M j M
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Days Won
26
Posts posted by M j M
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1 hour ago, Spotty Herbert said:
I would prefer to see it as a weak board being persuaded by a very strong coach that if you sign the players I want it will bring the crowds in. It didn't, leading to near bankruptcy and near relegation. Can we agree that Laughton made a significant contribution to this state of affairs, even if he wasnt solely to blame?
Not really. Alf Davies was the Leeds Chief Exec at the time and was anything but a weak character. However the board and legacy family owners were very resistant to Super League and not interested or unable to put more money in after 1995.
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7 minutes ago, Dave T said:
It's only a waste if the new development happens quickly.
I think it's a waste because I don't think there was much demand for this additional seating and this change reduces the capacity of the ground overall.
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28 minutes ago, Dave T said:
The problem here is that there is no certainty that their full development will ever happen. On that basis, improving what they have now makes sense.
If their future development was 100% guaranteed then I'd agree with you.
You could have said that for any of the redevelopments clubs have done over the years. Cas have been ridiculously unlucky in how things have panned out for them and have spent so much money already in trying to get the new stadium and then the redevelopment done. It just seems a waste to spend more on unproductive diversions like this when the main prize is getting closer now.
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4 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:
They've had plenty of time. Now's the time for action.
Given how complex and complicated getting stadium funding and planning sorted are that's just a pretty meaningless cliche.
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1 hour ago, Spotty Herbert said:
Laughton almost bankrupted Leeds with his methods, leading directly to the Caddick / Hetherington ownership and (eventually) to a period of Superleague domination. Every cloud ....
This is absolute BS. Doug Laughton was not given free reign to spend whatever he wanted at Leeds, the board signed off transfers and budgets and contracts. If the board weren't able to produce the revenues that supported the spending that's not exactly his fault.
I've no idea how things worked at Widnes.
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11 hours ago, dboy said:
It's clearly glitter-rolling for IMG points, but I reckon it does materially improve the ground overall, in the interim.
That, however, raised the question - why didn't they do this many years ago??
The answer is, of course, IMG and the threat of relegation based on off-field standards.
They didn't do it years ago because it's a waste of money that would be better saved up for either the new stadium they were working on for years or the backup plan for a proper redevelopment of Wheldon Road. Forcing clubs into taking short-term measures which aren't really in their interests and don't really improve things is an unfortunate by-product of the spreadsheet exercise.
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1 hour ago, SouthBedfordshireFan said:
So are Leeds and Bradford yet they do not. Especially named specifically for the city. I understand Hunslet, Holbeck are within 'Leeds' but there are not two team named specifically Leeds whereas there are two named for Hull. If that made sense.
The sort of Leeds identity we understand now wasn't really a thing until well after the second world war. Local areas played a much greater role in people's identity in the early days of the Northern Union. So this "only one has the name Leeds" thing really isn't a distinction that should be made - Hunslet and Leeds were two very powerful teams representing different parts of the city.
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25 minutes ago, Spotty Herbert said:
Caddick owns 76%, Hetherington 24% according to the latest data I can see.
Correct, this is still the case.
I did wonder at one stage whether Caddick though Thirkill might be a suitable successor as majority owner but it looks like he and his family are sticking around for a while yet.
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He's definitely smarter than the average player but it's on the face of it a puzzling appointment.
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Typically once soccer got a foot in the door in previously rugby strongholds it grew to be the larger game, primarily I feel thanks to its more national spread and profile. The split of the sport of rugby almost certainly didn't help as time went by. Even in the places listed above, few of which have significant soccer teams, there will no doubt be a large proportion of the public who follow a team, be it from a nearby town or, increasingly, from anywhere in the world.
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16 hours ago, Fly-By-TheWire said:
I like Tony Smith, as would any Warrington fan, but his strengths lie in taking a ready-built team of star players (like he had at Leeds and Warrington) and tweaking the style to produce trophy-winning sides.
The Leeds team he inherited wasn't a team of star players by any stretch of the imagination. In retrospect it was obviously full of very talented young players but that didn't stand for much at the time and wasn't a guarantee of future success.
