idrewthehaggis

Ha ha kids. The merged Salford and Swinton - (SaS erm) could claim- 12 League titles, 4 Challenge Cup wins. And 27 other associated cups. Only Wigan and Saint better that. More chance of merging barium with a peroxide without a ................

Brierley - out 7 day HIA protocol Ackers - his 28 day (2 episodes) ends literally the next day. Croft - broken finger, anything from a week plus Wright - season long.

Yup. A. Willow originally queried the nature of French's contact whilst catching a bomb. B. Re read my post I refer to Brierley absence as a cause of salfords lack of creativity.

It once took me 2 hours to get from AJ Bell to Haggis house one Friday. Looked on my mobile I realized the next bus was 25 mins away, walked - as you do- to the next at St Michaels Club, on the way it starting drizzling. Checked my phone to book an Uber, but the battery had died. That bus didn't arrive waited another 20 minutes. To add to insult on the homeward tram, it contained some Wiganers. Demonstrating how then like time, sometimes distance and travel is relative. And yes Solly lost. Observations. Matty needs to knock off his SRD obsession. Another bridge burnt for Marwan at SRD Jamie and Neil don't come over too well if you believe this. If true surely it is dodgy to act to dissolve another club. Opinion RFL?

Seemed an elbow or other parts of a limb seemed to erm connect with face. Even it was in front of us, hard to say if deliberate or not, albeit the budgie looked "perturbed" by it. Fair points. What a full on Bev/Brodie GF would be like? So my thoughts. I usually wait till the next day, but its a busy Monday so crack on. Lets start with the good. 7,800. A real tremendous achievement. Demonstrating that some good rugby, good promotion can bring the crowds in. And there is an untapped potential locally. The atmosphere is already, but today it was truly fantastic, despite the result. And when you experience that, reflect on the success of the crowd funder, the seemingly resolution of the ground and the likes of Paul Dennant et al at the game, it feels good. On the pitch, it unfortunately went as I expected. That didn't, feel good. Bereft of all but one of the spine and a front row that needs some extra further muscle wrapped around it, means SRD weren't likely to win. Coughing the ball up on the 40 didn't help neither. Personally thought it wasn't a bad effort, but just wasn't the magic to better on that. Ah well. Ideal next one is an evening in the predicted drizzle at Wakefield. What could possibly go wrong?

Scrutiny needed. Five years is too short a period to witness change.. Aren't we still erm reeling from the French Revolution? But I am wildly casting an almost hopelessly optimistic beam on the imaginary future......... So all smiles- IMG pat themselves on the back for their role in- Increasing revenue through higher attendances, advertising, online and yeah TV revenue. ( Cas/Wakey/Bradford's grounds join the 1980s. A full international programme Participation rises, albeit via touch. London, Newcastle, Toulouse, plus 2 more French professional clubs float around the Top table. More supporters take a share in their clubs ala Salford. Lots of joint enterprises like academies.

Five years?! "My brain hurts like a warehouse."

It was a few moments of bemusement. I awoke mystified why the bells of the local church was so booming, to then slowly rouse myself to the realization the "smiling joy of my life" and I was listening to the Saturday morning drone of the Town Hall chimes in Nottingham. Lodged in a hotel, that set the day. It just compounded a sense of inevitable dread. That all so painful "Same Old Same Again" Solly-ness of Salfordian despairing defeat when everything seems so swimmingly. Even more so in the Cup. It took almost a decade to return to RL after that despairing, dismal semi final defeat in 1998. So back up the M1, a tetchy 2 hours purposely avoiding the game, surrendering to the "1.5m of loving joy's" new Mary Chaplin Carpenter CD. Rather that than the inevitable. Really avoiding it. My gut was right. I suspect the polished low key Americana of MCC contained more vibrancy than SRD's lethargic performance. Complacency, fatigue or bottle mercenary. You pick. Minerals. Erm....... That performance was every you didn't wish and entirely why Salford annually looks on her Wigan hoovering the silverware up. Whilst Solly was ######, to state the obvious hopefully doesn't diminish KR who played fantastic. If the "reserves" play so finely l, then it augurs well for the future. We all move on. KR for the Cup, Salford receives Wigan. Big crowd, descending paras, tanks and erm now we can concentrate erm on the League.

You could loosely link the dismissal of using factual stats by RL fans and the higher than average prevalence of pro brexit votes in RL towns, but I won't. Maybe it is what English RL people see as more important-application, tackling/ball/positioning skills and physicality than cold stats.. Maybe culturally we don't have that desire like in the USA where articles with all the numbers are even there to read when you having a pee.

So usual stuff for Wendy ball finances. Didn't know of Danson's ownership of the New Statesman. So Saints fans sing Bernard Manning type songs about acquiring ######## and the Pies are linked with the bastion of Metropolitan left liberalism. Erm. Contrasting!?. But ah well. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65881568 Another winding up order! Wigan/Bolton/Rochdale/Stockport/Macclesfield/Bury especially. All bust/broke/relegated I blame City.

