Never mind that, sunshine. If the rumours surrounding DH prove to be true it might be your time to shine

What are the rumours??

My time to shine was a decade ago.

Not sure where the rumour started, but it is said that DH is considering his position as our backer. He wobbled after the hammering by Wigan in the cup in 2013 and that was close to being the end of us....if he walks now then that's it for us as a full time entity and as such I would say C1 beckons

The rumour is apparently someone (a broncos fan) was told by 'The Game Caller' (bradford freelance journalist) yesterday.

The Game Caller was pretty "hit and miss' when it came to reporting the shenanigans at Odsal over the last few years which pointed to him not being the most reliable font of knowledge....how he'd be aware of DH's intentions would be a mystery.
Still, no smoke without fire I suppose.

But what of those potential investors who were deterred by DH's presence?

It's not just DH's presence that is a putting them off, but also the uncertainty of what the League will look like in future, licensing etc, not to mention that they were interested when we were in SL.
If there is to be a return to Licensing I would expect them (and others) to express their interest.

So what do we think the criteria for franchise will be?

Youth set up, attendance, ground, team performance, finances (debts etc)?? I'm not sure
just being "London" will be that beneficial if we are a part time club playing I front of 400 people in a "pimped up"park

1. Financial planning and fiscal independence over and above the Central Funding should be the #1 criteria. As Wales and PSG showed in a short time and we have shown over 2 decades, being financially stable is the first thing an expansion club needs.
Perez et al haven't spent massively in year 1, but they are making all the right noises and if they do fail, it won't be for lack of trying. Year 2 for them is key and they will need to be in the top 2 with similar crowd numbers for it to be considered a success, but what they have done that London, Paris & Wales failed to do is "have a strategic plan" aimed at becoming fiscally viable.
2. Development: Youth teams are where this will start at any "new" club, with the hope that if you run U16/U17/U18/U19 etc that at least some of these players will graduate to your first team. Expansion clubs development players must be protected from bigger clubs cherry picking them.
3. Stadia: It's all well and good welcoming 1,500 fans to ETF for a game v HKR, but any more than that and it becomes a struggle. Either put up the temporary seating now and try and fill the ground on our own, or look elsewhere.....even if it's only for the bigger games.

There's my top 3 anyway...

People are forgetting or are not aware of where the club was pre SuperLeague. The club changed dramatically from Crusaders to Broncos with the introduction of the Marantas, Super League and the Sky TV deal.
The same could happen again, it all depends on what is envisaged for the New Super League. What Sky require, if people are prepared to get involved and what finance is available from whatever source.

...everything else is pointless unless we have both the backing and a plan to reduce the need for that backing as we grow.

Not sure what you mean by reducing that backing? Not many clubs out there that can survive without someone who is willing to spend there own money. Toronto classic example rich mans toy!!!!
So someone comes in with the financial backing, a stadium, but in a virgin area for rugby league in the UK e.g. Wasps, do they get the nod ahead of one of the traditional clubs e.g. Wakey?
Toronto finish 5th next year! Leigh top, you have a choice of the two, who gets the nod? Who would be better for the game? Financially Toronto will be ok but youth development????
At the moment we have nothing that would get us a spot, just a few thoughts

describe how Liegh have a better youth system than Toronto.....
[urlhttp://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/41575597[/url

Shame about Hendo's departure but can't say as I'm surprised when the opportunity to join a SL club has come along that he's taken it, what he's done at London has clearly not gone unnoticed.
As for us we probably will appoint internally, DH's reputation will put too many serious candidates off.
AH will be very difficult to replace.Club gets the replacement wrong and it'll be next step on the way to C1, sadly.

Hendo came into the club as assistant coach and in no time at all, Joey had cleared off and the head coaches job was his, albeit, Brian Noble was bought in as a consultant to help out.
Langley and Ward I am sure can continue where Hendo has left off.

