Off topic really but I was making a more general point about the oil and gas industry. By definition a trader buys and sells, you are right though, there's not a lot of unsold oil and gas.

I’m going to go against the flow here and say that being successful in any highly competitive and highly lucrative business no matter what it is will always require a certain degree of skill and hard work. Now whether that skill set can translate itself into the running or hiring people to run a successful sports club is very much open to debate. Some have succeeded, some not. This season has not been text book....unless the text book was entitled ‘how to make basic errors and very nearly xxxk it up totally’

Not just this season though is it. Look where we were when Hughes took sole charge.

I've never said he was cr4p at his Job. FWIW, I believe that he accidentally became a Trader and it was a combination of his ability to network combined with longevity in his trade that enabled him to succeed. I have no doubt he is tenacious and hardworking.


It is a debate that would rage for ever......the reality is that most owners of professional sports clubs, be they billionaires, millionaires or community owned clubs like our Landlords, struggle to make ends meet. The higher the spend the higher the expectations....Leeds United being a case in point...from Champions League Semis to 2nd tier in 2 years.....then worse. Bradford Bulls another, if you want one close to home....but it's not like we've gone out and blown the bank on star players over the last 20 years, is it? No. He's blown the bank on bullsh17 ideas and schemes, dummy spits when we lose, stupid appointments and needless moves.


Please define "very nearly xxxk it up"?
Wrong coach?100%
Wrong to go Part Time/Squad? We sit 11th with no chance of Play off Football with 30% of the season left. We are only safe because Cumbria exists! 100%
Wrong Ground? We are averaging the same attendance as the last full season at Ealing and just 20% of the gates he inherited. so again 100%
Wrong match day experience? They genuinely expected us to rock up and carry on supporting them with zero effort put into the match day experience...100%
Wrong Marketing? Sticks in the ground, KO time announced in 3 paper adverts and on a tube station wall and expect people to just rock up........100%

Make no mistake. Without Workington, Whitehaven and Dewsbury, we would already be preparing for a derby game at Skolars next year. Luck doesn't deserve any applause when it comes to the Broncos, but I expect to hear that "it's all going as planned" when Hughes/Loubser eventually comment on the season that has been.

The Ladies play their final game away this coming weekend......ACCORDING TO THE CLUB WEBSITE THE MEN DON'T PLAY NEXT UNTIL NEWCASTLE AWAY so given you guys have no game at Bash to go to, why not get to Cardiff and cheer the lasses?

A more serious response (than my last one) on the match. I was very close to not bothering as I had to work around other commitments, but we decided to go. A win is always good, but it was far more than that, London actually pot on a quality performance.

I don't have a lot to go on, but it appeared early season our strength was in the forwards and we played that way. There was little trust in the backs. Sunday was a revelation, the backs starred, but also the forwards were very good, they were simply outshone by the backs making such a jump. I joked about Mancini in my last post, but he really was everywhere.

So what changed. It truly does look like the coaching. Eccles appears to have put trust in the backs and they delivered big time. As a spectator it was fun to see the ball being moved and sensible risks taken. Mistakes (and penalties) were minimal it appeared.

Moving Parata to half back was key. Very influential and wasn't missed in the forwards where there was great depth including the interchanges.

Results are important, but I'd accept defeats with that kind of spectacle. It was a different sport on Sunday; bear in mind the only live RL I've ever witnessed has been at PL. The feedback of newcomers early season wasn't great; watching games like Sunday would change a lot of the negative views (from those games) on the sport.

Problem is first impressions are always most important, and Broncos blew it big time. 2.2K was at that first game at PL, would not surprise me that will be the highest attendance we have while we play there (unless we get into SL in the next 2-3 years)

I think this is why so many were frustrated at the start of the season. If the aim is to grow crowds to 5,000, then that's going to need decent performances on the field.

Agreed. And with that in mind if any Dons fans are thinking of giving Broncos a second chance I hope they avoid the Leigh game which, even accounting for our upturn in form, is likely to be messy.

The figure of 950 has appeared on wiki....so that's 850/750/950 for our last 3 "home" games.........850 average.......remove that first game and it's a shocking first season in terms of paying attendees.