It's interesting that no one has answered the question "what happend at Cas, Bulls, Reds, even Wire at the end of the season?"

Were you hoping to get a hand shake from Hughsey and a see you next year. Is that what Lennegan did at the Pies?

Its been a shocking season let's move on. There was nothing to celebrate.

To many people want to be too close to the club. Get to the HJ, DW stadiums and see what you get. A pint in the corridor and when the final whistle goes marshalls telling you to leave the ground. Thats sport.

The other clubs you mention have awards nights where the formalities are dealt with there (like used to be the case here) and we used to have interviews in the bar after the last game.

You are being deliberately obtuse when you talk about hand-shakes and the like...no-ones expecting anything of the sort. Just a few words of closure on the season thanking supporters for their support in a difficult year and hoping to see them back next year, would have sufficed.

Even if you don't agree with the need for speeches from club's hierarchy, you surely agree that it isn't satisfactory for any business to non-deliver to their paying customers to the extent that this club has (again).

From a personal POV, I'm not bothered about the majority of things I was promised, but there are people that do and it simply isn't be-fitting of a professional business to not even come up with any reasons as to why things that were promised were not delivered.

I just really hope that this club makes a better fist of everything on and off the pitch next year.

When we first came to the Stoop back in 2006, if my memory serves me right, we had £299 season tickets. I think the other Stand was less expensive but not the dirt cheap £99 price.

I think anyone could go in any bar except the upstairs bars like the Captain's Club / Corporate Hospitality and there was a natural separation out of punters between the quiet carpeted bar and noisier King's Bar.

There were normally about 3 or 4 Fans Forums and the professional presenter Chris Warren was often on hand and when he was not there were also a supporting lot of high quality volunteers from within the support plus a few back office ladies who were genuinely helpful.

Where we are now is in an environment in which there is only a handful of staff, no professional presenter, almost no volunteers retained and a lot of complexity and barriers some of which cannot be enforced without a lot of resource.

I think the lack of revenue is the underlying issue with the other one being the divisive nature of the CEO who would prefer to keep the supporters behind partitions. That can't easily be fixed.

But the revenue angle would work much better to do a proper membership scheme.

As an example the club should charge £199 for the main stand and in return this should give supporters an allocated seat and a 'free hand' to go in any of the bars. Let people go to the fans forums for this price, bung them a car park pass etc. This could be policed via Gus's heavies checking a membership pin. And supporters turfing out squatters from their allocated seat!

Non-members would get nothing except an unallocated seat and King's Bar Access. I'd suggest a minimum price of £10 a game for adults. If they pay an upgrade fee, let's say £6 then they can upgrade match by match if they want to.

Otherwise it will continue to be amateur I feel. For want of resource.

Cheers
Mark

The players had a dinner on Sat evening-I'm sure presentations were made there.

I will ask the question again what happens at other clubs at the end of the season that doesn't occur in London? Thats not being deliberately obtuse just trying to benchmark the industry.

I've seen big name players leave Warrington without big presentations, more players carrying them of the field on the last day. I've never been present at an on the field fanfare like is being suggested here.

Season over, thanks, see you next year.

But there's no ticket details or confirmation of venue!

Do we need three threads on the management of the club, we have this thread, the `Ideas` thread and the `100% Negativity` thread.....they are all heading in the same direction so can we not merge them?

For what it is worth I do not give a toss about what they did to mark the end of the season and players leaving at other clubs, the management regarding OUR end of season `event`and communication as to future arrangements has been totally shambolic and the club management should be ashamed of themselves.

Anyone here remember the old Fulham CC Final night bashes at the Clarendon in Hammersmith (particularly the 1985 one when a lot of Aussies from the Northern clubs were there and Mal Meninga and Harold Henney had an ice cube fight along the bar - the staff took one look at the size of them and let them carry on!), plus the Christmas dinner at a London hotel, Supporters' Club meetings that club officials used to go to etc., etc? The club seems now to be totally disconnected from the supporters, the loss of a Supporters' Club possibly hasn't helped, although I appreciate the problems that led to its demise.

I think Gus set out to distance players from fans. Not presenting awards after the match etc

Maybe he is trying to distance the club from the fans ie you get a game of footie and go home, similar to the bigger northern clubs approach. If you want to meet players and drink wine you pay for it

Ps HKR haven't mentioned season tickets or whether they will be playing next year to there fans so we aren't alone

I have no problem with paying for anything.

Facts are those of us that bought the most expensive ST paid for 5 events that we didn't get (but did get stuff that we weren't meant to like away supporters in the "Members" bar and in the West stand!).

