Is it actually sold ? Or is this another propaganda exercise from you know who !

Try reading the two or three other threads that dissect this non-news in minute detail; it's all there, for your delight and delectation.

The town of Cas in its entirety is not worth £ 50m. I think this is Richard Wrights plan B because the survey work done at the Glasshoughton site by Leeds Uni Civil Engineering depart reports that the site is so unstable that it needs a massive and very expensive stabilization project to make it safe. The cost of driving hundreds of huge pillars through the tens of feet of muck will be many millions, infact more than the cost of a stadium. So plan B is to find a company to develop the Hicksons site and include The Jungle. This development in total will be a £ 50 million project. If it goes ahead, and good luck to them, then the developer will buy The Jungle for its commercial value, which depends on the state of the market so anywhere between 2 and 6 million. Similar to the Newmarket project the developer will build the stadium. Remember also that on the land register it shows that there are three charges on The Jungle rumoured to be in the region of £ 1.5 m, You would presume that the Jack Fulton will not call his charges in but maybe the brewery will. RW is suggesting 2013 for this new stadium as we know it will be a question of proving to the RL / Savils ( sp ) that their plans are more advanced than ours.

True facts like this are not accepted by Cas supporters they prefer to be gullable and believe tricky dickie

That's an excellent summation BCT,
these facts aren't exactly a secret although the stabilization is a a little new to me, yet if you were to argue the facts you'd be told that you were clutching at straws and being desperate.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, in the short term Richard Wright is playing the franchise winning game and not the stadium building game and he's playing it well. Long term I have no doubt that a new stadium will materialise. I wonder just how thorough Savilles investigations will be, how convincing the depth of Richard Wrights tactics are and how much the RFL are willing to listen to Savilles findings.

I genuinely want Cas & Fev to move forward and remain strong Rugby League player producing areas because our sport would be far worse off without either them or us.

Apart from the fact that to be true facts they have to be y'know true?

And you lot can't say anything about being gullible and believing things been said by the club, remember when you were all adamant that Parkin would buy the club? Or when Newmarket WAS NOT going to public enquiry? And when I told you this I was just trolling etc etc? Just because a Wakey fan says something it does not mean it's true, in fact HOW did he get this info? Exactly, he made it up.

As for "charges" on the ground, the only thing remotely close to that would be Fulton's loan, which wont need to be paid off probably until he dies and his family want the money.



It's an old rumour that got de-bunked being rehashed the stabilisation rubbish, in fact people said the same about Xscape too, and well look how that turned out...false.

As for clutching at straws, the fact it's a 3 year old rumour, 7 if you add in the Xscape rumour - I'd say it's trying to cause bother or clutching at straws.



The thing is, he knows that the stadium counts for 4/10 on the franchise application, and 2 of them the club pass, it's only 10,000 average and 5000 seats they don't have and when you add in the other factors, the club fare well. As he has said, there is no point putting the club in massive debt over the stadium - hence pulling out of the Ben Bailey deal as they tried paying less than agreed, a new deal will mean the club can go into Glasshoughton debt/relatively debt free, which is the most important thing and great running of a club.

And as for calling them tactics, that's just being petty - the fact is he is running the club properly - keeping the club profitable and not running up a debt they can't pay by moving into a stadium short on funds, there's more than just a stadium in a franchise process.



Not sold and not propaganda, it was just a press release stating that the club have entered negotiations to sell the ground for a development worth £50m.



The fact you started off with a petty jibe like this shows you're making stuff up - Xscape & J32 alone would probably cover the 50m.



Proof isn't really hard to find there is it? Full planning permission on April 7th 2011 v public enquiry not while 2012...this shows to everyone, never mind the RFL Cas are over a year in front. Add in all the other criteria which Cas are in front of Wakefield too, it really isn't even close.

Fulton has been really ill and hasn't been involved with, or hasn't put any money in the club for a few years, the last set of accounts also show Cas making a 27k profit. So wanna check your facts again? There's no propping up of the club my friend, they run at a nice profit and one of only 3 teams in SL to do so, along with Hull FC and Leeds.

I don't deal in rumours and there's no need to check my facts. Dearest.

So Richard Wright appearing on site with JCBs behind him wasn't a tactic, the timing, in relation to what was happening with Wakefields stadium prospects, of Castlefords recent application was purely coincidental?

Why would RW spend £200K on a planning application, Castleford aren't particularly cash rich, when he knows that Cas can't build for at least a year?

The answer to these and more examples is he needs to create the impression that Castleford are progressing in order to win a franchise.

In the absence of a new stadium by 2012 he has to create a convincing case to Savilles and the RFL that Castleford are almost ready to build and worth a punt.

These are franchise winning tactics he's attempting.

I'll add that I don't blame him and even say that I think it's clever of him to do it but let's not pretend that it's anything else.

Why would RW jeopardise the future of the club by spending £200k on a planning application?

Dear me.

Fully, let's not be naive, a SL franchise is potentially a £4Million per year T/O business.

When under threat of expulsion the owners would see spending £200K (which needs to be spent at some time anyway) in an attempt to create the impression of being closer to a stadium build as good investment.

If the tactic is successful Castleford gain 3 more years in which to pull the financing together and get the building underway.

