steve oates

That just about sums it up. Are Cornwall and Hurricanes also in place so they too can give up to the championship and Superleague the talent they may find and nurture into higher level players?

Got to do it though, got to feed the fans the best talent we can. Works for Premier Soccer......... Superleague is far more important than Internationl RL

Top class ice hockey established years back against second class Rugby League in which League collapsed in Sheffield years ago (Hetherington exit) and Ice Hockey grew and grew. Surprised that you don't seem to grasp this, that the Current Eagles are a shadow of what they once were?????

The 50% reduction came at the end of a SKY contract that was originally negotiated with rivals BT sport being interested. This possible (that may have seen it probable then) competition seemed to heavily up the bidding from SKY, and that was to include the championship, League One and new formats to up the content and the excitement. Harry will remember it as Leigh were the major excitement in the championship play off...... In the end BT didn't bid and the planned hullabolu didn't raise viewing figures so the next contract bombed Again Harry will know as he was in the thick of it

We have never "stuck to a provincial competition"........ We have tried hard to go national for decades....... Bridgend, Trafford, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chorley, southend, Mansfield, Kent etc etc etc etc etc Our game does not work in Rugby Union land

Can I add a "me too" as well The rise of the Leopards is wholly down to Derek.

Haven't we passed the end of the month now? What did I miss?

I am not sure. Corrections welcome but didn't he drop in at Bradford and then leave to set up cornwall. Maybe his alleged "talent" lies in expansion rather than ressurection

The point is someone like Perez can do far more for the game in the north than he can 370 miles away.

How is a strong Broncos good for the game? It would really have been good for the game if Hughes had say showered his £Millions on say Oldham. What do you mean "focus the club"? It's only Hughes pockets that keeps them alive. We have Perez mucking about in Cornwall, Hughes money and Perez's marketing expertise would be really good for the game. Having clubs miles from the heartlands isn't as great as people think it is.........

I am not sure if you are saying that if the club had a website, and were on Twitter and facebook with a competent person pulling the levers that would somehow revive their fortunes?? Do remember Ernie Clay set the club up at Fulham with the fanfare of BBC news decades back and after some decline money bags Branson re-booted them with some success including Wembley, but again things fell away notwithstanding a couple of big supported games in the Anglo-Aussie competition. Is your social media plan going to make the people of London sit up, and take notice and go to games in any sort of numbers that can save the club??? IIRC Mr. Hughes has lost many £Millions over the years since he himself admitted the club was not and never would be economically viable. How would social media output make any difference??

I haven't bothered with this utter nonsense from just after the start, when you and Harry were providing the realistic view that IMG will do nothing for the game, and when the game itself was not prepared to pay IMG anything without results. The view you take is probably the view many thousands of fans in the pubs, clubs, terraces and seats take. But this forum is more of a "dreams of what could be" place to discuss the great game. T'was on this forum that the North Atlantic League was heavily promoted as the future. Leigh needing to make way for New York I lost my rose tinted specs reading the history of Rugby League and the reality of how it works only in certain communities. I read the history of "expansion" in Trevor Delaneys books, in which dozens of clubs have come and gone trying to expand the boundaries of our sport. If the latest nonsense is to "downgrade" Wigan who are probably the games biggest club, then that says it all. The reality is clubs like Wigan and Leigh, Leeds and Bradford, Hull and HKR, Saints and Wire, Cas and Wakey, Toulose and Catalans add so much more with their hard fought rivalries. IMG had nothing to offer from the start......

Over the years (and London do go back decades now) amateur and junior RL has declined significantly. The changes in what kids want to do in their spare time, and the head knocks debate has seen numbers decline massively. In addition TV money is down, so the reality will be players and fans probably having one part time team in London if there is enough private backing from an owner......

So marketing works full stop You just need the "right type" eh?? I guess your a Billionaire then Hetherington is one of the best at marketing RL, so I wonder why Leeds have not opened a new 100,000 capacity stadium in Leeds or at least sold out every Headingley game.

I would assume that Mr. Hughes does not bother with Marketing on the basis of the reality that Broncos or Skolars are probably unable to get ant return on such marketing "investments". If a marketing campaign for more bums on seats at a match costs £1,000 and only £200 worth of extra fans show that's not "marketing". It's a stupid waste of money that can be ill afforded.... On Skolars I am not up to date, but what is any new owner looking at in terms of the receipt of TV money next year and onwards??