Now all the dust as settled , you can’t help look back at Neil Jukes tenure as a complete disaster. I cannot believe a business man like Mr Beaumont would be totally blinkered with a friendship that eventually led to his demise. As everyone knows a fish rots from the head and Derek admits he is at fault due to poor decision making. If he his the man he says he is , he should back the team even more.
With the support the club as and the foundations put in place I see the club thriving in 18 months time.

Do you have a spare Million to lend?

Pointless looking back now, though I agree with your last sentence entirely. If DB cannot see it through then he is not who we need as an owner (and I say that with no malice just a pure statement of opinion). Our club and it’s supporters need stability and a patient, structured vision for the future, funded by an owner/owners who cover the short term expenditures, with a view to the club becoming a self funding entity. I don’t profess to know the best way to do that (though a proper link with the amateur clubs and youth structure must be included at some point) but it needs a 5 year initial plan (with a further 5 year continuance plan) that is not dependent on blowing it all on a team(s) year one and two. Our fans are not stupid, and have shown that many are loyal despite big disappointments. Give them a future to buy into (maybe literally) and we will stay true and grow.

It's a fine line because yes fans would love to see young lads coming through but wether people like it or not it is about winning and losing,if we start losing but there's an academy building and these lads are ready to break through and challenge for a first team spot in a couple of years its great but I'm sorry gates will drop because fans on the whole just want to see a winning main team

I said Jukesy should have gone after the Barrow defeat,it cost us so much,I also thought Derek would stay,now looks like he won't, we WILL survive though,what worries me is will the Fans keep turning up at the LSV ?We have a following of over 3,000 at home games I would hate to see that dwindle.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing Charlie your Club will be back maybe quicker than you think all being well I will be there next Friday.
Happy YORKSHIRE DAY to all of you on the Dark Side !!

But what about those of us on THIS side of the hill?

Commiserations

Totally agree it is a fine line. That's why we need owners who are willing to take a hit in the first few years with a vision of building the club as a whole. The tough times financially will be the first couple of years as we do need to have a competitive team to maintain our current fan base. The key though will I believe be having a person(s) in place who can put together a balanced squad without just throwing money at players who have a good rep but are not what the squad most needs.

The trouble is it will take at least 5 years to get an academy that will be bringing lads through to challenge for 1st grade because most lads at 14 to 17 have probably already got clubs and with the uncertainty round the club would lads choose Leigh over the other clubs that have academy's

Again I agree. As I say a 5 year initial plan with a 5 year continuance plan. Building a grass roots to first team program will take time and money but in my opinion has to be a part of a sustainable long term plan for our club.
All pie in the sky of course right now though unless we can get the right owner(s). And as long as we will still have access to the top tier in the next couple of years.

I would like nothing better than have a vibrant academy setup, with progression to the first grade squad.

However, the reality is, and always has been, the proximity of SL clubs such as Wigan, Warrington & Saints - and even currently Widnes and Salford. They will almost always take the cream, and leave us with slim pickings. There will always be some of the remainder who flourish, but the expenditure on a proper academy set up may not justify the odd couple of stars graduating through the ranks.

Also, are there not strict RFL guidelines as to who can operate academy sides?

Alan, you are closer than most outside of God’s county so count your blessings, and you also get the chance to travel over here to watch the beautiful game.

I am genuinely sorry to see Leigh down at the moment. I hope that you find your way and make it back to the top flight at some point. But I think some of your fans are being unfair to your owner Derek Beaumont. His passion for the club has been plain to see. To question his commitment at this stage is unfair. If as I have read on here, he and his company have lent the club £1.7 Million AND if as I have also read on here he has said he will bite the bullet and take that debt with him when he leaves. I don't know what more he could do for the club he obviously loves. Accepting that he cannot put anymore into the club, he has done right by you by leaving you in the best possible position he can to find new backers, Good luck to you for the future.

Also, we set up an academy but we still have local lads being picked up by the likes of Leeds and Hudds but also Warrington and other clubs over your side. What a nightmare but, we could have used all these excuses and not started it, but we did and it’s paying dividends. I’d say that from Fax lads in SL this year then you’d have the start of a decent team.

Hang on Norman! What I was trying to say, in my usual subtle way, is that I consider you lot to be on the 'Dark Side' and us to be in 'God's own county'!



Meanwhile, I will be rooting for you guys to do well, in the '8's' and' if you don't get promoted, then at least I'll be delighted to travel over to the 'Dark side' and visit Fax, Fev, Batley, Dewsbury etc next season. (providing we don't end up in liquidation, and League1!!)

You joined RLFANS just to post that....BLESS ! Pathetic

Haha, I know.
I’d be surprised if we went up but you just never know, team spirit has carried us a long way in the past (86/87) and these guys ate channeling that spirit. If we don’t go up I think you guys will be OK as you are a good proposition to somebody, good ground, good crowds.
Derek did his best but had no patience, you would have gone back up if you’d kept your squad from last year with a couple of additions.

Norman , Similarily with Bradford ' if you produce them it is almost impossible to keep them , there are several players at our SL neighbours ( England Internationals ) who we had at scholarship level but were ' poached' at academy induction

You have to consider the return on investment

I'd like to thank Neil and Derek for getting us promoted to SL and for being competitive in it , we genuinely were a bounce of a ball or a dodgy refs call from staying up

This is very true, and to add context. If Jack Smith had correctly called out Nick Scruton for not getting to his feet at the PTB and awarded Leigh the most blatant RL penalty I have ever seen, Leigh would have finished 3rd in the 8's and auto qualified. That is the margin.

One call would not have brought about that result. If you had won that match the whole scenario would have changed. For example we would have fielded a much more experienced team against Catatalan. That was a match we only just lost fielding a very weakened team as we had already qualified.

Im not saying that you would not have stayed in SL only that it is not as simple as you make out.

Yes, but Leigh would have been in the ascendancy from a flying qualifiers start but it is all irrelevant. The club also made some poor decisions but my point was to highlight that we also suffered some terribly bad luck with a very competitive team, mainly holding its own, first season back in SL.

That may be true but it doesn't alter the fact that that was a truly awful decision and we had a lot of those go against us last year and not just from referees. The disciplinary decision to allow Greg Bird to play in the million pound game was a joke.

I agree with the Bird situation but every team could claim to be at the wrong end of decisions.