GIANTSTRIDES

Maybe everyone wants to be the last poster, This might put me in with a shout, Personally i hope it's Parky i reckon he has contributed most.

I have just read the report in the Examiner, I don't know exactly how accurate it is ( no reason it shouldn't be ), It seems to me this is far from being a done deal in the long term, And in Rugby league long term is usually about 18 months. I have been wondering what the SL clubs are getting out of this, I can see the arguments for some of them being able to opt for a less spending strategy, But some of them clearly won't be doing that, so what has been ceded to them to vote this thing through. There is the thing about playing the better clubs more often, but that may be nullified by it becoming stale, and SL could have just cut some strugglings clubs adrift if that was what they wanted. There is a lot more to come out of this yet, I can't believe the six clubs who were against this earlier , have just gone away , thought about it and just plain changed their minds, It's almost as though they have voted it through knowing something else is in the pipeline, Maybe a better TV deal or something. They have been saying all along that there is not enough money to run SL properly ( and i agree ) but this deal doesn't seem to give them enough extra to have had such a big change of heart, One thing is certain none of them are fools when it comes to money, And i don't believe any of them have voted for this without knowing all the details, ( which are to be published later apparently ) I just have a feeling this is a stepping stone to something.

Fair enough mate , To be honest i didnt have you in mind when i wrote it, There have been one or two on who seem to have rather a large chip on their shoulder. No offence intended. I do not like this idea at all but i shall still be going to games, I will be surprised if it lasts long , but we shall see.

But It's all about this middle 8 isn't it. ( not having a go at you personally ) As Gingerjon says it could be the end of the CC, and with 6 out of the 8 teams in the middle 8 being present SL clubs , It leaves as someone has said room for only 2 out of Fev, Sheffield Fax Leigh, Batley, whoever. ( God help us on here if Fev aren't one of them ). The whole thing is ill thought out, I will say for the last time that the game needs to generate more money, Not spread out thinner what there is , And again in my opinion anyone who thinks Fans are going to flood in, in many extra thousands to watch a lower level game, is going to be disappointed. I get the thinking behind the local Derbies and all that, But why didn't it make these clubs big and successful before SL came along.

I believe that myself, But it will take 2/3 seasons for it to dawn on some clubs, By which time they will either have gone bust trying to compete with the top clubs, ( if they are really ambitious ) or they will have settled for playing at a lower level and will somehow be pulling in mega crowds, by doing so. Either way i fail to see how they are going to add anything at all to the top of the game. After nearly 4,000 posts , ( with some very good ones both sides ) It still makes little sense to me. I should be quite happy with the prospect of playing the games top clubs more often, But it seems to me that it's possible to play the same team 6 times in a season. I don't see this middle tier pulling in anything like the crowds it's claimed, but like everyone else I hope i'm wrong. With regards to your own club, IMO it will , In the next few years be the only SL club in the so called Calder area. I know i am risking the wrath of the Fev faithful saying that, but i don't think Mr N is prepared to fund what's coming, Unless as i said earlier they are going to settle for lower level stuff, and it's all just been about getting the extra money. A lot will depend on Sky of course, and you have to hope that someone at RFL has done some work on their wants, Because up to now they have shown little or no interest in anything below top level.

Good point.

I recon there is a lot more to come out of this yet, I'd be really interested to know what the so called rebels have been given to allow this to go through, I would imagine whatever it is it has been enough to let some of the other SL get the best of both worlds ( so to speak ). It seems to me that this is really all about 4/5 clubs, who if everything goes to plan have a chance to get back to some former glory days, I don't see it myself but like everyone else i shall continue to support my side , and watch the rest on TV. The whole system seems to be banking on the Middle 8 clubs suddenly starting to pull in thousands of fans , that many of them have never pulled in , in their history. With 2 SL club relegated this season and another 4 when the split comes, that makes 6 current SL in the middle 8, ( if i have that right ) and if i have there is a very real possibility of 4 of them going back up . Still it's in and we shall run with it, ( and hope it's everything they claim it will be ) but i have a very uneasy feeling about the whole thing, The chances of playing the same teams 4/5 times a season does not sit easy with me, I totally understand the elation some of the posts are demonstrating, They see this as the new dawn ( latest ) for their clubs, I hope it works out for them.

I suspect that last bit might be what made the difference, Anyway we shall at least see what these clubs who are going to light the game up are made of.

Sky are reporting it as a done deal, This coming season could be the best for a while.

Which brings us full circle, Who's got £3.5 million. It seems clear from reading some of the posts that some people are not really bothered about this top 8 that is talked about, They are just settling for being in the middle teir and getting some money, with the hope of starting each new season in the 12 and thereby getting the funding , without actually doing anything to make the top league any better. If there is going to be the same 8 teams at the top every year, then surely the whole thing has failed.

I think it will only benefit a very few clubs. As you say all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

There can't be many ideas or cures that haven't been aired on here now, But the basic problem is still the same. SL needs a lot more money, below SL needs a huge amount, The trick for me is to get more in , rather than jiggle the same amount about.

Fair enough.

I see what you are saying, But it's based on playing more fixtures against the same clubs, and Fans turning up in bigger numbers for these fixtures. I see that it might work but it equally might not, and are these bottom 4 clubs really going to have that sort of impact on the middle league ?. I'm not shooting you down here, Its just none of it is known.

