Ok.



Again like Crusaders in Wrexham, skint club gets bought by skint club then suddenly has lot's of money to through about on players?



So the RFL left Hughes out of pocket but he still sticks around and pumps money into Quins RL? I highly doubt that!



IL is owed 2million in a loan he gave to the club as a director or whatever he is still owed that (see previous owners of Portsmouth FC for proof it DOES have to be paid back). Pretty clear the RFL will give Lennegan that money so then his shares can just be given to the next person who fancies a go at running the side!

I don't deny the fella has more than likley put a hell of a lot of money in just for his love of the club / RL in the south! It was more on the point that if the RFL effectively screwed him over once then i'd be very suprised if he'd then come back to throw more money into teh cause with NO chance of any returns (if as said above last time the RFL just wrote off any Bronco's debt).



David Hughes is clearly a London RL legend and fair play to him but no-one can afford to put in millions year in year out majority shareholder or not, a few years yes but when crowds still drop no chance.



Maybe the fans moaning and expecting RFL bail outs should help get people into the ground? As the only way to secure your clubs future is bums in seats and cash in club shop etc etc.

But the Harlequins are saying that the problem is the cost of being responsible for the development of the game throughout the South of England that is the cause of their losses, and not the low crowd turn out.



This is what I can’t get my head round.



They say that, if the RFL take this on themselves, then all will be well again

Heh? No-one bought anyone. David Hughes essentially wrote off an awful lot of money.





You doubt that, based on what?





Nobody forced Ian Lenegan to buy into Quins RL. Nobody forced him to buy Wigan without selling his Quins shareholding. If IL's shareholding in Quins isn't worth much now he can't really look for someone else to blame. As to whether he 'loaned' or 'invested' money I wasn't party to the commercial details of any agreement so I can't offer an opinion one way or another.

Sorry, call me cynical, but I suspect this call for "assistance" re the development of the game is a smokescreen to try and avoid a public outcry from other struggling clubs, who see the RFL's willingness to assist so called expansion clubs at the detriment of traditional heartlands clubs as unfair.



The losses Quins are suffering cannot be attributed to the cost of the development of the game in the South, for the simple reason that no sane business man (which I believe David Hughes is), is going to pump GBP 1.5m a year into a club to cover such costs - he would have said to the RFL years ago, sorry but this is not our responsibility - you need to bear some of the burden.



Also not sure what major difference IL not having 65% of the shares has to do with it either. If these are relinquished for nothing by IL at the request of the RFL, what difference will that make to David Hughes? He will still be pumping in the same amount of money just owning 100% of the shares - therefore Quins are no better off and neither is David Hughes (or am I missing something).

It wouldn't be the first time the RFL have bailed out a club ?



Those with short memories only need go back to the Hull/ Gateshead and the Huddersfield/Sheffield debacles.

That actually is a very good point. It is feasible that the RFL, who can't even enforce their own rules on ownership, would pay off Lenagan to the tune of £2m for his shares, shares that he is not even allowed to own past the 2009 season. It is unclear whether the RFL have told him to dump the shares or given him £2m so that Quins actually look for fresh investment. Either way Quins needed to be shot of Lenagan, with IL being the 65% majority shareholder and by RFL regulations not being able to put funds into the club the club was on the long road (or short road) to ruin.



It is not a debt, as Quins don't have an overdraft or bank loan and are completely underwritten by the minority shareholder David Hughes. Quins will not pay IL for money he put in of his own free-will, in the exact same way that DH does to cover operational costs that come about because we do too much off the field, and not enough bums on seats. IL wants money back for the money he put in, no-one put a gun to his head when he put that money in, and he certainly did us no favours by going to Wigan.



The RFL should have got this sorted out last year, or even before Lenagan bought Wigan. Have the toothless RFL bought his shares, or told him to sell them now, we are expecting an announcement by the middle of this week. As a rugby league fan I hope the shares have not been bought by the RFL, as a Quins fan I hope the shares are available and the noises coming from a few sources is that positive news on the ownership front is on the way.



I just hope the RFL has told Lenagan that you put your money in to Quins of your own free-will, unless you want to be removed from Wigan, you have no claims on the shares in Harlequins Rugby League.

No-one will come on board when someone else owns 65% of the club and is asking for £2m for those shares in a loss-making club. Lenagan put the money in of his own free-will, with Lenagan gone Quins can look (or have gained) a new investor in the club.

No one will invest in my club wakey whilst Ted Richardson is on board and don't want to buy him out, does this mean the RFL will buy Ted out so we can attract a new Chairman who is willing to invest?

Hello Cynical



Possibly, though I don't think David Hughes is asking for direct financial support for the club, and to be honest we get the public outcry anyway, even though we have never been bailed out in the past.



No you're right, it's not just development that's responsible for our losses but it's part of the picture. As you say David Hughes is a business man, and as such he's obviously looking at our expenditure and seen the money we're spending on development outside of our immediate locality. I think he's entitled to ask why that's coming from Quins and not the RFL.



In terms of absolute expenditure by David Hughes you're correct that it will make no difference at all. But even if someone else was wanting to invest in Quins (and I'm not naïve enough to think that people are queueing up to do that) the fact is they can't until Ian Lenegan is out of the picture.

I hope not. And I hope the RFL don't buy out Lenegan. I don't see why these people should be bailed out for decisions they made of their own free will.

But the fact is when Ian Lenegan bought Wigan he was given two years to relinquish his shareholding in Quins as one of the conditions. That two years was up last December.