Donnyman makes a fair point about Salford and it seems to be slipping under the radar with most posters who seem obsessed with Leighs demise.

SL in general is not in a healthy state, and for those who think it is is in cookoo land. RL in general is in dire straights and this year is more of a gap year. Whether they decide to promote and relegate this year is still up for debate hence the stupid systems they currently have in place. Even the Championship sides don't play each other home and away.

Keep plugging away Leigh. We have seen some terrible SL sides, and some have actually escaped relegation. Halifax were shocking, Bradford were Shocking, London were Shocking and Leigh were shocking in 2005 but so what ? Huddersfield ? How many sabbaticals did they have ?

Lets get some sustainability around the sport and start thinking grass roots up. The Amateur and Academy sides should be duly funded and that is the only way to substantiate the SL. After all, it is only ever a 4/5 horse race. Its boring and the sport needs a complete overhaul !

Once Leigh get their first win this season (and i really do hope they do win one this season), I will have a drink on them. Them guys put their bodies on the lines week in week out to maintain SL to be a 12 team competition. Fair play to them !

Thanks for the reply. I can't buy "show willingness". But it's a very strong point that if Bradford had taken that place, how would they have financially managed given their finances are on a tightrope and a season of Slaughter would not have brought the fans back in enough numbers. Applying for Superleague when nowhere near ready and a willingness to be hammered every week leaves a massive question mark over what is going on? Leigh were not even offered the full money, too easily dismissed as "greed", it made massive sense for Leigh to try to win the Championship, yet Beaumont apparently decided to guarantee himself relegation instead.

You say we need "More vibrant teams" in the competition, but according to Lenegan this last two years we need LESS teams and that has been the case before the pandemic struck. memories are long when people's club make wembley, or score a shock win over a big club, but very short when it comes to the off-pitch side of the game. For two years Lenegan has been pushing for a 10 club Superleague. He pushed that to an actual vote amongst the clubs. What that would give SL clubs is a bigger share of a much smaller pot when times are hard. I know people will scoff but I remember several overhauls of league structures over many years and a drop to a 10 club superleague is a reality.

Salford's ground issue may be only part of the story as they face a very big cut in income next season they can't replace. As for the other 11 clubs who else is at risk from a major cut to funding following two seasons when income has been slaughtered?? Just because nobody is publicly crying the poor tale doesn't mean that a couple of chairmen may well not be able to make ends meet 2022.

But Derek Beaumont certainly appears to have the money and the will to take Leigh forward. I can easily see the financial crunch having to be faced in the autumn and the Superleague cutting to 10. Simply because Lenegan has tried for this a couple of times already only this time he and the big club owners have the power to make the desision.

The whole debacle should leave fans calling fo change in SuperLeague. If we are going to have P+R some mechanism needs introducing to give the promoted team a chance of survival. Obviously the problem is money. We do not have enough resources in terms of players or investment to really expand the top table but within the championship the split between the top and the bottom is huge. Personally I would like to see an expanded superleague running over a multiyear cycle, as licensing gave clubs stability, but there are just not the resources. As long as Leigh have a sugar daddy they will be a yoyo club in a league of about four contenders. I just cannot see that structure continuing to work.

There is your mechanism. It is indeed a "sugar daddy" as it is totally obvious that the league tables tend to reflect the league of rich owners.

You say "if we are going to have P & R" so you rightly have your doubts and as I suggested we may already have seen the end of P&R....

Again, in the autumn clubs were offered a promotion place that a surprising number of club chairmen clamoured for despite the apparent sureity they would inevitably lose that place as quickly as they got it and lose a shedload of money as well.

And no, a structure of clubs yo-yoing up and down will not work. IIRC Lenegan had in the past suggested P & R only every two years. The best bet however is that P& R is already off the table unless you can find a quote from any Superleague chairmen guaranteeing Toulouse will be OK for next season in SL??

Faux French Derby anyone?

Couldnt even get close to a Warrington reserve side.
So to answer the question from the original poster id say 100% the worst team in the history of the league.

Yep. There is no point in P&R if a prompted team always goes straight back down.

The argument for P&R was always the Britian sporting culture has always had promotion and relegation so it can't be compared to say the NRL where they dont have it.

The problem is that in sports such as football they have a 2nd division which not only generates its own huge monies but the then promoted team is guaranteed another pot of gold so actually if they choose can spend money to get the required standard of player to compete once promoted.

If football had 3 teams promoted to the epl and every year all 3 teams were losing every week it wouldnt take long before the media and fans questioned it and changes would be made to give championship clubs more of a fighting chance.

Rugby league however will just continue with this nonsense even though it clearly isn't working. The championship has no money and promotion to SL doesn't suddenly give clubs a huge jump in revenues either so from day 1 clubs are fighting behind the 8 ball and it's a huge effort to simply compete in games let alone win games.

London managed to take it to the wire but that was an anomaly rather than the norm.

Licencing had its flaws but I don't see how P&R is any better. If this is the way the game wants it then at the minimum promoted clubs need to be exempt from relegation for 2 years but the majority of SL clubs would never agree to that.

If not that maybe salary cap exemptions. If they have an owner prepared to spend his own money let them spend more than everyone else. Then again what kind of a recruitment could a promoted side do in that first year even if they had a bigger cap? Recruitment's is done the year before.

It wasn't a Warrington 'reserve side' though was it ? See you lot in Super League, any time never !

