After the dust has settled I am sure there will be an inquest as to what we did both on and off the field this season.
We had a fantastic opportunity to kick on this year with funding there but spending £100k on the reserves leaves another £650k to invest in infrastrucutre and quality rather than quantity. Where did it go as the likes of Batley finished above us on way less than that for example?

Rent! College facilities. Silly Matchday costs. Directors loans maybe?

Leicester won the premier league on hell of a lot less than Utd, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal etc............. So What.

Dave again it was good to see you today, and I fully understand your frustration, but I think you do Batley an injustice, they are the ONLY team to beat us this season in the League, ran us very very close at the LSV and are a very decent squad of players.For the second time in a week Fax were poor , not much idea in attack and very pedestrian with ball in hand.I said at the start of the season Fax should have gone full time , but was ridiculed by you more knowledgable fans

,it's no good having a reserve side if you have nobody to play, I don't think you have moved forward as fast as some times have ,I also said opposing Coaches would work you out this season, it has happened.
Today I thought Adam Tangata was lucky to stay on the field after going in with his knees after Fev's last try, and having a go at Ash Golding on the touchline.Anyway there is still hope for you , it's always nice to see you, keep smiling.Ian.

our previous four seasons we came 3/3/4/4 in the league. This year with substantial more funding we look like finishing lower.

Would someone at the club please explain what foundations have been laid and where the Club is going, there has been a shameful silence from the BOD on this issue. (We even have a management committee that appear to be even more anonymous)

I appreciate things don't work out as you wish but I resent being constantly told it will come good in the future, turning up and paying what I work a whole day for to get in to the game for me and my sons, with no details explained to me.

Perhaps I have made my point a little incorrectly. I have nothing against Batley and indeed they did the double over us this season. The point really was around what we did with the £750k- that Batley have managed to do with £150k? More a Fax challenge. To me we should have brought a couple of proven quality players in who could have raised the bar on the field-especially in the tight games and also orchestrated blowing the lower teams away- which we simply struggled with at times this year.
I am Fax fan of nealry 50 years now and will continue to support through thick and thin.
Great to see you and your friends from Leigh and likewise Fevgrinder and his friends.
Good luck in the middle 8's

Have the directors said that they spent all the funding from last season??

They don't say nothing, that's my point.

I think that you've maybe hit the nail on the head that others are talking about. They haven't really said very much at all.

We all know it's a business, and the directors have the right to have a certain degree of privacy in the way they manage the club. If everything was always in the open, then it would be very difficult to broker deals and make progress.

However... I've supported Fax for 40 years, and some have done so for longer than that. Directors come and go, as do players, but it's not just director funding that's needed to keep clubs alive and kicking. Without fans, there is no club.

We seem to be investing in "infrastructure", but we do feel to be making it up as we go along. For instance, the big screen. Pretty pointless from a fans perspective (actually, totally pointless), and although speedy house sales are sometimes a necessity (hence companies that provide that "service"icon_wink.gif, generally of very poor value to the seller (the "advert" today). The reserve team was a brave move, but possibly a tad misplaced? Fax TV Pro again, a decent idea but needs proper investment to make it a quality product - around £10k or maybe a bit more and you could have 4 cameras in place with live streaming to the internet and replays of tries etc. on the big screen (Ok, only for home games maybe, unless deals could be brokered with other clubs).

I'll always follow Fax, but it would be good to understand just where the BoD are trying to take us. What the end game is, and what the journey to get us there is likely to look like.

Dave guys like you are the lifeblood of RL teams, supporting your team whatever the result, I know I have watched Leigh in many darker times,I think I understand what you are trying to point out,before a ball was kicked this season I said Fax should go full time , however in his defence I think RM has remarked how it wouldn't suit a few Fax players to do this.
To me, Faxes failure to put away teams like Haven and to some extent Swinton has been your undoing,it's just one of those things, knowing you as a true Fax fan I know you won't give up on them and admire you for this , keep in touch,we may see each other again this season.Ian.

So what do they say ?

They talk to fans in platitudes, as though we are all idiots

"Foundations"
"Long term plan"
"Financial stability"
"Building for the future"

Whilst simply swapping some players with other clubs at the same level each year.

