Sailaway

The temporary nature of Hatton's signing is understandably disappointing for Swinton supporters. His comments could easily have given people the impression of a greater commitment to Swinton. In reality a player of his quality is always going to be a prime target for wealthier clubs. Good luck to him in progressing his rugby career. In the short term his physical presence, skill and experience will be a boost for the team in the remainder of the season with difficult fixtures coming up. Who knows how important final league positions will be with the ridiculous uncertainty surrounding the competition going forward. If Swinton have players signed for next season I wish they would start to announce them. Some good news would be a welcome boost.

Sad to see Abram go. Now, Tommy Porter released to take up work opportunities in London. Sad to see him leave too. But Jayden Hatton is back which is very good to see.

Wayner, Mark Shackley, an ex Haven player was on commentary. He played with Abram when Dan was up there a few years ago. The Haven coach said in interview that he had a player lined up to join their squad who had played for Whitehaven in the past and was a popular player with supporters. Sounds like Dan Abram fits that description.

There is nothing on the website to show discounts. Not surprising really as the club are trying to raise money through some sort of share issue to keep them going.

The women's team have had a good number of new faces since the mysterious change in coaching staff that was not explained by the Club. The men have another 3 on loan players just announced. Cover for injuries? Who knows.

Your comments are appreciated. Seems there was plenty of effort but a lot of errors and penalties from Swinton and the Dews forward dominance was a key factor.

Any positives? Social media comments are not encouraging.

I wonder what is his view on hanging?

In his comments on the Crusaders website Case states he needs to work hard to get match fit. He must have lost the motivation to do the same at Swinton for some reason. Good luck to him for the future. Communication with fans is still a problem at Swinton despite some improvements. The long delayed new website is disappointing with little "news" on show. In my view the "One Club One Vision" plan is still leaving followers partially sighted.

It is good to read the opinions on the game and the comments on player performance from those who watched the match. Having listened to radio Cumbria's coverage, which is usually fairly good and not completely biased, the commentators made some interesting observations on Swinton's performance. Cox and, in particular, Rodden were commended for their hard work and effort in the forwards. Sergeant was seen to be particularly troubled and uncertain under the high kicks and was targeted in the very difficult conditions. They seemed to think Sidlow needed to be tracked more closely by supporting runners. They commented favourably on Swinton's attacking flair. They seemed to say Swinton gave away rather a lot of penalties.

"There's more but I have to do some work today so best get back to that for now." Mark, I think that would apply to virtually everyone involved in running Swinton Lions. My assumption is that Steve Wild is the only full time worker at the club. I would like to see his daily schedule of tasks. You mention one volunteer who plays a role but there are, thankfully, a few more who put their shoulders to the wheel to keep the club alive. Credit to all of them for their efforts. Some board members seem to be doing their bit too. It is true that, as you point out, there is a lot that needs to be done better. Promises from the boardroom to improve on known failings and not following up has been a consistent problem. Having said that there have been some improvements. Match day coverage on X was much better in the last couple of seasons which is important for those who can't get to games. The development of the women's team has made a big leap forward and a wheelchair team is being worked on. Young people from the community are given opportunities to play the game under Swinton's guidance. The RFL have put so many hoops for clubs to jump through while cutting financial assistance that smaller organisations will always have difficulty in keeping up with it all. Yes, some will do better at it than others especially if they have wealthy backers. North Wales Crusaders new owners, for example, seem to be throwing in a lot of cash advertising for full time staff in various roles. Swinton can't do that. There is still a club to follow at the moment despite the problems. The question of the club's future identity will have to be resolved at some point be it Swinton, Manchester or whatever. The current situation can't go on forever. Just as a point of interest the attendance figures that were published on the old website for last season's league matches worked out at an average of just over 900. It won't be anywhere near that for 2025 unfortunately.

The website is due to be operational on Monday 27th as announced today - We are acutely aware of what has become an unacceptably long delay between the closure of our old website and the launch of our new website. The club wishes to sincerely apologise to our supporters and partners for this delay. However, we can now confirm that the new website will go live on Monday 27 January. The Board wishes to thank you for your patience. Andy Unwin, Chairman.

If memory serves me correctly the CEO did help save the club at a personal financial cost after the last financial meltdown when a previous owner pulled out. No-one is perfect but it is worth remembering the positives as well as the negatives.

There has been some discontent shown on the fans Facebook page as well about this ongoing issue and the delay to going live. Emails direct to the club on info@swintonlionsrlfc.co.uk has been suggested. If enough people wrote in maybe a fuller response and explanation might follow.

Some clubs in League 1 are probably at a similar level to top amateur clubs so the risks could be similar there. Shared gates, if that still happens, would mean any financial benefits are limited in the current format especially for clubs with small capacity grounds. The sheer, built in, inequality in rugby league over recent years has been the problem that has ruined fair competition.