Wakefield were Crusaders' replacement, in effect. Had Crusaders not capitulated Wakefield would be gone. They could at least put up a "money man" at the time the RFL had to sift through the remaining weak applications left after Crusaders demise. We couldn't

Spirit of 1895 Now seems a waste, Those T-Shirts with RFL fail on them probably need to be cut up and used to polish cars with, I'm sure the Car washers down by the 3 pigs will take em off ya.

No wonder the Board Urged people not to make a stance on the game against widnes. Would have looked a little silly when it was our bid that had short comings, not the RFLs process.

Well the saving grace that is, At least we are not in Barrows unfortunate circumstances at the minute.

I said at the time we should have got an independant specialist company in to do the application for us. Im guessing we didnt, if we did then why was the application so bad? Did the club not provide the information or did the company that did it not do a good job. If the board did it themselves then enough said really. This is a rather smart move by the RFL just comfiriming a lot of the rumours that were flying about and taking the onus off them and placing it back at the feet of HXRLFC.

The bit about some things been speculative, i mean wtf? How could they be anything other?

I guess this just leaves even more questions than answers, will the board respond this time?

Quote ="Greg Florimos Boots"I said at the time we should have got an independant specialist company in to do the application for us. Im guessing we didnt, if we did then why was the application so bad? Did the club not provide the information or did the company that did it not do a good job. If the board did it themselves then enough said really. This is a rather smart move by the RFL just comfiriming a lot of the rumours that were flying about and taking the onus off them and placing it back at the feet of HXRLFC. The bit about some things been speculative, i mean wtf? How could they be anything other? I guess this just leaves even more questions than answers, will the board respond this time?'" Hey all publicity is good for the club, Isn't it ?. We made the BBC. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 584106.stm

Quote ="Greg Florimos Boots"I said at the time we should have got an independant specialist company in to do the application for us. Im guessing we didnt, if we did then why was the application so bad? Did the club not provide the information or did the company that did it not do a good job. If the board did it themselves then enough said really. This is a rather smart move by the RFL just comfiriming a lot of the rumours that were flying about and taking the onus off them and placing it back at the feet of HXRLFC. The bit about some things been speculative, i mean wtf? How could they be anything other? I guess this just leaves even more questions than answers, will the board respond this time?'" Hey all publicity is good for the club, Isn't it ?. We made the BBC. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 584106.stm

The Spirit of `95 had very litte to do with not geting into Super League as our being denied was only the catalyst that started it moving.
The group was more concerned with the governance of the RFL on issues such as presiding over the Crusaders debacle that were given the nod for Super League over Widnes.During that time they employed illegal players , did not pay players , moved from the area which was the reason for being in Super League , went bust.All this under the watchful eye of the RFL , they were then allowed to withdraw instead of being told they were not good enough.
`95 were also questioning how much did all this cost in the name of expansion when the Championship clubs could have used that money.They talk about Catalan but forget Paris Gateshead , Sheffield , Crusaders all costing money.
Other things they were queerying were differant rules for every division it`s farcical .Some have relegation ,some have bonus points , some have promotion and then if all else fails they move the goalposts to fit the team.
Whichever way anyone wants to look at it does everyone think the RFL are governed proffessionally ?

Some soul searching needed by the board. As you know GFB, i'm not one to criticise the board but your point about getting an independant specialist company in is a good one. Lessons to be learned for next time (if indeed we are in a position to do so next time).

That said, as i've pointed out before, the RFL's own process aint that great considering what happened to Crusaders and Wakey.

When Graham Clay left it was in the press that it wouldn't affect our bid preparation as Michael Steele was doing it.

I get the impression that our board thought our stadium would get us in to SL as the feed back we received last time commented on that being the key issue.

we should have just lied about future income, Wakey and Cru's obviously did last time round.

that would fit nicely with rfl policy.

One has to wonder how long we will all have to wait to see wether they have done the same this time as well re` the stadium.

I would have preferred this to have come out in a statement from the club rather than reading it on the RFL spin press release.

Just like previous bid the RFL show inconsistent reasons. Previously we were slated for not having a completed stadium whilst others lied about the future if theirs. This time they say our future financial plans are speculative, whilst on a couple of the other bids it says their financial plans are based on them moving into new stadia. Isn't that speculative?

It's all RFL b0ll0cks.

Why what kind of statement do you think the Club would make other than to agree with the RFL , I`d hardly expect them to come out and say something contrary to them .

I dont get the bit where it says our bid wasnt up to SL standard. How did they asses the bid the first time round? Did it change after Widnes got in? Were we judged on different criteria first time round? Thats the only assumption i can make after the RFL said our bid was good enough to be judged along side SL teams while Barrows was deemed not good enough.

You miss my point.

I wouldn't have expected the club to have told us anything different, but it would have been nice for the club to have been open and honest with the fans. The club had their meeting with tge RFL a few weeks ago now and they could have put this to bed then.

O h right but what I can`t understand is a couple of months ago the RFL said they could not publish clubs information on their bids as the clubs did not want it done. So I would have thought they must have spent a good bit of time informing clubs they intended now to do so. Also if as they say our bid was no good then why did they not say that in March as they did with Barrow instead of puting us through this farce. RFL= FAIL.

Because, as Starbug pointed out previously we were used. We were used in order to make the licensing process more palatable as Wakey were going to be a straight swap for Widnes and that would have negated the need for process.

Spot on , ( my question was a rhetorical one)

My question is why has the RFL released this info today of all days .... this is the day of the seasons most important fixture as infact it may well be the last game of our season ? why not wait at least till tomorrow....

Do you really think the RFL give a flying one about Fax?

Noble advised Fax to apply on the strength of their kit lady.

If it was a little better put together, it would still have been enough to beat Wakeys.

thing i cant understand.. is if we met the criteria when we lost out to Widnes, whats the difference a month or so later?

Do you really think that? I'm not sure to be honest. In all the bulltery i still feel that not having a big money backer puts us out of the equation. Widnes have it and Jesus, as bad as Wakey are - they have it. That's it in a nutshell. You can even go into adminstration and play your rugby out of a colliery toilet and STILL get a license - [iif you have a money man.[/i