Hmmm.....a Salford fan having a pop about Quins crowds. Given the 90+ year head start you've had on QuinsRL, I sicerely hope you see the irony in your post....but then again, you're a salford fan, so peobably not.
Your average for the season so far is about 650 more than Quins RL.......I really wuldn't be opening that particular can of worms if I were you....now run along and play....

Unfortunately you actually have a larger population to draw on for crowds, plus we have the problem of the Worlds best supported sports team being less than a couple of miles from the willows and we can not piggyback our crowds with the Union team to get average attendance up. No matter that people say all United fans are from London, the majority of people in Salford watch and follow football.
On the Sky question if Quins are important why have they only been on Sky 4 times with the majority of games featuring Wigan, Bradford and Leeds on the M62 corridor.

Well Im a Salford fan too & the irony isnt lost on me either. Talking of irony guess why our new Ground was held up? None other than that extreme leftie Two Jags Prescott intervening and keeping us away from our dream for a couple of years.

Anyway back on topic. Its obvious why London is important to Sky and that is there is a much bigger chance to sell subscriptions to a 16 million plus audience rather than the 33,000 who all probably have a dish - in Castleford.

London is vital for them but whether the Quins current location is the best place to be is another matter.

Personally I hope the RFL step in and help AND revise the format for SL by increasing to 15 clubs AND bringing back Promotion & Regulation (subject to standards) in 2 years.

Finally re the ground - Is there another stadium in North London with a capacity to work on? Hendon/Wealdstone prob too small - any others?

It's clear you've never lived in London. No sports team there draws from the whole population: Fulham is another universe compared to Dalston, for example, as far as most Londoners are concerned. If we follow your premise to the next point, cannot Quins claim to have [ia whole bunch[/i of 'best supported sports teams' on their doorstep, in the shape of sundry wendyballers like Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal, Spurs etc? Don't you think that [ithe majority of people in London watch and follow football.[/i?

I wish Salford and Quins well but no doubt about it, Salford's crowds are the ones that are a disgrace given your long-established presence in the game.

Everyone does not seem to understand the Sky argument that is they that want a more national game, the game has come on in 14 years, what no serious national sponsor for the Challenge Cup, attendances for the cup games which are a disgrace? People quote that Super League is the second most popular Sky sport. well my data questions that at times! we may be for the one odd game. The majority if Northern Club supporters are shown to watch it in pubs and clubs than at home with a Sky dish!

I don't think there is anyway Salford will go, there ground plans are far too advanced and Manchester is as important as London! Clubs like Wakefield and Castleford are to blame for the situation they find themselves in and we must never forget the Hull/Gateshead situation which was about the biggest farce the game allowed!

All the Hot Air we are getting in letters to the press and the many visitors to the board will not have any influence on the RFL and Sky and we still have a lot of time before the final decision is made next year! It is noticeable that not a lot of tears were shed for Widnes and as I keep saying their Chairman reacted with true dignity but now it may be a Yorkshire club or we to have a 2011 break away? LOL

The only remotely sensible one I can think of is Leyton Orient.

Dagenham and Barnet are too small. There is no non-league football ground in Greater London any better than those. Other than that you've got either modern grounds like Charlton and Millwall that are too big, plus other even bigger grounds; then there's the likes of Brentford that is too antiquated to satisfy the increasing drive towards modernisation of SL grounds.

Our current ground is as good as we'll get; the trouble is it's probably in the worst area of Greater London in which to establish RL. I'm not sure "London RLFC" as tenants of an established other club is ever going to work. It didn't the last time and a lot of people, myself included, felt the link up with Quins was the final throw of the dice. Being Quins at The Stoop feels like we've got our own ground to me in a way that squatting at Brentford FC didn't.

Ideally we need a ground of our own that isn't associated with a bigger club playing another code. Even Skolars have got that! Is there a dormant stadium somewhere that we could take over and redevelop as our own home? Even if there is it would require a benevolent multi-millionaire to make it happen. If the RFL & Sky really do feel it's so essential to sustain a London club in Superleague maybe they can do something to bring about a dedicated rugby league stadium in the capital?

