Keith T

What a sorry state Cumbria is for rugby league. Town halfway of 9 teams in the third league. Haven probably going to join them in the same league. Teams in the Conference leagues all in the bottom 4 or 5 teams in the Premier and 2nd Division except Watch Brow. Where are all the young up and coming players?

Do Town ever do any defensive play in training as teams look as if they can score as and when? I feel for all the people behind the scenes at Town who put in some tremendous work to keep the club going only to see it wasted by these pitiful performances.

Absolutely poor. We were 10 points down in the first 6 minutes. This to me says some players are only there to make the numbers up. We play less games this year than other seasons and yet we have more players out with “injuries”. We certainly can’t get any lower than we are at present!!!

And this week Cornwall go to Midlands Hurricanes and wjn 24 - 22. Funny old game!!!!!!

This seems to be something that could be decided by both parties talking to each other without getting to this stage. It’s amazing what talking together can achieve instead of throwing a slight problem into the public domain. Unless there is something more to this then sort it out and move on.

Final score 48 - 18

Do we not have any defensive practice because it seems like we concede points every time a team gets near our line. This is Newcastle we are playing and they are just starting out again

Why is there no commentary on BBC Radio Cumbria again? Every other match on their website link is working but suddenly the link to the Town match has been removed.

I do know what you mean my old friend maripins. However with DP handed back to the council we have to leave there and with a new grandstand being built at BP then I suppose that is progress of sorts. It isn’t what everyone envisaged or wanted BUT it is the best two struggling clubs are going to get.

But don't the Champions get a £100,000 for winning the GF already?

If the Championship salary cap is set £900,000, which is the figure mentioned in the policy document, then £788,000 and £787,000 are much closer to that figure than £500,000!!

I think confusion is being made here with these posts. The 2014 season is still covered by the licensing system until December 2014 and therefore the Championship is exactly the same as it has been during the licensing seasons prior to this one. The finishing positions in the league this season will decide only the amount of funding in the 2015 season and which teams will be relegated. The Grand Final will be played as normal with the same prize money as in previous years and this will be the last Grand Final for the Championship as there is no provision for it under the new system from 2015. The policy document talks of Clubs 1 and 2 getting 50% (or very nearly) of SL clubs funding and all the other Tier 2 clubs will receive central distribution of funds with meritocratic payments to the 3rd and 4th placed teams. At the commencement of the 2015 season the two relegated teams will pick up the top two prizes of Tier 2 and what should have been going to the 3rd and 4th placed teams will be going to the teams that finished 1st and 2nd in the 2014 season. Likewise the last placed team amount will go the club promoted from Championship 1. Of course all of this may have altered quite significantly but that, I believe, is the basis of what the Championship clubs were agreeing to support and I don't think they meet again until later this month.

Because from 2015 there isn't a GF for the middle group of 8 where the top 4 Championship clubs go after the 23 league matches have been played.

True. I believe that there will be more interest at the bottom end of the Championship to see which 5, yes FIVE, teams get relegated. That has to be a record for any sport surely?

The top 4 of the top 8 play-off for the SL title. The 5th -12th Championship teams play-off for the Championship Shield and the middle 8 don't have a play-off just a place in SL!!!!!

It has to be table toppers Griff as these figures are also to be used from 2015 onwards when the top 4 go on to meet the bottom 4 SL clubs with the only play-off for Championship clubs being the 5th to 12th teams for the Championship Shield.

Or even as sacrificial lambs!!! (Read my signature)

Thanks for that Martin. I was quoting from the sections 6.5 and 6.6 of the Policy Document dated September that was presented to the clubs in October, so as you say they must have altered that at their meeting this week.

Oxford, my first point is to show what I consider to be an error in Mr Sadler's figures as he shows £778k as the amount the 13th SL club will receive whereas the proposal document states they receive the top payment for the Championship clubs plus £250k which as I stated gives them £900k not £778k. As the top Championship club's prize as gone to them they pick up the prize that should have gone to the 3rd placed team and the knock-on effect is that each of the other teams drops two places in the prize-money list. Yes, protect them to some extent but why give them an advantage over the top Championship clubs?

Unless there has been a change to the documents that was proposed I believe Martin Sadler has got the wrong figures for the two relegated teams. It says in that document that the 13th SL team will receive the top Championship prize, i.e. £650k plus a one-off payment of £250k and the 14th SL team will collect the 2nd place Championship prize plus the one-off £250k, making totals of £900k and £850k respectively. If that is correct then the two relegated teams will have a £350k financial advantage over the top Championship club on £550k.

We will probably find out after the meeting on the 6th (this Thursday coming).

Why does every thread end up talking about Yorkshire, Yorkshire clubs and average attendances, etc? Re-structure of the league is the subject!!!

Not only is it stacked in favour of the bottom 4 SL clubs but it is also stacked in favour of the two SL clubs that will be relegated this season with parachute payments of £900k and £850k respectively. The top Championship this season will get £550k and runner-up £500k. After that from 3rd down it ranges between £250k and £160k depending on finishing position, so the two relegated clubs have a more favourable chance of being in the mix in the middle group than the Championship clubs. I also predict that if one of the two relegated SL clubs replaces one of the bottom four SL teams at the end of the 2015 season we will be fed how good the system is and how it shows that a Championship club can achieve promotion and so on.

That is quite correct but it is this seasons placings that will determine where you play next season and, if the money is forthcoming at the end of this season, it could mean a difference of £60k+ to a relegated team. That is how important it is to some of these clubs to be in the top 9 this season.

I'm sure there will be a big temptation by some Championship clubs to overspend this coming season with high stakes that have put on being in the second 12 of 24 teams. With, at the present time, 5 teams to be relegated, from a financial point of view there will be a vast difference in funding. The 23rd team of the 2 leagues (or 9th placed Championship team) will collect around £160k and the promoted team £150k, whilst the relegated teams pick a one-off payment of £25k and the £75k that all the Championship 1 clubs will receive. This of course is all dependant on the SL clubs allowing some of the Sky money to flow down to the lower leagues but I'm sure all Championship clubs will want to be in the top 9 in their league this season, just in case!!!