A quick reccie of some of the other clubs websites confirm that they do indeed have Awards nights...Wakey, Cas and Salford do anyway (thats all Ive checked).

As I said before, I'm not bothered per se about all these things, but it does throw doubts on the credibility of our club when they fail to deliver on so many fronts.

Of course, most of us realise that this club is skint and we haven't got the resources of other clubs. Well, that's fine just don't promise what we can't deliver!

The only thing I really wanted was a Season Launch do...not a grand one like the one at St Katherines Dock or even The Sports Cafe one... a cheapo one at The Stoop surely would have been within our means.

I must admit, I have long held the view that St David of Hughes should be beyond critiscism but I am beginning to wonder if he is part of the problem after all.

Certainly, I do think we would be a long way towards being a successful club (on and off the field)
if we still had the input and resources of Ian Lenegan.

Absolutely correct. A critical turning point in the history of our club when he turned to Wigan. If only Whelan hadnt sold out.

Clearly money is an issue; it's the first time I can remember when the leaving players haven't been given a departing gift. Granted he hasn't played much, if at all, this season but Karl T had been with the club since 2005 and not to recognise that in some way (or god forbid, ask him a question) just seems wrong.

Personally, I have never had any great desire to speak to players post match, but would agree with Dan that if something is included in a price of a season ticket then it should be provided and then it is my choice whether I want to take up what is offered.

Maybe Karl T and the others who are leaving were recognised at the clubs end of season awards dinner on Sat night.

We are making a huge assumption that the end of the game was the end of the season for the players. I struggle to believe that the leaving players didn't get there opportunity at the dinner to say goodbye and also receive a gift

With Tony Rea having booked his flight back to Australia on Monday the club wanted to do an end of season event which included him.

David Hughes had at least two dinner Jackets in carriers so was happy to stay around till about 4 and I think Tony Rea was also set to go straight to the Lensbury.

But only a handful of players like Craig Gower seemed to be organised and I guess the majority of players dashed home to get ready before going out again.

I'd guess everything was set up at the Lensbury like Wire suggests.

I think the club does not get the benefit of the doubt but I can understand why there is this view. I've always found David a candid bloke and his big pal who has the box very open in his views but Gus a little secretive. So I think they are not bad lads. But I think others see them differently.

I guess a stage managed show would have been better and a bit of openness about all the players leaving appreciated.

I was a bit shocked that all the focus was upon Julien given Jason's four years, Karl's eight years and the local boys doing fair stints etc. But our 20 minutes was only a delay before the real event maybe.

Cheers
Rammo

All of that is true and I think that the thread header is quite accurate. TBF, it was the players themselves, Kaufusi and Bryant particularly, who made Rinaldi the centre of attraction.

The club's report on the end of season do refers only to 2012 season awards so we don't know if any of the departing players were recognised.

Oh, and The Cowgirls have simply faded away even though the club site said they'd perform at every home game. Not that I think they added much, but that's another broken promise.

Comparisons with other clubs are irrelevant, we've done this stuff better in the past, maybe because we are a "small" club.

Size and budget is no excuse for being poorly run.

I think a lot of this is down to cost cutting by the club. Every extra person employed by the club is an extra drain on DH's pocket. Too few people doing too many jobs can only have one result. Now many of the duties are blurred or even ditched. Im sure many fans on here are familiar with these signs at their own place of work and are just glad they've still got a job. As fans however we want things to be the way they were before the club were this hard up. The Powell impact on the teams form and resulting gates is far reaching. DH was believed to be losing £1.5 a year but this year it will be more and the back office is obviously feeling it.


HKR seem to be in a bit of trouble. It will be interesting to see how they respond to their finacial problems.

Much as it saddens me to hear about these unfortunate incidents i think we have to hang onto the fact that DH is still providing us with a SL team. A winning team next season may bring about improvements in these other areas.

Yes, agree the clubs resources are stretched (always have been and probably getting worse).

However, some of the things that haven't been forthcoming wouldn't have cost anything....fans forums and communication shouldn't really impact that much financially, if at all. Ditto a low-key season launch event.

It is a shame the club chose to dispense with the services of people (staff and volunteers) who cared about this club and knew how it ticked.

In spite of all that has been said, I'm sure we are all desperate for this club to flourish...maybe next year will.

We can all put it down to lack of funds and cost cutting, but when in London`s history was it ever any different.

