David Shepherd

£25,000 to the winner.

Fine with me. The more the merrier. Somewhere I've never been. Hope we draw them away.

Surely watching egg dribble down the ambulance chaser's cheeks is worth £250,000?

It's awful how your county has been butchered and turned into Greater Manchester and Merseyside etc. There's less for us fortunate enough to be born on the sunny side of the hill to take the mickey bliss out of. My late father was a proud Boltonian and Lancastrian, he never recognised the new "counties", although he was smart enough to move to Yorkshire and become an adopted Fev lad.

Nice bit of naked flatcapperism there Parky. Gave me a giggle reading, so thanks for that. iirc Pro Rugby died in Lancashire years ago, with the demise of Blackpool.

Good news that they're keeping the core of the squad. They've been less than ordinary all year and shouldn't give the top 6 champ sides much bother.

Makes perfect sense to equalise the funding. Championship clubs only need to beat other championship clubs to get promoted, so no need for the skewed funding. It's absolutely right that this process starts immediately, but it does need to be tapered a bit this year. No doubt Halifax, Toulouse and London will have already made some signings on the strength of that funding. Not too worried about parachute payments. Didn't do Leigh much good and if Widnes try to keep the core of their squad then happy days, they have been abysmal.

The video is pretty unambiguous. Tomorrow night he'll be receiving one almighty ban and rightly so. Was always a penalty machine at Fev and has got steadily more of a liability as he's got older. The kid has plenty of natural talent, but as is often the case, he's also saddled with a massive idiot streak.

Hardcastle Ridyard Missi

Maybe the championship needs a separate legal body to represent it's interests and drive it's commercial growth going forward. There was just such a company registered by the Batley chairman recently.

It'll happen organically over the next 20 years (If we last that long). As an example from my own part of the world, folk who 25 years ago would only ever have supported Fev are now wearing bright ginger or Rhino flavoured shirts. Clubs like Fev will naturally fade away and the next generations will be travelling to Headingley or C*s. This will only accelerate when we have proper cities like Newcastle, York, Coventry etc playing at the top level. I'll still be watching Fev though, while ever there's a route to the top. (You never know when a capper will win the euro millions). If York get there, they'll probably become my SL team.

Why would we limit non EU talent? We won't be in the bloody thing about 6 weeks into next season. Now if we're talking non UK talent, then I agree. Maybe 1 or 2 per team max and let the championship become more of a breeding ground for talent.

Let's hope that happens sooner rather than later. The one issue that GH has been 100% wrong about

I've no real issue with the structure. But the funding formula is a big concern. It's up to the mighty twelve to now prove that they were right and take the sport forward. At what level should we judge their success? If they don't double revenues within 10 years, will it have been worth causing such a rift in the game? Am I hopeful for the future? No, I'm not sure the 12 between them could get tipsy on a trip to Taddy. We shall see.

Here's the funding formula SLE propose going forward. No wonder the champ clubs don't want it. Zero incentive to negotiate a better deal. Seems that SLE have zero ambition and have already concluded that their deal will be less.

In some ways, I hope that SLE get their way, not because I think it'll be good for the sport but because it will give them ample opportunity to demonstrate how wrong they were. I'm in now doubt that if they get their way and take over the game they will make a collective mess of running the elite level of the sport and we'll still be moaning about declining crowds and falling TV numbers in 10 years time.

Is it correct that Widnes are being threatened with the removal of their parachute payment if they vote against SLE?

To be fair KMan, Toronto and Toulouse aren't RFL members, they are invitees in the competition. So legally speaking, it's right they don't have a vote. However, given the importance of what is being decided, they should both be in the room and involved in discussions.

Wouldn't a really easy way to sort out this whole farrago be for the Super League teams to guarantee 1 promotion spot per annum in perpetuity and to guarantee to filter down 10-15% of TV revenues to the lower leagues, reducing as and when the lower leagues are able to negotiate their own deals.

I'd imagine there will be a last minute sweetener added to the Junta's proposals which will sway the vote of at least 6 financially desperate clubs. And there are plenty of them to choose from.

Thacks Newman Missi

Annnnnnnnnnnnd back on ignore.

I keep hearing that we've never had franchising. If you're referring to licensing. Do you have numbers to back that statement up? If there was growth, did all areas of Rugby League experience this growth? Indeed if licensing was doing so well, why was it ditched?

They were leaving during licensing too. Maybe, just maybe it's the on field product turning them off. The more Super League apes the Australian style of negative play, the more I find myself falling asleep during Sky games.

You know as well as I do that this means professional leagues. Idiot