Hedgehog King wrote:No, I don't. THe Crusaders suffered form all those issues. They could have been "saved" if their backer had been who he was argued to be but he wasn't.
All clubs suffer from those issues. All clubs have varying levels of shortfall that need to be made up by their backer, Crusaders' required a large investment but so do many other clubs such as Huddersfield. The fact that Crusaders lost money isn't unique to them, you seem desperate to want to disagree with me but you fundamentally are.
Quote:You must have been avoiding forums for the last four years then because I certainly did say that and I was far from the only person. Even people with no interest in RL e.g. ex-Warriors fans were saying that. The mailbags of all the trade papers and mags were full of people saying this. How you could not have noticed I don't know.
Not at all. The RFL chose to be bloody stupid. Very many fans chose to blindly follow the RFL but many others could see exactly where it would end up.
No, I can't ever remember it being raised on this forum that the biggest flaw in the club would be that Samuel would pull out after one season in SL. If that was claimed, it was a minor point and likely a clutch at straws by people who were bitter about Crusaders' inclusion for other reasons. As I said, something like that is a random variable and there is no possible way that you could accurately claim that you knew it was going to happen. I could quite easily state that Steve O'Connor will pull out of Widnes or something equivalent, that doesn't mean that I deserve any credit if it actually happens. With hindsight, Samuel clearly wasn't a trustworthy character, I've already stated that the RFL failed by not determining this at the time. However, as I said, there's absolutely no way that you, the RFL or anyone else could have known for certain what was going to happen unless are claiming to be psychic.
Quote:My post does not imply anything of the sort. It is common sense that a club that requires £2 million a year injected into it is less sustainable than one that requires £500k. Both would be screwed without backers but one will find it easier to find a backer. Anyone with half a brain can see this.
Yet Crusaders were able to find a backer who rescued the club, so this argument is completely irrelevant. No question that Crusaders would have been a more attractive prospect if they were a stronger club, but they were a new team in only their fourth season, any club at that stage is going to require more investment than a club that has been going for 100+ years.
Quote:There was, any Wrexham FC fan would have told you the same (and they did make this point on Totalrl.com at the time).
Wrexham Crusaders had little in common with Celtic Crusaders. Moss merely bought the SL licence that Samuel had been given by the RFL for free. Crusaders had no assetts.
The opinion of Wrexham FC fans is hardly the most valid source. Clearly they were right, but what option did the RFL have? Moss and Roberts were willing to take on the debt, the fact that they were hundreds of miles away is irrelevant, they were still a backer that saved the club which would otherwise have ceased to exist.