paul hicks

indeed, they can but then they were not built in old industrial or housing areas with limited space

when you look at that photo it looks like there was no slope back then which i think was the case

not even many rugby league stadiums could

leeds did hve one none federation space still available so quite possibe

agents often sort out contracts for a few years so a 5-year contract with the 2 years of it in advance at another club would be easy enough to do. think 2 years at say Catalan with a clause that he would move to the new club after that on terms already agreed would not be difficult to sort out if the money is right. it's not the first time that players have agreed a deal for a club 2 years in advance although it's not announced at the time is it.

was it not leigh who led the charge to scap the old championship maximum spend on players when they were in the championship a few years back

you do it with a 3-year plan before you enter which gives you time to sign a squad the year or even more before you start playing . easy enough to sign players two tears in advance and loan them out to keep them playing . any new club should have to have a minimum 2 year planning stage before they play a game

yes, there is and its nothing to do with into which area. to have a successful expansion what's needed more than a specific place is a hell of a lot of money to invest over a long time period. reason for the failure of all those teams simple not enough money to invest over a long enough time period. take 10% of all club's current central/super league payments away from them and put it into a fund for a new expansion team and do it for 10 years while giving the new club the same amount as the other clubs in its division gets to add to that money taken from the other clubs would be a start. after that look for rich investors not the local butcher or a car salesman sunbed seller done good and show them a club starting to make waves with the limited money they have and that's the way to go. bring in investors who have to deposit a full at least 5-year funding that is none returnable to the investors for 10 years. any new club not able to find sufficient funds only allowed into the lowest league until they attract better forward funding.

err perhaps because people know where Liverpool is but think the other is a small island in the Atlantic where napoleon was sent to

now this is a comment i can certainly agree with. how dare you suggest anything new when it comes to rugby league. as i was saying to my old mate wilf as we were racing our whippets last week it's all got too modern for me and thats what's wrong with the game we should go back to the 1930s when it was a great game and nothing could ever change it. ah well must get back down the pit i know it was round here last time i looked

now that depends how far back you are willing to go

oh dont b e like that. there is a good chance he is from st helens or Liverpool. think about it if you lived over there would you not want to move

totally agree that nobody wanted a merged team. question is though did that mean nobody really was interested in success?

perhaps if you called it ST HELENS LIVERPOOL SAINTS then it would be more acceptable. in the same way as a team in Yorkshire say Huddersfield could be called HUDDERSFIELD YORKSHIRE GIANTS. never try to relegate the present clubs name to the end of the title

indeed, you could include Warrington in that merger

you could always accept that in many cases things will not get better as the aging fanbase withers. perhaps it may be better to cull a number of weak clubs and poor the savings into a new birth to see if it can thrive

over the years a number of clubs have been bailed out wit grants and loans

same goes for many so-called heartland towns if the club disappeared. hunslet. keighley,rochdale,swinton, just to name a few. would there really be a major outpouring of grief from many people who live there . i could have added more but you get the point .

well it wont lift crowds at Huddersfield thats for sure. not even with cheap as chips season tickets

err . Workington and Whitehaven desperate times and a couple of others not to far behind. the difference is that when its heartland clubs they get help

not quite. the union club at leeds was always a separate club using the same ground with a shared training ground. also, a small section of the club shop and administration for which they paid a fee. really that's why they went bust because they could never turn leeds rhinos' supporters into union lovers. i know in the south stand when they had a union preseason game on before a rhino's games it was a mixture of fans turning their backs on the game and assorted not very nice songs about union

not as long as ken stays healthy

seems the reduced funding is starting to kick in

sounds about right although of course a few have just refused terms and moved so not so much shifted out all those players as refused to give in to demands of some of them.

you would think so but its not always the case. take Melbourne storm when they started up you would have been lucky to find a junior team in the Melbourne area and it's still very much a minority sport at junior level. even now i don't think melbourne have had 10 melbourne born players in the team. what Melbourne got that new clubs in this country don't get is piles of money thrown at them for a number of years. what is needed most is the money to finance a club in a new area. perhaps a percentage of the sky deal can be put into a fund for establishing clubs in new areas.