The truth is that as with every other year, we will all kid ourselves that `next season` will be different, but if DH had the appetite, the willingness and the expertise to drive the club forward in terms of management, marketing et al, he would have done it by now. What makes anyone think that this will all be turned on its head over the next 2 years before DH calls it a day.

As has already been suggested, DH has been the saviour but is also the problem with the fortunes of the Broncos…….it`s his pass time to do with and spend money on as he sees fit.

I don`t feel too optimistic about our survival when DH walks away, but I know one thing for sure and that is nothing will change until the club passes to a new owner/investor.

Im sure DH has the appetite and willingness you refer to, he just doesnt have the money needed to do what is required.

Prior to this season, i think he has subsidised the club upto his job earnings limit.
As he sees retirement looming and no investor on the horizon, i believe he has gone overboard and overspent his income to get us spending upto the Salary cap this season. This he hoped would get us the players who would get the results onfield that would get us into the playoffs, and he could market a winning team, attract more fans, and propel the club forward.

Sadly he kept RP as coach and f***ed it all up.

As a consequence we have gone backwards and next season we really have to get it right. The team must perform and each of us must drag every person down to see the wonders of RL in London. The clock is ticking and no matter what we think of the clubs performance upto now we are in the Last Chance Saloon. We get behind the club and make it work or find out our best seats to watch the Skolars in whatever league they may be playing in. SL in London will be history.If we cant find a backer when we have a team allready in SL and a small fanbase allready we sure as *ell wont find one when DH calls it 'enough'.

DH has thrown millions at this club over the years and for that he should be respected and applauded, but unfortunately the lack of or poor choice of management seems to have been a constant also.

There have been numerous CEO`s, Directors, Managers call it what you will throughout this time (all appointed by DH), but I think all of us would be hard pushed to name anything that they have done during their tenure that `propelled` this club forward…….you would have thought some inventiveness would have risen to the surface. We have also had more back office staff in the past, so the lack of funds and Gus having to `do it all` has not always been the case. So have all these people lacked the necessary expertise, been poor choices, hamstrung by the lack of funds or restricted by the decisions of the owner?

We have also spent less on the team in the past and had more success than our `spending to the cap` has brought us……..but as you say DH`s poor management decision to appoint RP, apparently against all knowledgeable advice, made sure that he cocked up again.

As a supporter I will do what I have always done, buy a season ticket, get to the games, spend in the shop and bar, encourage friends and family along…… you can`t do much more. The long term future of the club rests with the owner and management team and I have no faith in the current regime.

The London Broncos will cease to exist as a professional Super League RL entity if no other major investor can be found toreplace David Hughes or if the club continues to around with gimmicky marketing campaigns that are done on a shoe string and achieve nothing.
Brown, Hogg, Blanchard and now MacKay have, over 7 seasons, presided over a loss of 30% of the average attendance..that's more than 1,100 missing fans per game or about 300k in lost revenue......for 6 of these seasons, David Hughes has contolled the purse strings and IIRC, we have had 2 full time Marketing Managers.....bot who were so out of their depth it was farcical that they were employed in the first place.

I am not sure if Mr Hughes once had a dog that was run over by a marketing executive, but he seems almost fanatically adverse to spending a brass farthing on promotion or marketing. He patently believes that the locals should feel honoured to have a SL club in their midsts and should be googling their little hearts out to find out when our next home game is.....perish the thought that he'd ever send them an invite.

He believes, incorrectly BTW, that if the team win something, the fans will flock to the games.......we finished 4th and 2nd before the play-offs, made 2 play-offs finishing 5th and 6th and visited Wembley......not 1 fan was added to the averages in the seasons immediately after these "successes".......

Mr Hughes is 100% Entitled to run HIS club as he sees fit, but patently he is doing it badly and his recent facination with all things cricket points to him having lost the plot totally........

I repeat, to compare the way the club is currently run to an amateur pub team is an injustice to amateur pub teams.

So we're a bit of a black sheep and can't seem to do anything right. Maybe we should be kicked out of the Super League to teach us a lesson

The London Broncos are not simply a black sheep who can't seem to do anything right.....The London Broncos are a professional Sports club and Business who have never attempted to do the right thing......there is a massive difference between doing something wrong and doing the wrong thing......HTH!


btw....When have I ever said that we should be kicked out of SL? What I have said since 2003 and what I am derided for repeating is that the club do not have a ing clue how to market themselelves.......and when DH walks away, nobody will need to kick the club out of SL.

You're smart, but not that smart

I am Albert ing Einstein when compared to any of the tools employed by DH to promote/run the club.......and my intelligence, charm and charisma are only overshadowed by my arrogance