The Phantom Horseman

Pretty farcical isn't it?

Rogers had a history of leading with the elbow when he played in the Championship as far as I recall.

The team recorded a win in the final game of the season, beating Huddersfield (who beat then 44-6 three weeks ago) 18-16. I don't know if Huddersfield had a weakened team or anything, but that looks like a great way to finish off a really good season

Eaton broke the record in 2003 with 38 in a row, Liam Finn broke Eaton's record in 2012 and took that record to 41 - see the first post in the thread.

Houles has done an astonishing job in my opinion. Most of their squad played in the Championship last season and although they won the Grand Final, they definitely weren't the best team over the course of the season, or indeed one of the standout teams of recent years. They only made one really big-name pre-season signing for 2026 (Dupree) and he didn't last very long there. Around 90% of their squad had been playing in the Championship for the last few years and hadn't been snapped up by SL clubs (Ashall-Bott might have done barring his injury history, but otherwise most of the squad seemed to have their level established). The improvement, and in particular, Houles' ability to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts, has been remarkable. I must admit I'm partly tempted to conclude that we are watching a pretty ordinary SL comp this year, but regardless it's a tremendous coaching achievement. It says something too for coaching continuity - how often do coaches last 13 years at the same club?

From his most recent update on gov.uk: "As part of the Administrator's statutory duties, an investigation into the conduct of the company directors was completed. In this regard, a confidential report was submitted to the Insolvency Service on 13 March 2026".

In his progress report last month the Administrator stated that "several parties" had indicated an interest in making an application to the RFL to run the club in 2027, though how many have materialised we don't know.

Fair enough. We're all desperate to hear some positive news.

There's another record that remains a Fev one despite the player also playing for Doncaster...Luke Briscoe's consecutive try-scoring record, he's just announced that he's retiring at the end of the season after a fine career.

Can you perhaps explain that to the chairman of Championship club on this very thread who states that he has "asked them (the RFL) to put out a statement because there's confusion amongst coaches, players and CEOs." Or are the coaches, players and CEO's sulky teenagers too?

A couple of questions about your comments - "If our old management is hovering around, asking for transparency on governance isn't being harsh—it's basic self-preservation for the club’s future." Who are you asking for transparency from? The Administrator has given us that information ie that the "parties connected to the company" have put in a bid, I doubt we'll hear any more from him as that's not his job and will presumably be bound up in confidentiality clauses anyway. The this comment - "Supporters need to know what kind of governance model any prospective owner is proposing so we don't end up right back in administration twelve months down the line." You seem to be implying that supporters have some sort of say or influence in the decision when clearly we don't. And even if we did, implying that there is one unique set of Featherstone supporters with a common view that could be relayed to, say, the RFL is well wide of the mark - the Campbell/Handley situation saw a split in supporters and I'm not sure much has changed in that regard. Also further to the above comment about knowing what kind of governance model is being considered - Well the Featherstone Phoenix LinkedIn page did put out this comment a few weeks ago which literally covers that question: "For anyone looking at the kind of model that we have in mind for a refreshed Featherstone Rovers RLFC, the growth and stability of Leeds Rhinos but on and off the pitch provides a perfect case study. This article eloquently demonstrates many of the structures and programmes that we intend to bring to Featherstone Rovers to reproduce success on the pitch, to develop a sustainable underlying business model and work with local partners to help bring services into the community." https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leeds-rhinos-dual-engine-behind-commercial-r4tre/?trackingId=VRAYxjoTRvIoN2CbGK%2BRPQ%3D%3D As I've said previously, this whole process is immensely frustrating for all of us supporters, but we were never likely to receive many updates on the process, the blunt truth is that as fans we have no skin in the game at all for the moment.

This is not the same thing as you describe above, but it's hard to believe now that relationships between teachers and school pupils (over the age of 16) weren't made illegal until 2003. I remember in my first job in the late 1980s a female colleague, who was a smart and well-balanced person, telling me that she had been in a relationship with a teacher pretty much throughout 6th form, that everyone (teachers and pupils) knew about it, and that it wasn't considered a big deal.

Here's how this works. Person 1 puts on Facebook "Surely there'll be some news soon, hoping for an announcement on Monday. Person 2 the next day writes on Facebook "Did I see something about an announcement on Monday?" Person 3 adds on Facebook,"Do we know what time to expect this announcement on Monday?" Person 4 chips in:" I've seen loads of stuff about an announcement on Monday" and so it continues.

I think the general feeling is spot on though about what a frustrating situation it is.

