Exactly. Rather than point the finger at Celtic who have been in existance for 5 minutes, we should be looking at the London club, who after all these years, still cant get more than 10 men and their dogs watching. The london fans will point to the 3 million school kids playing the game, so why arent they watching the games?

We have to be more clever when staging games.

Yesterday was bound to fail in getting decent numbers in as it was FA Cup final day, there was a lions game on which included many Welsh players. In two games there you take out a lot of sports fans who will go with their sport of choice first before ours.

Like it or not but we must be looking to attract these fans. As there has been a void that rugby league now fills, virtually every sport fan in South Wales have affiliations with other sports and clubs within those sports. People are creatures of habit and will watch/participate in those sports first and foremost and rugby league will be a passing interest for a lot. We need to stage our games at the right times, get success on the field and make it appealing to these people to grow and succeed.

As for LS, he spoke very passionately about the club at the fans meeting the other week. A meeting nobody knew he was going to attend. He took it upon himself to attend and put fans minds at rest. The rumour mill is in overdrive down here. Maybe the rumours are being started by those who don't want us to succeed, who knows. I think LS is in this for the long haul. When asked by one fan 'What happens if there is no more Leighton Samuels?' he responded with 'Well I'm here aren't I'. I'm fairly confident he will be here to see this through and will put his hand in his pocket if need be to attempt to get success on the field. The emphasis from the coaching staff right through to LS was very much on youth development though. I think most, especially us, were happy to hear this.

CC.I would love nothing more than to see our game spread round the UK and really hope to see Celtic grow and i think it was great to have the Millenium weekend and the Challenge Cup down in Cardiff because i had many happy times down there.I suppose you can look at what Catalan have done and hopefully take it from there,who knows what could happen,suppose it takes time.

Hopefully.

This season, I'm pretty sure, has opened the eyes of people at the club and given them an insight into what is needed.

They have seen what Super League set ups are at other clubs, they have seen how big they can be and they have made mistakes. I am sure they will learn from these going into the second season and things will improve. For example, staging games the same day as Lions union games will only see a reduction in crowds as 'dual coders' (a term used down here by people who like union and league, heaven forbid

) will stay in there rugby clubs all day and watch the Lions then the Wales union games later on. We need to avoid this and I'm sure next season they will go through the fixtures with a fine tooth comb to avoid these things happening again.

I am confident we can do it this time. We can only go one way if truth be told as it has been pretty grim with regards to results to date. Fingers crossed.

Good Luck to you Mate

You are living the dream.Hopefully one day they might bring it to Birmingham or somewhere nearby,,,but until it happens hope your season and everything with the Crusaders picks up,,,and hopefully will come to your neck of the woods soon,,,it*s only about a couple of hours at the most from where i am...

Yeah good road links too. The Leeds Rhinos game at Rodney Parade Newport would be easy enough for you by train and car. Hope to see you at a game soon. In fact, just had a quick look and if booked soon you can get two singles down here from Walsall for £31.00 return and at £10 to get in you see the Champions v. Challengers for £41.00 and have a day out in Sunny South Wales to boot. Can't be bad. www.thetrainline.com/Buy_Tickets ... 9531222423

Yeah good road links too. The Leeds Rhinos game at Rodney Parade Newport would be easy enough for you by train and car. Hope to see you at a game soon. In fact, just had a quick look and if booked soon you can get two singles down here from Walsall for £31.00 return and at £10 to get in you see the Champions v. Challengers for £41.00 and have a day out in Sunny South Wales to boot. Can't be bad. www.thetrainline.com/Buy_Tickets ... 9531222423

Bottom line with the Crusaders is they have recruited incredibly badly

They needed to hit the floor running and get wins early doors as HKR did , but they seemed to keep too many of last years squad and have struggled as a result

I cannot really see any great changes this season now and only one or two more wins as teams at the bottom lose interest later in the season

What is the most important thing is they do a Catalans and have a decent second season , if they dont then alarm bells will be ringing

If the quote from Mr Samuels is true and he's already shoved £ 750 grand in so far this season on top of whatever the last 3 seasons have cost then he should be applauded , however can that be sustained is the question

They must get a competitive team next season

I agree Starbug. (never thought I'd ever hear myself say that)

I think we have longer to recruit and the coaching staff have seen the level of player needed and so have off field staff.

