Awful situation.

If we played them soon at the HJ, assuming we've stopped crying and they're still sniffling, it'd be 100.

Mr Moss has left the town of Wrexham in one hell of a mess. Football team deep in trouble, Rugby team who knows where. Racecourse ground could be sold at any moment.

Keith needs to chill out. In what is likely to be an amazing turn of events, Wakefield of all teams will probably snap him up now anyway.

Think the rug was well and truly pulled from under everyones feet at Cru by the sounds of it, guess there will also be wholesale requests for contract releases not good for the sport IMO

Given the timing of the announcement and the potential implications of Crusaders withdrawal i.e. contracts not being fulfilled.

Would it not be better to announce the licences at the end of the season in future?

Players sign SL contracts one week and the next ... strange. As previously said Wrexham FC fans having nothing good to say about these owners. I wouldn't be surprised if their round 27 match isn't the end of them.

Bless him...

Is he too good for the championship?

Arrogant gimp

Senior has got every right to be angry. He wanted to stay in Super League and signed a two year deal, fair enough, if the RFL had not granted Crusaders a licence, then that was a risk Senior took - but for the club to decide to withdraw, is not on for a player who lets be honest has never been anything other than a model pro and is one of the most respected figures in the game.

I bet Senior never plays in the Championship for Crusaders, some arrangement will be struck so that they get him off their wage bill and he can play for Wakey or Widnes next season.

I bet Silverwood is pi**ing himself laughing

Wouldn't the players have signed A super League contract??? and wouldn't that be a get out clause in its self?

You've got to feel for the players though, but have to say I'm happy to see Wakefield given a respite. Some enthusiatic young British lads there, that will be very happy with the outcome today.

Unfortunately, one team was going to be the receiver of the bad news..

The Crusaders won't be playing in the championship next year.

luke dyer formerly of the crusaders, i've no idea where he is now came up with the best comment on twitter today for me.

He isn't the only one to make his feelings known, a lot of Crusaders players are posting stuff similar to this on twitter. I do feel he has every right to be angry and I feel sorry for the fans and the players.
Although I have to admit, I was pleased for Wakey, and I wouldn't be surprised if they offer him a contract.

Gareth Thomas said on Radio5 last night that the players don't know when they will be paid next and this is the third time this year that the club haven't paid them on time. He was fairly calm about it but he did say he had no idea who he would be lining up with on Sunday. For some of his team mates yesterday was apparently the last straw. Feel a lot of sympathy for them and the fans who have got behind them and spent their hard earned following them. Black day for our sport. Even Talk Sport (who never give RL a mention) couldn't wait to get in on the act. One question from a kn£b of a presenter was 'does this signal a slow death for rugby league?'. Didn't bother listening to the rest.

Talk 5H1TE are to be avoided at all costs, MKC. An organisation with more nobs per square yard than thses loony political parties.

As I said on another thread, Senior WILL have had it in his contract that it was to be on SL terms. If not, his agent/solicitor are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Senior and Thomas (well paid) will more than likely bounce back from this. Concerns are for their younger squad players, who may not get paid/get lost to the game, in future.

Again, as I commented on another thread, the RFL must look more than silly over the whole Celtic/Crusaders affair.
We've had them go into administration, had the visa scandal, poor attendances, and now this, an 11th hour collapse, as just the tip of the ice-berg.
They've SERIOUSLY got to look at their whole expansion policy, and other issues.
In the past 30 years, we're well on the way (off the top of my head) to seeing the amount of clubs going out of existance, go into double figures. Unnacceptable. We also had the farce of the Super League amalgamations in 1995. Other sports (and the media) must need a Tena Lady in their boxers when the latest joke announcement is made.

IF (and it's a bl00dy big if) the RFL have another brainfart, and decide to bring in another team in, they MUST be shackled to the RFL's accountant (and give a weekly balance sheet to him), to ensure that they are (and remain)100% solvent. Otherwise, the game looks like a joke to the outside world....again.

Bet he signs for the Demics.

Spot on Lefty. The whole thing looks like the RFL asked Crusaders to fall on their own sword to avoid Red Hall looking like a bunch of clueless wazzocks. It's clear the franchise system is not only flawed its pointless and promotion/relegation should return in my view. The 'financial controls' that SL are supposed to bring to the game clearly didn't work in Crus case and the RL need to explain why our latest expansion attempt has failed so badly. As you say the kick and clap biased media must have severe stomach pains due to non stop 24 hour laughter.

I'd be angry if I was in Seniors situation, he'd signed a contract to play super league, but then again there was always a chance Crusaders wouldn't get a license anyway.

Did Crusaders pull out of their own volition or did the RFL ask them to pull out?

Senior in retrospect acted very unprofessionally as have all of the Crusaders players who tweeted how unhappy they are with the club.

They should have at least waited until the day after when they had held talks with the club.

I disagree with on this. The players have every right to be annoyed. The club has acted poorly on this and deserve every bit of abuse their getting

the thing that was most striking to me is the way that the speccy-man-who-cant-talk-in-public ended the announcement.

Something along the lines of... "we will talk to crusaders about their possible inclusion in super league" (of course may not be entirely accurate)

suggests to me this has ed off the RFL who wanted rid of Wakefield.

Not really. They could have just put Fax in.

Although I articulated it poorly, my point pertained to the fact that the RFL look stupid (expansion-wise)and have pumped money into crusaders. Plus there was the foreign players issue.

It was not that they have a beef against wakefield. Just they seem to really really want to keep crusaders.

I think that they will still bend over backwards in an attempt to keep them in super league. I figure it is far from over.

He actually said 'we will talk to crusaders about their possible participation in the championship'. Can't see that happening though, i think they've gone for good myself.

I get the feeling the RFL will wash their hands of Crusaders, now.
They've only been existance for a handfull of years, and they FAST-tracked them into SL, only for them to

Go into administration
Abuse the Visa system
withdraw their license at the 11th hour
made monkey's out of high profile people (to the sporting world) Harris, Thomas and now Senior
generally fail to live upto expectations.

Using a really 5H1T3 analogy (with tongue firmly in cheek, from the times I've seen it), it's a bit like Coronation Street's Vera Duckworth. No matter how many times "R Terry" disgraces himself, she always forgives him, until "R Terry" pushes his luck too far, and Vera will no longer forgive him. This will be the RFL's 'Vera moment' (told you it was a 5h1te analogy

).

One thing still puzzles me, tho

Brian Noble, very successful SL era coach, goes there (maybe with a little encouragement from the RFL) and they overacheive in their first season together, and get to the play-offs. He then jacks the job in immediately, with no other job to go to (save summarising on TV).......did he know something?