Quote ="The Phantom Horseman"Don't know where to start with this, but there are two reasons why Featherstone have never played in the top flight in the last few decades. Firstly, having comfortably earned the retention of their place in the top flight by finishing 11th of 16 in 1994-95, they were unceremoniously dumped out of SL in favour of London, who had finished fourth in the second division that year.
Secondly, they finished top of the table four years in a row from 2010 to 2013, but were denied promotion by the franchising system.
Fev have indeed used a DR arrangement - as have literally every other club in the Championship at various stages, including London. Fev were actually one of the few clubs that opposed DR when it was first mooted, but now seem to get castigated because they use it more effectively than anyone else.
Featherstone ran a reserve team in 2019, as they have at various stages in the last 10 years, but weren't accepted this year.
Featherstone are thriving off the field, have a busy events calendar in the clubhouse, are doing extremely well in terms of sponsorship, and have made signifcant progress in the quest to become self sufficient regardless of what happens with central funding. There is a booming Squad Builder fund which IIRC has about 300 supporters paying £10 per month, a very successful club superstore, and RoversTV continues to pump out product which puts that of some SL clubs to shame, as does the stadium, which features two stands constructed by supporters and is now widely regarded to be a vastly superior stadium to some in SL, notably those of our near neighbours Wakefield and Castleford.
Not saying that everything at the club is always perfect, but not a good example of anything? I beg to differ.'"
I wasn't meaning to be provocative THP. But Featherstone arent my idea of 'proof' that PT is the way to go. The reality is you didnt counter-argue any of my points. DR, we at best dabbled were as Fev RELIED on it. Remember a couple of seasons ago when you couldnt field a side as Leeds said no ? You have not been in the top flight for at least two decades. I rate Fev highly but not as an example of the way LB should be heading.
