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From what I gather there is a rather peculiar arrangement.

I had the pleasure of going for a drink with Mr Kear a couple of years ago. It was after the Crusaders game where Danny Brough was sent off, when Diversity were on, and he said then that a shared stadium should happen, with different coloured seating or something being used. I don't know if he voiced it publicly then, but what he has said in the article is what he said to me back then, and so his opinion hasn't changed. He is just more able to express it, I suppose, when asked the question.

Whether or not it is the Castleford side of things building up momentum for a Glasshoughton share is something we don't know. It was certainly RW's tack at the time of the Inquiry.

Are we friends again?



Firstly, Tesco are not interested in the EH Aire Street site and this is publicly known because they asked their planning consultants to object on their behalf to the planning renewal, and that objection is public record. So, EH could be bluffing or they have another operator interested in Aire Street... I think they might be bluffing, but that is just a gut reaction!

Tesco, as I have said many times before, are not interested in building a Supermarket on the site of the Castleford Tigers ground either!!! However, as I have also posted, a new deal is on the table, involving Opus, which would see a Tesco built on another site, the Tigers ground would still be developed as part of the deal but it would not be a retail development. This is the deal the RW & Opus are currently working on, and although it looks like complex deal, it also looks like it might actual have some legs! I hope it does and this new deal will bring the majority of the funding for GH but it is not quite as good (I understand) as the original deal.

Yeah RW said it isn't as much money but it's still enough to build the stadium minus a few of the fancy extras that were going to be put in.

When weren't we friends either?

I expect that its not what he wants to hear.

The next few months could bring some very positive news for both clubs.

I think my figure is closer than yours vasty, although I could be wrong.

Agree with you though that sometimes, guff is all that can be used to fill a broadcasting void.



I don't imagine for a minute that he's changed his opinion just to stick the boot in; I do think however that being very aware of the sensitivity of the situation, particularly given RW's attempt to bolster the objectors argument about a shared stadium, he has a responsibility to keep schtum; it's none of his business any more and it's poor form for him to do anything that could jeopardise the scheme.

On balance, I'm sure Eric Pickles doesn't base his decisions on the words of John Kear, but we could do without the groundshare argument being re-ignited when both clubs are teetering on the edge of some fantastic developments.

I feel sick, this Cas/Wakey/Leeds love in is just so wrong.

Join in Al

I couldn't see the RFL going for two Super League teams playing from one stadium, I think the 'M' word

would end up getting raised and we would eventually end up in a similar situation to Huddersfield/Sheffield and Hull/Gateshead.

i agree 100%. i think he's bitter towards both clubs and is just trying to stir things up between us and make things as difficult as possible.
i don't see his argument for the area not being big enough for 2 stadiums. the 2 stadiums have been here longer than he has and so have the 2 clubs. hopefully the 2 clubs will be here long after JK has gone. unfortunately i don't think this will be his last utterance on the subject, he'll keep on stirring in my opinion.

Nothing would make me happier, believe me.

Should that happen there is no way either of us could ever be considered franchises "at risk", there are far worse teams/franchises out there. We'd both ensure our individual futures & the derby that is so lucrative to both clubs.

I think everyone knows that if the fans could swallow it (which they clearly can't), a combined Cas/Wakey team, with the amateur clubs and the rest of the infrastructure that lies behind it, would be a major force in the game. If we go it alone, we're relying on serious misfortune on the part of the other club to pick up support and players to make a fist of it. How that pans out in the long term is anyone's guess.

I think Kear has just been asked a question, and given an honest answer, as he does every time he speaks. To suggest otherwise is just trying to create tension that isn't there in my opinion.

I suppose the respective locations don't help, just one motorway junction apart. If the Newmarket project was instead the Cedar Court project, with land being obtained somewhere off Denby Dale Road, the debate would be quieter.

I doubt he is bitter towards either club. He spent 5 years at Wakey and saw out his contract. He is an ex-Cas player and a fan, and so I can't see how he would have any bitterness towards them. He is restating a view that he held two years ago, even before Newmarket was called in. There may be reasons behind the timing, but that might not have anything to do with him. All I can say is that I can say with 100% certainty that his views now are exactly the same as they were two years ago, and when he held them two years ago, Wakey as a club were happy to groundshare, and publicly said it, provided it was at Newmarket.

What...like stands, seats, toilets, and a pitch ????????

I've said the same thing myself for a good while, and been roundly villified for it; I think Gronk's signature was inspired by my last rant on that very subject.

In some ways, both clubs dogged determination to cling to life holds the other back; we'd be a powerful force as a merged team, with Fev as a feeder, but it would take a generation for supporters to get behind it - I'd cetainly struggle, but I expect my lad would have no difficulty doing so when I'm dead and buried, or too infirm to have an opinion that anyone cared about any more.

but we would only get one sky payment and would still have to stick to the salary cap, and if things didn't work out and the merged team were relegated it would mean we had lost 2 SL teams from the area and given the RFL what they have always wanted. stranger things have happened.

I think it comes from SandalWildcat that, he said Wakefield went into admin and were struggling for crowds because Cas were stealing resources from the district



Although if a merged team could gather support, which is where it fails it would be a dominant force just on the basis of how good both teams junior development is.

Kids aren't stupid. Left to their own devices, they'll go and support a successful team - and who can blame them? Who, out of choice, would opt for a lifetime of misery, supporting a team that wins nowt and is going nowhere? The only reason we have kids supporting our teams is because of people like ourselves. In my case, I can't blame the old man, God rest his soul... Trinity were a good team in those days, he was enjoying himself, and I badgered him long enough for him to take me along. More fool me, but how were we to know how things would pan out?

The problem we have as a minority sport, is that we rely on parents to bring there kids along with them. If the parents aren't going I reckon the majority would be lost to football. Personally, I would support a merged team as long as they were called Wakefield, played in Wakefield and wore red, white and blue.

We don't know that for sure, though, do we? You're right insofar as if we brought all our junior/academy players into one team, we'd rival the likes of Wigan, and would have one hell of a basis for a local team that could take on anyone. Maybe that would be a start, as an experiment - a merged Cas/Wakey Juniors/Acedemy team... just to test the depth of the water? You know, we might all grow to become friends (emoticon for you)

Thats funny i would support one that was called castleford and played in castleford wearing black and amber, anything less and....i'm out.

Fair point. I'm a rugby league fan because my dad was one, no question about that. I like football too, but it doesn't tug the emotional strings the way that rugby league does, and never will.

But it would have to have a name that incorporated neither place. Isn't part of the thing that it represents "your town". If it had the name of the other town, it would mean less. Trinity Tigers might do it. Just about.

Well even if you made a team based off this years squads you end up with a very good team, something like:

Owen
Fox
Arundel
Collis
Griffin
Chase
Smith
Huby
Milner
Johnson
Southern
Ferres
Aiton
------
Clark
Walker
Lauititi
Amor

....and a new coach