Interesting article from the YP. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3612552

Interesting article from the YP. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3612552

Quote ="Tricky2309"Interesting article from the YP. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3612552'" I’m sure they also stated that licenses would be reviewed annually to ensure clubs made good on their promises, although that transpired otherwise. As an aside, it was pointed out last week, but this alone should see Wakefield above the Crusaders! Quote ="YP"However, this time, they will be assessed against A Grade criteria, principally, 5,000 season ticket holders, audited turnover of at least £4m and =#FF0000no insolvency event between 2008 and 2010.'"

Quote ="Tricky2309"Interesting article from the YP. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3612552'" I’m sure they also stated that licenses would be reviewed annually to ensure clubs made good on their promises, although that transpired otherwise. As an aside, it was pointed out last week, but this alone should see Wakefield above the Crusaders! Quote ="YP"However, this time, they will be assessed against A Grade criteria, principally, 5,000 season ticket holders, audited turnover of at least £4m and =#FF0000no insolvency event between 2008 and 2010.'"

Of course you are right KK, but there will be a greater weighting on expansion than administration and we are assuming that the RFL don't state that the YP have got it wrong and the admin applies to the current licence period.

To be fair I think it’s an oversight from the RFL and they have failed to correct it as the various media outlets publish the criteria. I don’t doubt for a minute they mean 2008-2011.

The RFL are probably just covering all options, I still believe the Welsh Outfit will go bust at some point. If it was to happen between now & the start of next season there will be a frenetic melee from some Championship clubs.

As K.K states the insolvency thing in 2010 baffles me, did the RFL’s bailout facilitate this wasn’t the case for the Crusaders?

Perhaps the period 2008 to 2010 is correct so that they can have an excuse for excluding us over the next franchise application period ie you are excluded if you have been in admin during the period 2011 to 2013.

But how do we know it would have guaranteed SL? I must admit on what grounds the RFL would ever get involved with advising us on our individual application, if indeed they did, is beyond me. Maybe that wasn't quite the case and they expressed concern that moving out of BV without NM a definite was possible suicide which we then heeded?

Can't see that being the case. Why would he bother. Seems a waste of money to do that.

Quote ="Tricky2309"Interesting article from the YP. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3612552'" This is all well and good but isn't that exactly the same as what we have just faced for the last year? Regardless of a year on year review, the fact still remains that tomorrow, Wakefield will lose their license in favour of Crusaders and Harlequins. Come next year, the exact same comparisons will be drawn, the same flimsy criteria will be drawn up, flagrantly disregarded, and the exact same conclusion will be drawn. The difference being, from our point of view, a year from now it could then be us/halifax/fev/leigh all pushing for a license, and at that point, our near neighbours may well find themselves in exactly the same situation we do today...

Quote ="Tricky2309"Interesting article from the YP. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... _1_3612552'" This is all well and good but isn't that exactly the same as what we have just faced for the last year? Regardless of a year on year review, the fact still remains that tomorrow, Wakefield will lose their license in favour of Crusaders and Harlequins. Come next year, the exact same comparisons will be drawn, the same flimsy criteria will be drawn up, flagrantly disregarded, and the exact same conclusion will be drawn. The difference being, from our point of view, a year from now it could then be us/halifax/fev/leigh all pushing for a license, and at that point, our near neighbours may well find themselves in exactly the same situation we do today...

I'm led to believe it was the case as it would have ticked all the boxes. I'm going on what I've been told but as I say it's speculation so you may be right. None the less it seems odd to me.

What money, as far as I can see no money has yet been spent.

Sets the scene quite nicely for the theory that proposes a 1 year licence for Cas & Wakey, with the team closest to their new ground at the end of next season getting the nod.

It's possible.

and lets other candidates off the hook, two of which have doubts over where they will be playing next season (one of which having doubts over whether they will be playing at all)

Are you thinking of a 15 team SL?

I think more likely is we lose our licence tomorrow, but could get it back in 12 months time if we are building and Cas are still nowhere near.

15 teams will surely not be the way forward after Lewis publicly announced it would definitely be 14.

So the touchline bar has been built for free? The little cosmetic changes as you call them all cost money. General maintenance and upkeep of the ground as know too well costs money too. Tv advertising during prime time isn't cheap. Glover has probably spent more on the club in the past fee months than ted did in the last three years of his tenure (wages apart, I'll give you that one vasty). Instead of bagging him for not spending millions straight away let's support the man, just because he hasn't got a bottomless pit of money doesn't mean he isn't the right man. He is trying to make the club self sufficient if he succeeds in doing this then he deserves great praise. It's early days yet but I'm happy with the changes ag has made so far. The players have been told should we fat a franchise then we will be spending up to the cap (I know this for sure). To do this I'd say the club wouldn't be able to afford this just out of the coffers so either ag has got some spare disposable income that he is willing to invest in the club or he has secured funds from another source. It's going to be very interesting after the decision on tuesday but I'm lead to believe we have firm plans in place for whichever league we are playing in

Cas will be seen to be making enough progress through clever PR to get the full three years, whether bricks are laid or not. The RFL won't have the balls to kick them out halfway through. The only way we will get a reprieve after a year is if a club goes to the wall. Don't hold your breath there 'cos the powers that be won't let that happen.

