list, Leather, Ballard, Keavney, Anderson & Ratcliffe all out and with Haggerty gone to Widnes & Fairhurst to Rochdale the squad is looking very threadbare indeed. From those left who didn'ty play on Sunday I reckin we've just 3 playsers left who can come into the squad, Boland, Svabic and Miller. I'd expect at least 2 of those to get a run against Skolars.

It's good to see though that virtually all the other players have stayed on, despite the cuts in wages. I think that speaks volumes for MC and his standing in the eyes of the players.

The best thing we can do now is to prove em all wrong and go and win the playoffs

So three of the injured players out for the season, Anderson not known, keavs should be back for rochdale or hunslet then I guess. He is the most key absentee now anyway for me. Our play of the ball area / ruck speed is what sets us apart and can win us promotion with keavs and clough.

Cap penalty hurts but shouldn't have too much effect.

Well unless I am mistaken Oldham Bears became Oldham Roughyeds- same fans, same town, different company. According to Wikipedia, Oldham Bears went bankrupt with approx £2m debt. Chances are the tax man was owed a portion of that- unless all the proceeds from the sale of Watersheddings were used to pay off the debts in full. So unless the tax man was paid up in full, then the tax man lost out. I think the continuing in the same division is not relevant and generally whan any business goes under, then all assets are seized and lost (unless a new set of owners want to create a new form of an existing club and buy back the assets at a lower price). Furthermore, generally if you owe money and miss repayments, you pay a premium for interest on your debts.

Regardless, I have no issues with Oldham and their fans (except an old lady last season at the Woodlands who annoyed me by spouting rubbish when she clearly knew nothing of the rules- and then abused me after I challenged her views). Oldham should be well aware that the fans have no control over the owners/chairman with the fight for control that happened last year in your boardroom- so in summary don't label Blackpool fans cheats as we had nothing to do with the problems, but are suffering the consequences, as you did when Bill Quinn pulled the plug on his funding.

Oldham Roughyeds are not related to the Bears in any way, shape or form - completely different club. Oldham Roughyeds had no assets, no players, no kit - NOTHING. Unlike Harlequins and Widnes that reformed and kept the same personnel, gorund etc. Two completely different scenarios.
The Roughyeds when in debt have paid every single penny back with interest unlike some clubs.


When BQ pulled the plug, we offloaded the money players not keep them unlike yourselves. That galvanised us stronger, and yes made us solvent again. We had to adjust our BP overnight to accomodate the deficit in funding - best thing that ever happened in my opinion. What really narked me is in a previous thread calling our fans because a) they were vocifeorus, b) there were 5 x more there than the local support c) we beat you - not once, but twice

I would feel fairly confident that if you check at company's house the currently existing Widnes & Harlequins are a different club to the ones who went bankrupt- same shirts, same ground, but in the eyes of the law a different company and therefore club. However, neither club had to relocate and I guess all the new funders did was buy back some of the old club's assets off the administrator, offer new contracts to superseed the contracts that had just become defunct, and arrange new tenancy agreements on the grounds.

Oldham 'off loaded players', or were current players told they had to take a cut in wages as the whole of the Panthers squad has had to? However, a number of Oldham players decided they didn't fancy a cut in their pay packet and moved club perhaps... Also, how did Oldham afford all those 'stars' in the B Quinn era and stay under the cap...sound familiar???

1) I think there is a line between being noisey and being abusive/ rude- by all means support your team, but don't aim abuse at the others teams fans. I didn't experience this with Oldham fans on Sunday, but obviously others did on this board. I have have however, experienced threatening behaviour from Hunslet fans on a number of occasions- think each individual has a different club they dislike due to bad experiences.

2) Panthers have a small fan base- hardly surprising considering a semi-pro club has been in existence for less than 10 years with modest success on the pitch after an awful starting few years. Therefore, hardly surprising that there were more Oldham fans there- relatively close to Blackpool, been in Superleague, founding member of the Northern Union- should hope you have a decent fan base.

3) Yes you won twice- well played.

Any way that will be my last response on the matter- best of luck for the rest of the season & hope that your new ground gives you a stable foundation for future growth- a situation all clubs would like, but few achieve.

Quote: Roughyeds Return "Taken from BBC Sport. Blackpool Panthers have been deducted ten points after being found guilty of a number of breaches of Rugby Football League rules. The Championship One side were found guilty of breaking registration and salary cap rules by an RFL tribunal. The club have said they will not be appeal against the decision. The deduction means Martin Crompton's side will have to fight for promotion this season, having dropped from third place to sixth.'" Wrong as usual - We didnt break salary cap rules - check official statement - www.blackpoolpanthers-rlfc.co.uk

Quote: Roughyeds Return "Taken from BBC Sport. Blackpool Panthers have been deducted ten points after being found guilty of a number of breaches of Rugby Football League rules. The Championship One side were found guilty of breaking registration and salary cap rules by an RFL tribunal. The club have said they will not be appeal against the decision. The deduction means Martin Crompton's side will have to fight for promotion this season, having dropped from third place to sixth.'" Wrong as usual - We didnt break salary cap rules - check official statement - www.blackpoolpanthers-rlfc.co.uk

Doesnt matter where quote is from , whether its the BBC or Roughyed TV its still incorrect. Yes we broke the rules and will take the punishment. That was yesterday - old news and chip paper by now