Well this announcement has got some worried Northern clubs fans jumping up and down with excitement! What will the Final decision and announcement before Friday be? news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 952050.stm

Well this announcement has got some worried Northern clubs fans jumping up and down with excitement! What will the Final decision and announcement before Friday be? news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 952050.stm

What! Our crowds are a disgrace? If we had the players and the top table finishes that the london sides have had in previous years im almost certain our crowds would be alot better than they are now, remember crowds are fickle and only follow glory, bradford bulls are the perfect example with their crowds at the moment and with us down at the willows glory is a million miles away from what salford have achieved in super league, if salford had their fair share of top class aussies and the amount of money london has had over previous years we would be on par with warrington now for certain of it, Salford is a city in population of 250000+ we only need a very small percentage of people to see a succesful team on the pitch and we'd be clearing the 10000 mark, just look at teams like hull kr and hull fc, all that we need is a team on the pitch, something london have had for years and yet people down south are still not interested and never will be imo.

London have not had a top side for years. A few brief moments of glory and crowds to match at the time: the odd 15,000 plus in the early Fulham days, 8-9k regularly for a while when they played at Charlton. Apart from one high league placing and one cup final appearence ( where their battering by Leeds did them no marketing favours ) they have been also-rans throughout their existence. I agree entirely with you - crowds come along when there is success. I was merely pointing out that as this applies to Salford, it equally applies to Quins so they should not be singled out as the one side whose home crowds are to be picked on as uniquely bad - they are not.

Bigpev it's a nonsense to say we have a larger population to draw on. It's not down to numbers of people - just numbers available. Heritage has to play a large part in it. The capital has a shifting population. But long term residents (locals) have been involved in the infrastructures built by our club since SL started, wherever we have played. This is where our young players have come from and where family support would come in given the long term chance. The Aussies and NZ incomers are not too interested in our slow game and all the other nationalities coming into London don't have the inclination to come to rugby league games, like they don't go to cricket. But your average Manc has known about Rugby League since school and makes a choice from a very limited amount of other opportunities.
But having said all that I really don't want to go to away matches and get stick because we are the 'RL's club' -should they help us. It's heartbreaking after 30 years to be in this sorry state. A complex problem with a very complex solution......

ok for the last max four years youv'e had a bog standard squad as the millions your losing is leaving your club no choice but to go for the cheap option, but come on for the best part of 11 seasons you've graced some of the best australians and new zealanders in the nrl had the money of the likes of leeds wigan saints and bradford and have always finished in the top five or six add a cup final to that list yet still no interest from the southerners, we don't do that bad considering our finishes our relegations plus the richest and biggest football teams in the world on our door step, if we at salford had the money the players and the finishes the fulbrocquins have had we'd be averaging at least double our crowds now, id dread to think what london would be like if they went through 2 relegations and countless bottom 3 finishes, i cant even imagine you lot hitting the 1000 mark.

typo'

Since play-offs were introduced we've qualified for them twice - one more time than Salford.


So Arsenal & Chelsea aren't amongst the biggest & richest football clubs?

You've got exclusive use of a ground of your own, where you've been based for as long as anyone can remember, with a name that isn't associated with any other major sports club, and your average crowds are boosted by thousands of away supporters for local derbies against big clubs within jogging distance for a decent club athlete.

Arsenal and Chelsea are no where near as close as Old trafford or Eastlands stadiums are to the willows. And im not sure you know but Manchester United are salfords football team, manchester is city territory always has been, when you have a city who's seen success like united you can understand why they don't watch salford, anyway united and city are only one of the reasons its hard for us, the main reason salford have struggled is money and we won't get any until we get a succesful team and we won't get that until we have the crowds and again we won't get them until were good on field its a catch 22, where as london have had all the money in the world and they still fail to do anything?

