David Shepherd

Come off it folks, there's no Bradford conspiracy. If there was, don't you think they'd have found a way to a) keep them in SL, b) Get them promoted to SL, c) Not deduct 12 points and keep them in the championship. Give your heads a shake

I can get behind this idea. Although I'd much rather see the 8s continue. A 14 team league gets us 26 games. Don't think we need anymore than that, so no bash please. With an even fixture list we don't need a play off. If we can start the season a few weeks before Super League it'll give the promoted club a crucial extra couple of weeks to assemble a squad. What about funding? The tiered approach makes no sense without the 8s, so I'd hope that it was evenly distributed across the 14 teams. It's not the first time the structure has been changed late in the day, the world carried on spinning then, I'm sure it will this time.

Looking at companies house, it seems the charges were registered a couple of years ago. What loans have or haven't been made is not clear. He was appointed as a director a month ago. Whatever his involvement with the club, it appears to be increasing. If I make it to the forum, his involvement and/or intentions is something I'd like to ask about.

Yep, Colm Corran. I'd like to know a bit more about him. I've a feeling I sat next to him on the plane out to Toulouse, seemed like a decent bloke.

Is it necessarily a player? New investor, new director etc?

Apparently the will be "Major recruitment news" at the forum. Let the wild speculation begin.

Exactly. The burning question though is: How many Fev fanatic multi millionaires are there in the WF7 and WF8 areas? Or, do we know anything about Colm Corran, a recently appointed director?

Agree with all that, except number 4 to an extent. Halfback cover was more than adequate to cover the loss of Ridyard or Holmes, but not both. We should reasonably have expected to get Jordan Lilley during this vital period. That was exactly when he was loaned out. Thanks for nothing Mr Hetherington. Bottom line is that we bet the farm on some star players and hoped that Leeds would be the cavalry when needed. It could have worked and been wonderful. It didn't and now we're in the gary glitter. We've come back from worse. Up The Chuffing Rovers.

Thanks Kman, you learn something new every day. Booze is literally everywhere here, from corner shops to petrol stations and super markets and everywhere inbetween. In fact it's harder to find a shop that doesn't sell booze. That might be why we have such a binge drinking at home problem.

The money that the championship clubs receive is compensation for signing their (largely unused) TV rights over to Sky. It is categorically not SL money.

Sky absolutely love the 8s and in particular the MPG I've no evidence for that, but it doesn't seem to stop other folk from making stuff up and presenting it as fact.

Really? You can't just nip to the supermarket or local shop for booze? Is it just "hard liqour" or beer, wine etc too?

it's the only explanation that makes sense. We basically threw in the towel in late May / early June.

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm waiting with baited breath for Parky's contribution to this thread.

By the sound of it, top four won't be a thing next year. That might be our best hope of a decent squad. If there's no top four, there's no logic in the distribution of the TV money. The only way you can operate a 1 up 1 down league is with equal funding across the league, which would mean we got a bit more. Massively clutching at straws, but I wonder if (hope that) MC knows this already.

Certainly feels that way. However, this year seems like sod's law. Which says that if you run with no squad depth and rely on Leeds, you'll get injuries and Leeds will let you down.

This is so easily solved. Fly back on the Monday evening Manchester flight and let the players have a well earned day off. Just need to ensure that you're not expected to play on Thursday or Friday. But hey, this is rugby league let's have a moan and a whine over nothing. However, Air Transat are not the only game in town. There are cheaper options (if the clubs are paying their own way). Icelandair have a daily Toronto > Keflavic > Manchester and vice versa. There also BA from Heathrow and the shuttle up to LBA/MAN Or even Humberside/LBA to Toronto via Schipol with KLM

Very lucky. Playing like that they'll get mullered by everyone, including Halifax.

Watched Bussey from being a young lad at Fev. Very good championship player, but nowhere near SL standard. He won't be in your squad next year, unless you stay in the championship Always been a penalty machine and has recently become a bit of a grub.

It does indeed. It also has a gene pool all of its own.

Jeeez these are two pretty awful sides. If ever anyone needed justification for relegation, this game is it.

Think it roughly translates as "pointless filler games, to pad out the season a bit and get the SL chairmen 14 guaranteed paydays"

It was a decent idea until the bit after your final comma. Leaves the whole thing open to shady deals, back room shenanigans and general corruption etc. Especially since at least two incumbents would fail stadium criteria, you'd be starting with a maximum of 10 teams in Super League, unless of course the rules didn't apply to those who found a chair when the music stopped.

Personally, I'd like to see the 8s continue, but if we are to have yet another change then this looks like a decent way of doing it. There has to be movement between the leagues and this format might well make it easier for a promoted team to stay up in year one. Plus Sky seem to love the MPG and it's one of the few times we trend on social media. Bit harsh on the bottom champ team this season and one lucky champ team is going to be very happy. If we're increasing the size of the league isn't it fairer to just have two promoted and no relegation this year? What happens to champ funding with this format? Is the distribution equal or are we keeping the tiered approach? Can't see it working unless the funding is equalised, the whole point of the tiered funding was to try and make the 8s competitive.

Fixed that for you ?