iffleyox

fair that - no shame in saying that ideally you'd want a top tier manager for a top tier team, but you can't crucify a coach (and his signings) for suddenly being in a radically different position to what the plan was when he and they were signed.

You can get 2/3 of Fev into Post Office Road (just shy of 10k out of a population of 15k)

...

for those who've got no idea what I'm talking about.... the most surreal day in the history of the City of Exeter. I was there man.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2002/michael_jackson.shtml

I think that feels a bit like a grievance in search of an excuse though. Exeter City had bumped along the bottom for decades as the only game in town (other than the race course and the speedway) for decades, and insofar as anyone thought about the union team at all it was to laugh at their ground or patronise them for still existing with no support. From about 2001 it became habit to laugh at them for 'ideas above their station' as they started to climb. Then it was fear fans might defect 'if you're a real Exonian, you should be at St James' Park' - genuinely said to me by the landlord of the Jolly Porter in about 2002. Then it was 'it's not fair, we've been here for decades, they're taking all our sponsors' Then it was 'it's too far to get to the ground anyway' Now, apparently, it's 'they charge you too much to go' Fundamentally, most of those arguments were advanced by people who were never going to go anyway. The fundamental problem is that over the last two decades the relative positions of Exeter RU and Exeter City have flipped - except that Exeter RU are more successful than Exeter City ever have been. Anyway, I don't really have a dog in that fight - I went to the County Ground about twice. But you could feel Exeter RU professionalising and flexing its muscles even back at the start of the century. Which was the same (bizarre) period that Exeter City got involved with Uri Geller, Michael Jackson and David Blaine.... If only the internet had been more popular then. It was mind boggling when we had to read about it in the Express and Echo, God knows what social media would have made of it....

quite - it's all very well that it looks like the organisers have decided 'you're going home then', but far more likely that they have to cover the options - if they *are* suddenly going home then they're quite likely to want to get on a plane, and it's not a case of just whistling one up. Really don't think there's anything to see here. Apart from a plane, if you like that sort of thing.

....

allow me to help you out - I think you're thinking of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who declared himself emperor of the Central African Republic (which then became briefly the Central African Empire) and spent a third of the nation's annual income on his coronation in 1977. But Mobutu was more your leopard skin wearer.

Life got in the way so not been on the forum since yesterday morning.... Good. God.

Leigh Evans?

so what you're saying is, when it comes to getting an A Licence, next year is Warrington's year? What could possibly go wrong??

they disbanded their men's side the other year. Bringing this back to RL rapidly, I think they probably jumped at the chance to host Hurricanes for a year or two.

Pertemps Bees - another casualty of spending silly money.

A Moseley season ticket holder splutters into his tea. Alright we're a bit bruised and battered, and recent relegation to level 3 is a far cry from the heights of going unbeaten for over a season and providing multiple England and Lions players, but we are still in Birmingham last time I looked. Just not, as we were in the 1970s, probably the best RU side in England.

they will when they move out of Bees into the Commonwealth stadium, which is the plan....

I do see what you mean, but ever since I read Underdogs I've harboured a belief that Batley have quietly been doing a lot of things right for a long time now. So, I'd never have picked them out as potential finalists at the start of the season, but equally I'm not actually genuinely surprised by where they've ended up. Not to the extent I would be if we were talking about say Dewsbury anyway.

don't really agree with the plans but I do agree with all this.

Exactly, cricket and RU probably pretty much know (though they might not like the answer) how much money they've either got or could have in their sports. RL is the usual bin fire of squabbling, missed opportunities and unfulfilled potential. We could all have a go at saying what RL 'could' be worth in the UK, but everyone's flying blind because no one really knows... As usual, it's a much harder place to start from, because all cricket and RU have got to do is let go of some delusions, whereas RL sometimes feels like it struggles to even dream.

I don't think you're as cynical as I am.... how about whoever finishes last in SL next year gets relegated but as an A, and the promoted side comes up as a B, but the other 11 all get A. And the A definition is written (as it was last time licensing was around) to accidentally include who they wanted anyway?

I might have missed anything on hard numbers, but in all this fevered excitement about who gets to be A or B or whatever, is there a small possibility that the number of A clubs announced next year might 'accidentally' tally with and match up to the Super League clubs? I.e. it won't matter if a B finishes above an A, because there won't be any Bs in the top flight, or any As a level down....

which is very difficult in England if you're not from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria, or London.* *yes, also Newcastle, Birmingham (this year) etc, but you know what I mean

AIUI the stadium as planned is basically now dead, and what is going to be built is a smaller thing just for Truro City. Pirates are stuck at the Mennaye now for the foreseeable. Might as well change their name back to Penzance/Newlyn…

to be fair, I was following it on twitter, and depending on which team you were backing sounded like he was generally decent except for the (again depending on which team you were backing) occasional lapse. Not sure you can ask for more than that in reality. Still. Up the Trin.

...

No one in their right mind, at a fans forum, is going to read out the disaster recovery plan. It's bad enough when you're talking about a datacentre, but when the main ongoing cost is wages that would be a presentational, morale, and probably legal nightmare. You're never going to get anything other than the most anodyne 'we're not expecting that'.