What I cannot understand about A.G, is that although he hasn't got the deepest pockets amongst other club chairman, he has ruled out a share issue to give an injection of funds to the club.I am sure that many of the previous shareholders would be interested in re-investing in the club will the full knowledge that we would never see a financial return on our investment.This also defeats one of the objectives of the Supporters Trust,whose combined shareholding would enable them to ask for a seat on the board. I don't object to a one man band (dictatorship) if he has the unlimited funds to keep us all happy and in our place !

The primary objective for us when we set up the Supporters Trust was always to open up channels of communication between the Club and the Fans. That still remains.
Do not be put off joining the Trust just because (at present) there is no way for us to gain a shareholding and seat at the table. Hopefully it will not happen but there just may come a time when we as a Supporters Trust are needed to ensure the survival of OUR club.

If you're not already a member, come along to the meeting at Belle Vue next Tuesday and join up, and find out from Andrew Glover and James Elston directly what the plans are for moving us forward, whatever the decision.

I'll not support anyone blindly if that's OK with you.

You say Ted didn't spend in the last few year, well maybe he didn't although I'd dispute that. However I have to laugh at your contention that AG is spending more money. More of who's money?

You seem to think he is somehow spending his own money - is he?

Does this money come from him or from the clubs general budget which is basically OUR money, the money we spend on tickets, merchandise and membership schemes etc. Considering what the last budget before the club went pop must have been as opposed to the budget we are working on now there should be a few bob spare would you not say.

Your naivety on this one stuns me to be honest. Apart from the initial start up costs and the clubs purchase price I can't see where any monies that have been spent could not easily have come from the operating budget. This attempt to project AG as some sort of Ken Davey is way off the mark IMHO and you playing this loyalty card thing is frankly insulting peoples intelligence. There is not a single scheme in place now that wasn't either available before with a different name or was in the pipeline and they all involve getting more money from the existing supporter base - where exactly does that differ so much from previous?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I know we have to be self supporting as much as is possible - but if AG or whoever isn't going to also provide a serious cash injection then what's the point in having them. If its just about managing the club then why not just hand it over to the ST now it's stabalised. As far as I know AG isn't even a RL fan let alone a Trinity fan so what is his motive? It can't be just to manage another successful business, surely there are better choices out there. It can't be for the glory of Wakefield Trinity. It must be for personal glory and gratification which is fine but to get that he must expect to have to pay a hefty price to attain it like say Davey has. I have to be honest I'm baffled as to what's in it for him other than N/M will happen at which point he could sell the club on at a profit - yes I've blasphemed - but it's happened in sport many times before.

How do you know anything for sure, have you a hotline to Mr Glover.

I really think you need to think a bit deeper.

Same here, but you will be told off for having a negative thought

No - I'm thinking that tomorrow, it's announced that we lose out to Widnes and go down BUT - that Cas and Wakey have both made significant, but only recent, substantive progress on their respective stadia ("this is to be commended, in difficult financial times, little else to separate them, strong heritage, excellent community links, hotbeds of player production blah blah blah"icon_wink.gif so their licences (Cas in SL and us in Ch1) will be reviewed in 1 year. Following that review, the club closest to delivering on their promises will get a place in SL; if it's Cas they'll stay in, if it's us, we'll replace them.

Today's statement from the RFL only strengthens my belief that this is a likely scenario; it may not even be announced as such, but I think it will happen that way.

As for the suggestion that AG has spent no money - that's unfair Vasty; I know with a fair degree of certainty that he has - significantly more than he planned to when he first took over. He has however exercised some prudence, which seems reasonable given the uncertainty of income for next season i.e Sky money.

Finally, for those people who believe that an investment in playing staff for this season would have made inroads into the licence decision - I think you're wrong. However, I'm also reasonably convinced that club officials have bent over backwards to get players to the club, but the certainty within the RL community that we were going down has made it virtually impossible to both attract new players and retain existing ones who had a sniff of what they perceived as 'security' elsewhere. I guess we've got the media to thank for that, following the lurch into admin and the leadership vacuum that created, which meant that from a PR perspective, AG was significantly behind the 8 ball when took over - the RL world already believed we were going down and as I posted many months ago, the media is so powerful thesedays, they can and will create a self-fulfilling prophecy; perception is, after all, reality.

The Club was losing money though wasn't it? So thus was being run beyond it's means. So by reducing the wage bill maybe we are now cutting our cloth accordingly and therefore there is no spare you just get what you can afford on our gates.

The previous club has nothing to to with it IMO. There are no debts to be repaid and IMO we have virtually halved the wage bill. I agree about cutting the cloth accordingly but we have gone from comfortable M&S three piece suit to a mankini , when I was hoping for at least jeans and a T-shirt.

Thats true, but the difference now is, that the monies been put in through the lottery/1873 scheme and the profit from the catering etc will go back into the club, something that wasnt happening previously due to "deals" that had been put in place.

I agree to an extent Vasty, AG has done nothing yet that will have cost him a fortune personally. He has not really done anymore than i would have expected from somebody coming in with the club having such an uncertain future. Whats the point in spending your hard earned when it all could be for nothing come tomorrow?
Id like to think that without the debt TR would have tarted the place up in a similar way but we will never know. What i do know is that when nobody else really wanted us, AG took a chance and for that we have to be grateful.