Featherstone in SL? What's the game plan?

[Scubby]

If Featherstone win they deserve to go up. They didn't make the competition rules and they have a decent stadium and passionate fans. It is a club close to my heart and I would be happy if they lived within their means and gave it a crack. If they go straight back down with only a few wins then that is sport.

What would make me sad is if they tried some #### or bust overspend to try and be ultra competitive. This never ends well and it could knock the club back a decade.

Maybe the SL should have more stringent rules about resources, long term planning, facilties, player recruitment, juniors, reserves etc. At the moment it is a mess, that is not Featherstone's fault. I would be excited to see TWP go up simply because I want a wider geographical spread for RL. If Fev knock them off it is not the end of the world and it would be one helluva story in its own right.

[TboneFromTO]

19 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

Which would be fine if the end result of that wasnt go up, get relegated, go pop.

Fev actually have some assets which is unusual for an RL club. It would a disaster if this season in the sun meant mortgaging or losing that asset because they cant pay their billsq

I do get what your saying. But if a club gets mismanaged and goes pop, unfortunately they go pop.

Saving clubs just because they were mismanaged into administration is a silly idea that will end up bankrupting the league. (Not that I think that will happen to Fev)

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

It's not just mismanagement though. 

What we ask of clubs going up and down is really really difficult.

We also play cloak and dagger whether they can actually be promoted at all. 

[TboneFromTO]

1 minute ago, scotchy1 said:

It's not just mismanagement though. 

What we ask of clubs going up and down is really really difficult.

Difficult yes, but they KNOW what could happen

it's a fairly simple concept - live with in your means.  Buying players you might not be able to afford in the future is mismanagement.

They could always sign them for a season with a conditional extension based on staying in SL.  You can work almost anything into a contract.  If Fev go up, they need to be careful and spend their extra money wisely.  If the management don't want to try and compete in SL they can keep their roster as is, and while they likely will go back down next year, they will have some funds wisely invested wherever the club might need it.

Tough for the fans? Yes.  But that is the reality of the sport isn't it?  No one (well very few) would be screaming for a bail out for some of the newer (non-heartland) clubs.  Clubs have gone bust in the past, and fevs rich history (or anyone's) should not save them from outspending their means. 

[Rupert Prince]

6 hours ago, Smudger06 said:

We've got at least 15 players already contracted for 2020. 

So let's say we want 10 new full time players. 

We'd go to the agents and find out which NRL & SL Players are out of contract and sign the ones that are a good fit for the Club. 

Who long would their contracts be? 

[paulwalker71]

6 hours ago, Smudger06 said:

We've got at least 15 players already contracted for 2020. 

So let's say we want 10 new full time players. 

We'd go to the agents and find out which NRL & SL Players are out of contract and sign the ones that are a good fit for the Club. 

Has anyone asked those 15 players, most of whom are on part-time contracts, whether they are willing to give up their (possibly lucrative) jobs and go full-time?

My suspicion would be that up to half of them wouldn't want to give up their jobs to take a punt on a one-year full-time rugby contract. Of course, I could be wrong...

I suspect you'd be looking at more like 15-18 new players.

[DoubleD]

5 hours ago, Chris Taylor said:

In football, many people embrace the smaller teams getting promoted to Super League. For instance Huddersfield, Blackpool, Bradford, etc. They even want the "underdog" to go on and win the Premier League i.e Leicester and Blackburn. 

Featherstone may get a chance to play in the top division - this is an incredible story and achievement for many reasons. The trade papers would love to hear the story of how the club keeps fighting and proving people wrong. 

The club has come a long way and has a great opportunity. The dream is alive again (maybe for this week only), but it feels amazing. 

 

5 hours ago, hrtbps said:

Exactly this. Imagine football fans going "What will Sheffield United bring to the Premier League?" it just shows how low rent our sport is!

Who are these hypothetical fans who are suddenly going to be interested in a sport because a team from Toronto get promoted over Featherstone? The only new fans watching Super League next year would be those in Toronto.

If Toronto suddenly established a cricket team to complete in the County Championship, I wouldn't suddenly start watching cricket. 

