For the first time in as long as i can remember i can't see a Fax victory at Mount Pleasant this weekend. Players out, can't put 80 minutes together, same old discipline/unforced errors costing us and players with minds elsewhere give me no reason to be optimistic at all. Batley have had a bit of an upturn in form too, so another defeat on the cards for me. Here's hoping I'm wrong because we need to change our fortunes around, and quickly. P. S. no concession prices either which is becoming a worrying trend just adds to the gloom!

Batley by 30, if it does get that bad there is always the beer garden.

Indeed..we stayed there till 630 after last seasons debacle.Hard to imagine at that point that we'd beat em at Wembley...

I know I keep banging on about it, but it's complete madness. £21 to get in at Batley, you're having a laugh, it's no wonder away followings are becoming non-existent. Fev used to bring a fair few to the Shay but you could hear a pin drop when they won. How many did Widnes bring? Can't blame the absentees (I used to attend most away matches, now I don't attend any, even picking the home games). Crowd of 1,409 for the visit of Widnes compared to last season 1,685 and 2,046 in 2022. Need I say more?

I notice Batley don't publish their crowds so don't know how their own hike has impacted following last season when they charged just a tenner. But I'm guessing they'll get under 1k. Grass roots RL is slowly dying as less and less bother watching.

Most clubs at our level are stuck between a rock and a hard place. And it’s getting worse.

If you are not financially supported by someone/group/Sponsor then you have to maximise income week on week, month on month to pay the immediate wages and bills. Even clubs like Batley, well run and with an excellent owner, need to find short term cash to ensure the owner is financially drained. Hence short term focus on next home games cash and £21 entry there is no opportunity to plan for longer.

At Fax, we are now only a few weeks away from going bust unless the BOD can find cash to maintain some short term cashflow, paying off the enormous debts they have created is way beyond them. The whole semi professional edifice is on foundations made of water.

Pains me to say it, but with relegation looking likely maybe it's time to go into administration , get a big points deduction, and start from scratch. And that includes the stadium. Otherwise the BOD are just throwing good money after bad and simply kicking the can down the road.

I can see several other clubs in the same boat. A complete mess, clubs have been digging themselves a hole for several years now pricing fans out of attending. Everyone has a tipping point. Mine was 20 quid to cut down, much higher and I'll stop altogether and this is from a life long fan so you can see why it's getting almost impossible to attract new fans.

It's been said with tongue in cheek before that attendances are probably falling as fans die off. But it's true.

Was told this morning that Crooks broke his jaw on sunday if true that doesn't help with him being our only recognized centre. He is still interested in joining London but his partner doesn't want to move down south so he will have do some sweet talking to get her to change her mind.

Fortunately that's hard with a broken jaw..

Reading this thread and it just says to me IMG/SL are succeeding in their plans for the future. Job's buggered. Lindley Liberal Club. Ossett White Rat 4.0% Mmm!

the online ticket price for Batley is £21. ( £20 plus £1 admin fee )

pay at the gate is £20, for all standing plus seating areas .

( if you look 17 or under , lucky you, it is £5 )

...but if you look 68 or over, tough!

What TF says might not be a bad shout. Relegation you have to imagine will be enough to pretty much put an end to the club, the current board, or the ones that are left, do not have the resources to match promises that were made and bills are mounting up with no hope of catching up. If we are relegated before the last game which there is a good chance of then going in to admin has to be at least looked at to take the hit this season rather than next. I hate to say that as a Fax fan but realistically at this point how does the club get out of this mess?

Hopefully a fresh clean slate would give the chance for new owners to come in who can actually offer something that might make the future for the club look a lot more positive than it currently does. I am sure the current board had the best intentions in mind but it hardly ever works when you get a group of business men who all have their own big egos and you will always have fallings out and get people walking away. Similar happened at Leigh but they were lucky enough that the person with the money was the one who stuck around, we have not had that luck.

Maybe if we went into administration the RL family will rally round like they did for Bradford when they first went into administration back in 2012(?) to help save an iconic rugby league club.


I doubt it too, the RL family won’t give a toss.

No surprises with the squad with Matty coming in for Bob.
Possible doubt over Lannon and if Kev’s knee isn’t right then maybe give Hird a run out, nothing to lose really and if Crookes is injured it will be Tibbs.
Apart from that if the Leeds lads play, which is likely, with a game for us under the belt they should go a bit better because of it.
Can we get a result, always hope but not much else to base it on and undecided to go or not.

Just seen Ben Crookes pre match interview - thankfully didn't look or talk like a man with a broken jaw so live in hope he's ok for Sunday. When Corey Johnson was subbed on Sunday looked to be holding his arm - has been fairly ineffective possibly down to injury last couple of games so would like to see Inman start this week. Also if the young forward signed from Sheffield doesnt get a game you have to wonder what was the point in signing him.

He is probably injured , will play a game or two for us while unfit then announce his retirement.
Aston laughing all the way to the bank with money saved from his wages.

The person who told me Crookes had broken his jaw was talking rubbish he is fit and available for sunday.

When the Bulls went into Liquidation in 2017 plenty of Fax fans were overjoyed at the downfall of the Bulls and were pretty vocal about it.

For this reason I wouldn't support any Halifax request for funds from the rugby league community. But let's hope it don't come to that and Halifax avoid administration.

Now that does surprise me, we all love the Bulls here at Fax, indeed they are many Fax fans' favourite 2nd team.

Looking at the 2022 accounts, the biggest creditor is a bank loan for £200k which doesn't appear to be secured which is odd, I would have thought either the directors or even the RFL would have guaranteed it. Others creditors include the usual HMRC and I'm guessing the bulk of trade creditors relates to the rent. It's likely things have got much worse in the following 12 months. A clean slate in League 1 is better than being laden with huge debts at the foot of the Championship imo. I cannot see any other way out unless a sugar daddy rides into town. Is Koukash still knocking around?

I wonder if we can get the RFL to buy the Shay and then sell it to us for less that a tenth paid for it?

Well done Fax, about time but much needed! Tapped, Leeds. Red Willow, Weightless 5.1% Mmm!

I must admit I didn't see that one coming at all. Batley are so tough to beat on their outrageous slope (which should be banned). Will be interesting to hear the thoughts of those who went. What was the attendance?

That game was won by our 2nd half desire and defence. We made hard work of it after we went 2 scores up, giving penalties away to get them upfield. Going forward we struggled at times, 3 of our scores were from a dropped up and under and 2 interceptions. But with our pack being even more depleted with Lannon & Gee also missing, we've got to take that and should take some heart from the way we rolled our sleeves up

Just saw the highlights - 2 tries chalked for forward passes. They both looked line balls from the footage so may have been even more comfortable. Any reason Gee was missing? Its hard to avoid the fact that we are / have been missing our starting front rowers all season, and Lannon yesterday.

There's no way the pass to Salty was forward! That's the main thing that winds me up most, the benefit of any doubt must allow play to go on, it's a massive call which could mean the difference between winning or losing. Some refs seem to be more obsessed than others re forward passes. The Hird one is harder to see but again that looked OK to me. In both cases the ref wasn't in line with the pass so god knows how he could tell.