Does this mean that Man Utd are moving to the US, or Man City to the middle east?!

There wasn't free tickets, plus the crowds for the opening few are double in Wrexham what they were in bridgend.

I didn't want an argument on this but all you folk claim that league will die because people arent coming out to watch the small town clubs is daft. We lose 2000 in Leigh (which we wont), we've gained 8,000 in Wrexham.

It's sad because there is such a gulf between the two comps, you CANNOT tell me scenarios like 05 were a good thing, teams full of journeymen aussies. We're one and a tiny bit years into the franchise system, more youngsters are coming through than ever, players are filtering down to the next level (you've got three from us which you cannot say hasn't improved your team) and I say give it a chance. I responded to this thread initially because for me the biggest contributor to this SL/Chp 'war' is disgruntled northern Chp teams. If teams work together it doesn't have to be such an issue. I genuinely see a brighter future together, forging links with ourselves is a good start.
Not everyone can be at the top, especially when you're a small town in wigan

Then why not have the best of both with the promoted team safe for a year or two and the relegated club not receiving a parachute payment.

[size=150[iSo it's a good thing all-round that promotion and relegation was scrapped[/i[/size Of course it is - providing you are in SL

There is a gulf between the comps because 99% of the money goes to 30% of the RFL member clubs

You only get what you do because the RFL give it to you.
If it was up to sky they wouldnt bother with the Thursday night slot, which would be a shame.



The gulf is too huge to not have a parachute payment, they'd probably go bust.
It could just be me but a couple of the Chp squads are better than ever and I think this will continue as more dual reg players make their way into that level.
What that also does is flood the market a bit so that players cant demand such ridiculous wages for part time work.

The underlined bit I could go for but i'd still rather move towards an 18ish team two tiered conferences

Well Dico having accepted that.It is all Championship clubs fans want and if the RFL accepted it too we would have something to aim for.

Way things are at the moment there is little for Championship clubs to aspire to.

If you have to change the rules so much then the system is obviously wrong.
There is no way on earth that clubs in football like say Everton, Newcastle Liverpool would accept relegation if for example they was to be a replaced by a team that has won a PT competition.

But frank why would you want the club to risk its future chasing a season in the spotlight? The nature of the beast is fans are never satisfied. It would only be a matter of time b4 we get broke or success again, like in 2004 where we had Tommy God to thank that the worst didn't happen. Could have happened the other way round like Widnes recently.
The fall out from chasing SL is dotted all over our comp - Rochdale, Oldham, us, Widnes, etc.

Well I think that is a pessemistic view. It is rather like in life- if you are content to be average you will be average always.

There are people who set up a buisness and go bust. They then start again with another one and sometimes succeed.

There are others who seize an opportunity and do not go bust but flourish.

What you are suggesting is the status quo. Well I for one do not accept this is the way forward for any club or person who has ambition to do better.

We can all strive for that people clubs and governments. Without change you eventually become boring.

You get me wrong. I want us to build and be the best we can be. Before franchising this was impossible as you know. You recruit a team to get you promoted in a season without being ready for if you get in SL. PT - FT, we tried everything. We tried being PT and worry about going FT once promoted, we tried going mainly FT to be better prepared for SL but didn't get promoted - and the club nearly went in melt down.
Sorry the way it is now is better for our future. I so miss going to GFs like it used to be. Lets get to that level again and being the best in this comp and let SL worry about itself.

Well let us agree to disagree although I accept you want our club to improve and that we do agree on 100%

Why should people like O'Connor, Johnson, and our own AT continue to pump money into a team that has no chance of advancement into the top flight of the sport?

There is no way football clubs would accept alot of things we have to live with.
Everything below SL is now treated like the amateur game. Even BBC Manchester don't even mention our local clubs on the Monday morning news and give very limited reports on the RL (or should it now be the 'SL' programme on Sunday.

What would the championship teams lose if they where to breakaway?

That's exactly nailed on the head.
I still fail to see why the Championship can't raise its standards over time, and I think it is, to become a competition where teams are content to be where they are.

I'm not saying never strive for SL but currently, your club, as a whole, just isn't good enough and having tantrums over everything the RFL do is helping no one other than the clubs around you that have overtaken you in the last 6 or 7 years while you wallow in self pity.

That's the way i've seen it anyway and it's a damn shame.

