I think it's 9 weeks until the first match of 2014.

Cue The A Team theme tune!

A question for Gus.

If Barnet is so perfect for us why am I hearing that one cause of the delay in an agreement being sorted the Broncos wanted a one year deal at The Hive?

If leaving the deal until the 11th hour, threatening administration, was to eke more out of the RFL or the Hive owner, I can't see anything was achieved. The result seems to be we lost the Youth coach and have little time to find a squad of decent and fit enough players.

We'll need them AND McGuiver!

Last season was the year of the turkey from us and if you carved us up you could feed half of London. It just goes to prove, reading the link, that the more you trample a turd the broader it grows.

Now is that 10 working days?

Seriously, what does he have to do to get the sack? We all know he doesn't have the honour to fall on his sword, does it really need a supporters revolt to get rid of him?

How come every fan the club has recognises GM is a total waste of space and his own arrogance doesn't allow him to do the honourable thing and leave. How come DH can't see what we can, why does he persist in employing losers.

David Hughes rarely takes critical advice. It's the arrogance that comes with gambling over commodity prices and winning a lot more than you lose.
I have to wonder as to his sanity though.....if he'd but 13 million an overseas bank he'd be able to pay the club 1 million a year on the interest alone without ever risking his money.

"throes" (noun): a condition of violent pangs, pain, or convulsions.

is that the same as the famous two weeks albeit working weeks?

10 working days...or as a certain staff member would call it, 3 years

Only reason I can think of is either he's Hughes long lost love child or else he has some serious dirt on him!

careful....I surmised a romantic link a few months back and Roster Booster took offence.

I hear that Marketing spend in 2011 and 2012 was 170k and 200k respectively from an impeccable source.

Please can anyone explain how spending between 13k and 15k a game managed to deliver an 8% drop in attendances both years?
13K a game in 2011 delivered match day revenue of 20k in 2011 whilst 12 months later, 15k a game delivered 16.5k.....the added bonus in 2012 was the 100k spent on Sales & Marketing salaries....which when added to the equation means they spent 23k a game to generate 16.5k a game


Now.......I may be mistaken, but the salaries in Sales and Marketing would have been paid to 2 people, HAND PICKED by the CEO who were purged in the mid season review of 2012



Anyone on the ground in London care to point out where this 370k was spent?

Administration costs for the 2 years are the highest in the history of the club whilst match day costs are similar to those in 2010, but cheaper than 2008 and 09.

The Club made an operating loss of 4 over 4 million over these 2 years......so it costs Mr Hughes 74,000 a game to keep us going.

SELCO's involvement at the club is over and whilst I mistakenly gave Gus credit for this, it appears that this was actually down to the hard work of someone at the RFL.

As I say, I hear this from an impeccable source OUTSIDE the club who I have no reason to doubt. If correct, it paints a picture of continued failure and apathy from an owner who seems happy to throw money away in the same fashion with no interest in building for the future.

It also explains why Gus believes the club are well placed. Players salaries, Coaching salaries, match-day costs and marketing costs have all been decimated meaning that 2014 will be built on 1.6 million from the RFL (it would seem that we are on a bit extra from the RFL) and our own ticket and commercial revenue (542K in 2012) and the amount that DH is willing to pay for the team.

Perhaps AK has his eyes on Hughester's millions rather than the Rugby team.
I would love the Broncos to be a success at the Hive, but the more I see the already failed CEO backed over the wishes of the Broncos fans, the more obvious the impending disaster....... no website, no updates, no press releases, make it up as you go along, months and months of press blackouts, classic LBs actually!!
He has a guaranteed revenue stream from stadium visitors to see Super Dooper league for 2014.
He already knows from negotiating with David, Gus and Tony ( and the RFL) he has an amateur outfit to deal with which will either fold prematurely mid season or be relegated from superleague in 2014. He must also know they have ridden roughshod over their own supporters ignoring their views and requests (Fans forums? Etc)
AK must have done a little research, enough anyway to see the dire straits the Broncos have been in for so long, also the ineptitude of both David Hughes and Gus Mackay and the impotence of Nigel Wood and the RFL. AK won't lose a penny hosting the Broncos and He wont waste a penny backing them!!!

1. I am led to believe, the Administration and Marketing of the Broncos is now down to AK in return for a fee, as well as a share of the ticketing revenue and all of the Bar/food takings.
2. We are doomed to finish 13th or 14th and therefore be of no interest to AK other than maybe as a tenant who pays to use their pitch/facilities.

The RFL have long dreamed that somehow sticking a pin in the map of Britain would produce professional Rugby League. They still holdfast to that view today despite numerous failures. They cannot and will not invest in or fund any expansion Club and expect private enterprise to foot the bill.

I genuinely beleive TK wants ownership of Broncos. He had been linked with several funny shaped ball enterprises before this.
TK's model revolves around his Membership idea and keeping punters paying all year round. His problem was that come April everyone will cancel and renew for August. By bringing in Broncos and having Womens Super League football he is hoping he can retain those members over the summer.

TK never has and I doubt he ever will prop up a club with playing funds that their off field income can't support. His method of working is to build an infrastructure that will support a larger playing budget. If Barnet Council hadnt screwed us over then we would now be playing at Copthall in a 10k stadium and not Saracens.

So if you think TK is after someone elses money - I doubt it.
If you think TK will dip into his own pocket for player funds - Nope.
What he will do is invest behind the scenes to maximise the player budget available. We have a running joke about the fact he spent 400k on solar panels instead of buying players so the club was more profitable and could afford higher wages.

If TK sees that Broncos is not viable over the next 2 years then he will walk away, if he sees that his model is working and Broncos can be a success then he will look to take them on.
From anyone looking at the Broncos balance sheet in recent times this is a sensible approach imo.

So if you're looking for a sugar daddy you've come to the wrong place, but if you want someone who will work towards a long term future then maybe he is the right person for the job.

Leave Gus alone you bullies

I've not yet been to the Hive - I plan on taking in a football game in the new year - but the notion that it is in some way an improved facility compared to The Stoop strikes me as utterly fanciful.

New season starts eight weeks on Sunday. Two weeks before that I'll be toddling down to the Racecourse Ground for a pre-season friendly between the Cru' and Hemel.

Is there a massive walkway between the pitch and the stands at the hive?

Yes. A vast yawning chasm. My advice to you is stay away

you could have a double decker bus drag race along it it's that wide