It will be a cold day in hell before I'll support ANY club in ANY sport with Manchester in it's name!!!

I am just playing Devil's Advocate and telling it as it is. The stark reality is that Leigh have no money and we will never be in SL. I would love nothing more than to see Leigh as the top team in Rugby League again but those days have sadly gone.

Choices are:

Pray for a white knight to bankroll us and take us to the promised land.
(highly unlikely but fingers crossed)

The supporters to keep up their commendable work in fundraising to put a competitive team out next season.[size=85:2a8ewwzd[size=85[/size
(definitely happening but we will only ever be in the Championship and what happens after 2015)

Merge and rebrand as a Manchester team
(will be welcomed by RFL and SL and will definitely attract investment, players
and a place in SL)


When I have been to Toulouse, I can see why they wanted them in SL, the home of Concorde, a large International Airport, a vibrant city. They want large cities and large town teams eventually and whoever survives below are just feeder teams. That is how it is going to be and unfortunately Leigh and the other heartland teams don't fit that mould. What happens after 2015 when we are turned down again?

I don't like it but that's how it is.

Graham , we know how it is , but your suggestion just wouldn't work , Castleford are the model we have to look to , a town of similar size , but with a fan base 2-3 times what we can muster , they know their future relies upon the stadium they hope to own , unfortunatley that option has gone for us , so we just have to try even harder

The short term donation plea we are currently seeing is not and cannot be a long term solution either as some seem to think , the only answer is more numbers , that is the challenge

Has someone pointed out yet that neither Leigh RL nor Swinton RL are actually from Manchester?

Merging Leigh and Swinton, then calling the team Manchester would be a disaster. It will alienate rugby league fans in both towns driving away their support, the club would not be taken seriously by sponsors as it will not be located in Manchester and the club would become a laughing stock among other pro clubs in the sport. Stupid idea that would kill the game in Leigh and Swinton.

I think the issue is we don't have any resources to pool unless Swinton have money that I don't know about?

It's a good idea in principal but I don't think it will generate any more support and just serve to shrink the number of North West teams.

For people worried about the name though how about "Leigh Lions"

I don't agree with the re-branding option but I do think that the club should be realistic in looking at it's catchment area or rather it's economic climate. I work closely with the community in Leigh and an awful lot of people could not afford to attend even if they wanted to. For some people the "low" amount of £20.00 per month for a bronze package in the touchdown club may as well be £200, it is that unaffordable for some. Now I'm not saying that the club is a charity that should supply the community with entertainment, but I am saying that if it wants the community to engage with the club then the club should engage with the community and look at getting as many people as possible for as little as possible. I don't know how much the current season ticket prices are/were but is it better to sell 1200 season tickets for £100 or 800 for £150? Also why not throw in a free kids ST if required? Ok the club doesn't make any more money but the profile goes up. I know it's difficult to estimate the take up but surely it wouldn't do the club any harm to be seen to be working [ufor[/u the community of Leigh.

Leigh Lions playing in blue and white might attract the Swinton fans or even just "Lions".

Yes, they're going to give up the 20 years of fighting to preserve their club in a whim just because a team plays in blue and white - there are plenty of those already!

That's fine on paper Dave and Im sure if the public of Leigh could guarantee buying those season tickets or paying around £10 per game then it would be worth looking at but they won't and it's no good saying we don't know till we try it because by that time we really would have gone bust. As for the club working for the community of Leigh let's turn that around and say why don't the community of Leigh work for the clubs survival in numbers. Free or reduced prices are OK if operating at a profit and until that happens it will not happen sheer economics say so especially when its 90% (or more) of the business revenue. It's a business after all not a charity, if the people in Leigh were really bothered about Rugby why are they not flocking to see Leigh East and Leigh Miners both teams who provide a decent standard of Rugby league admission £2?

Can't speak for anyone else, but certainly when the seasons run alongside each other I won't be able to justify spending both Saturday and Sunday watching rugby. Doesn't make me any less bothered about RL.

I'm not saying watch BOTH I'm saying if Pro Rugby is too much then there is an amateur alternative with a decent standard of Rugby league played anyone bothered about watching RL could watch them but they don't, even when the seasons were seperate, I'm pointing out the apathy of the public of Leigh in supporting it's sporting clubs, as an ex Genesis/RMI fan you of all people Matt should know that.

