Derek are there no forcast sheets for this coming week?

Maybe he/she isn't a Leigh fan, glow?

Bringing back Promotion & Relegation, hardly gonna make club's average attendances lower than what they are now right now, are they Leiiggh Leeiiggh ?

Impressive long posts by the way.....maybe it's not the answer, and my name is Boris and I live on the planet 'tharg', oh and have you got change for a 'plip plop' ????

Linda if your post does not set some sort of alarm bells ringing at rl hq I don't know what will.





As for leigh leigh his ideas are sadly what the clowns at rl hq follow and that unfortunaley is the path our game seems hell bent on

As noted elsewhere, we had crowds that were smaller ones than the ones we had now when we did have P&R, Licencing is just a convenient peg to hang the blame on, but it goes a lot further than that.

The regularly posted comment that 'without P&R it's just a long series of friendlies' is without much substance either - what does the SL champion win, other than the SL title? Do they get a chance to go and play in Australia or something? Of course not.



The fact of the matter is that we're a semi-professional sport trying to draw professional sport level crowds. Take a step back, stop trying to compare us to SL sides, stop trying to compare us to top level football attendances, and take a look at other sports in a similar position. We draw similar (if not better) crowds to RU clubs at our level, lower division soccer's semi-pro teams don't do much better, and professional cricket often sees attendances lower than ours.

All these comparisons are pointless though - if we want to increase our attendance, then we need to change the attitudes of the fans we have.



No one likes to be criticised, but the general air on this forum is 'It's everyones fault but our own'.

No it bloody well isn't, it is ENTIRELY our own fault. We've always overspent, leaving ourselves in the poo, we've always overestimated our income - why haven't we learned to live within 1/2 of what we're claiming and bank any extra? - and we've always cried that the RFL hate us.

Here's the bad news. The RFL couldn't give a flying one about us, one way or the other. The lower divisions are there to bridge the gap between the amateur game and SL, a way of bringing players through and up to SL standard.

This is how it should be - does anyone on here actually believe that if we get a great player we should hang on to him and deny him his chance at SL? Of course no one does, but to hear the flat cap mumblings about being a 'feeder club' you would think so. So what if we are a feeder club of some sort? I don't see any formal arrangement, do you?

What if we use our great RL player base as a breeding ground for prospective SL players - what will those players have to do to get noticed in the first place? Play to lose or play to win? I know which I think it is, and in the process they'll help us achieve better league position than we would if an SL scout had snapped them up and taken them away from us before we'd even given them a run out.

Similarly with DC players. If they're not quite up to SL standard, great - we'll take them and keep them fit. The big mistake is relying on these players, no one should do that as the consequneces of relying on them is too obvious.

Sadly, we've not learned that last lesson yet.



The bottom line is that clubs have to look out for themselves. No relying on SL to bail them out, no bitching if it seems the RL has done so to other clubs - if our club overspends then I'd not expect anyone other than Leigh fans and our few friends to give a damn about it. Similarly, I'll not throw money into someone elses pot if they've over reached themselves.



It truly isn't rocket science.

We can be, we just weren't good enough on and off the field.

Problem is - crowds in SL are up - so are Sky viewing figures. This gives the RFL the basis for doing what they do, despite the warning signs at Bradford.

Are they really? Well i never

What as that got to do with us? Ok most of us don’t like the ‘rules’ and hopefully they’ll change them but the clubs outside of SL need to stop blaming everyone else, feeling sorry for themselves and actually get out there and do something positive.



I’ve got shot down before for saying I would rather we had a good marketing person (with a budget) than a good half back (with boots) but I still feel it would be the best way forward.

Surely you must know that press releases are supposed to highlight positives? Surely you must know that the RFL know the game is struggling behind closed doors?

IF clubs the size of Rangers can go under, who are comparable on their own in revenues to the whole of UK pro RL then you know things are tough for the game.

Problem is glow that no matter how good the marketing is without a good half back or whatever people will not come and watch a losing team. How do you change human nature. How do you change peoples ideals that the US/Australian methods are better than the deep seated British way of rewarding on field achievements. All licensing has done is protect the weak.

Ultimately I’d like to think we can have both as IMO how good we are off the field will have a greater effect on how we perform on it than the other way round.



I should point out I’m by no means a fan of the franchising, US/Aussie ways etc but I’m sick to death of hearing people moaning about it, we are were we are lets just get on with it.



People thinking simply by bringing P&R back, removing the franchise’s etc will be the answer to all our problems, are the same ones who said “Build a new stadium and the people will come!” IMO I think they need to give their head a shake.