Hasnt Gateshead got the lawyer working for them that was employed by the RFL .

He is their Ch Exec, nowt like having a 'friend at court' ehh

Not just Celtic that are in breech of that though, apparently several other clubs have the same cloud hanging over them. My personal view is that Celtic were jumped on as a part of the 'old school' network that still pervades British politics and that wouldn't want to see a sucessful RL club in perceived RU territory.

I doubt it being 'Political' as such now if you'd have said Administritive as in Civil Service 'Old boys' network, then one could agree.

Not directly but still alod of tosh! Even Hilton Park was prob better than BF lol! Facilities? Add LSV win hands down but them dik's would rather wum off pictures than concrete! Jnr devlopment lol. Now there just being too funny!

I never saw this interview btw... does anyone have a link?

don't think it was ever put up on the internet because of copyright issues

Ta! Will have a gander anywho

In short to everyone we do not get any funding from the RFL at all. We get the same funding from the the RFL as all other clubs in the league.

Rod came to the club to take on the task of CEO from the RFL and it was a change he wanted to make to further his own knowledge and career within the sport. He has a knowledge of the workings of the RFL having worked their just as others who left Red Hall last year have. He is not the only legal eagle at Thunder just as I am aware that Leigh have legal representation on the board.

The salary cap is subject to scrutiny however, all clubs with low gates can apply for cirtain exemptions but the £400k (now to be £350k) stays the same. Over the past 4 years I have spent over £500k to keep professional RL alive in the North East. I will never get that back as it is spent on the club as it is classed as income the same way as sponsorship is. What I choose to spend my tax paid money on is my decision save for the fact that the RFL tell me that in essence I cant take it back should we get rich. A fat chace that will come into the equation!!!!

We were lucky this year at avoiding the drop. We did not get our full squad until the late and had to build on that. We had turmoil at the start of the season with the former head coach going and the appointment of Steve Mac was the right one to take hence his 3 year contract with the club.

I do not mind discussing the game with fans of all clubs and I post on our fans forum under the title "Rumpole".

I do not understand why others dont do it as I have never hidden anything about the club from anyone so my view if you have nothing to hide then why not post debates with fans.

You will always get those fans who know it all and do like to cause a stir but at the end of the day thats life and we all have our ideas about the game and the clubs.

For those who really know me they will be aware of my warnings about the Celtic Crusaders and what they were doing and for what it is worth all of my theories came to be nearer the truth thaan a chairmans rant at being thrashed by them.

As I have said earlier in my posts good luck for the season and I hope that we will meet again in the near future either at LSV or the GIS.



Kind Regards



Steven G AKA Rumpole

I applaud your openness and honesty, Steve. Whilst I am also opposed to the non-level playing field in the Championship (and elsewhere) - as I frequently say in my programme articles - I would wish harm to no RL club whatsoever. I don't believe anyone is truly 'getting at' Thunder - it's more the RFL's lack of transparency and inconsistency that grates. I guess it's unfortunate that anyone had to go down on 32 points, but that's life!

Good luck for the future!

Alan.

Barrow only used 1 overseas quota!!!
Which was Ned Catic.
What other dispensation did Barrow have??

They were allowed to wear dirty shirts throughout the season. Disgraceful.

I thought it was now lowered to £300K not £350K, unless you have a turnover of £1Million?



This is why the suspicion and mistrust arises.

I said Barrow were favoured by the RFL ,i said nothing of you having more than 1 quota player ,i merely meant that they would prefer you to be in SL as opposed to Leigh.

Leigh miners, Twist Ln. Now there's a level playing field.

Not really, its a fair slope from the canal side to the clubhouse side!!!

No, really.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No!!

How were Barrow favoured???

Despite this subject being of interest to only you and I, I must comment on that. Why put the word 'pitch' in speech marks? Are neither of them pitches? I have been going to watch Batley for over 40 years and seen an awful lot more matches there than you have on the MP pitch. There is a myth about the slope that suggests it favours the downhill side more. First it really is equal for both sides as they get to play a full 40 minutes playing both ways. Secondly,it is common knowledge and opinion amongst players that playing downhill is much harder when defending, having to run backwards up the slope. Thirdly, this is one of the few seasons when Batley have managed to make MP a forbidding place to visit. Usually, the slope makes no difference at all to our performances. (And you still beat us here.)
All grounds have their quirks and peculiarities, even LSV, it's what makes each ground unique and individual, and MP does no more create farcical matches as does the Don Valley Stadium, The Shay, GIS or any other.

Mount Pleasant sells cheesy chips and a decent pint, so it gets a tick in the box from me.

Apart from the visits to the land of the pollutants it'll be the most missed away trip of the Championship.

By being granted promotion from NL2, when everybody (in Leigh, at any rate!) knows that there should be no promotion, or relegation in any of our leagues!!



Congratulations on a good season.

Gateshead get dispensation for this reason:

Clubs in the championship are semi-professional. They have the same legal obligations as a full time club, but without the revenue. It's extremely hard to find the money to get players to relocate on a part-time wage, so heartland clubs have the VERY distinct advantage of a bunch of top-line amateurs playing on their doorstep (literally, in the case of LSV/Easts).

Development area clubs don't have that. The dispensation on o/s players is to allow a levelling of the playing field... i.e. Gateshead can't just sign a Ridyard from the local amateur team, so it's fair to give them a broader criteria to widen their available talent base.

To answer Demon's question as to what Gateshead are doing for development, there is a substantial development team based at the Gateshead International Stadium, where the RFL's Regional Team work hand in hand with the Gateshead Thunder community development staff. In particular Andy Kelly has just been started in post Regional Talent Coach, implementing an extensive programme throughout the locality.

It is to be hoped that the NE RL Conference, within a decade or so, can produce senior teams of a comparable standard to Miners, Easts, Hunslet Parkside, Egremont, and all the other senior BARLA clubs that feed into the pro clubs in the heartlands. Until that long-term progamme comes to fruition, Gateshead 'deserve' their dispensation precisely to ensure the competition is fair.