bigbaldnmad

The revenue from the land will start to be realised, hopefully, in the non too distant future. MC's gripe is with having to work long hours, while speccies are drinking at other local pubs rather than in the ground. I believe that the club are looking into a way of getting schemes in place. MC doesn't put any money into the club, in fact I believe the amount owed to him was reduced last year. He and Martin Vickers are working really hard to make the club self financing. With the central funding and sponsorship / other income streams it is easily achievable to get to the salary cap. Obviously, if we didn't meet the criteria set by IMG, we wouldn't get in, but one of those shouldn't be location.

Had Featherstone got to SL this year they would have spent up to the cap, presumably as the income from the land isn't being generated yet, the sponsorship is and the addition of the sky money would. Currently Mark is not subsidising the club, in fact the amount the club owed him has dropped. This has all blown up out of Mark being disappointed with the attendance and more to the point speccies drinking in local pubs rather than the ground. The 'working his tails off' refers to the time both him and Martin Vickers are putting in to get us there and not a financial contribution.

Now let me ask you a question. What impact would a self financing Fev, with excellent off field facilities, spending up to the salary cap without a sugar daddy, replacing a weaker current SL club, have on SL?

If Featherstone get into SL, they will be full time, a lot are already.

I don't have an issue with TO, but there is a big myth around their attendances. If TO perform on the field, let them succeed, but don't make them pay or travel. When Featherstone went for the play off final, the crowd was just short of 10k, there were around 750 of us from Featherstone, and a good 2000 from Catalans, including their band. I really enjoyed the craiq with the Catalans fans, but there weren't 9000 Toulouse supporters. There was next to no promotion of the game evident, and most of the locals weren't aware that TO existed. I assume this has improved but it isn't evident looking at TO attendance in both SL and championship

So, a few things about Featherstone that have obviously passed you by. Featherstone is no longer a mining village, there hasn't been a pit for 20 years. The current working population of Featherstone are just as likely to be a software developer, project manager or NHS worker as any other occupation. There is extensive building work going on around Wakefield and the 5 towns area that feed into the every expanding Leeds conurbation, being driven by the growing influence of Leeds as a city. From a club point of view, Featherstone are working on, with developers, building houses on local land owned by the club, that will provide a monthly income. Featherstone, as a rugby club, are continually looking to improve. The training facilities are excellent and have been used by both Wakefield and Leeds in recent times, and Samoa used it during the world cup. Featherstone, Wakefield and Castleford all received £2m from the local council to use on facilities to be used by the local community, Featherstone are looking to invest in building a medical and sport rehabilitation facility, for both the community and the club. The floodlight receive plenty of stick, and quite rightly so. Up until the middle of last year, the power supply to the club wouldn't support better lights, that has now been remedied and Mark Campbell has already stated that these will replaced when needed for TV. The club are committed to upping the capacity to in excess of 10k by installing crash barriers on the terracing. Next is a general point for most of the teams that have been excluded from SL. Featherstone did once have an academy set up, funded by Featherstone but were forced by the RFL to stop running one. Stopping teams like Featherstone, Halifax and Leigh running academies so that all the local talent is poached by Leeds, Wigan, Saints does nothing to allow clubs to develop. So I am playing the ball, I think SL deserves to have strong clubs both on and off the field, and if Featherstone develops strong off the field facilities and infrastructure then why deny them based on location.

Super league TV punter.... so when Sky scuttle off, because they cant be bothered offering enough money to keep 12 teams competitive, you will move on to another sport to offer your largely ill informed opinion on?

So MOK, which obviously failing team do you follow, that means you have to try and trash, put down and generally insult the local population / demographic of other clubs?

One of the drivers from IMG is social media interactions. Something that Featherstone are embracing and running with. This is a big driver in being able to attract sponsorship from nationwide companies. According to the Martin Vickers update, the 5 million social media interactions per month allowed him to get that sponsorship. Featherstone are showing how to adapt and will surprise you if you take off your anti Fev blinkers.

Its also worth remembering that SL has been in existence for over 20% of the existence of RL, yet they still cant get it right.

Correct me if I am wrong, are the IMG proposals, or the first main bit f them, not being released until 13th March, and then up for approval after that? So really you are arguing about what might be, it is not known yet. I already understand that there are different levels of Cat B & C. If it was already clear cut that Featherstone wouldn't get in, would someone as in tune as Mark Campbell still be pushing towards SL?

Am I still correct in thinking that there will still be P&R if the team at the top of championship can replace a team of the same category or lower in SL... if so how does it become a closed shop?

I have posted it above

Just for accuracy, I believe that this was posted on the Fev fans facebook page, and not from, or on, an official club social media source. In my eyes he is commenting as a fan and would probably be okay, especially as he isn't quoting any specific incidents.

Bussey Hardcastle Cozza

I think in the current climate, to ask walk up supporters to attend for 4 weeks running just isn't going to happen. People will pick and choose their games. In a club update video last week it was said that the season ticket sales were up on previous seasons and that £350K had been raised in sponsorship. Add to that the wages are supposedly down on previous seasons I guess this is just Mark having a go at fans for drinking in the local pubs rather than the ground. I am sure next Mondays crowd for the game against Bradford should be a good one.

Most other clubs accuse us of using similar tactics, to slow the PTB down, although I hope that we are a little better at it than Newcastle. I don't really think we were on it from the start, passes from acting half going high above peoples heads. I just think we had a bad day at the office, although it was nice to see we worked through it. It was a shame to see Aekins go off, hopefully it won't be a long term injury. I thought that the ref lost control of the game, and fully expected a more serious flare up. I thought that Bussey did really well not to react to the provocation, as I thought they were trying to wind him up. If Aekins does miss next week, at least Pickersgill will be nice and fresh, and I am sure he would love a good game against his old team.

Rest for Koppy

All the dancing in my youth was the Pogo, not sure I'd get off the ground now...

And they have the audacity to complain at Fev's... pot, kettle, black

On the fixture list on the website it says 2248. Last year it was 2572, so down slightly on last year.

What gets me, is there is a new post on twitter with Longy having a photo taken with a young fan. Focusing on the one percent they got wrong rather than the 99 percent they get right, FMO. What I think is people should take a balanced view, and not just a moment in time. Seems like some Northern fans have an agenda, but thankfully not all.

There seems to be a lot green eyed monsters out there, as currently Fev are doing no more than trying to be successful. The social media department work really hard at trying to promote inclusivity and the community, but for one poorly received GIF, aimed mostly at the home supporters, that was subsequently removed, the whole club is to be vilified. I will take no lectures from a supporter of a club that has had extensive financial support from the RFL, money that in my eyes would have been better spent on the grass roots community clubs, without which there wont be a game in 20 years time. The fact that little old Fev, a small ex mining town, are funding a team to challenge for promotion is obviously getting to some folk. Most Featherstone fans will have a lot more regards for the likes of Whitehaven than they have for 'Northern', and their superficial fans. Rant over.

Bussey Lacans JD