[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wrexham/8508092.stmThe retreat starts tomorrow[/url

where does this leave the crusaders

pretty irrelevant. the important thing is the wrexham sports village. to a large degree this is symbolic rather then a giving up of any real control

I predicted this a few days back when Moss criticised all the fans of WFC because a few on a messageboard had a pop at him. He slagged them off, praised himself at his financial input and then said he was pulling away from FC. He also refused to talk to the fans. Those FC fans who were being turned onto League were BOUND to want to let him know their disgust. It's like Leighton Samuel all over again.

Crusaders are just getting hit in the fallout. If you assume without Moss' swtrop the attendance for 'ull would have been the same, that's 2500 less paying supporters. Still 8,000 is more than the Celtic Crusaders ever had in Bridgend and is a decent crowd, but it's a greater financial burden on Moss.

Having seen all this with Leighton Samuel (twice) borth Moss and WFC supporters club need to consider backing down and getting into a dilaogue. Because getting these supporters back on board should be his main priority.

You could argue that he can spare them, but possibly 20% of your fanbase gone in one fell swoop due to having a strop about a messageboard (JUST a farking messageboard!), leaves me wondering if he'll then have a go at Crusaders fans for not turning up in significant numbers (as Samuel did with 3 teams - Ravens, Warriors and Crusaders).

In Wales there will ALWAYS be Union dinosaurs stirring up the shiite aqbout league. Many, if not most are happy to watch either code (albeit on TV) but a lot of thick, anachronistic donkeys will see it as their special mission to try and destroy league by stirring at every opportunity.

But you'd have to be a fool to NOT consider this a setback. But it's not insurmountable of the benefactor gathers up all his toys, puts them back in the pram and talks to the footy fans.

I've just seen that Moss HAS ditched WFC. Oh well. This could run and run.

Still not fatal to Crusaders, but Moss has just ditched a large amount of the goodwill of Wrexham fans in one fell swoop for no apparent reason than someone said something nasty about him on a messageboard. (Unless he was looking for an excuse to get out in order to focus on his new toy).

Arrshole benefactor? Same ol' same ol'

Surprise, Grendel is absolutely LOVING the slightest hint of any negative Crusaders news. Get a grip man, FFS.

hh, any update on sundays tickets?
I read on your site that you were hoping for 8k but that was a couple of days ago

Conversely, this may just show that Moss has realised that there is a better future supporting Crusaders than FC? Just a thought....

I think they are expecting about 8k yeah, Hull have sold around 750 tickets so far so there should be a decent Welsh contingent there.

Surprised that Headhunter has COMPLETELY missed the point of my postings again! I shall have to start calling you MARVIN!

Ignoring problems does not make them go away (you're still here as testament to that).

I freely admit I am no fan of Crusaders RL, but despite my earlier hostility, now abated, I would rather the new Wrexham supporters (who, to my eternal surprise DO exist in numbers) did not have to see the club they are trying to get behind just crash and burn.

So I draw attention to something that needs addressing.

Wrexham Goon has explained the slightly different set-up regarding Moss' involvement to that of Samuel, so perhaps the ire that Moss has caused may be mitigated somewhat by the fact that this involves a wider consortium, but has still apparently had SOME effect.

You can see that as gloating if you want, but it simply is not so and merely shows you do ont understand the situation.

Hull reckoned they were taking 2000

It doesn't have anything to do with the Crusaders though? Moss has stepped down as chariman of the football club, he is still the majority shareholder and is still funding the club, he's just not running it any more. This sort of thing happens all the time in football. Pretty much exactly the same thing happened with Ken Davy and Huddersfield Town, and there was no impact whatsoever on the Giants. Nobody has even mentioned the Crusaders. It's not something that is related to RL in any way so I'm not sure why you are making such an issue out of it.

Well if they do then that will be 1,000 more on the attendance

we took 4000 to saints, but sold nowhere ner that pre-match. its not all ticket so whats your point

We have sold over a thousand as of today and have rquested to keep the tickets till tomrrow 4pm so fans can pre-purchase, as a club we our fans dont usually pre purchase and turn up on the day as tbf there is usually plenty of room at grounds. we presold just over a thousand forthe saints game with the rest paying on the gate. so 2000+ is very possible from us
[urlhttp://www.hullfc.com/hullfc/contents/?p=5417[/url
9hrs ago the club sent out this on facebook from L Jenkinson the marketing manager
Here is the latest news from Hull FC Retail.

We have secured a 24 hour extension on the sale of Crusaders Tickets for Sundays game in Wrexham. We have sold close to 1,000 tickets for the game and we strongly advise our fans to purchase tickets before travelling to ensure that they are seated in the Eric Roberts stand with the rest of the Hull FC Faithful.

I'm sorry but there is no way there were anything like that number at KR. I didn't see a single Hull fan.

Mind, that might have been because I couldn't see much at all due to the fog.

What is it that the RFU are afraid of? When the Rugby clubs in Fiji were disillusioned with Union the whole league apart from one team switched to Rugby League. The one club remaining in Union then booked the playing pitch even though they had no one to play - just so the rest didn't have anywhere to play! That reminds me of kids taking their bat and ball home if they can't have their own way! Why can't they just accept that the two games are different sports with some similarities and let each other get on with it?

Let me clarify, when i say union mob i dnt mean the wru, who are so southern biased they would barely notice if union disappeared from north wales, but local north wales guys who know there will never be a top level union side in the north. this is the potential of the crusaders to provide the highest level rugby in that area. for north wales unionistas that would be an embarrassment i s'pose.

No you didnt, maybe 2500.

This is what I've been saying for years. The passion for rugby is huge in the north of Wales, but if you look at the Welsh national RU side you would think that the game wasn't played more than 50 miles north of Cardiff. If I remember rightly, the last player who plyed his trade in the North of the Principlaity represented his country back in the 1880s. Thats not a typo, yes, 130 years ago.... (Though TBH that figure is from memory going back to my school days nigh on 30 years ago, so there may have been a more recent one. But I doubt it somehow!)
IMO the Welsh RU has missed a trick by neglecting North Wales, especially with it being adjacent to the RL playing heartlands.

Their loss, our gain, and it looks like the people of Wrexham are appreciating that.

I'm sorry this is right off topic but your post amazes me. You're saying that in Wales Rugby Union is primarily located within a relatively small radius around Cardiff and they seem to consider Wrexham too far away to bother about yet:

The WRU turns over @ 5 more than the RFL (over £50M).
They have the Millenium stadium as the "home" of their sport located centrally to the "heartland" of the sport in Wales.
They manage to have live league games on the BBC in Wales I quote directly from the WRU site "[ithe BBC has always invested heavily in Welsh Rugby[/i"
They have various major national sponsors

So can someone tell me why we can't have all that for RL in the North of England?

Scooter, Robin McBryde is not that old is he?

I agree though the WRU have neglected N Wales for years.

But what with Gogledd Cymru OwainGlyndwrTeamCanada or whatever the new "region" are called and the Wrexham Crusaders it seems rugby in general is falling over itself to give you everything that once belonged to Bridgend. I mean good luck and everything. You lot are not to blame for rugby's hatred of Bridgend, but since you are having all our stuff, can I interest you in Chico, potholes and terrible reputation for suicide given to us by a bone farking idle "national" press?

because history has shown that where you have fair competition between the 2 sports RL quickly takes over.

it took 3 years from the establishment of league in australia for union to go from the major sport in nsw and queensland to almost nothing

in 6 years in france league got to the position where many leading union clubs were on the verge of going broke