 

Whilst fans may embrace these smaller football teams, they don’t bring anything to the Premier League’s global appeal or future TV contracts. In that sense, they add no value. TV money is what drives sport now. That might change in the future but currently it’s the overriding driver. 

Sadly the same could be said for Featherstone and SL. That is not to say there are not a existing SL clubs who fall in the same boat. However, the likes of Toronto and Toulouse offer far greater potential and appeal from this perspective, so offer more value. 

And as I say TV money is the main driver in the game, which is why Thursday night games are tolerated 

[Rupert Prince]

Fair doos to Feb, but let's stand the question on its head for a minute.  The 11 remaining clubs will be delighted to see Fev in SL... because they would expect them to go straight down.

But if TWP with its backers goes up, well the relegation bun fight will definitely hot up. Someone established might go down.

[DoubleD]

1 minute ago, Rupert Prince said:

Fair doos to Feb, but let's stand the question on its head for a minute.  The 11 remaining clubs will be delighted to see Fev in SL... because they would expect them to go straight down.

But if TWP with its backers goes up, well the relegation bun fight will definitely hot up. Someone established might go down.

Or they look to change the goalposts and have 14 teams in 2021 with a new tv deal to support it

[Tommygilf]

51 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Maybe the SL should have more stringent rules about resources, long term planning, facilties, player recruitment, juniors, reserves etc

Or perhaps the ability to turn down promotion as they did in t'other code. 

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Or perhaps the ability to turn down promotion as they did in t'other code. 

Well in reality, when Fev and Leigh were in turmoil in the close season, SL should have said "sorry but you cannot earn promotion to SL this year until your have proved you have longer term stability and can actually field 17 players". What they actually did was nothing (i.e. pull yourself together, sign a few players and with a fair wind you will be in SL in 2020 whether you are ready or not).

It is not the clubs' fault the game cannot plan longer than a few weeks. As I said, Fev is a club that is close to my heart (I spent years on the terraces as a kid next to the Bullock Stand). However, it cannot be swept under the carpet that this time last year the club couldn't even fill a first team sheet for more than one fixture.

On the rules that exist now, if they win they are in. Good luck to them!

[Gooleboy]

5 hours ago, hrtbps said:

Good questions these, that I'm sure a lot of Fev fans have also been asking themselves.

Fundamental for me is the long-term security of the club. Mark Campbell and Davide Longo seem to have been steering a steady ship for a while, and I hope that if we do get into Super League, we have the plans in place not to go the boom-and-bust route of others. 

Having said that, I'm absolutely buzzing about the idea of little old Fev in Super League, so it's difficult not to get giddy!

Let me have a go at answering your points:

1. PLAYERS I'm sure most of our part-time players will want to stay on a part-time contract in the event of promotion. 

2. DUAL REG I'd hope we can use our connections with Leeds to secure a few long-term loans. I'd hazard a guess that some on the periphery of the Leeds first team, when offered a year in the Leeds reserves or a year with us, would go for the latter as it would improve their game more playing SL week in week out.

3. CROWDS I reckon we could realistically aim for 4-5k. We got 3.5k for the Toronto game last season, with almost zero away support. That to me says that there are at least an extra 1k fans out there on top of our usual 2.5k who would be willing to come out to see bigger clubs play at POR.

4. LONG TERM VISION I'd love us be a long-term fixture of Super League, but right how I'd be happy with a year like London have had, giving the league a good go and securing some famous victories, without going bust.

Good post, especially being realistic regarding crowds. Travelling support would be a big improvement on what we are used to getting in the Championship. Plus the Local Derbies would give us a boost. But hey, we have one hell of a challenge coming up before we can even think about it.

[hrtbps]

12 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

 

Whilst fans may embrace these smaller football teams, they don’t bring anything to the Premier League’s global appeal or future TV contracts. In that sense, they add no value. TV money is what drives sport now. That might change in the future but currently it’s the overriding driver. 

Sadly the same could be said for Featherstone and SL. That is not to say there are not a existing SL clubs who fall in the same boat. However, the likes of Toronto and Toulouse offer far greater potential and appeal from this perspective, so offer more value. 

