[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/8885900.stmCould it be Quins????[/url

I'm hoping for Castleford meself............................

Cheers! (not sure what we have ever done to bother you?)

Rather gratifying however that this is such a serious topic and hours later this is the first response!

How many people in London really care about the Quins?
ps. I'm all for expansion - but everything to do with your club is depressing:
play to an 80% empty stadium every home game (another club's home at that); every season the performance level slides still further.

You will get a franchise and as everyone knows it's for one simple logistical reason.

Also hoping for Castleford, purely because of morrissey's knee-jerk.

bob on though isn't he.

Anyway we all know it should be Leeds for the drop.

Merge cas n wakey and form the south leeds wild tigers.

other than that - drop any team that voted to put us out of existence....

Not really, someone has had an opinion and he has seen it on some sort of attack on his beloved club and directed it right back us. There are plenty of decent reasons that would support the case for Castleford not to be awarded another franchise.

I think the little Irish fella got it right, pick the best 14 never mind saying there will def be 1 team up and possibly 2 which will mean 2 down
So if one team does lose out thats in the SL half way through the season, what happens if they they make the top 8 and get a good run, or even win something!!
Or half way through you get told you have not got a franchise for the next season why continue playing the rest of that season

So they reckon Widnes would be the prime candidates, ok going to incur the wrath but why another club thats within 20 miles of at least 3 or 4 other clubs
Merge cas and wakey!! yeah thats really going to happen without a fight, the prob they will both have is stadium!!
our crowd figures dont help but we have a decent home, even if we move!!! we will be in a decent size staduim

1 Commercial, marketing, media and community.

OK, Community work is brilliant but the other 2 we fail terribly.

2 Facilities.

Like Wigan, FC etc...we don't own it, but it is a great stadium.

3 Finance.

Depends on the RFL's view on this. DH is a great asset to the club (our only one if I'm honest, but apart from that, we are in terrible condition making a 1.5 mil + loss a year (operating loss...DH swallows it)

4 Governance and business management.

Governance is a tough one. We are obviously trying to cut our cloth accordingly, so we should be OK, but the losses of 30 to 50k a week do raise questions over the Business Management

5 Playing strength and player performance strategy.

Strength is a complete loss here. Strategy is an unknown, because I am sure Mac doesn't even know what the strategy is, so how the RFL will is a mystery.

I see us in the naughty chair with the clubs in Stadium trouble as well as the supposed financial strife that pops up every week or so on the VT.

Clenched bottom time for Quins RL IMO, but let's hope they get 3 more years and something changes at the club in the business department.

Nailed on

The one positive of us not getting a license would be having a good laugh at you and your posts regarding this topic

So was Jesus!
HTH

As it won't happen you won't be able to split your sides.

Will you lay me £1 at 100/1 please?

These boards are getting worse

the criterea you listed were for the non sl clubs looking at coming up

So what are the criteria for clubs in danger of going down? Surely they should be the same....or are they a la 2008? If so, we will score less points this time as we have NOT been competitive on the field.

Any championship clubs need to meet five criteria just to apply for a licence.

1) Win the NR Cup or finalist in Championship in either 2008 or 2009.
2) No insolvency over previous 3 or 4 years.
3) Minimum capacity of 10,000.
4) Turnover of at least £1million in 2008 or 2009.
5) Average attendance of 2,500 in 2008 or 2009.

If they meet the above then they'll be put against the five criteria listed earlier by gutterfax and the best one will get a spot in SL. One of the current SL clubs will make way for them because it will stay at 14 teams.

So...Widnes will replace.......?
None of the others come close.....so it's now about who they replace.
Unlike Paddlock punter

, I do not believe we are nailed on.......we need to show a willing to get our house in order and to do that....a business plan with a defined MARKETING budget needs to be put in place.
Sorry...I know I go on about it, but it really is beyond a joke at this point. Either try to attract fans that will in turn support the club or just give up now. To all those who say it's hard to sell a losing team...I say look further than your noses and the last 3 years.......the club have never had a clue how to market themselves......regardless of the results.
I bet you that there are 14,500 people in west london who would appreciate decent sport at a decent cost.....the club have no idea how to find them (neither do I by the way, but I'd f()cking try!)

From a legal point of view the announcement seems to prejudge the issue. Surely if all the existing clubs meet the criteria only a Championship club with a better points score could be justified. I think we all know that one of Cas, Salford, Quins, Crus or Wakey may not make the cut. But I think a lawyer could make mischief at this announcement.

IF DH pulls out - we are out - no mistake, so those of you who think we are nailed on..........

It's a farce by the RFL that they will probably throw Wakefield out out of SL . What do The Broncos / Quins bring to SL?, your attendance at home is very poor, your away support is pathetic to say the least, your stadium is nice but the atmosphere is terrible .
I came to your stadium a couple of years ago and couldn't believe how poor your attendance and atmosphere was , speaking to people over that weekend not that many were really bothered about Quins RL and we were told that a lot of local rugby teams get free tickets to the games but don't even bother turning up.
How can your club financially support itself ?, the rumours of the RFL financially backing you and paying your coaches salary must be true ,no way can your gate pay for the running of your club, the RFL just don't want one of their wonderful expansion ideas to fail..

How can your club really justify a place in SL when traditional teams are been mugged by the RFL , i also thing P & R should be brought back .

I have been to many northern RL clubs atmosphere is bad, what were Hull's attendances like at one time, what about Gateshead should they have ever been allowed to sell out like they did??

It will be sad to lose any current team but that is what the RFL seem to say will happen if a championship team meets the criteria. Widnes suffered the drop and I admire the Chairman who remained Dignified! unlike many of the whiners whenever this comes up and the weekly press always becomes a Big Joke! The reason being too many home RL supporters can't see past their own noses and are not interested in the game itself.

Fair play, Dave!

As it happens, I would love to see your team play to a packed house and make genuine strides forward.

I love rugby league and am under no illusion that a top side in the capital/south would be brilliant for the sport.

However, I have to admit to being a little miffed at the prospect of a town that has lived and breathed the sport for around a century faces an uncertain future - possibly at the mercy of other more recent clubs with only a marginal support base.

I'm not wanting to start a north/south argument - outside of your SL team, wonders are clearly being worked on the youth development etc. I just get the impression that, as far as SL is concerned, a team that plays in London need do nothing other than that.

I doubt the RFL could afford to support us financially. Fortunately,for now, David Hughes does. However, as another poster points out if DH cannot find another backer this may not be a situation that is sustainable for too much longer. If that were to happen I don't see how we could operate at all never mind justify a licence.

Let's face it the RFL will bend over backwards to keep the three expansion clubs in Superleague, you've only got to look at how Crusaders were accommodated last winter when it all went pear shaped for them at Bridgend. I can only see us missing out if we have no one prepared to back us financially

After the way they've repeatedly messed us around with fixtures Crusaders would be the club I'd miss the least, although if they can establish themselves and thrive at Wrexham good luck to them.

Rightly or wrongly whichever of Salford, Castleford and Wakefield has made the least progress towards moving into a new ground would appear the most vulnerable.

Salford almost fall into the expansion club section as the RFL wants a presence in and around Manchester.

Cas seem to be playing the PR game of we are trying to get Wakey involved, but they don't wanna know.

Wakey are in an IVA, have had problems with the tax people recently, have recruited no-one past 2011, the coach wanted to leave the country, I could go on. Regardless of Wakey saying they can build a stadium in 46 weeks, I think the decision may have already been made for a team in Yorkshire to be replaced one historically part of Lancashire.