Good luck to Hendo for what is a promotion he did well for us and he and his family deserve the break. He has not lied or back stabbed the chance was offered after reporting he was happy in London and he took it as any of us would. If he had not been approached with this chance I doubt he would have moved on.

northernbloke wrote: Toronto finish 5th next year! Leigh top, you have a choice of the two, who gets the nod? Who would be better for the game? Financially Toronto will be ok but youth development???? describe how Liegh have a better youth system than Toronto..... www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/41575597 Firstly it's Leigh not liegh Secondly what has that link got to do with youth development? Thirdly try this link www.tommysaleyouth.co.uk/content/about/ And this link https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/leigh-community-trust/ And maybe have a look at how many kids play in the area

northernbloke wrote: Toronto finish 5th next year! Leigh top, you have a choice of the two, who gets the nod? Who would be better for the game? Financially Toronto will be ok but youth development???? describe how Liegh have a better youth system than Toronto..... www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/41575597 Firstly it's Leigh not liegh Secondly what has that link got to do with youth development? Thirdly try this link www.tommysaleyouth.co.uk/content/about/ And this link https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/leigh-community-trust/ And maybe have a look at how many kids play in the area

Not knocking hendo for his decision, and good luck to the fella, really nice bloke and not to bad at his job.
But surely after saying in and his family were settled and happy in london with time left on his contract surely we should be lambasting him for telling us porkies or is that only reserved for others????

Quote ="northernbloke"Andrew Henderson insists he is committed to London Broncos regrowth So assume we are all going to lambast hendo for going against his word?'" To be fair to Henderson, the headline to that piece looks like it was plucked from the air by a lazy sub-editor as none of the quotes attributed to him say anything like that. www.totalrl.com/andrew-henderson ... -regrowth/

Quote ="northernbloke"Andrew Henderson insists he is committed to London Broncos regrowth So assume we are all going to lambast hendo for going against his word?'" To be fair to Henderson, the headline to that piece looks like it was plucked from the air by a lazy sub-editor as none of the quotes attributed to him say anything like that. www.totalrl.com/andrew-henderson ... -regrowth/

Quote ="northernbloke"Firstly it's Leigh not liegh'" Thanks.....pedantry is a sure fire sign that you've little of substance in the way of argument. Quote ="northernbloke"Secondly what has that link got to do with youth development? Thirdly try this link www.tommysaleyouth.co.uk/content/about/ And this link https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/leigh-community-trust/ And maybe have a look at how many kids play in the area'" Yep....loads of kids in a RL area play RL. What I asked was how Leigh with there 135+ year head start compare to Toronto in terms of trying to develop or attract players to the game. What you've posted is nothing more than an announcement that: Quote The starting point will be establishing a Category 3 Academy and Reserve Grade for 2018.'" ...and a fluffy PR story about getting kids to stop bullying other kids and getting ex servicemen to games and other activities that any community based club should be doing. Again, with 138 years to 1 year, how much better is the Leigh development program than the Toronto one?Surely with all thse kids playing RL in the area, they could produce their own Centre rather than shopping in the NRL

Quote ="northernbloke"Firstly it's Leigh not liegh'" Thanks.....pedantry is a sure fire sign that you've little of substance in the way of argument. Quote ="northernbloke"Secondly what has that link got to do with youth development? Thirdly try this link www.tommysaleyouth.co.uk/content/about/ And this link https://leighrl.co.uk/wp/leigh-community-trust/ And maybe have a look at how many kids play in the area'" Yep....loads of kids in a RL area play RL. What I asked was how Leigh with there 135+ year head start compare to Toronto in terms of trying to develop or attract players to the game. What you've posted is nothing more than an announcement that: Quote The starting point will be establishing a Category 3 Academy and Reserve Grade for 2018.'" ...and a fluffy PR story about getting kids to stop bullying other kids and getting ex servicemen to games and other activities that any community based club should be doing. Again, with 138 years to 1 year, how much better is the Leigh development program than the Toronto one?Surely with all thse kids playing RL in the area, they could produce their own Centre rather than shopping in the NRL

describe how Liegh have a better youth system than Toronto

I will describe for you!
Leigh have a youth system, Toronto don't, is that simple enough description.

www.rugby-league.com/kingstone_p ... -westerman Classic Toronto youth development using yr own analogy dog!

www.rugby-league.com/kingstone_p ... -westerman Classic Toronto youth development using yr own analogy dog!

[urlhttp://www.lasttackle.tv/[/url

Trying to spread the game and attract athletic young men to the sport locally......as with London, you can't just pull quality RL players out of thin air year 1.....but they will get there eventually.
Leigh have has 138 years........