There's' only one inescapable conclusion.

They've served their purpose. Thanks very much boys but ta ta and stop spoiling the pitch,

Well pardon me for not being a Leeds Tykes apologist.

As daft as it sounds, a larger percentage of the issue is attributed to the union side of the club. its not a union bashing statement from me though, its purely the fact that they are playing on it at a time of year when its a slower (if at all) period of regeneration in the pitch down to the time of year. We could blame ourselves also for playing on it now when its in such a state.

But how on earth would it in any way be a good thing if Tykes were relagated?

Whether people like it or not Tykes are hugely benificial to the Rhinos.

What difference would it make?



Are they? How?

Bless.

For someone with such strong opinions you really don't have the brain power to back them up do you?

No Carnegie in the Premiership means no Sky TV funding, massively reduced corporate entertaining and sponsorship income. The evidence of the likes of London Welsh and others this year indicates that Carnegie would be likely to suffer significant financial losses if they were relegated out of the Premiership.

Which parent company do you think would be digging into its pockets to cover those losses? How do you think that might impact on future plans both on and off the field for the Rhinos?

You willing to accept that just so the pitch can look a bit nicer for the first two months of the season?

All this extra funding has certainly turned the Tykes around from a yo-yo team to a, oh hang on, a yo-yo team hasn't it?

Did Leeds Rugby really get those 'benefits' when LMU owned the Tykes? However did we manage to win 3 on the bounce while having to dig into our pockets to fill the gap.

Face it, the pipe dream hasn't worked. Time to shut up shop.

Good job nobody around the club listened to you in the mid-90s isn't it, when the Rhinos were in an equally poor financial situation and scraping along the bottom of the Super League...

Leeds RL was a club with a rich history and massive potential. Your analogy is astoundingly poor.

Leeds Tykes rattle around in Headingley, their history resides in clubs such as Roundhay and Headingley RU. They've yo-yoed along for 10 of their 17 years now and despite all their sponsorship, sky money etc they probably still owe us plenty.

New pitch, New south stand - Do you think Leeds Rhinos side of the business will be playing for that alone?

Leeds Rugby employs 100 members of staff - What do these staff members do during the Rugby League off season? Leeds Rugby still have to pay their wages but where does the return come from?

Whether you like it or not Leeds Tykes have played a part in getting the business structure to where it is now.

Have they?

Or did the huge sponsorship from Leeds Met play the part?

Of course it played a part, but the attraction of the Leeds club will surely have been influenced by having 1.5 top flight rugby teams.

What about the shared costs? And the large amount fo Sky money they receive?

on their own they are a loss making organisation, but that doesn't mean that we're not better off without them

Didnt we get funding towards our training facilities down at Kirkstall in part to the Union boys? Also wasnt there a fantastic uptake of corporate booking for the Union boys games this season, an amount a mod on here i believe said put ours to shame? Plus having the stadium making money all year round.

The user Blue'n Amber comes with an impressive CV of wind-ups, indeed its his personal obsession, you need to take all of his expressed opinions with a pinch, no, a huge dollop of salt.

So it's confirmed then. We've had our most successful era because of the Tykes input?

Yes?

Which mid-90 year=#FF0000s do you have in mind?

I can only recall one year where Leeds RLFC were down amongst the dead men and wasn't that brought about in large part by the then owners unwillingness/inability to invest that particular season while they were looking to bail out? Leeds were reasonably competitive either side of that one bleak year around that period and had a history of a relatively strong supporter base with potential for growth. Not sure which part if any of that can be applied to the current Union side who continue to muddle along yo, yo-ing between the top two divisions and failing to find a level of support capable of sustaining them as an independant entity.



Not another one - didn't see that coming.

Andy,

If Carnegie are so beneficial to Leeds Rugby Ltd why did Caddick happily sell them to Carnegie?

They're loss making. They have been very useful as I have said before. Without them I doubt we would have the training facilities and our eyes wouldn't have been opened to how to market the club corporately.

But right here and now, except for churning up the pitch through the winter, what do they bring to the table?

IF they're relegated, I would not be in the least surprised to see them re-located to Bramhope and taken out of the corporate picture at headingley. I am afraid the public are voting with their feet and there isn't the interest. Mr Caddick voted with his cheque book some time ago and has not been plugging their losses for a while. Now Carnegie have sold them back to us why do you think he will want to continue doing so?

Leeds Met use Headingley in the winter too.

Where's Andy Gilder sloped off to? Guess he doesn't have the brain power to back up his argument when put on the spot.

Getting back to the pitch



Lets hope they don't decide on whatever kind of pitch Wigan did.

IIRC they have re laid their pitch at least twice in the last 2/3 seasons and are about to do so again because it is getting churned up so badly with the rugby and football played on it throughout the year.

Bloody students!! Finally, a common enemy for us all to blame.

Back up what - when Jason Booth says that Carnegie aren't to blame, I would tend to take his opinion with a little more gravitas than yours.

One of the main reasons for the detioriation in the playing surface beleive it or not is summer rugby!!

It is during the summer months that the grass should be allowed to grow long and build a good root structure. However, as the grass is kept short throughout the summer and the pitch is watered via a sprinkler system, this discourages any significant root structure forming and as a result you get a poor surface in the winter.

When the pitch is replaced, they should also install an underground watering system which will encourage the grass root structure to dig down towards the water, which will in turn also hold up better when played on in the winter months.

No. That the Tykes offer us anything and that we wouldn't succeed without them.

I must say though, it's funny that you think I dont want the Tykes just so that I get a decent pitch at the start of the year.

lmso