What's your view of the downward spiral under David Hughes?
The Defence
Without him there would be no Super League in London. He has seen off Branson, Lenagan, Harlequins etc and stubbornly refused to let the club die. He has had feeble support from the RFL to move the game forward in London.
The Prosecution
He has masterminded a relentless downturn in the club's fortunes since 2006 and the return to the Stoop. He seems to be a very poor judge of people, and believes everything they tell him. His stubbornness prevents him from listening to advice. Seems to have no clear idea what to look for in a CEO. As for coaches, after McDermott (a Lenagan appointment) there was an outstanding candidate in Powell (the coach of Featherstone), we got the wrong Powell! When he went, we turned to Tony Rea who Lenagan had sacked previously. It made no sense then and still doesn't now. We were promised 3 years of investment, and have only had 2 in reality.
Surely there must be an entrepreneur with a flair for PR! London is the right opportunity in the wrong hands.

Where do you stand on David Hughes?

On his nuts!!!

Shrewd investor and he clearly is good at making money. Chairman of a professional sporting outfit. No. I was very worried when the RFL told IL to sell his share of Quins, more worried when DH take full control. Take it from me who has been told from someone who knows, he has been 'advised' from various outside sources upon the fundemental issues with the club and he has ignored all of these people. Too bloody minded and unfortunately has taken advice from the wrong sources.

In my opinion DH has given up and is letting this club die.

Prior to 2008 (and maybe even up to 2010) I'd have named a stand after him if we'd ever got to own our own ground, now I'd build a stand on him....Hughes's inability to accept advice from people who, a) Know what they are talking about and b) are offering the advice in the hope that London's SL club could prosper have killed this club.

Therefore, I stand in the "[iF**k off now and let us die in peace[/i" camp when it comes to this idiot.

EDIT:
Thought I'd add a few statistics, just to underline the magnitude of this guys idiocy.....

2008-2012 = £10,200,000 invested in the club.......turn over $20,000,000.
£1,420,000 was spent on match day costs
(The Stoop...which got cheaper as time passed whilst we took £1,450,000 in ticketed revenue....so fans were covering the match day expenses.....NO NEED TO CHANGE NAME NO NEED TO MOVE)
£975,000 was spent on Marketing......this is less than £200,000 a year and deserves the results it achieved.
£2,500,000 on "administration costs"........WHAT THE F*****??????
£2,600,000 on "coaching costs"........WHAT THE F*******?????
£11,000,000 on "first team costs"......42 WINS FROM 135 GAMES?????

David Hughes has basically invested £82,000 per game over 135 games (08/12) AND HAS NOTHING, NADA, LESS THAN ZILCH to show for it. There's no development set up, the amateur scene is as transient as ever and from 2015, we will be fully blown tenants at another soccer ground with the only difference being it's a non-league soccer ground.

....don't let the door hit you on the on the way out there big fella

Ah the old cut and paste routine GF.

Unconfirmed numbers and nothing else.

David Hughes has spent a lot of his own money in the process of destroying the club.

Time has shown that Hughes should only have been a minority investor.

I'd be happy for that scenario to be repeated.

Without him, there would now have been no London Broncos.

With him, there shortly will be no London Broncos.

This!

Unfortunately DH has the uncanny knack of making the wrong decision at every juncture.....but then again he has been taking advice from Stevo over the years so it is to be expected. DH has been the saviour and the downfall of the club. The right decision would have been to walk away at the end of last season, then with the success of the World Cup still in mind (it`s all relative GF), the RFL might have been able to do more to help and there might have been an outside chance of a new investor. IMO our current situation is doing more harm than good to the future of RL down south and just reaffirms to the wider audience that RL in London at SL level is a lost cause.......our performance on and off the field ensures that no new investment/owner will be forthcoming. The club is finished.

On the upside......I cancelled my LB/Hive membership yesterday so feeling quite positive

The club is NOT finished...

