But similarly, would the Toulouse local council pay for two clubs in Super League?

I really do hope not !!!!

The way things are at present I agree the fans of Toulouse will not be seen in any numbers ever at any RL ground in the UK.

I am still not sure franchising will be around for the length of this experiment. I won,t go into the arguments for or against but I fear quite a few Nonrelegation league clubs will suffer significant drops in their home attendances as the season goes on.

One final thing. Never say never. I never thought I,d be watching Leigh RLFC win a challenge cup final at Wembley and before AJM arrived I doubt any Leigh supporter did.

The never say never only aplies to English fans of course.The basically Australian sides in France and Wales are hardly likely to take fans to away games in the M62 corridor.

Course it all depends on what Sky want at the end of the day but it might kill the game in the medium term.

True, but realistically how many fans do Batley, Gateshead, Doncaster and Sheffield bring these days?

No the French and the Welsh are never going to put back in what they take off their M62 counterparts and just think how the average numbers are going to look in Sooper Dooper League this year.They have Quins ,Celts,French all fetching no crowds I cannot understand what they get out of it.If I was Bradford for instance where they are already strugling with numbers then have a significent percentage of games where you have no show fans.I think I would have prefered to see some club who fetched a crowd.Lets see if any of them complain at the end of the year.I know once I realised we would not manage promotion this time I was glad the Celts got promoted ,let the Soooper Doopers subsidise them I`m quite happy to see Widnes`coaches of supporters turn up to my ground than the 6 carloads of Celts.It may be a selfish way to look at it as they say expansion is the way forward but I have yet to see what benifit NL1 and under get out of this expansion dream there is certainly no extra money from the RFL so unless I see otherwise I will not be buying into it thank you.

Cracking post that matey.

its already happening, look at bradford

Well, that's us struggling to sign any decent players then. I know of two players who we could of signed at the begining of the season who wouldn't sign for us because Rowley was part of the coaching setup. Not a popular guy in RL.

Yeah completely agree great player might be a good coach but aint a popular guy amongst his peers... nor his his dad,,,,,dont do it Leigh!!!

So NK has lost the dressing room and Rowley is involved.
Now thats a new one, isn't it? When is someone going to spot the pattern and, boardroom politics aside, get shut?
A great player for us, but it seems that he has always been a problem away from that.

The problem Arthur has, is if one Rowley goes the other will have to follow. I don't think Arthur likes to rock the boat, which is silly really as it's his money they are playing with. For some reason he can not see that we will never be taken seriously by the RFL with Allan Rowley fronting the business. He has made too many enemies in the game. So has Paul, but Nepotism is allowed to rule at Leigh RLFC.

Thank you and just imagine the scenario when it`s franchise time again if they put Tolouse in as well then it`s another team in with no show crowds .What concerns me then is if the Sooper Dooper boys demand compensation for the crowd drop which they may well do,as every other home game will be a no show crowd will there be even less money for NL1 and below?
What made me laugh when it was mooted at the begining of the season there was talk of puting buses on by the RFL to take fans down to Celts.I don`t know wether they do or not but why wasn`t the sugestion made for it to happen the other way round as well .Why can`t the RFL put buses on to bring them up here so our clubs get something back.
Well I have never been down to Wales to watch my team and I do not intend to go to Tolouse although as I have never been to that part of France I wouldn`t have minded going.Instead I will take in a couple of games elsewhere at non-super league sides like your ground for instance or at Keighly who got shafted big time by the RFL and Bradford at the start of Super League. I will of course be praying my team will be stuffing them.

Well said the more supporters of Hearland clubs support the expansion sides another nail in our coffin is firmly hammered in! I
I appreciate its a good trip etc but long term it huts us

I nume yu as der Georgeand Mildred an clam mi 20 deutchmarks

TBH matey I had similar view to yourself a few years ago. It was actually visiting these clubs, and our experience in SL2005, and the fallout from it (nearly going under) that convinced me otherwise. You should have gone to Broncos, Celtic, and TO and maybe you would appreciate the bigger world of what clubs are trying to do.
The sport going forward should not be dictated by how many clubs will lose due to not having 5 to 6 derbies. Its upto the home clubs to sort our fan numbers not getting subsidised by others. I'd rather have 3500 Leythers at LSV with a couple of hundred away fans, than say 1500 Leythers and 2000 away fans as an extreme example.

Well you may have a point as I too would want a couple of more thousand fans of our own so we don`t have to rely on away fans .But these clubs have been given franchise ` and the RFL are encouraging our clubs to go and visit .I did visit London once years ago when we were in Super League you know what ?I did not meet one single Londoner at that match .There must have been some down there but I didn`t find one.Their fan base consisted of Aussie /kiwi bank/bar workers who were in the country for a few months and northern folk who were down their working and our substantial away support. So wheres the crowd of Londoners ? watching football still.I have no doubt at all that the French will do well as Rugby League has been played in that area for a long time but they should have to fight their way up through the leagues like everyone else it gives the teams left behind like Widnes a sense of not being done right by.

SL 2005 stopped us going belly up mate. You should have seen 2003/4 losses

Thats true as well, but my opinions where different then because all I saw was getting to the dream land of SL. Afterwards my opinions changed.

Well I know what we do need is a few people to take a reality check.

Yes but for AT atm we would be in real trouble. We dont have thousands of pounds to spend, and after the game in AT took time to talk to fans.

My hubby shares are still here and no one took up his offer to buy them at 1p each and the condition they put the money into the club.

What good would 1p do for the club

No the 1p per share was for Mr DJ - the condition to buying the shares from Mr DJ for 1p was that the person put money into the club as well.

How much money?

I hope its not one of those ''you can buy my house for a fiver but you have to give me £300k for the curtains'' type deal.

I think you know what the original deal was SOL

Starbugs deal wont be taken up because of the strings.

As I understand it AT has bankrolled the club via a directors loan from his business, if I am wrong then I apologise in advance, this has kept the club afloat.

If an investor walked in and said I have a million and I want to buy the club and invest the million on players to get to SL, AT could ask for his loan back first thus reducing the impact of the investor.

Bell/Hart etc invested a lot of cash in the club, they secured that investment on an asset, we lost that assett. AT knows we have no assets, hence he is highly unlikely to see his investment again unless someone buys control or we start making loadsa money. I understand AT did a similar deal at Saints and Wigan which had to be dealt with by McManus/Whelan.

I have a concept that involves converting all current shares/loans to new shares £ for £, and generating new income by creating shares for people to waste money on, the only return being a potentially better club which for most of us would be a better reward than any ISA.

Leighs future is working together, transparently. A partnership between fans and local business with a common goal eg Leigh SL 2012.

He has risked (given) at very little chance of return a lot of his money, for which all Leigh fans should be grateful.