More his way of trying to get another good player into the club without having to really pay for him I think.

I'd put nothing past him after the way he blamed everyone but himself for them not being able to afford expensive contracts last year and tried to make out players were going to make the club go under if they didn't choose to terminate their deals.

I've met a lot of nice Leigh fans in the last few years who I'd never wish anything but good things towards. Their chairman though, is a buffoon.

So he's asking the fans for £15k while he drives around in a lambo?
If I were a Leigh fan I would find it really difficult to not be even a little bit miffed at that. Uncle Derek has probably lost more than that down the back of his couch.

Why?

Doesn't he have right to do what he wants with his own money? He's already poured far more down the 'black hole' of Leigh RL than any of us could afford (and, by the way, far more than any of our recent owners!). I don't see it as relevant what kind of car he drives, or where he takes his holidays -at the end of the day he is a businessman who has the right to do whatever he likes with the fruits of his labour.

Perhaps he's decided that the club now has to run as a sustainable entity, rather than the 'boom and bust' of the past couple of seasons - something which many people has lauded Andrew Chalmers for doing with our club.

Frankly I don't think he owes Leigh anything...

I don't disagree with most of that. I certainly agree the car he drives and what he does with his money is irrelevant. It's his money, he should spend it how he likes.

I think for me it's more the manner he does things. It's perhaps a small distinction, but fans could have been told that they can't sign extra players unless more income is generated, without effectively saying "we want this player, could you chuck us some money into a bucket to pay for him?". It's the same result, but just the way it's handled that can be better. I don't know how to best explain what I mean if I'm honest.

You're right he doesn't owe Leigh anything, but the club are in a hole right now - in part due to his poor decision making - and they need players as a matter of urgency. I referenced his car to demonstrate that he can clearly afford the £15k.
However some Leigh fans seem to think that Gregg was signed a while ago and the extra money will actually be used to sign further players so I have no idea what's going on.

Neither do we! Our owner says he has taken a back seat, but we aren't sure if he is capable of doing that.

I find the plea for cash from fans highly embarrassing, especially as we have basically been treated like mushrooms recently, and LISA has been virtually ignored, while the owner 'didn't need their cash'. I think it would be far more reasonable to ask sponsors to come up with the extra cash to pay Gregg. (and I believe it is extra, as in extra to our agreed contract limits) Goodness knows who wrote that plea - it certainly can't have been our Communications Director, who is a highly respected former author, sports columnist and broadcaster, and the English is bad, even by our owner's standards!

And finally, if Gregg is being used as a subterfuge to raise more 'readies', then that would be disgraceful, given the lad's family circumstances, and his strong affinity to Leigh and it's fans.

More than that, Alan, there must be a question mark over whether it is legal.

IF it is true - as some are claiming - that McNally has actually already signed, you can't really be going public on the club website and saying...



I just hope, for the fans sake, this doesn't back to bite you

LISA secretary Lynda Pike has confirmed on Facebook that Greg has signed for us. They will sponsor his shirt, and part fund his contract. This despite raising just 4k, of the 15K that was allegedly needed to sign McNally

Are you sure of this ? , I think you'll find she has suggested that with the uptake so far , which is currently over half of the amount requested we should be ale to sign him

With regards Derek's choice of transport , holiday and his actual spending preferences then , they are his to do however he wants , bearing in mind he essentially subsidised our match tickets by 100-200% to get us into SL he has every right to this year ask the fans to finance the club by purchasing tickets , any extra like supporting LISA is purely voluntary , and no matter how badly it has been termed everybody has a choice to either support or not

Unfortunately I think you are right. He will also see it as what he did last year saved the club. He obviously saw last years performances coupled with no middle 8s, with at the very least Toronto still in the League and decided to keep his money in his pocket regardless of player welfare.

I agree on the Leigh fans even when Beaumont created the big rivalry always good people to come across and that first game at LSV was fantastic the atmosphere was brilliant