I don't want Leigh to get a licence

Why? Because Leigh couldn't act like the righteous voice of Rugby League then?

No , because as a club Leigh are not strong enough to survive a licenced SL

Why? because Leigh wouldn't survive? balls!

If Cas can survive along with Salford on garbage grounds for years then sure to god Leigh can with a state of the art stadium. I'm sure 90% of Leigh fans want a shot at SL, of course you need a sugar daddy to fund and you have one. You cant tell me that your comfortable being in the championship, no doubt Arthur is losing epic amounts of money every year and would like to see a bit of success in return ie getting into SL.

The only way Leigh would get a SL licence is if a current SL club , either expansion or heartland , financially implodes , I don't want that to happen , I wouldn't want that to be the reason we got to SL , and if that was to happen and we were to get into SL in that way , it would then only be a matter of time till we suffered the same fate , strangely it is a fate we might end up suffering in the Championship anyway

We would have a better chance with Hilton Park than the LSV , let me ask you a question

What was the main reason Widnes went into admin ?

Poor mis-management for years and spending silly amounts of money on average players to stay in / get back to SL via on the field results?

We went into Admin because we were debt ridden, the club directors at the time were banking on getting into SL so they could get them greedy little hands on all that sky money. Things didn't work out and Vaughan had left but was asking silly money for his shares in the club.

Reverting to franchises takes away that boom or bust mentality you know.

Your deal with the council was crippling you

How do I know this ?

I was told as much in 2004 , by Widnes club staff

We are in a similar position now , so either in SL or out of SL we will struggle at the LSV

Don't we all just know that will light a fuse under Starbug now!

Not at all Jonny , some clubs are suited to licencing , some aren't , IMO , we aren't

Ah yes the good old HBC rent debate, your quite correct in saying that starbug, thankfully when Steve took over he negotiated a much better deal.

The stadium may soon be his to...................

Are you suited to promotion and relegation?

And you had to put the future of the club on the line to get it changed , it worked , and that is THE main off field difference between now and 5 years ago , in 2002 Leigh were turning over almost a million pounds , now much less why would that be ?

I suspect many leythers are in the dark about how much rent your actually paying for the use of the LSV, im sure it would shock a fair few.

Yes , that is the only way we can generate interest in the club , our floating fan base is far too fickle to risk a long term stay at the bottom of SL

Your fan base has been slowly eroding , you should hopefully be in time to build it next season , although another 3 years in the Championship with no guaranteed promotion at the end of it would have had similar consequences for yourself

All IMO of course

I wont deny that we have a lost a few, they have crept back up though over recent weeks to the point of over 3,000 again. Bloody Hunslet spoiled the party though!



Definitely enough floaters who would come flooding back though should the decision be correct next Thursday. Having 2,000 in a 13,500 stadium is awful.

It isn't the actual rent , it is more the loss of revenue streams and the lack of possibilities to make money out of the stadium other than getting paying fans through the doors , licencing has all but removed that , and no guaranteed promotion will kill it stone dead

You say " winning a final this year " , do we even know if this year ' counts ' ?

That is why I am fairly certain there will be no guaranteed place next time , that and the way Steve Parkin ( a businessman that makes Steve O Connor look poor ) changed his mind about taking on Wakey after a meeting with the RFL

So we all just ' hang around ' like the vultures in the jungle book waiting for some SL club to ' die ' , good innit

I guess that's the fans through the door bit? You are likely right here but haven't Halifax's fans rose a fair bit whilst form has improved even with no promotion? You can't just blame this their are other options. Leigh's crowds should rise as playing very well over last what 18 months or so but also LSV is one of if not the most expensive ticket in the Championship which isn't ideal.

On loss of revenue possibilities. Would Leigh have not been losing money on Hilton Park, hence the move? I know Saints were happy to leave Knowlsey Road asap in the end as the maintanance costs were exceeding what could be brought in commercially.

Are you sure about that? £14 on the North Stand which, from our away games so far, is the same price as Batley and a quid cheaper than Barrow!

A problem IMO Leigh have is that they hold themselves back, you can moan about lack of fans attending anymore but when your always saying 'what's the point under licensing', 'we don't want to be a SL club as it is now', the 'LSV is already costing too much' etc etc, your hardly saying to people... Luck this is a new era for Leigh RL why not jump on board and help contribute to it's sucves are you?

Widnes on the picth may not have been great (I say better than given credit for anyway) but as a club we put out a positive forward thinking image 'reaching for the Sky's' 'DARE TO DREAM' why can't Leigh put out that message?

Unfortunately we can't go in there and is £16 for us (draw in away fans

) and it was £18 the other year!

You make a good point though, was reading the Hunslet board out of curiosity before are game and a lot were saying may give a miss due to ticket price but as you say is also £14 (all over) which is the same as the likes of Batley, Fax & Barrow yet MUCH better facilities (as yours). Yorkshire folk seem to have some weird myth that we charge stupid prices when in reality they are no different.

We try after every game in the town centre mate, as we have said before they always ask how did we get on, WE they have probably not been for years.

Noticed that thread and have had a few on Widnes boards in the past. You'll always get some like that but sometimes you luck at who asks and think why didn't you just go, especially big games.

Have mates like that too but after a few years what can you do? But no question come NRC final they'll be there shirt an all getting well up for it