Smith both backed those players and gave them the confidence to win things. I don't believe Leeds would have won half the amount we did in the subsequent 13 years without the attitude and culture that he put in place.
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30 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:
Or get Sugar to do it. Four club chairmen sat in front of him and one will be fired!
Getting Apprentice actor/hosts to do genuinely important jobs is not something that has a good track record.
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38 minutes ago, lucky 7 said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Rowley is their coach next season as he's shown he can coach in Super League on a small budget which would appeal to Hetherington.
As shown on the SL wages thread Leeds spend as much as other big clubs. People confuse Hetherington driving a hard bargain in negotiations with having a small budget, they're very different things.
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It depends on the rivals and on the foreign team. If it was Manly vs Hunslet I'd be struggling.
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10 hours ago, JonNgog said:
Was it really 3,000 less than the Saints game? Didn’t look like it.
East Stand was pretty sparse and the South Stand terrace wasn't sold out so it seemed plausible to me.
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37 minutes ago, sam4731 said:
OK so if I started up a team today, I would be valid in entering it into SL as long as I'd be willing to play Wigan and Leeds?
Well you'd have to play all the other teams, that's how a league works. But if just the biggest rating teams decided to play because they feel they generate most of the tv income then the whole thing would fall apart quite quickly.
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31 minutes ago, sam4731 said:
So what you're saying is that every club in SL is 12th the reason for the broadcasting revenue? Some clubs are taking money that they aren't really earning and not doing anything to further themselves or the competition.
Yes, the league wouldn't work if Leeds and Wigan didn't have other teams to play. So yes all the teams earn the revenue.
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4 hours ago, sheddingswasus said:
How many good coaches and managers have Leeds gone through? The answer lies not with these coaches but with the man upstairs. This is the common denominator to Leeds recent failures
5 hours ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:Impressed by Warrington, albeit that Leeds were a bit of a shambles. I'm wondering if Leeds's problem is that Gary Hetherington's been there too long and what the club needs is to refresh the administration.
Nah, this is the sort of argument the muppet element of Leeds fanbase come up with. Hetherington's role is to provide the business which enables the head coach to spend full+ salary cap. He more than does that and removing him is not going to help anyone, and nor is it going to happen.
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2 hours ago, sam4731 said:
I'm not saying that I disagree with dispensations if there is a cap but there are clubs that are receiving CF that is being used to prop up a club rather than fostering it to thrive.
Central funding is an income stream all the clubs earn through the tv deal. It's not some sort of charity payment. I therefore just don't agree with the idea that clubs are "propped up" by it any more than they're propped up by their attendance or sponsorship revenues.
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1 hour ago, bamfordsbeans said:
Hull are lower than I expected.
It shouldn't be a surprise - Pearson has been really clear that they are struggling financially.
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1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:
Except the away end at the DW is unreserved seating for RL games. Saints fans queue up before the turnstiles open and then do the RL equivalent of sticking towels on sunloungers to try and save the seats for their mates.
It's allocated seating for the Saints game, unallocated for other clubs.
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29 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:
It’s been tried before and didn’t work (not just at LSV, I’ve witnessed it at a few SL grounds) and it’s just a foreign concept. Post below nails it.
(I must admit football away games are reserved seating 99% of the time and very few people take notice, but that’s also with everybody stood up in a seated area, blocking aisles and cramming 29-30 people on a 28 seat row because people are determined to sit together even if they bought separately so not exactly an example to follow!)
It's not a big thing. But Saints fans seem to cope with the concept at the DW Stadium when the away end is allocated seating.
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5 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:
Wigan always sold their away end the same way. Suppose it allows travelling families/friends to stay together and BIG lads get a bit more room
I can't see the logic in that, it's up to Leigh to tell Wigan it's allocated seating. That's not a difficult concept for people to get their heads around.
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Why wouldn't they just sell reserved seating for this game?
2024 Challenge Cup Semi-Final Draw
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
Headingley wasn't available that weekend, presumably because the complex is locked down prior to back-to-back Pakistan vs England games (womens followed by men) starting on the Sunday.