There's no reason to believe that 10,000 for Celtic isn't achievable in 10 years. It all depends on how the club catches on. I know there has been talk of a move to Newport and I don't know how Newport compares to Bridgend in terms of population size or how far the two places are from each other, but one thing that is crucial for a rugby league club to succeed (as opposed to a union one) is community. It has to develop roots in a community. If you take Castleford and Wakefield, for example, with Featherstone a mere spit away, there you have three towns within breathing distance of each other yet each has sustained a separate rugby league club because each has its own community from which the club has grown and within which it is nurtured. None of those places is especially big but they do have a sense of community and their RL team is a part of that. If the club is growing roots in Bridgend then it might harm the club to move itself to Newport, unless there was a sense that community roots could be grown successfully there also.


The Welsh are not alone here. Saints manage to attract 30,000 fans to Wembley but this season for the first time in donkeys years we have averaged 10,000 crowd, just about (with Wigan - our only sellout - yet to come). Where do the other 20,000 go to for the rest of the season? As you said, they sit in front of the TV and keep their cash and their voices to themselves.


I think the big unknown was how your players would cope and they have fallen short of the mark, although only just it has to be said, and you have been hit with a serious number of injuries making the likelihood of success even more remote. Had you won some home games then you would have retained more interest but once you do start winning home games, as you will next season if Dixon makes some wise recruitment choices, then I'd bet a salary on you seeing your numbers grow, especially if the development work keeps having a positive impact within your community. In the meantime, I hope your club gets the right advice and has some good luck so that financially it can keep going during the tough times in order to enjoy the good times when they come, as they will.


The heartlands have had other difficulties. In the 1980s Saints' turnout fell to 4,500. We are not helped by the influx of scousers to the town. St Helens has been a rugby league stronghold since the outset, being a founder member of the northern union. There was no soccer or RU or anything else really to compete. With the influx of scousers has come soccer and also a dilution of the local sporting culture, as well as other activities competing for time and resources. So the heartlands clubs, especially in Lancashire, have had other challenges to face in retaining interest. Where we win over new clubs like yourselves and Gateshead Thunder and the Quins is that we have a long history to justify making a big noise when things are going badly, with the greater possibility of someone helping us out as a result.

Get away! You have Basil returning next season for three years! With him at the helm you can have a great future!

Will he be happy coaching outside SL for more than a year or two ?

And to tell the truth I think he will have a big shock how different things will be now we are at the LSV

His record in all honesty is not that good when you break it down

We couldn't go much lower when he came to us

Saints were already the champions

He did wonders at the JJB

Not made enough of an impression to get a ' gig ' in Oz

As I said Renting council stadiums ouitside SL doesn't work

Widnes,Donny and now us will all bear testament to that

Oh, stop being so depressed already!


He has family ties in Leigh. His wife is from there. He has two daughters there. He has interests outside of RL to keep him there for three years. He isn't simply relying upon Leigh, so take some comfort from the fact that he has ties to bind him.


Since when has Basil not liked a challenge?


Millward is recognised as a superb coach. And he did things to Saints, to the way we played, to the level of our success, that no other coach had done. He is highly innovative as well as a real character (and I am SO looking forward to having him back over here!). He cocked things up at Wigan but, let's face it, when only one coach has remained at Wigan longer than Nobby, it's not hard to cock things up at Wigan, is it? Millward is still seriously missed by a lot of St Helens fans and is remembered by as many with great fondness. For Saints it was Daniel Anderson who walked into a successful team. Millward helped create that team, as did McRae and Hanley. It wasn't just one man and even Daniel Anderson did wonders to our defence (not Millward's philosophy back then). No doubt he has picked up some new ideas under his present boss, who is supposed to be one of the best coaches in the world I believe. He's bringing all that to Leigh. Take heart! He'll do wonders for you guys!

Does he ? never

Is she ? never

Has he ? never

You forgot about Robbie his son , the one who lives 100 yards away from where I am now sat

You dont know him very well do you ?

The lack of P and R has basically killed our clubs support

Moving into ' our ' shiny new stadium has been a disaster

We have tried to follow the RFL's remit of improving our junior development [ something Mr Lewis attacked on TV ] which has left us on the verge of relegation while other clubs have ignored that and are prospering

Our future is not looking very good and I seriously doubt Ian turning us round this time

What is the question is will he hang around as long as he did last time

Look back and find me a situation where a coach going back has been a success [ only Murph has ever managed that and he was very fortunate the second time that we had some world class players then , something even he admits ] , I doubt you will find any

Starbug, you be as negative as you want to be.

This is the Crusaders board so I'm leaving it there and hoping that the Celtic fans keep being positive in spite of their present situation.

It would seem their present situation is fine according to Mr Samuels and the RFL

So nothing to worry about

He also said same thing about Celtic Warriors! Oh and amzingly also talked about moving them out of Bridgend just weeks before they went belly up!

Sounds promising...

Have you bunch of pretenders gone out of business yet?

Super League my .

Encouraged, where did you get a smiley that so remebled your face?

No Grendel that's what he's talking out of!!

...but there's the rub.... Catalans STARTED with sixty years of roots. If you don't know, Catalans Dragons are an amalgum of St Esteve and Treize Catalans, the two most successful teams from the French domestic RL, which goes back to the 1930s.

My concern, from the outset, was that Crusaders were trying to build top-down, not growing a base for an application to SL in 3-12 years' time. I want Crusaders to work. I've always raised the fear that it was being rushed, and that a a failure this time would kill off Welsh development for decades to come.

Let's hope it really is all a bed of roses (and leeks and daffodyls)

yes thanks i am aware of the history of catalans. I dont think it was ever going to be a bed of roses, it was always going to be a hard first year for celtic, the next few years will be the acid test, but i think that they have alot of potential and will soon (next few years) be outstripping quins for crowds by a good distance and i think they could overtake a few heartland clubs on the field as well. Time will tell.