I'm not sure about "putting you right", but I'll play devil's advocate on some of your points. Firstly, it's likely that NDAs severely limit what any prospective consortium can say about their bid, or the circumstances around the club. To be honest, I'm a bit surprised they have released as much information about themselves as they have. Secondly, the Administrator in his most recent report stated that over the course of the Administration "several parties" had indicated an interest in submitting an application for the club's membership of the RFL in 2027. It seems a bit harsh to have a go at Ged when it's very possible there is at least 1 other application, possibly more, lodged with the RFL that we know nothing about. It seems that, to escape criticism, Ged should have simply said nothing, in which case we all might be thinking there was nobody even interested in taking over the club? Thirdly, saying the Administrator needs to "step up" shows a misunderstanding of his role imo. His concern is the creditors, not us; as it happens, he has published a couple of sizeable updates with a fair bit of information about the processes he is going through. Another issue might be that, given we had reports fairly recently that the original preferred bidder had dropped out, the only other bid that the Administrator revealed he had received for the company's assets came from "parties connected to the company". It's possible to think that this development may have complicated any decision the RFL were trying to make. Now the point you make about "everything we've put up with over the years" ie no AGMs, the apparent lack of proper accounting, yes that's absolutely fair comment. And yes it's a horrible situation for us all as fans having sat a year out and having little idea of what's going to happen. But all the discussion for something like this is surely going to happen behind closed doors.

Sidi Fidi Gold - with apologies to other readers for making this too personal about the location - but which school are you referring to? I'm probably 4 or 5 years older than you, I went to Regent Street and then St Thomas's Junior School which at the time was across the road from Jubilee Steps, neither of them exist any more but like you we were sometimes taken to Purston Park for "games" which ended up with the (female) teacher taking the 16 or so girls to one side of the park to play rounders, and tossing a football to the boys and telling us to go to the other side of the park to sort out a game (jumpers for goalposts and all), you can imagine how that worked out.

Amazing CC game at The Oval with Surrey beating Yorkshire by 1 wicket. I went yesterday and saw parts of all of all 4 innings (23 wickets in the day). Yorkshire very unlucky having beaten the bat all afternoon and having two pretty plumb-looking LBWs turned down, but Surrey batted extremely gamely in difficult conditions. Great game and the tension over the last hour was huge.

I wouldn't worry, a full-time RL journalist made the same error a few weeks ago, in fairness, there's a confusing line on Companies House which seems to suggest that his name is Colm Gerard, Gerard is his middle name.

That was posted in January though wasnt it?

Oh, I'm sure you're right, I was just being a bit mischievous. 1st Sept just happened to come straight after their final league game. And Keighley tend to part companies with their coaches more frequently even than we have done.

One for the conspiracy theorists! RFL: "In our head we've always looked at the end of August as a bit of a target to get clarity on what's going on," he said. "I'm still optimistic that we'll meet that. There's still a lot of stuff to go through, but I'm optimistic we'll do that because I think it's only fair on whoever takes on the club; they have from the 1st of September onwards to plan coaches, assistant coaches, players, and then preseason will soon start. "So that's in our head, the kind of target that we're working towards." 1st September announcement: "Keighley Cougars can confirm that Head Coach Ian Hardman will leave the club following the conclusion of the current season by mutual agreement."

Prior to the winter of 2011 - an Icemaster 2000 deluxe* Snow Shovel. I live in the south of England, and it's never left my shed. *I may have invented the brand name.

I read it as them adjudicating on applications(s), having also been in consultation with the administrator about their feasibility in relation to what's happening with the land and ground. But that's just my guess.

I think you're probably right, and I'm not sure I have much more faith in the ticketing process than you do, but I remember as a Fev fan rushing to buy seats for last year's 1895 Final at Wembley because I didn't want to be too close to the front & there weren't many seats left at the back of the bottom row, only for the whole section above to be opened to Fev fans a few days later. Enjoy it anyway, I can't tell you how long ago now last year's 1895 final feels like to a Fev fan!

This has happened with Wembley games in the past, ie some sections show as being unavailable and then mysteriously go on sale later, I have always assumed it was to try and get fans of the same team grouped roughly together but I'm not sure. I suppose in the early stages of sales they had to allocate a reasonable section of the stands to London supporters as they can't just go along the lines of "ok there are 2,000 seats in this stand, let's allocate 1800 to Widnes and 200 to London." My point really was that they will surely have a plan C to make more seats available to Widnes fans nearer the day, they're not going to be turning people away.