We need to improve in all aspects but I'm confident the club can achieve that. We have a platform to build on, although admittedly not a very good one, but the hardcore support is something and some of the crowds have shown the interest is there. We just need to get them in and keep them. A lot of the time only wins and a competitive team will achieve this. As you and others know with increasing fan numbers the rest of the aspects of a club usually improve.

It was a classic chicken and egg, without SL would LS have bothered, but with no big RU converts recruited Bidgend cant support a SL club unless it attracts from further afield, which requires big names, winning and facilities.
The youth coming through is vital, it will take time and the proposed new stadium will help, if they can last that long.

The youth is fundamental to our long term success. No doubt about that.

John Dixon, Leighton Samuels and Mike Turner spoke at length about player recruitment and it was surprising to find out that it is sometimes easier to recruit Aussies than British players. As JD explained he approached Hull FC for a player and was told 'he is a codhead and won't move far from Hull so you have no chance'. It was funny at the time to hear that term from a fella with a deep Aussie brogue but it is interesting to think about and puts a different spin on the team full of Aussies stuff.

As for the new stadium, it may go ahead but the Brewery Field may be redeveloped. If it is, then either way is good. If the worst came to the worst and either didn't happen then there are other options within South Wales at ideal, modern grounds that gives Crusaders options that other clubs like your Cas and Wakeys do not have. They are surrounded by RL clubs and cannot move down the road and do not have a stadium to move into as such either. Crusaders, for example, could move 20 miles or so east and could play at the Arms Park, which is attached to the Millennium Stadium. This has now got room for Crusaders with the Blues now moving to Cardiff City's new ground and has 12,500 capacity, numerous hospitality boxes and the location (who didn't enjoy the Millennium Magic weekends?)

As usual, a swathe of ignorance, with pretty much everyone missing the point. I suggest some people do some research into what progress is being made in grass roots RL in South Wales, then come back. It's sad that so many think the success of a SL club, and NOW, is the be-all and end-all.

I can't understand why halfway through the season even the arch-whingers can't just wish them well and give them a break.

Enlighten us then?

The ignorance is yours my friend , if they dont survive because they are unsustainable then any grass roots development will be lost , just ecenomics simple as

ridiculous post

Progress in the field of junior development is all well and good, but the club is a dead man walking if each season the owner is forced to cough up half a million plus quid to cover expenses. Cardiff is haemorrhaging capital at an alarming rate and as the weeks draw on with spectral attendances it begins to awaken memories of previous hopelessly planned RL beachheads where the landing force has been gunned to mush before it's left the water.

Under Lewis I thought we'd left THOSE days behind us.

Aardvark,,It*s not ignorance,it*s just a genuine concern that it could go belly up down there in 3 years if they don*t as the Celtic supporter said *get better organised* i like many other who live outside the Rugby Legue heartland would like nothing better than to see a Superleague do well.

Firstly, only guide dogs are allowed at the Stoop


Secondly, crowd figures are worth 2 points in the licence application process and we got our licence on merit.
I agree, we need more fans, but it is the old chicken v egg scenario. Do we continue to operate within our means or do we go for bust and spend loads of money on advertising?
I believe that we have 2.5 years to start showing growth in attendance figures or we will be given 1 last 3 year chance to show we can do it....failing that, I will still follow the club, but it will be to championship grounds and not SL ones.

It is clear they were not ready for SL, fanbase, stadium or playing squad wise.

Typical SL wanting to fast track to look good rather than being willing to invest and build a strong foundation. I hope they can be around long enough to build but it may take a decade+ if Broncos/Quins are anything to go by.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

And be even fairer, they have already paid to travel down to this game once this season, it is a long way to do it once never mind twice.

They can't see that wanting a Super League club to do well and thinking they will are not the same thing. Its like bloody East Germany on here sometimes, you musn't think against the accepted way now!

Its pretty much gone the same way as we expected it to and I've little doubt that if they are still around in 10 years that we will be arguing the same thing about whether they are viable or not off such little crowds.

I suspect there is a genuine concern about LS pulling out but it gets ignored because it gets made out to be just negativity.

But what if Ken Davy walks away from Huddersfield, or Ted Richardson from Wakefield....are they any clubs which really don't rely on a major shareholder/benefactor?

Yes there are with Widnes being one of the main ones but don't go giving balance to an argument like that.

Not when they can say there is a genuine concern of Samuels pulling out when the man has said he won't and there is no indication of that.

I get your point but some clubs are self supported.
I think Warrington turn over 4million+ as do a few others, more than enough to run a club

And on the other side of the coin there are those that aren't and quite a few fall into that category also.