There are several threads on the Wakey board about this and have been all week, the sum total appears to be you give them a grand to save their short term future and get nothing tangible back in return other than a nice warm feeling - its moved on a bit now with a meeting on the 18th to try and establish a proper supporters trust but the feeling earlier in the week among their posters was that they should take administration, drop to the lower leagues and then talk about supporters trusts because who wants to take on the old management debts ?


And the answer from me to the question "Would you do it for Leeds ?" is "No".

I see Wakey folding, and new club forming that is willing to share Castleford's new ground.

Fev.

500 fans at a grand apiece to own 50% of the club or more than likely a slightly minority sharehold 49.9% so that the current owner can carry on the charade that has gone on for years

What new ground?

There is no way I wouldn't let the Richardsons control the destiny of one penny of my money let alone £1000 - let's face it would the current MD get the job if the family didn't own the club?

We now know why Wakey wouldn't consider the groundshare at Glasshoughton.
They needed the £350K from the developer to bail them out & obviously they wouldn't get that if they did that.

Glasshoughton mate.

Why don't you part with £1000 IA?. You've loved playing Messiah to the Wakey lot, feeding them shpeel about how Newmarket is all go despite them not having a pot to wee in, so by contributing £1000 of your money you can continue to be loved by Wakefield fans just how you love it

Maybe Wakie should step aside from SL gracefully. Give them the chance to re-group quicker and come up with a working plan to move forward. Instead of this finger in the air stuff.

What is it about a very small minority of Cas fans whose definition of success seems to be others failure?

I was simply pointing out, albeit with a hint of sarcasm, that Castleford don't yet have a new ground at Glasshoughton so how can you share something that doesn't actually exist and still possibly might never exist? The same applies the other way around too, please don't feel victimised (a role you play well). Serious question?

At this current moment neither Wakefield of Castleford have a SL standard ground to share and it is clear that neither of you will by the start of the 2012 season, if ever! So why would Wakefield opt to share in something that does not exist and will not aid them in their license application and is more likely to lose them their Super League status, than gain them one?

I think both Cas and Wakefield made the correct decisions to go it alone and I genuinely hope GH gets built, I don't have issues at all with Cas building a new ground and retaining their SL status.

Finally, people in Glasshouses (or possibly Glasshoughton) shouldn't throw stones, until you know how big your exposure to HMRC is!!!! Several clubs could be up crap creek without a paddle, even some you would not expect! Wakefield don't have any huge debt, as also I suspect Cas currently don't either, but it could still put the club in a very difficult financial position. It could be worse, some club in SL have huge debts and another £1m or two could put them in some tricky spots!

Now that, my friend, makes proper sense!!

Automatically making it the least likely thing to happen.

I think that is the decision that the fans have effectively been offered and it is up to them to make that call. Newmarket is viable (to run) as a NL1 stadium and as long as they then performed on the field then a return to SL in three years should be very achievable. Newmarket does not rely on SL status as such to finance the construction, but Glasshoughton probably does, but that is also something that puts both of them under-threat when Savils hand their report in to Red Hall!

Wakey will get a franchise next term - lets face it they have got to the final of the Festive Challenge for quite a few seasons now............

Seriously though, one must feel sorry for the way in which the club has been allowed to get into this state - Perhaps Belle Vue is earmarked for a housing development once the club has gone - Don Fox Road, Ken Hirst Avenue, Dave Topliss Terrace...

Doesnt the Red Hall number cruncher who looks at the books when working out the salary cap figures ever comment to the clubs about their financial future and question the clubs about this? I think it would show that Red Hall are being proactive in keeping their flock safe and their own house in order.

Do Wakey have a fans trust? I believe this has helped out in one or three football clubs around the country.

Why should they?

The RFL have more important things to be doing than playing nanny state to incompetent member clubs. If the clubs can't operate as a viable business then they don't deserve to exist on a professional level.

So you are saying they should have kicked Crusaders out..? After all they have been looked after by the RFL. You are judging the club as a whole. Yes we do have an incompitent administration but the fans and the players deserve better than this.

In the light of both Crusaders and Harlequins financial plights over recent years, it will be interesting to see what happens to Wakefield in the coming months.

Why so?

Without doubt, Wakey have sailed very close to the wind and will probably pay the price. However, they have been unlucky that their planning application was called in largely as a response to overdevelopment of other parts of the region.

I think we all agree on this, so why have the RFL bailed Crusaders out with a £700k non-secured loan and by doing so caused the HMRC to become ever more unreasonable to RL?

Maybe the number cruncher did. Maybe that's why the RFL were so positive that an NL1 team would qualify for a franchise.

How does the RFL loan to Crusaders affect HMRC's decisions on image rights?
And i think you're falling into the trap many on the VT have done, by suggesting that Wakefield and Crusaders are identical cases that requires an identical response to the respective situations.

Admittedly my knowledge on this is limited but it appears to me that Crusaders are in a far stronger position than Wakefield to continue and make a go of SL. At the very least Crusaders have a ground to play in.

They allowed them to go under owing money to HMRC and then helped them to do a phoenix... this has upset HMRC a little apparently! They are not identical cases, Crusaders went out of business, Wakefield haven't... yet!

Fair enough

But the new Crusaders will be in a better position than Wakefield currently are won't they? With, presumably, the majority of their debts gone and a half decent ground to play in. Seems a better bet to me anyway.

Perhaps the RFL see it as an investment they have a chance of getting back with interest, not something I think you could say about anyone loaning/investing money in the Wakefield club?

My point however was in response to suggestions that the RFL should be playing management accountant to its member clubs, who presumably already have financial controllers and boards of directors doing that job themselves in house.

If you need your governing body to review your accounts and tell you that you're up sh*t creek without a paddle, then you're clearly failing as a business.