''A group of anonymous investors are set to pump millions of pounds in to Featherstone over a five-year period to turn them in to a "top four Super League" club.'' The sacking of John Bastian seems to only be the tip of the iceberg for the change coming up for Featherstone after PROBIZ owner Naisal Nahaboo has stated on the clubs official website that the back to back defeats to Leigh have triggered investment plans as Nahaboo feels they are no longer the leading force in the Championship despite topping the table for the past 4 years. Whats everyones view on this? Surely any investment to any team should be seen as a positive, but a top 4 place in Super League within the next 5 years? Crazy expectations, especially with Salford still struggling despite millions investeted. Full article here: www.loverugbyleague.com/news_149 ... stone.html

''A group of anonymous investors are set to pump millions of pounds in to Featherstone over a five-year period to turn them in to a "top four Super League" club.'' The sacking of John Bastian seems to only be the tip of the iceberg for the change coming up for Featherstone after PROBIZ owner Naisal Nahaboo has stated on the clubs official website that the back to back defeats to Leigh have triggered investment plans as Nahaboo feels they are no longer the leading force in the Championship despite topping the table for the past 4 years. Whats everyones view on this? Surely any investment to any team should be seen as a positive, but a top 4 place in Super League within the next 5 years? Crazy expectations, especially with Salford still struggling despite millions investeted. Full article here: www.loverugbyleague.com/news_149 ... stone.html

Go for it. Great stuff.

Really good news and good luck to them,

The First order of business should be to employ someone to handle their communications and PR because that is an appalling press release/statement.

Don't get excited until the money is in the bank

My main concern is their target of a top four place within the next five years. I feel its totally unrealistic and if not achieved I would be worried about this ''anonymous investors'' pulling the plug, leaving Featherstone with high wage bills (Its what they are gonna have to pay to draw in any decent players) that they could then no longer afford.

Plenty of clubs have a couple of million in turnover, spent on the club - plenty of which then don't make the top 4. Just ask koukash!

Investment is great, and good luck to them, but I hope realistic targets are the primary focus.

My thoughts exactly. When I first read the release I wondered if someone had hacked their website and published it as an elaborate joke.

Good news for Fev, though. Let's just hope they don't overstretch themselves.

I dont believe it all for one second. I have heard stories of his time at Halifax and its clear he is delusional and thinks he can just buy his way up the leagues. We have a 250k salary cap in the Championship. I wonder how these "top class" players are going to fit into that!

I think the statement said "challenging for a top 4 spot"', that's actually quite different to "finishing" in the top 4. You could end up in eighth but still be a challenger.

This bloke seems to be all noise and no action but good luck to them, or any rugby team that manages to attract decent funding.

I think the actual statement says "challenge for top 4 Super League position" not must be a Top 4 regular. End of the day that should be every team in SL's aim. They all should be challenging for a top 4 spot.

Hardly gonna put out a statement saying they are going to invest millions into Fev Rovers and therefor they must scrape into the top 8 of superleague.

Happy with the news but not dancing in the street just yet lol




Hrs already invested 6 figure sum in to the club to build centre of excellence and develop youth.

I like this sentence [i"Rightfully or wrongfully at the start of the season the club had made the decision to strike at the end of the season to prepare a Super League strength squad to compete next season"[/i

this seems an odd claim
[iFollowing back to back defeats to Leigh Centurions we've realised we are no longer the dominant force outside Super League so the club has made the decision to raise the standards for all Championship clubs with imminent investment both on and off the field.[/i How are they going to raise the standard for all championship clubs and who gave them a mandate to make that decision?

I'm simply pointing out what it actually says. Challenging for the top 4 does not mean finishing in top 4 otherwise they would have said just that.

I'm not having a go, by the way, if they can put a proper sustainable structure in place and make it happen it would shake a few of the more complacent clubs in SL into a bit more action rather than promises.

A 6 figure sum doesn't go very far in building anything or in developing youth. It needs sustained investment year on year.
That's not a criticism of Fev by the way, just some people seem to think these things can be done without much money.

The kind of awful press release that Leigh would have put out 18 months ago and a real measure of how far we have come since then off the pitch. What a cringe-fest.

I know i didn't really make my point properly. Its not really what the actual money went on, but rather the fact that it has been invested. Lots of Halifax fans and Cas too will be quick to jump in and say Faisal is all talk never did anything for us, he hasn't got any money etc etc.

Fact is he has invested hard cash (almost 400k) into Fev already. Just because for whatever reason he didn't stay around at their clubs at their clubs doesn't mean hes not prepared to invest or help someone else.

it doesn't look like its been written by Paul Taylor the usual guy.

Waste of money.

Apparently, Nahaboo was misquoted and what he actually said was: "Following the emergence of Dr Koukash this season, I've realised I no longer have the biggest mouth in Rugby League."

It actually reads to me as though English isn't the first language of the author. If that's not the case, whoever wrote it needs to sober up.

If Salfords struggles haven't taught them anything. Money can't buy you success in the short term.

It's a pipe dream, I hope they get the investment. But it's not going to happen overnight. They need to get the right people in place first off the field.

That's exactly the kind of nonsensical gobbledigook I expect from Mr Nahaboo. Ask Cas fans to recall the kind of risible, self-aggrandizing nonsense he used to post on their forum, and take a look at the Probiz website for more of the same; he's an accountant who's built a large personal fortune on the back of questionable 'wealth creation' schemes - which some people might describe as tax dodging. Marwan Koukash he most certainly is not.

I have no ill will towards Fev - they're a cracking club and they do some fantastic stuff, I just hope that this character doesn't do them too much damage when the inevitable falling out happens.

How can Featherstone Rovers, relying on a town of 10k people for its fanbase, be a sustainable business?

It can't.

I'm always cautious to things like this and was cautious when fiesiel came on board at the club after hearing about how he carried on at 2 other clubs.
But he has been at rovers now for over 2 years and put a lot of brass in to the club..
As for the top four super league finish well I think that's a bit ambitious to say the least.
I think we could average 5-6000 crowds if in super league and while that may not seem a lot it is only half of a lot of super league teams now and don't forget every penny spent in that ground on a match day goes to the club as they own the food outlets and bars etc while many of these new stadiums the clubs get hardly anything from these.

Let's just wait and see,,I'm glad the coach has gone I didn't think he was right from the start and was upset when we lost Darryl powell but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

Up the rovers

Of course it can. You just need to make sure that your outgoings are less than your income.

Income, by the way, does not include "millions" put in by "investors" who will want all their money back (and more) at some point.

As always things like this should be approached with caution, if i were a Featherstone fan i'd be happier with the term benefactor rather than investor which implies they will want their money back. However anyone who wishes to 'invest' on our game has to be a good thing.