Speculate just means going into massive debt again really, doesn't it?

We've had a good 25 year run in the top division which is easily our longest since the two division reintroduction back in the 70s.
Even Wally Lewis couldn't save us one year.
Always been skint, with poor crowds. Maybe time's just up again.

Last night was poor.

The question is how much will relegation cost compared to spending to survive. We lose the Sky money, lower away support and we will have to start repaying the ground purchase. The decision is for others to make but the outcome for us to live with.

Let me tell you as a Leigh fan, relegation is not the doom and gloom you think it is.

Firstly you get a parachute payment of £500k, all contracts are null and void so you can clear the roster if needs be and retain who you want.
There are some great players in the championship who have good jobs so playing outside of SL suits them, all games are Sunday afternoons which is by far the best bit and can have a positive effect on crowds and there are some really well supported teams in the championship that will travel due to Sunday games.

The championship has a large Yorkshire contingent so I could see some decent crowds at yours on a Sunday, Championship rugby has some of the most exciting games and is less structured than SL so it makes for a more entertaining game.

Overall it gives you time to clear the decks, reset, rebuild and start to win some games and plan for a further assault on SL with less pressure.

I personally like the championship, it’s a much friendlier place where you can get back to enjoying the game again and now with the new IMG structure is not the death sentence it used to be.

Think you have a point.

I also think we're probably better placed than back in 95 when we were surplus to super league requirements, in more ways than one.

We do have quite a bit of deadwood which it would give us that opportunity, but at the same time we have some good young players coming through, which they may not be quite ready for week in, week out super league, but at this stage would go well in the championship. Added to this, some smart, but realistic signings, things may look better over the long haul.

No you don’t. It is linked to the TV money and that was the figure under the previous deal, something which was still in place when Leigh went down. It it now less than that and only available if you run a full time squad, something Leigh could do thanks to a generous benefactor. Not having that luxury would make that difficult, look at Toulouse this year having only a 19 or 20 man squad. They can cope as they are using the better young from elite one to fill the gaps, again that doesn’t count for us. Relegation would not be good for us in any way shape or form.

That’s a great post,
Some very good and valid points made, there is certainly some positives to playing in the Championship and teams such as Widnes accepted that Championship RL isn’t the end of the world.

At Wakefield we don’t have a Derek Beaumont whose mood can swing him toward an assault on SL at any given moment. That means we have to fight to stay where we are or emulate Widnes and accept Championship level RL thus abandoning the ambitions of being a top Super League club forever

Good post Binosh,you've made the Championship sound quite appealing.The difference between Leigh and Wakey though,is that you have a 'money man' backing you who is prepared to fund whatever it takes to get into,and stay,in SL,and good luck to you.The reality of our situation is that we haven't been able to,in a make or break season, strengthen an already weak squad.This lack of money would not bode well for us if we get relegated.
Just noticed some similar posts have gone in but will post this all the same!

Every time we "spend", the chickens always come home to roost. Ted, Pearman and Glover all wore the emperor's new clothes during the last 25 years. We probably found our true self sustaining level during the 1980's, as a yoyo club, and only had sustainable success during the 1960's with a money man behind the scenes.
It must be tough to accept for fans under 30 years old though.

I accepted last May/June that if, by some miracle, we stayed up given how we were playing, 2023 would be just a rinse and repeat and we'd face the same old again. We are not sustainable at this level and it's really no fun anymore.

Very sensible post!

Still not sure if it's too early to post as last night hurt like hell.
Having gone 3 games without registering a point, it's crystal clear that we have ZERO creativity.
We had enough ball in Leeds 20, especially in the first half, to win 3 games and yet we were utterly clueless.

Well done for those who made the short trip over to Leeds but, based on our opening 4 games, we are staring down the barrel (already)..
Our defence was ok in the first half but, deary me, we were bloody awful with ball in hand.

Too slow, especially in the halves and not enough umph in the pack.

We cleared out all of our top earners last season and have replaced each one with someone of inferior ability and to improve, we needed to sign better or equal to what we had.

Losing Murphy is obviously a huge blow but, with the passible exception of Kershaw, we're just too slow in everything that we do.

Leeds lifted their line speed after the break and it killed us.

Unless we can find a quality HB an a Fifita style prop and persuade them to come to Wakefield, we're screwed

Relegation would kill us...just look what it did to Bradford, London, Widnes, Sheffield and Halifax as that is where we are headed unless something drastic changes NOW. As other's have said, we don't have a Beaumont to bank-roll us and unless we get one in the next few months then sadly, it's Championship here we come

Do not think Gaskell played half of last season because of injury ,Missed last 10 games for Huddersfield before he joined us ,some say he was injured ,some say the coach had dropped him as not been good enough So know surprise he is injured again .So why did we make him our main 6 .Smith played 6 in the second half and looked as bad if not worse .As loads of fans have said ,this as got to be the worst attack down at Wakefield for years and my thought is it could be the worse team. Just going to home matches now to watch the shirts play .Next away game for me is Hudds even if we have not one a match I have done wasting 5 or 6 hours of my time going to away matches to watch the kind of crap we are playing this season .Though our coaches think it is Super League rugby

Maybe the parachute payment will help clear any outstanding loans but for me, times up. 60 years is a good shift. I’m not going to sit on seats in the cold and rain with a crap view of crap for fifty quid. Nothing has changed. You can’t win a game without a good scrum half and a mean prop for starters. We have naff all to offer the game at the moment. Whose bright idea was Friday nights with reduced attendances? Absolutely fed up of dross year after year.

Said that to who I went with last night.....
Said that if that had been saints or wire they would have been 18-0 up.
That is the disappointing and frustrating thing as the defence in the 1st half was excellent.

It's never any fun. The final hooter can never come soon enough, win or lose.

Coming away from Headingley last night was on a par with dozens of other walk aways that I won't even bother listing. The Grix incident still haunts me even though we were in play off contention!

I agree, the forwards and outside backs are doing the business but the pivots can’t break a paper bag open in the opposition 10/20 or with kicks.

I would have most of this week the full playing squad running plays and drills on the opposition 10/20 running 13 v 13 and coming up with various plays till their feet hurt. Then repeat running and memorising them.

We completely lack ideas and practice makes perfect.

Sounds like a plan. The problem is how do you get a old team to put as much effort in to the second half ,as we do the first .The way they faid,in the second half is frightening The attack so far this season goes from poor to go garbage in the second half

Tbh in that second half we were caned with penalties..... never got in a position to apply any pressure near there line.

Do you not think that is a sign of a team that is tiring, just slowing play down ,miss timing tackels ,getting pulled for offside.That is all i saw in the second half We did the same the week before ,very little play in the opponent's half in the second half

Just watched sL Show. Need to get up to date with information. When going through team sheet said Reece Lyne was back with Lewis Murphy missing out!

Isn’t that true though? Lyne did return and Murphy did miss out?

Injured before and during the game we have to my knowledge: Jowitt, Murphy, Bowden, Kalepi, Bowes and the loss of Langi, Gaskell at half time.

Be good if Bowes is back this week so Smith can move to halfback.

Anybody know when Bowden is back?

Applegarth said post match that if Bowes pulls through ok this week he'll need a run in the reserves to see where he's at so it'll probably be the Hull KR game until he's in first team contention. I guess Crowther will have to do a stint a hooker this week as he said Smith & Lino will be the halfbacks this week.

As for the lesser-spotted Bowden, god only knows.

Isn't he injured?

Yes, SC was replying to me asking even he’s back.

He was in a boot about a month ago but there’s little news on him I’ve seen.