If only we had a time machine to sort that one out. And as we don't it's rather immaterial to moving forward from where we actual are rather than where we prefer us all to be. It's a forum so you can hypothesise all you want about where we would be IF someone had done something different. Yes Hughes has made a good few mistakes and no I don't want them listed as we can find a myriad of posts by an alter ego called Gutterfax that highlights each and every one of them. But as is the queue at the ticket office on Sunday so is the queue of new saviours

Oct a couple of years ago, the club consisted of 6 staff total, we were maybe a week away from liquidation, I didn't see anyone rushing to rescue the club certainly not the RFL why should they clubs have come and gone in the past.

I'm not sure if Hughes is any good at poker, but maybe they thought him walking away was a bluff. He didn't walk away in the end did he. Had London actually folded, who knows what would have come out of the woodwork. In my opinion, the best thing for London RL would be for Hughes to walk away.

I don't expect anything to be done for London by the RFL. But they answered the call when Bradford were in need.
Also as a matter of interest I note that the RFL are the leaseholders on Cougar Park. The freeholder being the CO OP.

And the evidence to support your opinion is what exactly?

I don't know if DH is good at poker but I do know that he makes his (very good) living by a form of gambling.

2 Years ago the damage was already done......there really wasn't anything worth saving. 2 Seasons at the Hive will have been witnessed by less than 1/4 of a season at the stoop in 2008.
Back in 2008/09 we were worth saving. We had massive potential and looked like we were finally going to do things right.........




Brokering isn't gambling. It's buying cheap and selling on at a profit.

As I said, a form of gambling.

So where are we moving to?

Ask Jaybs......it's that interested in the subject he's hijacked the Haven Thread to bring it up

My opinion is based on what transpired (Hughes did not walk) and the current state of London. Rumoured to now be making yet another move! Nobody knows for sure what would have happened had Hughes walked. It didn't happen. I think London now needs a new investor and a stable home to thrive. I can't see how a club can attract quality players and staff or build supporter numbers without it. How long has Hughes committed investment for now?

He committed to 3 years in 2011 and nearly reneged on the last year of that, so I'd take anything that the guy says with a pinch of salt.

According to his mouthpiece on here, "David" is putting more effort and money into the club. I suspect that's because he used his noted business acumen to give up all income streams associated with match day (30k a game and 390k in total in 2012)in return for no rent (200k in 2012).

You are right that the club needs stability, but it would seem that Hughes is incapable of delivering that or employing the correct people into key positions at the Club to deliver it for him. Joe Grima was supposed to have recruited a side capable of getting us back into SL this year......Blanchard and then Mackay bled the club dry of fans and sponsors....these are three examples of Hughes "hand picked" employees.

I know how much he invested between 2008 - 2012 and I can pretty accurately calculate his total investment in the club to date, but at what stage do we say,

"thanks for the effort David, but you've already flushed 20 million down the pan and have nothing to show for it other than failure......it's time for you to go" before handing him a lifetime match ticket and inducting him into the hall of fame?

If he walks next year and we are at Trailfinders ground, then I believe we can survive in the bottom 8 or maybe C1 as a semi-pro club.......not the legacy that Hughes wants but probably what he deserves.

But there's the rub. The stable home has been an unfulfilled dream for years. And who might this new investor be? Unless you know that DH has been approached? Possible of course but hard to believe that he'd turn down any financial assistance and commitment.

I was told that there were some big announcements to come in the next few weeks.
The big one has to be where we shall play next season. Would not be drawn on that though.
Lets see how things unfold, sooner rather than later would be better.

London looking for a new home is now an annual event ...North, South, East, West who decides? Its like a game of roulette....

With that sort of instability, then no wonder London cannot attract the type of players it needs to make an impact. Given a choice of clubs, why would any quality player looking for a future (rather than with one foot in retirement) choose to relocate to the club a couple of hundred miles down South.

No investment has been forthcoming with Hughes in charge, is that because there are no interested investors or is it because they do not like the investment terms Hughes is offering? So why not try a different scenario - one without Hughes in the picture. Let's see if that attracts a new investor or forces the RFL's hand.

Too late as far as the RFL are concerned. If Hughes had played for keeps back on 2008/2009 then maybe the RFL and/or SL might have purchased the club, as was later touted as a possible solution at Bradford, but now we aren't worth the hassle that the RFL would get from the myopic chairman of the middle 8 who seem to have the ear of Nigel and his cronies.
I have no doubt that if allowed, Ian Lenegan would pick up the reins at London if Hughes were to step away, but I suspect it is as you assume, that his terms are too harsh for anyone else to come on board whilst the club is saddled with the IOU's that Hughes holds.

Last time I recall David Hughes talking about it, he said he'd be happy to hand over a debt free club for nothing to an appropriate investor, I doubt any have come along. In a city of 8.6 million, at best there have been 7000 London Broncos fans interested enough to watch regularly, and it's unlikely that many would be able to fund the club. Given we're down to less than a 1000, it's even less likely. I expect the search continues.

I'm sure "the many" can indeed take the reins, and build a successful club. I've personal experience of the level of commitment we could call on should the need arise, and the support across the game for a successful London. I am as convinced as I've always been that a supporter owned Broncos can be a success.

700 is the number we are now on and nobody will invest 1,500 per fan per season........not when there is little chance of that figure ever getting back to the days of it only being 200 pop.

Well if nobody will invest we might as well stick with what we have

I still think you would not know that for certain till Hughes walks away. Based on what has happened at other clubs in recent years, investors have only come out of the woodwork at the eleventh hour and any offer of RFL assistance even later still. London was very far from the financial predicament of those clubs when Hughes contemplated walking away.

London managed to attract the likes of Lenegan in the not so distant past. I assume Hughes owned a minority share and Lenagan the major share at that time? I'd be interested in knowing how Lenegan became interested in London in the first place. Is the RFL offering any assistance in finding a new investor now, even if it is only selling the idea of London RL to potential investors and RL fans in the North. Is the RFL offering any assistance in finding a stable home for RL in the south ...are they actually at all interested in expanding the sport outside of the Heartlands? Again, I don't think you would really know the answer to these questions until Hughes walked away.

Just to clarify.
2008:- 3,600 fans delivering 50k+ a game revenue, 9th spot in the elite division, Academy in the play offs, 500k PA national sponsor, state of the art Rugby Ground and offices.
2015:- 650 fans delivering 0 revenue, 6th in the 2nd tier, Academy at the foot of the table, selection of tin pot local sponsors, looking like we're homeless again in 2016 and moving West again, offices in Hertfordshire.(North...not west)

You'd rather stick with the slow agonising death that the club has had inflicted upon it by a single person because no matter how badly that person CONTINUOUSLY gets it wrong, they are at least paying for the privilege of destroying us, rather than "rip off the plaster' now? What's the worst thing that could happen?

Would you stop attending if we dropped down another peg?

Did we even have a main sponsor in after Streetwise Sports until WIN, who lasted half a season? I can't believe Sports Café paid 500k a season - and if they did it was over the odds and as part of IL's support.
As of now, we also have a state of the art rugby ground. The Hive.
I'll raise you 1997, 7000 fans, 2nd spot in the elite division, Academy producing 1st team players (not sure of their record), a well known sponsor (no idea how much that was worth), reasonable ground.
Who was responsible for the failure of the club to drop to such depths as 3600 fans and a club dependent on the largesse of IL?
Don't bother answering - it's rhetorical. I'm not that bothered.