For me this year is about 2 things

Avoid relegation

Play attractive attacking RL at the LSV

Next season I'll worry about next November

Agree , it has over the last 15 years or so seemed to become ' de rigueur ' to have a couple of Aussies , a Kiwi and a couple of Islanders in every squad , be that SL or Championship

Given our historical position in the RL pyramid and our geographical location we should be the top target for every west of the Pennines part time player , of which there are plenty given the players produced by the community game in this area

Rereading your post from my perspective Drax , sustainability will only ever come from our local core , but my local core is ' fans ' , that is our local core , build that , and we become sustainable

To me that should be our , and indeed Dereks main aim , we achieve that by playing attractive attacking RL at the LSV , away from home it's win any way you can ( to me if I was a club owner those 2 requests would be my instructions to my coach ) and then the responsibility to get people in to see that attractive attacking ' product ' lies with me

Come on Derek , you are a ' salesman ' time for you ( and every fan ) to start selling ' our including your club to the people of Leigh , by hook or by crook , get them into the LSV

Me too.

Quite a few people saying this, yet they were big favourites in 2018 and didn't make it. I don't reckon they are going to have it their own way, especially in a lot of their matches over here.

What do we think will happen to them if they fail to make SL this time around? (not an anti-Toronto post but a serious question)

Irrelivant what Toronto or any other club does or doesnt do , we as a club need to build our core support base if we ever want to move up from 13th-17th in the UK RL ladder

It really is that simple

As an aside to my above post , to any suggesting that building a bigger fan base outside SL isnt possible , I would suggest since the introduction of full time proffessionalism with the introduction of SL in 1995 , Leigh Centurions have won more matches than any other RL club , and with a reasonably stable future over the next few years that should continue , that and the LSV should allow us to build that fan base

I appreciate that we have more significant hurdles to clear, but I was responding to Neil's suggestion that our owner will re-emerge 'once Toronto are out of the way'. It [uis[/u of interest how they fare. Their potential success, in the form of elevation to SL, could possibly attract other 'foreign' teams into our leagues, and then our aimed for stability & growth, may just encounter a whole new raft of obstacles.

Its not though is it? Very easy to write down on a forum but in reality it's very difficult

Cmon starbugs always right

I think he meant that the theory sounded simple. (especially when you say it fast!) However, after the twelve months we've had, I would venture to suggest it really will be very difficult! I'd love to see crowds of 3,000+, to start next season, but would be very surprised if that happens. OK, some of us have been 'won over', by our survival, and the announcement of fifteen players, but I encounter many who are not happy, at what happened last season, and what has followed.

Anyway, season tickets tomorrow!

And what influence on that can we have ?

Stability and growth are our problems to be solved , what others do is irrelevant

By focusing on others you can lose the target you desire

Not denying its difficult , but it is simple in that it is and should be the primary function of the clubs administration once the recruitment is complete

In theory we will lose 50 fans every year , replace them with 25 and we decline , replace them with 100 and we build

As I put earlier , over the last 20 years we have won more matches than any other team , it isn't just a single season thing I'm suggesting but an ongoing connection with the kids and their families of the town through the schools they attend , those kids care little for politics , owners good or bad decisions , what Toronto are doing

They just want to have a good time , sing and shout , then ask their parents " did we win "

Not always , but much more often than you

You don't 'focus' on others - you 'focus' on yourself. But surely you have to be aware of all the others, and what they are doing? After all, we are in direct competition with Toronto, and all the other Championship teams.

James Dyson is, presumably, obsessively focused on his range of vacuum cleaners, and aims to be ahead of his competitors at all times. But, in order to do that, he has to be very aware of what they are up to.

Anyway, if we are, as has been suggested, awaiting the removal of Toronto Wolfpack from the Championship, before we reveal our future hand, I would argue that we consider what they do, highly relevant.

All sounds good buggy, but do you think the club are gong to take your route ?? Are you volunteering to undertake the process for them, two weeks ago we couldn’t fund a team - we barely did it when we were “flush” not likely to start now are we

Once again , we are in competition with Toronto and the other Championship clubs for 80 minutes a couple of times each season ( 3 with Widnes this year ) , we are however in competition with Wigan,Wire,Saints,ManU,Man City, Liverpool , Cinema's , bowling alleys and plenty of other stuff 52 weeks of the year

Probably not

Would love to if the money was set aside

We didn't do it at all when we were flush unfortunately

The marketing budget should be set , and ' ring fenced ' before the playing budget

Hope he proves me wrong .

Taking a step backwards isn't a bad thing. I'll buy a ticket to support what's on the park, you can stick with your own opinion. Think we've all heard enough ambition talk off field over the past few years. Personally we are still in business and that's what counts.
DB's ultimate goal was SL. That challenge has been accomplished with failure to back it up last season. Don't start preaching what fans should do,when the damage done is still fresh in peoples minds.

If fans take a back seat, we have no club. I was always taught to lead by example, not hide. You again make speculative remarks, which are really nothing more than excuses to hide facts.

You want fans to back the ambition of the owner or future owner?

I understand that. The same thing can be said for any of the clubs/attractions you quote.

My point is that we are also in opposition with the Championship clubs at all times. What they do definitely influences our future - for sure, what Toronto, London, Halifax, Toulouse and Featherstone did in 2018, spectacularly influenced our future. As you have said, one more win would have secured a Qualifier position for us - but one more defeat for any of them would have achieved the same for us.

Very true Allan , and for the coaching staff and players , from Monday doing the previous games video session till final whistle on Sunday , their priority is that weeks opposition , however the rest of the club dont have influence on that , the only way they can influence that is to concentrate on raising the clubs profile and connection with the community , which in turn will raise the clubs income , providing the coaching staff with more and better resources the following year

As a town we don't and never will have the corporate support that the bigger towns will have , we do however have a 12,000 capacity stadium , which we should aim to fill every game no matter what level we are at , it's that simple

A few observations

1.2013 we were down to 1100 paying fans with a team challenging for top spot - the club failed to pay its PT players on a pittance and had a tax bill unpaid that was about to wind the club up
2. A rallying call went out for fans to provide some cash initially then direction to take the club forward - I do not recall you at those meetings and the level of cash asked wasn't great
3. The change in strategy and on field success drew in new fans, to such a level that our 2017 demotion drew a greater gate than our '82 success. Derek funded that period, he put his hand up then really put his hand up
4. Failure to Back it by DB in 2018 - that is just about the most clueless comment ever seen on this board. We entered the season odds on favourites because of how he backed up the relegation with the squad assembled - is that too hard for some to digest?
5. Due to the shocking failure of 2018 we needed to shed a million pound off the playing budget the option was administration, a position that would allow the creditors some tax benefits on what was owed, ie DB,
6. We failed to attract any serious investment after DB offered his shares and to wipe the debt off. I spoke to a few local lads who done good - not interested - common theme why put my hard earned in to attract abuse, rather sponsor games and have a box. Nobody puts in £1.4m in order to lose it like we did.
7. We are where we are. We have been here before and will be here again, the stakeholders of any sports club are its fans - that will never change - today I will renew our 2 season tickets whilst buying a 3rd as a Christmas present for a PT fan. At the weekend I spoke to a few lads about doing something away from the club which may or may not take off. I am a huge advocate of fan ownership, I believe we should have a share issue to spread the burden and create the financial clout to have a real pop at SL again because to do so will require significant input above what we can realistically achieve via gate and sponsorship.

Liked this post after the first paragraph