Please expand on this point.......
Given that we have the lowest average attendances in SL, I would be keen to know where this additional revenue you speak of is coming from? All SL clubs receive the same amount from the BSkyB kitty.....and the rest of their income is based on sponsorship, gate receipts, club shop sales and bar and food income. Given we have less fans than anyone else, we obviously get less revenue from that....the club shop therefore has a smaller footfall than the other 13 clubs in SL and the bars and food outlets have a smaller customer base....so where is all the money in the world coming from? Are our shirt sponsors paying over the odds?

If you are referring to the oft mentioned never proven, imaginary payments from the RFL to London RL then I await the links to the factual stories, the publicly available accounts and the inland revenue tax bill that would accompany such payments.

If you can't provide such proof, I would suggest you tread carefully whith regard to unsubstantiated claims.......they don't hold much water on these boards, but the legal system makes a living out of dealing with them.

Run along and play nicely now

On the club site's forum.......... www.league.quins.co.uk/forum/vie ... ?f=1&t=241 Looks promising

On the club site's forum.......... www.league.quins.co.uk/forum/vie ... ?f=1&t=241 Looks promising

It's better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

A quick scan of the other forums on this site reveals Castleford, Wakefield and Salford as being the other boards that believe this warrants it's own thread. Insecurity is a terrible thing....of that you can be sure of

Ian Lene(a?)gan being forced to dipose of his shareholding interests me. Could this be something else to add to the list of things that will only be revealed many years down the track? And much as I know that John Kear isn't everyone's cup of tea, personally I'm more than happy to have him as coach as he's got a proven track record of getting less than average players to perform above their natural ability.

Er....how would you know?

David Hughes has successfully ensured the club's future by ensuring that the Wigan Warriors owner is forced to part with his majority shareholding in Harlequins Rugby League club.

My(SAYS JOURNO) understanding is that a deal with the RFL has been agreed and is close to being rubber stamped.

It is anticipated that a new owner will be announced within the club on Tuesday but we are yet to uncover whether this is the RFL confiscating and holding the shares prior to a real buyer coming forward or indeed the much more desirable, actual new owner.

Whatever the arrangement it will be communicated to supporters in the middle of next week to ensure that the 2011 season ticket renewal process can start and that Friday is a celebration of the 30 year anniversary rather than the last game ever.

No timescales have been announced in terms of a new manager but there is widespread acceptance within Rugby League that John Kear is the preferred candidate, although compensation for the remaining year of his contract may need resolution.

In terms of the playing squad for next season, we definitely have at least half a decent first team signed up for 2011 including Centres Howell and Clubb, utility player Chris Melling, Luke Gale, the Hookers Randall and Ellis and Prop Oliver Wilkes plus Captain and Loose Forward Robert Purdham. Karl Temata is also under contract, but is rumoured to be considering retirement.

It is widely expected that, with the exception of a few London youngsters, that the rest will be leaving. These include Louie (St Helens), Will Sharp (Hull), Danny Orr (Castleford), Williamson (retirement) and BJB (returning to Leeds) whilst the likes of Ben Jones, Ben Kaye and Ryan Esders have already found Northern clubs.

Of the rest Luke Dorn is supposed to be staying although some commentators have linked him to St Helens, Danny Ward is expected to leave and Jason Golden is unconfirmed either way.

The club is believed to have signed at least one of Gareth Moore and Kyle Briggs for next season.

Of the players on the market during this stand-off between the RFL and Quins RL, a fair number of senior players who would have improved our team have joined Salford including Paleaasina, V.Anderson, Nero and Stephen Wild but David Hughes has been keen to stay clear of signing or re-signing older players this year.

We have also missed out on Kevin Penny, who was enticed by Wakefield earlier in the season and of the other desirable youngsters in a position we have at least one space in we have also missed out on Shaun Ainscough. Rikki Sheriffe is widely tipped to return as one of the wingers.

=#FF4040WHOOPDEE DOOOO!!!! Thank you David Hughes AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

Where has this come from-any official links

GO TO Harlequins Club site forum. Marky the radio guy posted this at 10.30 yesterday..

It is Mark Rammond's post on the "official" board [urlhttp://www.league.quins.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=241[/url

Mark Rammond being "just" a fan and not a journo/commentator of any repute, hence why I asked for the official link