The biggest issue has been the lack of atmosphere [ which is commonplace in new stadia operating at around 20 % full ] and also the lack of a supporters bar which has totally changed the matchday experience

That and the lack of belief that we will ever get the chance to move up the ladder combined has made this season like just a series of freindleys

Our team seem to be feeling the same and dont seem to be able to raise their game at home resulting in us now being probably favourite to be relegated

The club is in a downward spiral at the moment and it is unlikely we will get out of it

So we need another pointless competition like a hole in the head

Yeah, I have read threads on the lack of bar issue. I haven;t been to the new ground yet, and don;t know Leigh that well, do you have plenty of bars around the ground?

I remember at Warrington there was uproar at first due to no supporters bar, however I think this was soon forgotten when fans realised that there were so many pubs in the area that we didn;t really need one.

I assume that won;t happen at Leigh?

personally i am getting bored of hearing about the franchise.

Celtic and Salford got in whether people think it was right or not.

i dont know why we are talking about franchise at the start of the first year of it to start with there is at least 1 year before this topic should be coming up.

i would love for Fax and Widnes to get the next franchise but at the same time i am pretty sure we dont stand much of a chance unless we are uprooting the club to Spain or Cumbria.

I will put a prediction down right now for the next franchise seen as though we are on the subject.

Toulouse will get a place because of obvious reasons.
Barrow will get a place subject to them making improvements on the growd, for obvious reasons once more.

as much as we might not like it Hearland clubs and clubs with a historic rugby past will probaly end up getting shafted at the next franchise for teams that dont have much going for them apart from location.

Leighton Samuel has stated that he has had to put in £1.7 Million just to keep Celtic going for half a season. You’re probably looking at a shortfall, by the end of the season of over two £2 million.

There has been an increase in the TV money SL clubs now get – what is it - £1.2/£1.4 Million? I'm sure each of the other SL clubs could release £100, 000k of that to support the Licence/expansion policy which they voted on to introduce?

This would leave Celtic with a more acceptable shortfall of around £700,000k, which may be helped by the RFL taskforce finding corporate funding for them. It is clear that Dekor (Leighton Samuel’s company) is not in a position to fund CC’s current deficit. In recent years it has barely run on breaking even and they have only made a pre-tax profit of just over £300,000k. That is nowhere near enough to sustain CC’s losses.

If there are clubs, which cannot afford to lose the £100,000k over the next two years, then this should be a major tick against their financial area of the 2011 Licence bid.

It would be wrong to use RFL money that is earmarked for areas outside SL (god knows that’s little enough) to keep CC in SL. No Sport England monies should be used either. So that just leaves one place it can come from. They will have until next season to budget for this, so there shouldn’t be too much of a problem. SL clubs wanted the new licence/expansion system, so they either pay for it or….


Leighton Samuel has plenty of experience in running a rugby club. I think it is quite clear that Celtic are in severe financial trouble. The revelations that have been shown to be true over the last few days are a testament to that. The fact that LS has already admitted to having to pump £1.7 Million of his own money in, just half way through the season is yet another indication of the financial situation down in Bridgend. .

That just shows what a totally worthless competition it is then. All the RFL bullsh*t about the NRC final being sold out was just that too. Widnes fans have being buying x9's tickets from Leigh's allocation and the RFL have now given Widnes more tickets to sell. Hence the new threads on the TIW board about fans desperately trying to get on coaches that are fully booked.

I fully agree with what José Starbug is saying. No matter when it may be announced, SL clubs would go mad if they did this to them and these boards would turn into the wailing wall.

RFL couldn't run a pissup in a brewery field.

I haven't seen the figure of £1.7m quoted anywhere, I saw a figure of just over £700k of his own money (which is still a massive amount).
The £1.7m figure just wouldn't make any sense, as on top of the £1.2m from Sky that would be enough to run a lower SL club anyway. This is without any gate receipts or sponsorship money too, so the £1.7m seems high to me.

No, you're right. It was around £750,000. Not sure were I got the £1.7m from.

So there's even less reason for the SL clubs not to dip into their own pockets.

Yep 50 K each and they all get to have a ' pet ' club to play with

The 1.7 was probably what he was tipping in for the last 2 seasons

The Squad is not that different to then and the gates were less

That was my point on another thread when somebody suggested they should drop back down , it was probably costing him more in the NL's than it is now in SL

Aye, happen.

We both know that the SL clubs won't even part with their sh/t to help anyone though. So where will the money come from?

Would it be possible. in the current climate, to find enough corporate sponsorship to finance CC's massive shortfall?

It the RFL can arrange that, they deserve to take over from Allan Sugar!