True, potential is the key, but I don't understand the 'difference'. Barrow aren't on the doorstep of umpteen clubs including arguably the biggest club name in the sport - namely Wigan. On paper Barrow has far more potential than most of the 'smaller' (non-SL) Lancashire and Yorkshire teams.

You forget that Barrow lost a generation of fans during our very dark days over the best part of 20 years. The likes of Leigh, Widnes and Fax have pretty much always been in the 1st or 2nd tier of the sport over that period and therefore retained more fans and start from a much higher baseline. Our crowds were up 65% last season - and that was from being the best supported NL2 team by an average of over 200 in 2008.

Whatever happens, I could never have dreamt that we would have done so well in 2009 and that we would be seeing average crowds of 3,000 for the 2nd half of the season. A Super League application is on the cards as is a major redevelopment of Craven Park. Happy day's indeed.

Some great games (and crowds) await in 2010. Can't wait.

the major advantage that of course Widnes, Fax and us have is that we have a SL ready stadium to play in, the RFL won't look highly on promises next time around so Craven park had better start its 'facelift' and soon.

Steve McCormack done the damage last year, his recruitment was poor in quite a few positions.

And Cullen was sacked at Warrington because ....................

Of course we know that the major obstacle is our ground. However, we also know that our BIG advantage is that we are based in Cumbria, well away from the over-saturated M62/Lancashire/Yorkshire area.

We can redevelop our stadium, but you can't move your Town. If we keep competing at the top end of the Championship (maybe even win something else) and make good progress with stadium developments - who knows.

One thing is for sure - the club is going flat-out to meet all requirements (as get as close as possible to them) in the timescale available to us.

In no way I am knocking Barrow.Leigh have been thereabouts in NL1 for a long time and our fans have got used to it.

Last season has been a wake up call for our club and hopes are high because of IM.

We and other clubs in the Championship have a lot to do however in bringing back new and lapsed fans.

Wether we like it or not we watch a regional sport and in our case we are surrounded by premiership footie clubs.

Leigh is a rugby town however and our location will always provide better potential for higher crowds if the club can give our town something to be proud of.

It,s all about getting speccies to enjoy the RL experience and,in a lot of ways, that does not just mean results on the playing field. It,s about making the whole afternoon a good day out.

We have a lot to do to achieve that.

And the year before that there was other excuses of McCormack not having time to put a team together and next year when you finish 4 or lower it will be another excuse.

Care to have a wager on it? £50 to go to the steve prescott fund.

He wasnt sacked you plum.

Good luck with McChoker.

Nope.

Tart.

Just because i wont bet, doesnt mean that it wont be true!

Typical yorkshireman, wont part with cash.

And part Scotish

Even worse!

Ok then, left 'by mutual consent'.

In other words walked before he was pushed.

He had a great squad of players at Warrington for years and just couldn't get them to play together (unlike his replacement Smith).

He talks a good game though, although you need to have an English-to-Tripe translation dictionary handy to make any sense of him.

Just like Dave Clark?

Awww bless your litttle Barrow socks, he had a good set of players at Warrington but he still didnt have the tools to win the league. Warrington still wont win the league next year even after another heavy spending spree. Im delighted we have Cullen and i have 100% trust in him and Stuart Wilkinson.


Like i said you have McChoker.

Nothing like Dave Clark. Clarky stayed at the club and has said on record that he wasn't happy as Head Coach. He stepped back into the job after Deakin was shown the door.

Oh and he won coach of the year don't you know
.... and the League Title
.... and the Grand Final

At Warrington Cullen won .......... erm ............ squat.

Think Borrow will do what Fax did this season...... dominate the league and bottle it when it matters, everyone underestimated Barrow last season cos they were a newly promoted team (and well done to them)...... next season this wont happen IMO.

Again its not rocket science. As a biased Fax fan, then yes i will be dissapointed not to finish in the top two. As neutrals im not sure the bookies will disagree either. Just out of interest who are our 2 specialist Fullbacks? I think Shad has made the 13 jersey his own and is now one of the best in that position in the league. On our signings the big two really are Nash and Brannigan. Aizue and Gene wll do a good job for us and we may just have one or two more signings to come ourselves.



However on paper i would already take our squad over anyone elses in the league but i dont decide the results so i will just have to stick to again watching the most entertaining RL team in the country in Fax.

I think teams may have underestimated us for the first few matches, but at the business end of the season everyone knew our capabilities.

As for bottling it at the end of 2010 - we've pretty much the same squad of players that won the GF, so I can't see your logic on that one. In fact all our players who were untried at Champ level like Harrison, Nixon and Campbell will only have improved after last season.

Looking at squads, I'd say Fax and Barrow are strongest at the moment, followed by Widnes, then Sheffield, Haven, Fev and Leigh. All that can change though as players are yet to be signed.

The big difference with Barrow's squad is that we know they can play together and can win things. A lot of other teams don't know that yet.

Of course, we all biased to our won clubs, but one thing is for sure - This league is the most competitive and exciting in the UK.

It's just a shame that most people overlook that fact and only see Super League boxes to tick and licenses to apply for.

No-one is going up except Widnes next time IMO

I'm past caring, to be quite honest. Would rather remain in an exciting league as we have now than join the paranoia league and pay £20 to stand in the rain at Leeds, Hull KR etc etc

Couldnt have put it better myself Matt . I think there are great times ahead for us Leythers and if we get back up there I would only want that to happen as Starbug and Grolsch say.... "when its ready"