Know exactly what you mean, but I think it is worth noting that £15 every other week (with all the other matchday 'additionals' chucked in) is genuinely out of reach of an ever-growing number of people in our town. In all honesty, I don't know what we can do about that though purely and simply because we can't afford to make it a tenner every week, and even then I'm not convinced it would make much difference. I would like us to seriously pursue the idea of offering much cheaper prices for kids though.

What other match day additions Matt? Ale? Food? It isn't compulsory I didn't/don't drink before or after a game as I couldn't afford it I just payed to watch the game if I was hungry I waited until I got home, I don't drink because I can't afford it, yes I know £15/£16 is a lot of money and is too expensive but ask the players to play for 50% (and I wouldn't think of doing as they are putting bodies on the line) and see what they say - even though in today's climate they may have to, but clubs can't make ends meet now on admission prices alone and relying on a big money backer is just false economy as we have found out, and I have no answer either.
It's an emotive subject but just to think that lowering prices will bring them flocking back is not the answer.

The thing is Fred we need to attract people to watch Leigh rather than any other sporting commodity. Why should floating supporters pay £15 to watch second grade RL when they could watch SL for around the same price within 10 miles. What are Leigh Centurions doing to attract that floating vote. Don't forget that not all people who live in Leigh are Leythers and don't have that town loyalty. We can't stand still and rely on the old reliables because those old reliables are getting fewer and fewer.

They are not doing much Dave but what can they do marketing takes money - they have none and what little they can they do - short of dragging folk in off the streets, but lowering prices would mean us not making it past (if we get there so the current predicament should ring some bells re money) June next year and that wouldn't only be us but 90% of Rugby Clubs, now if anyone has any plans how that could be done I'm sure not only Trevor Barton would like to know them but the CEO's of every club in the country, but unless they pay players less (as they can't cut other staffing costs down as they only have one full time staff member who's not on the playing side of things) it's £15/£16 there's no getting away from that.

Once again , we need to ' grow ' our own

Kids dont have the same mentality as adults , they dont understand that we once mixed it with the big boys of RL , just as many young football fans would not understand certain Championship and FL clubs once being top dogs in our ' premier ' league , FA cup and even Champions of Europe

They also dont really recognise the difference between Leigh playing Leeds , and playing [ no disrespect intended Batley

All they want is to have a good time , give them that good time and they might well start to build an affiliation with the club and the sport , the affiliation with the sport may well eventually take them in a different direction [ SL club , but hopefully enough would build an affiliation with the club to become ' Leythers ' , this is our only option

The hard part is getting them ' IN ' in the 1 st place , but it doesn't have to cost much if any money if done correctly , it just needs a little thought , a little help , and most importantly the ' Will ' to make it happen

This has already been said somewere but the sooner we all realise that running a RL club is a 12 month job and not just 14 games the better.

Community. Community. Community.
Did I mention that kids should be free free free free. Get them involved in half time games, activities and days at the stadium before kick off.
You don't need a rebrand; the centurions name and colours is actually quiote a good one

As an outsider it doesn't seem as though the facility that is available - the stadium - is fully utilised.
There are now a number of stadia/clubs who [url=http://www.safc.com/page/SchoolorOrganisationengage with their public[/url in [url=http://www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/community/community-trustsimilar ways[/url

Exactly. Get them young and thats the battle won

Kids are free most games in the Championship , the problem is if we let the adults in for free as well , up to this point we would have had to pay the stadium 10 % of their ticket price , so it would have cost us money

And yes the community dept is the ' key ' , thats if we still have one in a few weeks time

Been doing these things for years , both at Hilton Park and the LSV , we have had a ' classroom ' at the stadium with computers , interactive screens , all sorts of stuff

However the club has always stopped short of giving out full family tickets , that time has finally arrived , I hope

Thanks for that.I couldn't see any mention of it on your official website.
I did see an argument that if 'free' tickets are given out,sometimes people think it won't be worth attending and the slightest excuse keeps them away.However,even paying the smallest amount encourages people to attend because they don't like wasting money.

We don't have a classroom any more because the funding has ended , Im not sure but I know the Stadium Management Co were looking at stripping everything out and turning it back to office space , not sure what form our community dept will be in as there is no money available from the club , and even though bids are in , unless something turns up fairly soon , we might not have much left