Red card, no doubt/ If that was a Salford player I'd be annoyed as perhaps arguably Myler's bumbled wrap around might have been clocked by some. Frustrated with the recklessness. Salabio needs to hone his tackle technique. But to pick Myler up like a straw dolly shows he has some strength.

Salford would do so. No doubt. We'd no doubt also see Mr Fred Bet roll in to Old T, citing his Solly-ness quicker than MCFC supporters clubs have bloomed in rural Ireland in the last few years.

Just after quitting rugby to be a "mature" student, I meet a fella in a Derby RL top at a chippie at the junction of Abbey and Burton Road. The lad was from Cas I think and I took the chance to ask him about his shirt. He told me that there was a burgeoning RL community in the east Midlands still reeling from Uncle Mo's collapsing of Nottingham some years before. I declined the opportunity to try it (sadly), picked up our respective fish suppers and departed. So for me it makes complete sense for Midland to branch out. People need to understand the perspective. This is League One in front of a few hundred if that. More fellas will be having a pie at Pride Park at half time most Saturdays (even against lofty opponents like erm Stevenage haha)than there. Maybe it will revive RL there, maybe not. Maybe fish supper fella will greet you. I hope so.

Job done. The Holy Grail of 10 wins was seemingly won and it's fair to sa y the Reds sty in Super League is assured for another season. Well done everyone. Financially with the successful crowd funder, the club's fiscal status is stabilized. Well done everyone, Politically and structurally the move to a semi membership club has made SRD more secure and won over the clout of Salford and Gtr Manchester Mayors. The other thing about the crowd funder is how it has been a catalyst for uniting supporters around the club. Well done everyone. As for the 'violence' good grief. Playground antics at work, juvenile journalism at is best. Well

And Play off games. I guess then-as suggested by others-that a form of refunds would need to be arranged. Easier said than done. Padge. if you accept his premise that there isn't enough SL level players to fill 14 top level teams, don't people think RL should have a long term plan to reverse this?

Perhaps then it was the faux tweed hunting jackets and Golf Club style Fiji japes that clinched it.

An indoor version has been tried. X Rugby. Would be easy to adapt a RL version. Surely it would have to be a supplement/outlier than a replacement. Still gimmicky, but if it was profitable why not.

Erm. Let's be honest if you want "profit" the only place is Australia surely. And it is dubious whether the antipodeans care nor need us though. I winced listening to that podcast and reading the various missives from IMG bods, rich with dalekesque management speak. I agree with the concepts of "peaks" but by expelling Magic pretty much will (happily for some) condemn it.. Lodged in the Siberian Gulag of August Bank Holiday was previously rejected for the Cup Final as families were reluctant to go, many were elsewhere on their jollies and it was felt it couldn't muster enough speccies. And then securing a Big Quality stadium might be problematic. You can imagine it-"Ian so after that 18k crowd at Middlesbrough, are you calling for Magic to scrapped?" And it will go and we can return to our silos and look forward to a Four hour Nines competition at Barnsley or Oldham on a sub zero grey afternoon in February. Re promote not replace.

If so good. If Jones queries whether Magic doesn't bring enough money, then what then? We aren't likely to get Australia touring in our summer.

Yup in a nine month season we have only Magic, the Cup Final, then the Grand Final. The NRL has its own Magic, the SOO, Anzac, All Stars, indigenous and heritage rounds and Grand Final. IMG's job is increasing revenue streams not restructuring the calendar.

Is it not IMG's suggestion to replace Magic with a Nines trophy and have group stages in the Cup? Scarcity?

Nah. On one level it's sh1thousery sledging which deserves a punishment-like head patting. Or bigotry, which in these days deserves the same. No excuse. Personally I ain't shocked some struggle with this given where RL lives There is a noisy minority of the worst kind of English-ness such as exceptionalism, parochialism and a general anti intellectualism. The sort that endorsed Brexit or Boris. Therefore I fear some might struggle that in this day and age, some language might not be ok and that fan ownership isn't Bolshevik. Like it or not, the World moves on.

Toby comfortably one of the best posts on here, guided by reasoned, sensible consideration. This is no panacea, magic bullet or forever charm. It is though a wise modest immediate solution to keeping Salford competitive and the lack of a sugar daddy. It is also a significant victory for supporters democracy. Maybe it's success might inspire others. Indeed imagine the wealth say a crowd funder or bond could have raised for the RFL if such schemes had been run since the birth of SL. Literally millions. Good grief.

A sensible retort. Simple. Just keep your gob shut. Don't be a bigot. Don't dump on your team mates and the supporters. When I played, you couldn't back chat the ref, purposely swear or even clench yer fist without risking a telling off or more. Whilst I agree sledging, grubs and thuggery needs to be A1 punished, I have little sympathy for any player who uses languages that could result in a ban. It's a nonsense breach. And repugnant.

Me and The Dufty have met twice this season First time Matty took time to "clap" me and the Salford end after Wire came back to win. Sh!thouse. Second time at Magic I "clapped" Matt after FC came back to win. Fun house. Matt was charged with holding the ball. I was charged with holding a vegan roll, nachos with salsa, sauce and added jalapenos Dufty dropped, Haggis held. McGuire might as well have been signed to collect the rubbish left by Matt and me.