Some great posts and some not so great, but all interesting, As has been alluded too, No one knows what is happening yet, But one thing is absolutely certain for me, The games major problem is shortage of money, IMO messing about with SL in the hope it will somehow kick start everything below it, is not going to solve it. The game has to generate more revenue, Especially below SL level , There have been some good ideas on here , but i have not seen one Post that said, This will improve revenue. Again IMO don't do anything to jeopardize the comp that is delivering a known amount of money, on the strength of something that might work , or might not. I completely fail to see how jiggling the same amount of money about, increases it in any way, The argument is that it will revitalise fans interest in the game below SL, but there is no evidence for this as yet, So it seems to me that the 4 bottom clubs in SL , will drop down to play with the top 4 of the league below, and these 4 clubs are in essence the ones who are going to bring about this transformation, Should they finish in the top 4 places, which is more than possible, what has changed ?, other than SL will have far more repeated fixtures. Unless i have this wrong.

1 Sky would very soon care if people started to cancel subscriptions, And that is a danger. 2 I see that as taking the game backwards, Why in an age when most sport seems to be going forwards ( some more than others ) do we even talk of going backwards, Like you i would prefer SL with 10 or 12 clubs and straightforward P&R if we have to have it, I think we would have a repetition of clubs going bust but they would know the rules, They know the cost of SL, surely It's up to them to get up to that level, not reduce the level to suit them. Sounds harsh but the game has to go forward not backwards, ( nothing to do with my club at all ) It's just the reality of the game.

I was thinking in terms of the repeated games, What you are saying makes sense in so much as i like to watch top games on TV, but it seems ( unless i have it wrong ) teams could be playing each other 4 times a season, I don't see that as particularly good for the game, All that said, if / when this new system comes in , I hope to be still going to the games. One thing that is worth a mention is ,We all give our opinions and think we know how to sort the game, Which is fair enough, I enjoy reading other peoples opinions, but we very rarely get people looking at the money men's side of things, only to call them greedy, The thing is between them they have put in £ millions and are still doing so, with little or no chance of any profit, They don't have to do this, so they must love the game equally as much as we do , Mostly all they get from the average fan is that they are greedy and want everything, and yet without them probably few clubs would exist at pro level.

Thanks for that.

After the 23 game regular season and we have a top 8, can anyone explain how those 8 will play off. Maybe Ponterover , who i think has read up on all aspects. It seems to me the simplest thing is to call the top team after 23 rounds, Minor champs, but what sort of playoff would then follow i don't know. I wish things didn't have to be so complicated, I can see how it may benefit one or two clubs short term, But i just see there being a corresponding loss at the top end.

And those who would be king.

There is a long thread going about this, But just for the sake of answering. 1 This money you talk of that is going to to be flowing down through the game, Where is that going to come from ? If you think that the SKY money from 2 relegated SL clubs is going to fund all this , I think you are going to be very disappointed. 2 A very odd thing to say i agree, But the huge amount of money he has put into the game will look like nothing compared to your season ticket, so i see your point. 3 What has been stopping this from happening before the impending Revolution , Could it possibly be the fault of the only section of the game that has been going forward and bringing in revenue perhaps.

I will Wellsy. Huddersfield are improving slowly at producing players, They still lag behind lots of clubs, and i think that is because they lag behind many areas in the number of Amateurs playing the game. To be honest i think this has nearly always been the case , So the fact that Fartown themselves had got to such a low ebb for such a long time, may not have a very big bearing . As i have said before Fartowns biggest problem is Soccer, Even back in the 50s when they had a good side, Town would still outdraw them, Although back in those days people could afford to go to both, and many did,

This is something i have questioned, If they show only the top games and ignore the second 8, Then the top 8 are going to be on TV a lot more than has been the case, Some of these clubs will lose revenue from this, Are they going to be happy. There is always the chance that this along with other issues has been looked into, It is surely not possible they would go ahead with this without sorting all such things as this

Yes they did finally win something, Rated 3rd out of 3 but i'm sure KD was very glad to win it, I Know i was, and winning anything in SL does not come easy. IMO people like Davy , Lenaghan et al, are not used to losing, They are winners in business, and they want to be winners in this business as well,They are not interested in playing at a lower level. No one really can Fault KD for his staying power, Huddersfield when he took control were at the very bottom, He has spent a fortune to get them to their current position, and all his talk is of the future, and he see's that future at the top level, so who knows. On the other hand i get the feeling that many people are accepting that below perhaps the top 8, It is going to be lower level, and they are happy for that to happen because they will be able to compete , I fully understand this, and who knows what club will be in that lower level in years to come. This is a realistis view but what bothers me about this is that somehow SL is going to have to pay for this, and is it going to work, or will it just be an expensive failure ?, We all know what it costs to run a top club and i just don't see this extra money going to the lower clubs getting them past the first rung, without massive help from a Money man, Which i know can happen sometimes, ( Fev seem to be well placed here ) There really should be some way to fund a strong second tier, and let SL take the game forward, Particularly on SKY,

No problem, I am not the best at expressing myself sometimes, My position is that i think the game is likely to become more and more about Money and Sky, Which makes it vital for me that we keep the Elite clubs Elite, ( whoever they might be ) This is not to belittle the fans of any club in any way.