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How does it help the club?

That’s a huge leap forward and when it goes ahead it’s another massive development for the stadium and the club. When complete it will be almost as big a development as the Neil Fox stand and in some ways far more significant in the sense that it will be funded by the club (Matt Ellis) alone with no outside financial help. With all the other major developments, It will see the stadium more than half complete and with the West stand planning already approved the future looks amazing for Wakefield Trinity. I won’t get tired of saying it, Matt Ellis, Craig Barrass and the Ellis family have been exactly what every fan wishes for in an owner.

BBC Radio York Sport have got the nod to cover Saturday's pre-season Matty English Testimonial from The Accu, if you cant make the trip. It will be on-line only as 3pm Saturday is footy territory Here is the link to listen online - https://bit.ly/4aRV5MK Please be aware it will not work until just before kickoff - the link should pick up at 2.50pm or a minute or two thereafter. We don't normally cover 'Friendlies' but it is the opener to a historic season so, if you can listen in, please do. Also if you go to BBC Radio York schedules and tonight's sport, there are interviews (at half time) with Paul Vaughan and, after the game with Mash and Xavier Va'a.

I agree 100% with the bolded bit. If you like the shirt, buy it. But equally, given it's being advertised with the phrase "the more we can sell, the more it strengthens the clubs position moving forward", and it's clear from FR23's post above that that is being taken at face value by supporters, it's not unreasonable to ask how that will work given that the RFL iterim CEO has said that they have already spoken to two parties interested in taking on the club next season having stated that Friday's rejection came about because there wasn't enough separation between the "old" company and the "new" one. I don't think asking for transparency at this time is a bad idea.

i think its pretty obvious that after a couple of years of this being a success for all concerned the only logical step will be for york to end it. makes solid sense. i do fear for newcastles future. having a successful, well supported team built on a deep rooted youth program is a recipe for disaster. especially if chicken licken is right and the sky falls down. this is absolute madness.

It’s not as simple as that though! I like the shirts, but I want any money I give to go towards resurrecting the team I follow. At this moment we have no idea what will happen to any money paid over and to my mind that is not good enough. We need to be told where any money will go.

I've never been to Wakefield. What's the normal stand for away supporters? Does it matter? (We had a bad experience at the York match in the play off final and I would prefer not to go through that again!). I'm busy booking flights etc...on a roll tonight! We (Mrs and I) are over oop north for the week. We're going to the York v Hull KR match on the Thursday and the TO match on the Saturday. There will be at least 2 TO supporters at the match!

We have sold as many shirts in the first 48 hours than we did in the whole of last season

Another grim day for English rugby league. Good luck to Fev’s fans, I really hope they get their club back.

I've got no dog in this fight, but isn't that what people are asking - is this money definitely going to "help the club"? To be clear, if MC has invested his own money to fund the shirts then to my mind there's nothing at all wrong with selling them to fans to recoup his investment (and after all what else is he meant to do with them?). It's unclear how this will "help the club" though, isn't it?

Batley chairman complaining about how proper rugby league people he voted for have dealt with other proper rugby league people who want to avoid paying other proper rugby league people... or something

I think increasing the pay on the day is just about the worst move we've made since BQ and Fordy bought the club. Pretty much discourages anyone who isn't a regular from trying the experience. It should be 20 quid on the day and that's it.

I think it's pretty clear that Rovers Events Ltd will not be taking the club forward now that The RFL have confirmed that the "new" owners were too close to the old ones. I like the shirt, but won't be getting one until and unless I know that my money is helping a new regime, not reimbursing the old one.

Newcastle now have a competitive Championship squad and every aspiring player from the bottom to the top of the A19 has a clear pathway from their community club to the Super League.

Wakefield MDC passed the plans earlier today for Trinity's North Stand upgrade. Proposed extension of existing terracing, new stand and demolition of existing roof, part of existing terracing and nearby Concourse building to the east at existing North stand at Belle Vue Stadium. New sales kiosk and associated works. Great news. Probably next close season start?

I think the real negative for some is that Newcastle will probably beat their team and they really don’t like that.

I couldn't disagree more. If you want the RFL to micromanage the finances of every club in the leagues then that would be, frankly, a pathetic state of affairs. Ultimately clubs are businesses with owners who have the authority and responsibility to manage their affairs correctly. If they cannot do this then they must take the full blame. If a club was managed successfully under your scenario would you expect the RFL to be praised for that? Finally, as has been reported in this forum for months, the directors of the club did not reveal any set of accounts nor call any agm's for the shareholders, of whom there are many. The speed in which some people are trying to blame the RFL for this state of affairs is simply ludicrous.

