I'm always sceptical about people "giving assurances".

We've seen this before at plenty of clubs, including ours.

This whole venture is going to end on it's a**e isn't it?

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That's how I see it.

They are talking about moving to Newport for next season with reassurances that they will move back when the new stadium is ready - I can't see it happening.

What I can see happening is that their team will be as poor next year as it is this year, Samuels will have enough and the team will be reformed in Championship 1 with a supporters' trust. They will probably end up playing somewhere other than Bridgend - probably Cardiff.

Of course if you post this on totalrl.com then you would get the usual suspects telling you that you are a bitter flatcapper and that in fact everything is rosy in Bridgend.

That's the way it seems to be in RL now.

Any opinions that dont espouse setting up clubs in Bermuda or Lima are immediatley pounced upon as being against the greater good of the game.

The pin stickers have taken over the asylum it would seem.

"For the greater good of the game" - would that include poorly performing clubs from developing areas (i,e, not Yorks, Lancs or Cumbria) 'borrowing' players from the superleague in a desperate attempt to get some points?
Or is that just me being cynical?

I think that is a bit too cynical.

If Keighley were rooted to the bottom of the table and getting hammered at home then I don't think we'd pass on any Bulls academy players that might be interested.

Flatcapper.

The game needs a strong presence in Wales just as it does in France.

No bites in this river mate

I think Celtics problems are highlighted more because the fact they are relatively new, but if you look at other clubs in super league they are not alone take for an example the Bulls it is widely accepted and has been publicised in rugby magazines they are in trouble.

My view is before the end of next season at least one super league club will go into administration. Assuming that is the case how will it work now that franchises are in place.

Also as we are all aware Doncaster are the most recent club in administration and as with Super League there will be others, sad but true.

Celtic have had more dramatic crises. Bradford may have their troubles but I doubt that they will be thinking about moving to Manchester in an attempt to rescue their club.

Celtic in my humble opinion are trying to get into basically what is a union stronghold so clearly they will have a struggle. When we were there when Cougars played them we spoke to a few locals who were mainly union supporters who said they had no issue with league but the owner of Crusaders and previously Bridgend rugby union.

That is a major issue which I think will be hardest to overcome. The club refer to moving to Newport but as anyone investigated if there is any interest there, I assume they have.

With reference to Hedgehog King the point I was trying to make was that Celtic are not the only Super League club with financial problems. The Bulls are looking at either sharing with Bradford City at Valley parade assuming the sporting village manages to actually happen. If Bradford City the Bulls will have to look at playing outside the city.

Wherever they play its not far enough away

Cougar park

But they wouldn't be playing FOR Keighley just playing AT Keighley so therefore are not representative of "my team".

If the Cougars ever became a "feeder team" ,especially to the Bulls, then I wouldn't be following them ever again and I suspect quite a few others wouldn't either!

Pretty much my view, Leaguefan. How can they call themselves London Skolars if half of them are actually just on loan from another club? Mind you, it could keep the wage bill down I suppose. Just rent players, instead of buying them...

If Keighley were getting beaten 80-0 at home every week, I suspect that the few fans that remained would be glad to see them. I certainly would.



Skolars aren't a feeder team.

The British government made it harder for overseas players to get visas, Brendon was a victim of this. Skolars have been hit hard because they were fairly reliant on quota players. At first they put out their local lads but they were getting slaughtered so they had to go begging Quins for some players.

I have to say someone mentioned to me at the game on sunday we should be a feeder club for Halifax, it is irrelevant who you are feeding your identity disappears overnight I support and watch Keighley Cougars not Bulls or anyone else.

I have noticed that more and more super league clubs are making partnerships with championship clubs. The Rhinos are a prime example take York for example who have access to Leeds fringe players to give them game time etc, the same is being done with Whitehaven.

To me this is a sly way of these clubs starting the slippery slope of being a feeder club in all but name.

I would give up watching cougars if there was any move towards this. We are doing ok at the moment. We are Keighley Cougars its that simple.

Just touching on the Skolars situation, if they have access to Harlequins players yet they are not on loan or contracted to them how can this be anything but being a feeder club.

Because they are still a club in their own right. They can make decisions that will effect their own future and that includes borrowing players when the alternative is to get smashed.

But surely if they borrow players from another club, they lose the moral (for want of a better phrase) right to call themselves by their original name?
I mean, a Skolars side that fields Quins players as well is surely an amalgam of BOTH those clubs? Not just the one it's calling itself?

I don't think it is much different from signing players from another team. Most Keighley players won't have started their careers at Keighley and they probably won't be finishing it here either. Really all players are effectively "on loan" to a club.

I think we'll have to agree to differ on that one - unless half of the rhinos side are available to become Keighley players for a while on 30th July! Just until we've beaten Dewsbury, then they can magically become rhinos again...

Imagine Rob Burrow in a Keighley shirt.

No, it still aint right. I couldn't take any pride in a victory that relied on a wedge of borrowed players. I mean, it just wouldn't be Keighley Cougars, would it?

Wally Lewis guested for Wakefield and Andrew Johns for Warrington.

Two former Cougar Cubs are now playing in the Bulls Academy, what if they were to be loaned to Keighley?, and another two are in the Leeds Academy, what if any of these 'home grown players' were to grace Cougar Park on a loan spell?
I'd pay to see that.