Oh come off it thats a nonsensical comparison - Manchester United are the richest football club in the world and compete in a non-salary capped sport with annual promotion and regulation that results in an entirely uneven playing field. Their wage bill is about twice that of the PL average and only 4 other clubs can possibly compete (Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool) - of those two one has only been at the party for two years (Man City) and one has been hampered by massive investment in their ground (Arsenal) and another has been unable to compete for years through the general incompetence of their previous owners (Liverpool).

If you want to compare to SL then the Champions League is a better comparison (thanks to the 3/4 teams per country the really big clubs are essentially guaranteed a place every year and their is a bigger spread of clubs with similar financial clout)...Man Utd have won it twice under Ferguson and been finalists twice (if we're generous and begin counting when the CL was extended that's in a 14 year period)...a fair few lean years there.

You miss the point totally. It's not about money,it's about consistently updating the squad with fresh talent, not keeping players too long.in football terms we have done a revie, letting the bulk get old together. Much as I detest the scum ferguson is a master of keeping his team challenging while always looking to the future, being loyal but ruthless when needed. Red nosed scum bstsrd. He is

I'm not missing the point at all - frankly you are.

I highlight the money to show why the comparison is poor but even so Man utd don't prove the point you're trying to make.

As you say Ferguson is very good at breaking up teams and re-building but can he do it without some lean years...can he hell. He's the opposite of our situation but on several occasions hes ofloaded players too early (Stam, Van Nistolroy, Beckham...etc) and as a result they've had lean years even through this dominant period of their history (although ultimately in the longer terms he's tended to be proved right).

The fact is all sport is cyclic - it's easier to minimise the effect in a non salary capped sport where your clubs turnover, profit (pre glaziers at least) and wages are multiple times that of your average competitor but even manchester united can't avoid it so what hope do we have.

One other key distinction - Man Utd have a vast squad and keep and buy up promising kids years before they "make it"...we're forced to do the opposite - keep our squad size limited and release all but the best kids that come through the academy system.

To me it doesn't matter greatly if we are winning trophies or not, we've done that and it was great, but I don't personally go or watch because I am hell bent on us winning the CC or SL. I go to games to watch good rugby, by Leeds or whoever we are playing, and to see Leeds perform to their potential.

This year I have seen a fair bit of good rugby, even a little from Leeds. I am yet to see Leeds perform to their potential for 80 mins in any game this season, hence my current level of disappointment. We have known how this team will age and perform for a few years now, and the management haven't changed enough players in the last couple of year IMO, and we have made a poor decision regarding the coaching team. IMO opinion this situation started when we failed to take care about the league season results, opting to time our run to the GF. I believe you can do both, with the correct application.

If we were to sit back and accept the current situation without voicing concern, perferring to look back through rose tinted glasses at the successes of recent years, whilst others are improving their playing staff and coaching options, then we deserve all we get as fans.

Whinos or Loyal Loiners?

Can't be the latter. Only Catalans and Quins have brought less fans to the DW than Leeds did on Friday.

Pathetic away support.

Count them did you



FWIW I attend very very few Leeds games these days - does that make me less of a supporter? [size=50(I have a young family, a demanding job and live several hundred miles away)[/size

He probably did, every last one of them.

Some people actually worry about things like this, his week ahead will now be ruined with the thought of how not many people from Leeds wanted to visit his home town on a fine summers evening in July and having counted every one of the visitors from his vantage point 150 yards away in another stand he'll conclude that Leeds must be a much smaller village than, say, St Helens.

It must be awful when you're relying on enough visitors to fill the coffers to pay the landlord every home game.




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Some people = the management of the Leeds club.

A drop in the number of travelling fans is always the first sign of a club in decline. You're now on the slippery slope. Huddersfield are clearly the Yorkshire club on the up and you'll probably just about scrape into the play-off places.

Personally, the decline of Leeds as a club is of no concern to me. As a fan of the game in general, it is disappointing to see the shortsightedness of the club's supposed loyal fans. Leeds, the new Bradford?

We always find this sort of reasoning quite amusing here, particularly when it comes from clubs who rent everything they use, who had to sell their only assets years ago to keep afloat - yes, you can tell that the Leeds Rugby Club is in a freefall decline what with it investing heavily in its substantial asset (the ground, including the land it stands on) over the past ten years and continuing to do so with a massive investment next season.

We're struggling, no really we are



I just wish there was a supermarket around here that would build us a new ground on a retail park

No, you should be shunned for WEARING the current away strip ... Bloody pink, I ask you.

A disgrace to our club's history and just the sort of thing that happens when you fall to 'player power' and let them vote / decide how things are run.

That constant humming sound you can hear in the distance is the sound of many a great Loiner SPINNING in their final resting places.

If you remember Wigan in the late 80s, there was rarely a player retained at Central Park over the age of about 30, regardless of who they were.

During most of those times, Leeds were then daft enough to go give them a contract for another couple of seasons. Wane, Gregory, Goodway etc. It could even be argued that Hanley was past his best when Leeds paid big money for him ...

Nah, Sesame Street has only got up to THREE and the letter L in Wigan ...

Just think of it as our 'Brian Noble' era ...

First and foremost I like rugby - League first and Union second. There was a time when I liked to play, then there was a time when I liked to coach, then I had a time in rugby management. But during all this time I have always enjoyed watching rugby skills as a form of entertainment.

Having been brought up in Headingley, naturally my league team has always been Leeds and I have been coming to Headingley since I was a boy (195icon_cool.gif win or lose.

Sport is competitive so of course I want to win every game. But realistically this is simply not possible.

Therefore many moons ago I realised that it is the performance that counts more than the winning. If my team gives of their best and provides some good rugby and tries to watch then it is good value entertainment. I can also enjoy creative play by the opposition.

There are those supporters who can only be satisfied when we are winning. I am sorry for them because they will spend their lives frustrated and will miss many good things to enjoy in a game. Over the lean years there have been some truly outstanding rugby moments from a host of talented rugby stars who have graced Headingley - many in Leeds teams that won little or no silverware.

Some of those moments have matched, in entertainment terms, any of our silverware successes.

Overall I enjoyed our performance on Friday and applaud the improvement against the Champions and IMO one of the top 2 sides this year.

the problem for me is i haven't enjoyed many games this year. it's been bloody dull at times tbh

Same for me Tad. there has been a lack of good performances. Indeed last years Cup and playoff results disguised a season of mainly poor performances.

You don't half make me laugh when you come out with the stuff in bold.

LEEDS were the first club to go full time. Wigan and Widnes followed their example. Still, let's not let facts get in the way of a good urban myth eh?

lie

No, you couldn't go fully pro as that would have been breaking RL bye-laws, wouldn't it ?

Not a very good disguise!

Don't let the fact that this is complete bollax stop you from claiming Leeds were the first to be FTP. I was around at the time and very very clearly remember what happened. I also remember what "other" job most of the Leeds players did, such as Roy Powell being a Plasterer for example.

Shall we see if you can back up your ridiculous claim with fact?

good on yer

course he can't. he's full of sh*t

Maurice told them, so it must be true, "Its not fair" he said, "all these other teams are full time professional, so we have to be" and they believed the Messiah and it was so.

And then they had to sell the temple to pay the wages.

To a supermarket.

And not a northern super market either....