We have two of the best if not the best Amateur set ups in the country here, both should be able to 'tap into' the knowledge base that is at the Leigh Centurions and visa versa, no ego's, no bad blood from years ago, a new beggining is the ONLY way forward, I appreciate money is a problem for clubs at the Centurions level but other assistance should be there that the amateurs can use.

Lets face it apart from at a few clubs jnr development is patchy at best where as the local amateur clubs are ready made pools of talent (and knowledge) at all ages and a bit of working together for the benefit of the sport should be the priority, cause if it dont happen there will end up being just SL and BARLA and the sport at semi pro level will fizzle and die, and talks should start immediately to stop the rift between RL and BARLA getting bigger because it is.

Easts and Miners are best-practice case studies. It frustrates me that the RFL see Centurions with no junior academy and conclude there is no youth development in Leigh. It frustrates me more, perhaps, that all the great people doing great work in this area are not always lined up and pointing in the same direction.

Oh, I suppose you would be doing better if you were in Super Leauge, you really think you could have played; Leeds, Salford and Hull FC and got anything from them? Your first ever game in SL you got....4,043. You only went over a 5,534 attendance twice, and you were playing Wigan and Warrington who I assume will have brought a few thousand to pump up that attendance. WOW!!
I personally think over 5,000 is a decent attendance for Celtic. If they were playing in Lancashire or Yorkshire they will prob have got arund 6,000 with more Hull FC fans going, give them a chance, I guarentee they will be getting 7,000 when they play Hull FC in 2011.

SL average was higher than Salfords and London that season at a fraction under 5000 if i remember correctly.

Can't judge how Celtic are going to do after one home game. Didnt Paris have a big crowd for their first game in SL....what happened to them?

Funnily enough, Hull FC were one of only three teams we did get anything from! Our first game only went ahead because it was on SKY - the conditions were atrocious - and an average of just short of 5,000 for the season was amazing, considering how awful we were. (what was Salford's excuse' or the Broncos?)

You have to understand the bitterness in Leigh (and Widnes) at how the 'selection' process worked. Personally, I don't think we deserved a place in SL this year, but I don't think CC did either. You may be right, they could attract bigger gates in 2011, but I bet they are still playing in the same dump - which will mean the RFL changing the qualification rules again, to allow for their lack of facilities........................ and Saints, Bradford, Castleford, Wakefield etc etc.

....as will Salford

Your right CC got Widnes s place.

Here's the thing:

If the RFL had said: NL Champions (if they meet SL criteria) plus the Welsh team for expansion reasons get franchises, that would have been fine (arguable, but clear-cut).

If the RFL had said: Both NL Grand Finalists get franchises (if they meet SL criteria), that would have been fine, too (and very clear-cut).

If the RFL had said: screw this, we want a big city club and a welsh club, so its Salford and CC... Leigh and Widnes are too near to Wire and Wiggin and Saints... that would have at least been up-front (if b0ll0cks, IMHO).

But the RFL said there'd be a points-based criteria... and then had to deny the existence of Leigh's new ground, of Easts & Miners Junior Academy, and of Widnes' multi-millionaire new backer, in order to claim that the CC bid was better on the terms they'd laid out.

It seemed very clear to the world that Widnes and Leigh had better bids than CC, and probably as good or better than Wakey and Cas. To add to this perception, the RFL refused to publish detailed evaluations of the differing bids, and then Rrchard Lewis lied on telly.

The bitterness (as opposed to disappointment) from Leigh and Widnes fans comes not from the outcome of the franchise process, but from the deceit and hypocrisy that accompanied it.

What this thread represents is the tag to that deceit.... it seems very likely that CC weren't ready for SL. Widnes or Leigh would have been better placed... which should have been obvious as their bids were, as far as we've been allowed to see, stronger than that of CC. So, the RFL's deceitful error in ignoring their own criteria is in danger of biting them on the @rse if CC lose everything and don't pull much of a crowd.

FOr these reasons alone I hope they fail.

and the city and public of salford give their rugby club their full support of course, grow up and do it quick as those stuporleague sharks will eat you all up