Please don't quote the reserves as a Stratergy if it were not for the supporters club huge efforts would they bother, do the BOD and management Committee even go tintype reserve games?

The BOD appear more focused on "sorting out" "issues" with the council than they do explaining to fans what the club as aims are. If it's the best Partime team in the championship for the next few years , that's fine, but it would be nice for them to engage with fans. Before they try and sell me tickets for the bottom eights or what ever it's called.

The bottom line though is that the issues with the council need to be sorted as they just hang over the whole club, get that sorted and then we can start to move the club forward. We do need to up the quality of players we are singing though to do that takes money, just look at how much Leigh have spent this year, we cannot match that and now the Canadians are chucking big money around the pot of available quality players just got smaller.

I agree the council issue needs to be solved but it can't be the be all and end all of our Stratergy.

On players your spot on, but it should be the BOD telling us this rather than letting fans guess our aims. If we can't afford to compete then fine, but be explicit not silent.

Please don't let a petty squabble with the council smokescreen this season's failures.

Don't worry, we all know that the council issue has nothing to do with an ability to catch and hold on to a rugby ball, and that is a major reason behind this seasons failure, ball retention and completing sets.

You're right to a certain degree but we don't want a return to the 5 and kick crap.We need more structure in attack and better decision making.

Just because we are fans of the club and have a season ticket or pay on the gate does not give us a devine right to know about the business side/costs/investment/ wages ect. If you want to know all this take your hard earned money and put hundred of thousands into our club. Then you can ask for the fine detail of the workings of the club.
If we don't make the top 4 it will be dissapointing. But this is sport. It happens. You could be an Eagles supporter. Having a little bit more money does not mean you can buy 18 world class players. Everyone at our club gives 100% to keep us running and the players and coaching staff to provide a winning team. Give them a break. Yes I'm upset we lost but moaning doesn't help and will neve change the result. Although I wouldn't keep sharp for next season or saltenstall. I think he made more meters running across the pitch than he did forward. Up the Fax!!

Norman I always read your views on the game and respect your opinion, as it is always straight and unbiased, Fax's last 2 game have been very poor in terms of Fax's performance,yesterday an ordinary Fev team beat you,though for most the last try wasn't a try, it was from a bounced ball.However the teams performances this year have been below par,I've never been impressed with the 3 Moores, your forwards have been OK ,I think you miss Manning, as well as Ben Kaye,but opposing Coaches have wised up to RM'S tactics ,as I predicted they would, my 7th spot prediction hasn't been far out either and it was a mistake not going full time,to late next year as your RL Funding will be much less next year.
Where you go from here ?I'm not sure but you must act quickly as your crowds are dropping ,only 2,305 yesterday and I reckon 400 -500 from Fev,I was in the North Stand they were very vocal, but very good natured, I would however keep RM as he IS a good Coach,I think your halves are not very effective, Murrell has not much to offer and G.Moore so predictable, I sincerely hope you can attract some new faces who bring a bit of Class to the team but again with Torontos, introduction the players pool gets smaller.Good Luck for next season.

Agree re Salty,he was far more direct/effective last season.

Ive said before, we only have about 5 players who would be willing to go full time in our squad, where do the other 20-25 players come from to go full time? Where does the extra money come from to sign the sort of quality of players that would be needed to make the top 4. Sheffield tried it and were simply left paying over the odds for players who are simply not good enough to be full time rugby league players. Look at Bradford this season, left trying to sign the dregs of the full time players and end up worse than last season as their money streams steadily drop.

Not relevant now after losing our equivalent MPG yesterday.

We didn't spend enough of it on the first team and this is ultimately where our season has failed.

When did we receive the funding - don't think it was all in one go and some in mid season?

Maybe there is some left?

Also, it seems the structure of the clubs ownership has changed somewhat. Did we have to pay up directors loans or were shares created and sold?

Money from the middles 8s would have been handy, but, hey, Feathestone, Batley and London didn't get any last year and they've done well

There lies the conundrum though, none of the teams mentioned have even the slightest hope in hell of getting promoted. The question has to be other than some daft idiot burning money how do any teams in this league compete with firstly Leigh and then even more so with the teams in SL.