It wasn't finished when Fulham went belly-up, nor when the resurrected Fulham disintegrated, it didn't fold when the Crusaders sputtered and it won't dissapear when Hughes throws in the towel, it'll just become summat else.

Clearly Hughes has been persuaded to keep a constituent "Ghost" Club going to fulfil fixtures, after which I have no doubt he'll wash his hands of it. It'll be down to the supporters association or other like-minded individuals to see if anything can be salvaged from the (I was going to say wreckage, but I fear there won't be any) flotsam and jetsum, lmao!

It'll be up to us remaining fans to decide what to do, do some start a new entity and the rest follow, or will too many of us go up to Hemel or over to Skolars?

Who knows maybe a West London Phoenix and a South London club are what we need, 4 small clubs, building up rivalries and competition amongst ourselves.

Hughes...Am I really suppossed to say thanks for a slow-motion train crash??

crusader pete! well said mate. The club is not finished until its finished, and that point has not come yet! It might be close it may not!
All those that were there on day 1, who thought it would survive this long.

standby for incoming, stats and insults from down south.

Why?
If you on the one hand, tire of facts and on the other, dislike insults, then why provoke me. I've posted my stance on Hughes and the reasons for it.......I see no point in lowering myself to your inane level by clutching at straws.......SL in London is dead for at least 20 years unless they invite another club to the party when they re-jig the format AGAIN

With.
He has invested significant amounts of cash, without which I doubt there would probably already not be an SL club in London.
20/20 hindsight is a beautiful thing. Whilst it's clear that since IL left he's presided over a declining period, and it's likely that decision making has contributed, I'm sure he's made those decisions believing they were correct.
Whether anyone else - if there was anyone else, which I doubt - would have done better is problematic.
I look forward to GF winning the NZ Euromillions equivalent and taking over.

well done gutters a post without resorting to swearing!
All I I am saying is the club is not dead yet!!!!!!

and I happily point out what you point out to others you can ignore me

Why would I ignore you? Unlike the inane and insecure, I take on board other peoples opinions, no matter how flawed they may be.
Oh......just for you. Fu&kin9 @r5ewip3s!!!!!!

Please god no. It would just be the ego show part two.

I'd only need to win $20 on a scratchie to buy what's left of the club!

I think we all realise London RL wasn't ready for SL (some of us knew it from the get go), still we've had some fun, a trip to Wembley, finishing 2nd, beating Canberra etc.

I don't mind following a Championship level club, it's what I did before and I'll do it again!

I agree, I was listening to a Stockport soccer fan on the radio the other day, and it made me think that Broncos fans don't half like to look for an excuse to turn their back on the club. It's a sports club, they're often badly run for periods. We're fans, so tough luck and get on with supporting the team.

Spectator sport is entertainment not a vocation.

For most people at least.

i think the issue is - will we have a Championship Club? Is David Hughes committed to fund for another year, and what level of funding does the next tier down get?

On David Hughes - as everyone has said - he has kept the Club alive and for that he deserves thanks. For almost everything else he is a disaster. I am with Gutterfax on most of what he says. David Hughes has consistently made the wrong decision - particularly on coaches! i know Brian McD was not everyone's first choice but his period in charge now looks like a golden era!

i admit, i was one of those who believed we might surprise a few people this year, and i was prepared to give the Club the benefit of the doubt - but the performances have gone steadily downhill and apart from Matt Cook we offer almost nothing in defence or attack - its awful and depressing. Having said that i will be at the Stade Gilbert Brutus this weekend and will be there for all the remaining home games, hoping for a miracle, and i will start buying a euromillions ticket...................................................

I doubt Hughes will hang around, this year he was persuded to put out a club to fulfil fixtures, he's found a way of doing it, that isn't costing him anything.



The Squad is run on Sky TV monies only!

Next year, we are either kept going by a supporters group/lottery winner or we reform at Ch1 (again, 'prolly down to a supporter or group of supporters).

The other scenario is we split, follow Skolars or Hemel instead, which, without a dedicated group or super-saviour is the most likely outcome.