Due to the circumstances of their inclusion, they can't really be judged against past contenders.

exactly

Again showing why SL is a joke in the way it is run and decisions are made.

What logic lies behind giving a promoted team less money to spend on the salary cap?

Probably a few reasons.

Leighs reduced funding bridged the gap on that dodgy investment that the clubs voted against. Didn't that come to half a Million? Funny that is approx the reduced funding Leigh had. Beaumont could take the pain. I doubt the other Championship chairmen could.

SL was desperate for 12 teams and wanted a team guaranteed to fulfil that deed. Beaumont isn't daft and he ain't going to flog a dead horse. An unbalanced fixture list could potentially cost clubs huge revenue and the Magic weekend would be non existent. Again, Leigh are doing their bit.

As a Leigh fan, are my expectations too high ? Absolutely not. Even though we have not won a game, we have been competitive in some games and maybe could have sneaked 4 points, but lets be honest here, DB has learned his lesson from 2017. This season could still go Pete Tong. There are games being given in the Championship due to travel restrictions which again, cant be helped but makes a mockery of things. Games cancelled due to covid and will now cause congestion in the fixtures and there are plenty of twists and turns still to experience.

Some big decisions to make. I prefer SL to go back to 14 personally as it embraces expansion and brings in fresh blood, but I also get the 10 in Super League too. Either way, if I was an outsider looking in, if Leigh were to be relegated for the favours done alone, its harsh because Beaumont will no doubt have his cheque book out and have a proper crack at it, hopefully with 6000 mad Leigh fans cheering them on next year.

Where SL isn't visionary is the Academy. That needs looking into as we will never compete with Australia in the current format. Its going to be an interesting few weeks, but the games that Leigh could sneak points are too late in the season unfortunately.

No they can't I agree, the London Broncos were the worst, they had been in established in SL for some time before their collapse in 2014.

Leigh had no off season to prepare to step up. Coming in at the last minute the team have been giving it their all.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the lads in the squad are playing for SL places for 2022, whilst Beaumont is sounding out new players for next season in SL nice and early....

To spend on who?? There was nobody to buy.

They are making up the numbers and it's important the players give it their all each week. I enjoyed the match last night, everyone loves an underdog who tries, and the only problem we could have from leigh is if players start to give up, which I doubt will happen as I reckon they will be kept in SL for next year so the players may well be playing for SL contracts......

And no championship winner will be allowed up if they didn't win it on a full season of matches. Some RL journo may just want to just confirm with Superleague whether there actually will be P & R at the end of this season.....

It was some excellent top class RL players and some excellent up and coming young superstars.

I don't think there's actually a "reserves" league, so your bang on right

If not Leigh need to know now as clubs are buying up next years squads, if not we will have a repeat of this year.

On the plus side, Wakey and Salford fans are happy that they are not in the bottom predicament for a change.

Next year you would presume that the club promoted would be slightly better off in that they will know that they're promoted by September, and will have (SL chairmen willing) the full amount of funding that the rest of the SL teams have too.

& after plenty of us Leigh fans supporting your fans through your last 2 administrations too ! Classy.

Have they fixed that enormous sink hole yet ?

Well thought out & interesting post .....

Well thank you Sir

The product is failing, expansion is last on the list at present. Also how do you think Catalans are still viable in SL.

Sadly, I think Leigh are proof that there are a limited number of SL players of influence. 11 clubs got to pick first, they got what was left, and a lot of them aren’t able to affect an SL game.

I’m not suggesting that their squad doesn’t have players who CAN play at this standard, but that they lack the players who can determine a change in momentum/unlock defence/control a game.

Usually, squads have a lot of these ‘filler’ players, for example Wigan have had Isa, Clubb, Crosby etc. and Leeds had Kirke, Gibson, Achurch etc. No doubt that these have been successful in their career by being in squads that have won trophy’s, but they don’t influence change in matches themselves.

So, is the answer to have less clubs and make the top of the pyramid narrower, or to facilitate better movement of these core talents across a settled group of elite clubs. It’s evident that a lot of clubs have finished their recruitment business before promotion is sorted, so the talent pool is drained before they even get a chance to pick.

Expansion of SL would be a by product not the main aim. The main aim would be to give teams with potential a fighting chance and, over time, improve the competitiveness of the whole competition.
Sorry, I don’t get your reference to Catalans.

Some great posts on here......

I lap up all the business about structures and can assure you for two years now Lenegan & his cohorts cannot stop pushing for a 10 club Superleague and maybe the same for the Championship, so much so that it went to a vote he lost, but that hasn't been the end of it.

Lenegan & Co. getting total control of the SKY money 2022 gives him another chance to push for his "2x10" set up, and how we get to that isn't in any way in the hands of the RFL who have no money, and no power. If at the end of the season Mr. Lenegan and his rich fellow chairmen want to significantly change things who is to stop them?

Certainly it was the votes of Championship and League onc clubs that stopped him last time, a vote he accepted. But once he has all the SKY money he doesn't have to accept West Wales Batley and Coventry saying "no" to him.

Leigh can be the worst ever SL club (bar London) but if Mr. Lenegan fancies Mr. Beaumont to continue putting his money into Superleague next season, rather than bailing out a skint groundless Salford, or allowing Toulouse to field an anglo-aussie team in SL then there we will have it....................

.................Unless anyone can find a quote from Lenegan promotion is 100% "on" this season