After watching Sky last night and listening to our coach and John Wells it seems that 'come what may' we are not going to recruit 'expensive' overseas players but are going for the 'Long Term' approach of developing our own young players and giving them their chance when players from the current squad are injured. As elite British players wont move south that means what we have now is as good as we are going to get folks until we get to the promised land when all these young players we are developing become 'elite players' themselves.

While you cant fault many of these young players for effort I can't say that i have seen anything this season to suggest that any of them are really going to make this team that much better come the end of e.g. next season. I havn't seen any with any great 'skills' though they aren't afraid of work.

Winning enough home games but just finishing outside the top 8 knowing the players are giving 100% will probably satisfy the hardore during a transition period, but there has to be a belief that things will get better.

At the moment many fans are losing faith and deserting the matches as they don't want to watch their team being flogged nor go to games not believing we have a chance of winning, let alone entertaining.
While all this is going on can DH keep covering the losses on his own because if the crowds keep falling the losses will increase. As he has stated we need outside investment we must assume he can't.

I sense the real talent is probably in the current 16 year olds who will have been playing RL a few years before they get to the 1st team putting them on a similar learning curve to the Northern youngsters, but will we have a SL team then for them to play in?
Worrying times folks

We played well on Sat, im feeling pretty positive thanks! At least we'll get bonus franchise points for having so many youngsters. Nice stadium, loads of youngsters, in an expansion area. Sorted. Winning games is for northern losers.

In fairness the idea of the franchise system was to allow clubs to do this and we do appear to be the only one that is doing it so credit for that. The downside of the franchise system is that you effectively have two years to do it before the assessment process starts again.

I can only think that the club have been given some sort of idea from the RFL that they are safe for the next time because if not its a very dangerous strategy. In the 2nd set of franchises it may well come good but they need to be sure we will get that far

Or look at Crusaders who have done more in a couple of months to create a vibrant, exciting Super League franchise than Harlequins RL have done in their entire existence.

Crusaders, having dropped the "Celtic", have been in existence for much more than a couple of months and could hardly be said to have created a vibrant, exciting Super League franchise during their first few years. I hope they're a great success in Wrexham but it's a bit too early to judge IMO.

So the moral is that we should also move a hundred or so miles north to a rather run-down town with an ailing soccer club, is it? Maybe that would work, but it wouldn't do much for rugby league in London.

Well there are some on here that suggest we do just that. Not sure if its 100 miles but Oxford has been mentioned a few times. Footie club's in the same league as Wrexham ?

I first recall this "Oxford scenario" being suggested when Ian Lenagan first arrived, probably on the bais that he was (still is?) involved at boardroom level at Oxford United FC. Personally I want to support a London RL club and if we moved to somewhere like that it would be a totally different club for me. I'd probably go to the odd game as I like watching Superleague rugby, but it's not the answer for me.

The question is will Superleague rugby never really take off in London and become bigger than it is now, or are we as a club just not getting it right yet? I feel it's probably the latter.

Footie club may be, but I don't think there's much else in common between Oxford and Wrexham.

Oxford would suit me fine mind (and Chris Brown) so there's the kernel of a supporter base.

Why would people come out and take a punt on something mediocre in the cold dark wet of an English winter (season started in Jan) and when there have been other things on at the same time - Season starts FAR too early and with such a squib. It should start with the Magic Weekend at the begining of Spring either at the end of 6nations or in the week off before the final round.

Casual sports fans - which is what any new potential fan is - is not going to trod out in the cold wet dark to watch a bunch of players they've never heard of, in a game they know little about, when there are other things they can also do - eg Hudds game was up against an all-dayer in the pub watching the 6nations finale.

It doesnt matter what your opinion is of different sports - you are already converted - the average sports fan is going to choose a saturday in a pub with mates watching a big final with players they've heard of and with things at stake than head down to watch us ( cuz they can do that at any point in the year in their eyes)

We've had clashes with Valentine's and Mother's day ( hey love, lets not go out for lunch/dinner today cuz I wanna go watch players ive never heard of playing a sport I know little about against a team I never knew existed until I arrived at the grounds (cats wakey, Salford, Hudds) have no recognition at all outside RL circles.

Add that with poor on field performances that get v little publicity ( and when - after complaining for years and years that we get no media coverage Mac drops out of a slot on BBC radio 5) and you are going to get small crowds no matter how "great the product is".

Moving would be a bad idea - unless we went to a complete back water that would herald our arrival - as all the work to build up grass roots RL in the capital would wither and die.

The whole point of ring fencing was to allow for clubs like ours to go through phases like we are doing and not to suffer ruinous relegation.

Sport is cyclical (or at least it was before Sky did its best to ruin it) and we are currently in a rebuilding phase.
That our fans are so quick to jump on the club for blooding youngsters instead of fielding a new group of journeymen aussies each year in a bid to finish 8th - shame on you. (although complaints about playing style imo is perfectly fine as the one out stuff we've been playing is, again, not going to attract too many new people to the game.

Steady Chris, you'll be getting lumped in with the rose tinted specs mob if you are not careful...

I hope its the latter too - can't see me traipsing along to follow Oxford 'some NRL sounding name beginning with O'. If its not in London or at least within the M25 I think it'll be back to just watching on Sky as a neutral and maybe going to the odd international - I'm a Londoner and an RL fan so I want to follow a London team.

I'd quite fancy the idea of going to see the Oxford Ostriches.

That's not a bad name Jeff, seeing half on this forum think the clubs got its head in the sand.

Yes the club policy is fine, but when it comes to the decision to grant the next set of licences, there will be a northern revolt in the game if a failing club, with the lowest attendances in Super League still get a licence.

How long does everyone think it may take for our home grown players to develop and become a winning team? to do this do they need a new playing coach?

I think it's a tad more than half.

I don't believe a move is the way forward. Regardless of the "few" fans we lost due to the Union tie in, the club still have their core base to build on (see marketing thread).
The Transition period is exactly what the RFL wanted to see and I am confident that the RFL will back quins in 14 months time when it's licence applcation time. I understand the frustrations the fans feel...it isn't any easier watching on Sky or fighting for bandwidth for radio coverage in the early hours over here either, but the team are trying by all accounts and most of the opposition fans that have commented have said the lads are giving 100%..so this points to the coaching set-up.
Is it time for Mac to get an assistant or to become director of football? If we are on our financial 'rse, we cn't get rid, so we may need to bounce him upstairs and get some fresh ideas on the park.
Also....regardless of injuries......Melling, LMS and Clubb were good enough for GB/England over the last 3 years.....and the talent is being coached out of them....IMO that is

Typical letter from a Wire Fan in this weeks League Express, how sadly parochial our game is, I worked for a period at Wilderspool when I remember attendance of 5,000

There were seasons in the not too distant past when that would have been a good attendance for them. The letter writer probably only jumped aboard after they moved to the current ground.