Its amazing how things get taken out of context from a simple post. Let me
make this plain and simple Arthur Thomas was most certainly the 'right' owner.

My post around Bill Parkinson was a tongue in cheek comment against the original author of this thread who is also throwing up millionaires who might
be an option.

Back to my post and your question Steve, I trust Trevor very much to get the 'right' new owners or preferably owner.

The right owner for me Steve would be another single owner like Arthur, like Steve O'connor, Ian Lenaghan, Eamon McManus. There is a common theme with successful clubs they have a main benefactor supported by a board with
an experienced infrastructure.

I have no doubt Arthur Thomas would have taken us to Super League but for the unfortunate circumstances that have unfolded in the last 3 weeks.

I tell you what if I had won 10 million I would pledge half a mill over 10 years. Love my club but I have a big familly and ex inlaws that would get it first and two of them are very poorly. Lets not get into any scenarios about who would do more than the other or how far would you go. Saying that if I had won the 120millon the other week Leigh would own their own ground now.

The common theme is all those clubs are SL viable clubs , we aren't , stick any of those owners at Leigh and they would struggle , much as I like Arthur , he wasn't the right sort of owner for Leigh , and no matter how long he would have had he wouldn't have got us there , Arthur was an experienced director of large well supported clubs , we are a totally different animal

We need a totally different approach to the ' get a good team and coach ' and the fans will come , they won't , even now After reading Trevors statement on the clubs website I have a little feeling that we might just be going round in circles again , I hope I am wrong

Totally agree Keith. It would be helpful to understand who exactly owns shares in the club etc ....

I bet if anyone won the lottery it would still be a wrench to keep shelling out. You'd be looking at every aspect of the club. You'd want rid of the people you didn't like. You'd get frustrated with players and players agents; fed up of moaning fans - moaning despite you plowing millions of YOUR money into the club. Then, at the end, you have to deal with the RFL!!!

Put it in a Swiss bank and watch the ladies go by in Monte Carlo instead

We are a million miles apart on this one. Widnes for example were in a worse state than us before Steve O'Connor arrived.

Whilst I admit the ludicrous franchise nonsense makes it totally unappealing for a new owner to be enticed in. I have no doubt with a single owner and a ticket to SL there is no reason why Leigh can't emulate Warrington.

What just simply amazes me , is the way everybody just assumes that the purpose of any new owner is to basically tip their money down the drain , just as Arthur did , for every penny he put into the club at this level , it would have cost him double or treble in SL

We need somebody with the will , desire and vision to turn our club into a sustainable club without any of their money , not somebody who is happy to just throw it away , otherwise we will all be here again in a few years

SCL , is a business , whoever gets to own it needs to treat it like a business , not like a charity

Trouble is Steve there hasn't been one single top flight team who make a profit as a business in my lifetime. For the owners I mentioned previously add in John Wilkinson, Ken Davy, Simon Moran and countless others who all would be on their ar5e if each benefactor pulled out.

We won't and never will be a successful SL club never mind Championship club by running a RL club as a business.

If someone has the good nature to do it, the money should be put into a portfolio of investments on behalf of Leigh (or any given club) in order to generate revenue which is not dependant on what happens within the club. I know in the late eighties Leeds RLFC owned a shed load of properties in and around Headingley.

It's a good call. However the above investments didn't help Leeds who have lost money ever since Adam and Eve were trying for a kid.

I suggested something similar when on the board a few years back , to put together something similar to our current ' Corporate club ' who would set up a property business to provide ' income ' rather than ' donation ' , that is the reason I asked Dave Parky the lottery question

If I won the Euro lottery , I wouldn't give the club one penny of my winnings , I would however put a sum of money in a bank account and the club would get the interest , but only be allowed to spend half of it , the rest would also have to be invested or spent on building the club as a business , not a charity

Are you sure? I know certainly in the late eighties they were profitable - or rather the company that "owned" them were. Do they still own the Headingley complex?

Not sure on who currently owns Headingley but Leeds Rugby lose money every year propped up by Mr Caddick I think it is

How do we know AT hasn't been spending his interest over the last 5 years??

Has he spent a single penny of it on marketing the club ?

Agreed Steve, our marketing of the clubs has been the same over the last 5 years as the previous 27, none existent

Well, I was up in Leigh today for my granddaughter's first, and a certain ex-crane hire owners name cropped several times in convo, coupled with somebody telling me Trevor Barton was acting CEO hours before the announcement was made ....

So we have an entertainment business , and we don't market it , and then people wonder why we end up in a mess every 4/5 years ?

From a different angle, owning a sports team is not an investment in any sport, look at Kennedy in Yawnion and how much Hicks and Gillett put into Liverpool FC for nothing in return.

On a positive note, 150K Per Annum is reasonably cheap to run a successful sports team, if a hobby and a bit of success and adulation is what you're after. From this point of view, Leigh Centurions is quite a good prospect.

I really don't think who owns three shares in SCL will have any bearing on any future ownership , I would have thought that Arthurs investement would trump anybody else , even mine

Here's hoping altho Trevors announcement was on the news yesterday.

It is until something happens and that money is no longer there





Because everybody , including the person putting it in doesn't do the job properly because they assume the money will ALWAYS be there , if they put another 50 K in for the first 3/4 years , the amount the then have to put in in the future can reduce , but it almost becomes a ' right of passage ' between the various owners , who can throw the most money away



Quite often , just like Arthur , their business will have never needed the skills you need to run an Entertainment business , if you mention ' Marketing ' , the standard reply will be in reference to their ' Corporate sales ' , and that is it , that is as far as they can see

What % of shares does AT own if it wasn't 51% people like SM OR BP wouldn't touch without knowing who owns the rest

Agreed but the whole marketing of the entire sport is a shambles

Well I've got three , how that equates to percentage of total , no idea