Adelaide Tiger

Harry, why do you waffle on - as you have done in the past - about Leigh being 'invited into SL for the 2021 season' and that 'They were not ready'. It was Leigh themselves that put in an application, along with five other clubs, to take the place of Toronto. No one forced Leigh into applying.

Getting desperate now aren't we

Nice one Tommy. Made my day. Doubt if any of those posters that have knocked Catalans on the '14 team SL' will have the bottle to come on this thread.

Yep, those same club Boards that think by getting 200 more away fans than they would get if they played Catalans will be the panacea for all their ills. Einsteins, the lot of 'em!

Can't really disagree with you. But the alternative was possible demotion to the Championship. So there was no real option. Alternatively, if there was no IMG, then Cas would have just spent enough money on new players to survive. Ironically, it was because of IMG that gave Cas an opportunity to 'reset' by offloading the bigger earners in the squad and let Lingard look to develop younger players at the expense of a 'poor' season. Most Cas fans accepted this reality and supported Lingard and his 3 year vision to overhaul the playing staff. However, Jepson came in and wanted to make a bold statement, therefore Lingard had to make way for McGuire. This didn't go down too well with many supporters and I have never seen so many fans of a club offer their thanks and support to a sacked manager. IMHO, McGuire should have been given this season and at least halfway through next season to prove that he could move the club forward.

Well I despair! The old saying is that any coach, irrespective of club they join, needs year 1 to assess, year 2 to address and year 3 to have some form of success. Since Powell left, the club has had Radford, Last, Lingard and McGuire. Each would have had a 3 year plan. And we barely got to year two with any of them. So we start all over again with a new Coach with a new 3 year plan. Not sure the new Coach will be there in 3 years.

Nope, but I remember her twin sister, Zola!

Good point about your observation about Refs appearing to be 'better'' when they officiate at Championship level. No doubt the lack of cameras makes a world of difference with the ref knowing that their decision - or non decision - is accepted and the game just goes on.

My view, is that the standard of referring is relatively high. But then again, I accept that officials will make mistakes. But it is far, far easier to criticise the ref than a player. Great example over the weekend is that Jordan Rapana had an absolute shocker, but we all know that he will be playing next week. Imagine if a ref made so many howlers. People would be marching with pitchforks!!

I have thought for many years that the RFL ought to have put together a ‘Community Club Pack’ providing advice and contacts for community clubs across a number of themes such as Grant application, how to approach potential sponsors, templates for clubs to use aimed at attracting players of all ages etc. Apologies if the RFL do this. As an afterthought - and I have completed many success grant fund bids - how do community clubs get to know about Grant Funding? Is it potluck? Grant funding for such clubs can come from many sources not just Sports related. So, could the RFL have a page available on their website specifically for anyone to add the contact details of any Grant Funding that they become aware of?

This will be probably be totally uninteresting to those of a younger age on here, but to those that watched Blue Peter in the 70’s you might not know this. Those of us that saw the episode when BP presenter John Noakes scaled Nelson’s Column dressed in flares, everyday shoes, no gloves, safety rope or harness might be surprised to know that he had to actually ascend the column TWICE as when he climbed it the first time the sound recording machine that they had already taken up failed to work! Legend has it that Shep barked ‘Get down, Noaksey’.

A few weeks ago I came across a new channel on Foxtel called Australian Classic and much to my great joy every night at 6pm is an episode of Skippy which was always my favourite show as a kid. I may now be 61 years of age but when every episode starts with Sonny whistling for Skippy, I feel the same joy as I did when I was 4 or 5 years old when Skippy first hit the UK screens in the late 60’s. I still remember when my wife to be, first met my mam. They got yapping and somehow their conversation went on to what was I like as a kid. My mam just said ‘Ooh, he loved watching Skippy. Every time it came on, he would jump up and down on the settee twirling his arms around his head pretending to be the helicopter!’. So every time an episode starts the wife says ‘Are you going to be jump on the settee tonight?’.

90 minutes to get to either Toulouse or Oldham? I think you have a kn@ckered sat nav!

Mr Goose, your scenario is not that outlandish. Wigan Athletic won the FA Cup in 2012/2013 and was relegated that same season. So they competed in the Europa League during the 2013/2014 whist in the Second Division (the Championship) were they finished in fifth place. If they had won the Europa League in 2013/2014 they would have played in the Europa League in 2014/2015 as automatic qualification into the Champions League was not introduced until the 2014/2015 season.

You are right insofar that both teams qualified for the Europa League Sours by league position and Manure by winning the FA Cup. The issue for me, prior to the final, was that the winning team would gain automatic qualification to the Champions League whilst finishing 16th or 17th in the League.