And obsessed with numbers, were they all Adrian Mole like at the age of 13 and 3/4?

I remain unconvinced that

Gan Eden

equals

"RL fans"

Lots of people, either on here or people who I have met and know, are too impatient over a lot of things. From the expansion clubs, to the international game, to the Magic weekend

why would another year in the championship have made us good enough for the superleague? only the superleague can make you good enough for the superleague. I really enjoyed the years in the lower league some great rugby, great fans and more winning obviously but the gap is so painful.
the attendances will flux for different reasons, as for all clubs. is our variation any more alarming then say leeds who can go from 13k to 17 dependng on who they are playing? at the moment the opponents are very important - sorry but unsurprisingly st helens, wigan etc will attract more coverage and attendance then castleford.
I dont have conclusive proof but i think people have been enjoying sat evenings more then sunday afternoons for some reason. we will see if that holds up later in the season.
the media is kinda pre-occupied with cardiff city pushing for promotion to the premiership (and the return of the swansea-cardiff derby) as well as the bloody blues deciding to do something for once in their existence. we started very well, get a fair amount of ongoing coverage, but it will pick up later in the year. we need to make the summer our own. in fact we've started to develop a relationship with the other summer sport - cricket, who in case we forget have a little matter of an ashes test this summer (for example they sell our merchandise and tickets at sophia gardens!)
The pyramid of player development has come on leaps and bounds with 10 teams putting out from 2-3 (im not sure if they all get out a full complement) junior sides which is feeding into four regional train on squads which is feeding into at the crusaders under 16s, under 18s and the reserves (now to be under 20s'). so the roots are deepening.
lots more needs to be done and we are not going to do a catalans at this moment but overall an area of over 2 million people has a serious rugby league presence where before none existed, thousands of youngsters now have a serious choice in rugby codes where before there was just one. thats the real nature of expansion. obsess about headline crowd figures if you like but try and keep a mind of the broader picture.

werent le catalans crowds sub 4000 when they first started out? theyre doing alright now....

Why? They need to be financially viable long before 10 years after joining or they'll fold. Those crowds aren't enough to run a club on.

Yes but their first SL crowd was 11000, a bit of a difference between a French Elite crowd and a SL crowd

Yes because junior development really pays the bills

To any mind but that of a short-termist economic illiterate village idiot, yes, it does.

Personally the whole dumb thread smacks of a juvenile who has simply been aching for a smaller crowd to be posted all season long, and took great pleasure in ejaculating the nasty OP at what he saw as the first opportunity. Grow up, ffs.

they need to win simple as

its hard to market a team thats languishing at the bottom of the table