He's been a great servant to Featherstone Rovers. Brave, hard working and committed.

This

Been a supporter of the new stadium but have concerns on that 3700 capacity, very interested to see the attendance at the possible challenge cup game with Saints

The thought crossed my mind earlier today as to whether any 'property' (physical and/or intellectual) had been transferred to Rovers Events before administration? If not they don't own the rights to produce and sell merchandise bearing any Rovers images never mind any issues about doing so without A shareholder permission.

Gaz Gale confirmed as having also rejoined Fev Lions having retired from the semi-pro game. Would think there will be some decent crowds at the Millpond this season.

Ok. You're right though in that in the grand scheme of things this isn't a biggie. I think if I'm honest I'm just very keen that everything's done above board from now on. I feel a bit the same about the True Blue fundraising scheme, it's been a tremendous effort from the people who have got it up and running so quickly, and I'm pretty sure I'll contribute to it at some point, I'm just a bit uneasy if there are rival bids a couple of months down the line, say between Friday's unsuccessful consortium and a new consortium, whether there will be a "preferred bidder".

The Shein of the RL world. The RFL really should have some sort of sustainability audit of its clubs and apparel providers. Assuming they don't currently of course. Some standards in this area would be nice.

One person who bought a shirt said that their bank statement showed the transaction went to 'Rovers Events'.

It’ll cost you £3 more, which minus £1:50 booking fee (ie you pay £1:50 for spending three hours of your life banging your head against the wall) means that it’s only £1:50 extra in the day. Money well spent imo.

I think with the club in administration we need to know where the money generated from sale of merchandise would go.

Everyone I know involved with rugby league in the north east (not many people, admittedly) seems very happy with the arrangement, just as they have been in previous seasons with girls from the north east getting picked up by the Valkyrie development centre. I think you'd struggle to get anyone to accept there was nothing in it for Newcastle.

Yeah this is a good point. I can see why the club want to have some idea in respect of attendance but putting barriers in place for sales is never good. I also maintain that the club should have kept the on the day price the same and reduced the online price. Would have felt more “carrot” and less “stick”

I'm convinced our crowds for last season were affected when we changed to online tickets, with the extra charge for on the day payments. The average older fan has been put off with this modern way of paying. Let's be blunt, not all technology has made life easier. I know we won't go back to the old days, but even a ticket office where you get your pre paid tickets in your hand, would benefit many fans.

He’s an impressive man in the world of RL. He always seems to speak honestly and openly, which is a rare commodity in the sport. He’s much to be admired as a coach and a man and I hope he’s involved in Featherstone if they manage to start again.

I always thought the "Mend-A-Nose" would have been a great name for a rugby league ground.

May I just say that I've never seen such a collection of luddites and flat-cappers on a single thread on any Rugby League forum. For goodness' sake, stop looking backwards! Get with the times! As a lifelong Bradford Northern fan, it's very depressing to see...

I think the owners are now trying to fix it. Over the last few seasons they've put the trust in other people and it's back fired, there's been a lot of mismanagement. On Kilshaw leaving, that's just a case of one of those things, he's got a full time role on more money at a club much closer to home, can't fault him or Keighley for that. The reaction to Dan Burton getting the job on an interim basis as been wholly positive, he seems well respected & well connected, people that know the game better than me say he has a good rugby brain. It'll be interesting to see how we go in the first few games, if performances and results are average or better, I would say he will keep the job (if he wants it). Brad England and now Mark Ioane both leaving after being given squad numbers ahead of the new season isn't great (England especially, i feel Ioane has been on the decline compared to his first season in 23 with us). The owners and coach have both come out and said that budget is available to be re-invested in the squad, but for the right kind of player. How easy that is on the eve of the new season it's hard to say, but we all know in RL that things change quickly. There are players that don't have a club as it stands and them moving to other clubs may cause a domino effect of movement once the season starts. I think the days of them throwing money at Luke Gale type signings have gone. The club have openly communicated a change in direction in terms of investing off the field rather than chucking money at the playing squad. They've tried to move on some of the bigger earners who have been given multi year contracts and it's hard to argue that they are wrong to do so considering the league position last year. There's still more to be done as we have Pickersgill sat in the stands not likely to play, young Connor Sayner has rightly been given the number 1 shirt and he looks like a brilliant pick up from Bradford's youth set up, I'm fairly confident barring major injury he will end up a top Championship full back. We have George Flanagan approaching 40 as well but he is in the last year of his (stupidly) long contract now, I think he's a valuable member of the squad in the changing room but on the field I think it's time he hung the boots up. They've invested in improving the club bar facilities and have purchased/renting a new building near the ground as an additional training facility, so i think they're trying to change the business model and invest off the field and try build a team on the field over a period of a couple of years. With no promotion and no relegation this is certainly the time to do that. The difficult part will be maintaining a competitive team on the field to keep attendances at a reasonable level. It'll probably be a difficult season this year, but the fans realise that it's a transitional period. A couple of new signings and good results and all will be forgotten ha!