That's why RW would spend the £200K NOW rather than later even though Cas could have used that money elsewhere and paid for the FPP at a later date.

If the site was unsuitable, don't you think we wouldn't have wasted the last five years doing sod all? Do you really think a club, that is not cash rich as you stated, in an environment where it has to make ends meet, would go out and blow £200k for planning permission for no reason? Come on, I'm sure you have some common sense.

And again, I refer you to my other comments that things have ALREADY been built on that hillside where the stadium will be!

Hicksons has just submitted Planning Permission to store chemicals on that site so I can't see that going anywhere, anytime soon.

Your conspiracy theory is just that at the moment. Unless you have some substantial evidence to back it up, it just smacks - as some quite rightly mentioned earlier - of desperation.

Mr Fulton did NOT have to pump money into Cas. Thats a fact.

It's not for no reason though is it?

There's two reasons behind spending the £200K;
1, it pays for the FPP that's needed to move on with the stadium build when you pull the financing together

2, it takes Castleford demonstrably one step further in the process of building a stadium which looks good on the franchise application.

I have no problem with No2 but let's not pretend that it was done NOW for any other reason than to help Castleford secure a franchise! It was done even though Cas are not in a position to spend that sort of money without sacrifices.

It was done as a franchise winning tactic and was as calculated as RW donning his hardhat and standing in front of a couple of JCBs whilst proclaiming that building work on the stadium had begun.

He didn't claim building work had begun. He was stating that the groundworks had begun and that included shifting a huge amount of soil/muck/crap from the site, clearly shown on Google Earth/Maps.

Well, we were going to have to demonstrate progression either way, however, I ask the question again. If the GH site wasn't viable, wouldn't we have shelved it years ago and looked elsewhere at other plans?

Second point first, I'm not saying that GH isn't viable, in fact the inference of my posts on the FPP fee is that I think it is.

First point, I think you're splitting hairs and I think you're intelligent enough to know you are as well. We both know what RWs intent was when he did that news footage!

And if this was the case then whats the problem??!!!

I apologise. I was referring to the other fans stating that it was 'unstable', when in fact, I don't think that other developments would have been built on that hillside had it been deemed that.

Our intent is to secure a licence by submitting the best application possible. We're going to need full PP anyway and by submitting it now demonstrates we're committed to a new stadium at GH. Once that has been given the green light (fingers crossed) it may also encourage sponsors and local businesses to come onboard and could open up new, invaluable funding streams.

It may of seemed viable at some stage in the past, pre recession just like Thornes Park was viable back then. Having obviously failed to deliver the funding Cas are now backed in a corner. Admit its a no go and risk not getting a franchise or keep the façade for the purpose off the franchise, it's a no brainer really. When the prise is 3 more years breathing space to re group and work out a way forward. Considering the what's at stake £200k is an investment well worth making.

Oh FFS I don't usually bother getting involved with the dick measuring contests on either clubs forums regards each ones stadium , but reading the numerous repeated threads, banging on with the same bile, conjecture, guess work and pure made up bull from both sets of fans has driven me to write this one and only time on the matter.

I remember a time when we use to argue about on field matters and even have a decent bit of banter over it. But now all I ever read is about your stadium is this and yours is that and it's doing my nut in !

I don't profess to know anything about the new stadiums of each club or know a man who knows a fella that goes out with a woman who overheard a conversation blah blah blah.

But what I do know is that as it stands neither club is going to be moving into a shiny new stadium any time soon. I also know that Cas will be playing at the Probiz for the forseeable future and Wakey will be playing at the RSS to at least the end of this season.

I also know that next week we will all know who is coming up from the championship (Widnes !) but we will have to wait another 4 months to find out who they are replacing.

One final thing I know is that whoever gets dropped is out of the hands of the fans no matter what we all do in the interim as I'm pretty certain that decision has probably already been taken by the powers that be.

Now I do not want it to be my club that goes and wakey fans do not want it to be there's. I think that the loss of either will be a massive loss to SL and will also weaken the competition. I want the derbies to continue and the fantastic production line of talent that comes thru from the respective clubs areas to continue to flourish isn't that what franchising was suppose to be about as well as nice bogs !

I fear that if either club goes then over time this will diminish as community work will be cut thus leading to loss of interest from local kids who will turn their talents to another sport.

Now I'm sorry to bang on for so long and I won't keep you much longer but I'd just like to say good luck to Wakey for the rest of the season I hope that both our great clubs can be in the playoffs and have a decent cup run to really give the authorities something to think about as I'm pretty certain there's several other clubs in SL that do not bring as much to the competition as we both do.

Finally, congratulations to the RFL for bringing this great game to this where the friendly banter that once existed has turned to animosity and spite, you must be so proud !

Rant over.

Post of the year Mr WallTiger!

Well thought out sensible post and the views of most fans, well done you've broken the mould, it won't catch on mate but nice try.

Well put, I agree with most of what you say but this is a forum and people will discuss all sorts of Rugby League & Wakefield Trinity topics, some do it in a rather grown up and sensible manner.

I also discuss things like the Governments financial cuts, what's happening in Libya and lots of other things I can do little or nothing about!

Good post. RFL must be really proud getting rival fans falling out over franchising instead of talking about the finer points of our game.