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

Yes it is , and I have argued long and hard that the RFL should help clubs , but as you suggest , they are clueless

However it is still no excuse , this is where my ' run it as a business ' comes from , treat it like a brand new business , just having a good team on the pitch will never bring in the funds required to break even

The RFL should have central fund and standardised adverts to help push the RL brand. In my opinion just 1% of the tv contract reinvested in marketing would have brought a significant ROI over the last 16 years

I heard a certain crane firms former owner mentioned at work on friday........ plenty money if true.

Slightly o/t, but a lot is said about gate receipt money.
Do people honestly believe if the entrance fee was dropped slightly more people would come?

Could a bonus scheme be offered on a trial basis, where as for every ticket purchased there is a slight discount on one for the next home Match, as a loyalty thing.

Would this entice stay aways?

Also when the club give out family tickets etc its only those who normally attend but get in for free anyhow, wouldn't it be great If the regular 'loyal' supporter then made a small donation to LISA?

Did they not post profits in past fee years?

Arthur Thomas was certainly a great man for Leigh but clearly wasn't using the club to anywhere near it's business potential. What was that sponsor thing last season? 1k a ticket into a draw, 18 or so parties went for it? That's nowhere near enough! Even if it was 10k a ticket still low covering all your sponsors.

As we found when bloody Vaughan was at Widnes some owners are just happy to sign the cheques to cover any costs but when that day comes where they either don't want to or in this case can't keep shelling out their own money they haven't left a lot behind.

Steve pondering your question it would depend on how much was won but say it was a couple of million pounds I too would open a bank account and the club could have the interest. I would also look at getting an advertising firm on board to look at how the club could engage with the people of Leigh, get the club's name out there and look towards how a new breed of fan could be enticed down. I don't think that the lapsed fan would return on a regular basis.

Hearing Gary Eccleston speak about other development work is quite exciting and as you know I've always been a big supporter of the academies and reserves. If this is producing players of first team standard on a regular basis then ultimately you do end up saving money. I believe that there are good people in a number of positions at the club and I suppose the idea would be to introduce other revenue streams then it would become totally dependant on my contribution. If it ever got to that stage we would be unlike any other club in rugby league.

I have to admit I do quite like the idea of membership schemes similar to the one Widnes announced.

I would suggest the price to get in next season will be rising , not reducing , and who exactly are these ' stay aways ' ? , they are the people in the pub who wouldn't come if it was a quid to get in , because they already have a dozen other reasons not to , forget them they are gone , we don't want them back

You suggest the free tickets are used by people who already come , why is that , how do we give out these tickets ?

It isn't hard to come up with ideas to stop this , but have the club put the effort into making sure that the people who get these tickets are from the 70 odd thousand people who have never ever been into the LSV or have ever watched a Leigh RL team

That is the point of giving out free tickets , make sure they end up in the correct hands , because they are your target future fans , but if you don't , just because it requires a bit of thought , then you don't benefit from them

I was referring to a euro type win Dave

Yes you are completely correct about the ' lapsed ' fan , waste of time and money , they either come or they don't , we have around a thousand potential new fans born in the borough every year , so that is the target , not in the year they are born , but in the year they reach a certain age , I'd consider giving a free full family ticket to every 9 year old in every school in Leigh

The Widnes scheme is a great one , it guarantees you regular income throughout the year , which removes the early season complacency ( when you get all your ST and merchandise sales ) and the mid season crisis when nobody is buying tickets , it also gives you a better idea of your merchandise requirements therefore not leaving as much unsold stock on the shelf

Although the issue of merchandise is one that needs a different approach at our level

How does it save money Dave ?