Not all fans. There needs to be an openness as to who owns what, and where the money from the sales in the club goes. Perhaps the administrator should be answering some of those questions.

Finally got my season ticket renewal sorted out today, so add one more to the list. In fact make that two, as an old friend who hasn’t been all that regularly for the last couple of seasons sent me a WhatsApp message today saying that he will be attending too. This is an exciting moment in our history.

Beauvais Cathedral really is an experience, the first time you walk in. Cologne, on the other hand, wouldn't look out of place in a Tim Burton Batman movie. And I mean that in a good way.

I honestly don’t know yet, and that’s not me sitting on the fence for the fun of it. The only so called friendly got wiped out by a frozen pitch, so we’re going in a bit blind and that Widnes game in round 1 is a proper reality check rather than a gentle easing in. Having said that, Jason Demetriou isn’t exactly a rookie who needs six weeks and a whiteboard to get basic systems across, and even with the two injuries you’d expect most of them to be very well drilled from day one. There’s also a fair bit of hard won experience in the squad, which should help when things get scrappy early doors, so while I can buy the argument it might take a few games to really click, I’m not expecting chaos. Looking slightly further ahead, that 3rd round Challenge Cup game against a newly promoted Bradford could come around very quickly, and that’s where I’m really hoping we at least look organised while we’re still finding our feet, with the team selection probably telling us more than any favourites tag being thrown around in January. COYB!!!

Reserve clubs just feels like another symptom of a wider problem. The clubs at the top table have too much power and the ever decreasing amounts of money available have increasingly been funnelled away from any aspect of the game other than Super League. We are routinely seeing clubs go pop and many others run close and the environment created by cutting funding and some of the rule changes about loans/DR etc which are of benefit to Super League teams further undermine interest in the 2nd (and what was the 3rd) tier of the game. Mergers and feeder clubs don't work in the UK, even if they have down under, and for sporting integrity reasons such clubs should not be allowed to enter the Challenge Cup either. But still, lets make sure every post on this thread is responded to by every York fan, that will make everything ok.

Like who really buys half of that tat?

Why they're all friendlies.

A lot us either are or have been there, it’s great to hear people speak out.

Just not true though is it and as a London fan you really shouldn’t mock attendance

Three times in one page is impressive even for this forum.

Excellent! and kudos to you for going and even bigger kudos to the visitors from Wales! They literally traveled through four countries in one day, as they flew from Bristol to Dublin. These are the kinds of stories we should be shouting from the rooftops, but unfortunately it really did not get much coverage. Was there much of a crowd there? Do you think they enjoyed it?

Just back from this. So much could have gone wrong. I arrived in Belfast Saturday to find frozen ground and icy pavements and that was at the airport by the lough. Almost all the football in Down and Antrim was off including matches in Portadown and Lurgan although with a thaw due for overnight at matchday. Football found in an amateur league in the Ardoyne on a 4g pitch, Crumlin Star 4 Abbey Villa 0 if anyone interested. The plan was Ice Hockey in the evening which was sold out Train to Portadown Sunday morning with ground visible from train about a miles before the station and after a nice walk along the River Bain arrived just after 12. Ref and Touch judges arrived shortly after having been travelling from Leeds and Wigan since well before first light. Spoke briefly to officials from IRL who advised this was the first ever Challenge Cup tie in the north Ground typical RU with all attention on the clubhouse and no facilities at pitch level. Aberavon had only flown in on the morning from Bristol via Dublin and were back that night. one carload travelled via Fishguard with kit etc I thought this would be a comfortable away win and a try under the post in the 2nd minute and 10 nil after 8 supported this but the hosts never gave up and won the second half and were only six points behind at the finish. I am sure a much better report is in RL Express. Spent much of the game in the company of a chap from Wigan who married a local lass and still sees about 3 of their games a year. Aberavon now go to Hurricanes. Hope they wern't looking froward a playing at the Alex

I hate this way of doing/presenting the draw, it's so scruffy. No need to do the 3rd round draw before the 1st round is finished.