Another little idea I had would be for the RFL to assign a development officer to regions with a specific job of being over part time teams in the area and helping them to move toward their goals, form partnerships with local business/teams to ideas to improve crowds. One man could be assigned to say Widnes, Leigh, Swinton etc and could be the front when dealing with SL clubs or marketing campaigns

YES.
You wouldn't have a TV deal for a start

What is wrong is that nobody in SL realises what damage is being done to the lower divisions by having no promotion. Batley, after earning the right to a spot in the first season of SL were denied entry. Our average attendances dropped by over 50% the following season and have never recovered. Even winning the Mickey Mouse Cup (The Trans-penine then) in 1998 didn't bring the supporters back to the club as most realised as I did. There is no hope for clubs like Batley, Dewsbury, Keighley and sorry to shatter a few dreams here, but Leigh and Featherstone either, and several others in this country too, who are not in the SL clique have absolutely no hope of ever getting in.

Has it not dawned on any of you yet, that Hetherington (destroyer of the game and an all round house IMO) decides what happens at the RFL. Think back to the Shuddersfield and GatesHull fiasco, all his idea. 3 divisions when it suited him at Sheffield then back to 2 and then back to 3, this guy is the supremo pulling the strings, not Sky. Who's idea was dual registration? Mr Hetherington again! As has been seen recently at Widnes with Ainscough, smaller clubs are once again being shafted by the SL and Hetherington. 2 votes for SL and 1 for all other clubs anyone??? you guessed it Hetherington.

There's the bad guy you are looking for, at the helm of the Rhino's.

Get him out and save our game from the oblivion he is creating.

Castleford and HKR got balloon payments when they were relegated from SL, if a balloon payment should be made surely it should go to the promoted club who have at least earned it by winning something. Not ensuring the relegated club is fighting with 3 times more money than the rest of the clubs in same division ensuring there safe return the year after. If a parachute payment was paid to the promoted club it would give them a chance of survival once promoted. They could invest in the infrastructure of the club. I'm talking about Marketing the game and building a fan base, and building from the roots with further investment in junior development, and recruiting a competitive team not just recruiting a team full of rejects and SL journeymen at the end of there careers ala Widnes when they were last in SL. Real investment in strengthening the club as a whole not just paying has beens.

Rant over! tell me I'm of the mark?

another very important point .fred.
its exactly the same in SL,would the millionaires keep propping some of these club up if they thought they couldn't lift a trophy every now & then.i dont think so.

Pride, you cant invest in those things when you know the chances are you'll be down again within a year. Just can't be done.

not a rant at all mate.
very well said actually.
harrington is the new lindsay

But that is why a parachute payment should have been made the other way to the promoted team, Leigh and Widnes when they were promoted, giving them the best chance of being competitive and not yoyoing. Surely you cannot defend paying £100000's to a team like Castleford for being relegated out of SL?

The game is corrupt. Can you name another sport where there is no promotion? Can you name another sport where the rules are changed to suit so regularly? I cannot I'm afraid. Sport should be governed by what happens on the pitch, with all teams playing to the same rules, if a team earns the right to promotion then they should get it. Not this rubbish about "ooh your in a development area you can sign 94 Australians if you want, or you can't be relegated for 3 years and you can start in the 2nd tier of the game without earning it because your in France". It stinks!

Development through academies and infrastructure takes YEARS of money, not a one off parachute payment.
Teams shouldnt be able to buy a team then claim 'oh its what happened on the pitch', there's one way you're going...BROKE.

Where's halifax's academy, yours? Widnes have one. Halifax and Barrow have basically bought a team over the last couple of years without having an awful lot else or healthy club

well said pal.
you know something is right when what you say is answered with something completly different

The one we have now isn't worth talking about anyway, you only get money if you are actually on TV AND are the home team. The amount, well take 100k and divide it by the number of TV games that are shown. Oh and that has to be spent on the night, usually on free tickets.

99% of money to the RFLSL goes to around 35% of the RFLs member clubs.

your banging your head against a wall mate.

He's talking utter rubbish hence why so many clubs were a) filled with journeymen b) went bust.
What on earth is a one off payment going to do in your scenario (other than pay some aussies wage).



Wasn't this myth blown out of the water the other week on the VT? Im certain I read Chp clubs received money this year. Besides you hope the current deal tests the water for future deals, Catalans started in a similar situation TV wise and they've since moved on to better deals