And as I say TV money is the main driver in the game, which is why Thursday night games are tolerated 

Has more money actually been pledged from Sky in the event that Toronto get promoted? Have any sponsors said they'd attach their name to our sport if Toronto get promoted? Otherwise this whole argument is conjecture. 

[DoubleD]

4 minutes ago, hrtbps said:

Has more money actually been pledged from Sky in the event that Toronto get promoted? Have any sponsors said they'd attach their name to our sport if Toronto get promoted? Otherwise this whole argument is conjecture. 

There’s an element of conjecture as until we see the commercials (which we may never if they’re confidential) then we won’t know for sure. But people are chasing that market as it offers potential. The game is saturated in this country and suffers from a small northern sport mentality from the media, so it struggles to grow. It needs this international aspect to break free from those misinformed bias 

[whatmichaelsays]

6 hours ago, Chris Taylor said:

In football, many people embrace the smaller teams getting promoted to Super League. For instance Huddersfield, Blackpool, Bradford, etc. They even want the "underdog" to go on and win the Premier League i.e Leicester and Blackburn. 

Featherstone may get a chance to play in the top division - this is an incredible story and achievement for many reasons. The trade papers would love to hear the story of how the club keeps fighting and proving people wrong. 

The club has come a long way and has a great opportunity. The dream is alive again (maybe for this week only), but it feels amazing. 

Whislt I certainly would agree from the playing perspective, I don't think that highlighting how football fans don't have such critiques is a fair example. The Premier League isn't a competition that is desperately struggling for relevancy and national / international appeal in a changing sports market. 

As it stands, we have a merit-based system that says that if you perform to a standard on the field, you are promoted. If Featherstone meet that standard, nobody can or should deny the achievement. However, we also have to acknowledge that commercially, it is not necessarily the ideal scenario for the sport. 

Now most fans will not care for the commercial side of it, and rightly so. This is an entertainment-based competition at the end of the day. But the sport is about to enter a very important period that will have a big influence on its financial security and prospects. Whether we like it or not, the modern sports markets does make the commercial side increasingly important.  

One of the key issues is that the game lacks geographic spread. It makes it hard for people to "buy into" this sport if they do not live in a relatively small part of the country, and it makes it hard for the game to generate attention beyond that small part of the country. That has an impact on various factors that determine how successful this sport is. 

Putting a third team into one postcode area means that you have another team trying to drink from a small and very dry well. It is another team fighting for local column inches, competing for support from local industry and fighting for the local leisure dollar. It's another team that makes it hard for people outside the 'heartland' to buy into RL. 

Let me reiterate, if Featherstone win on Sunday, all power to them - it would be a fantastic achievement and their promotion will be deserved. But at the same time, I don't think it's wrong or unfair to suggest that it wouldn't be the best outcome for a league that is desperate to find new revenue streams. 

[GUBRATS]

Have a bloody good PARTY

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

https://www.rlnews.co.uk/were-ready-for-super-league-campbell/

[gingdong]

7 hours ago, The Future is League said:

I really can't see what Featherstone will bring to Super League if they win the Championship grand final if I'm honest apart from a couple of more local derbies for Cas and Wakey.

A vast majority south of the Trent will have never heard of them. So unlikely to get new fans to the game

youv no idea have you, Featherstone Rovers are a very iconic name in the sport youl find much better known than many super league clubs, people are bored of the same teams in rugby league super league is a bore athon

[Rupert Prince]

37 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

It is a fairly simple concept but its proving impossible for a club to live within its means in both the the championship and SL. 

If fev win they have a couple of months to build an SL level squad, put in place SL level coaching, training, strength and conditioning, recovery etc. They have to ramp up SL level sponsorship, SL level hospitality and ticket sales, 

It is a huge change and undertaking. Then if they are relegated they have to wind down everything they have ramped up.

It sounds simple to say 'only sign players you can afford and only sign them conditionally on staying up' but where do you find the players who will sign on that basis and how much extra do you need to pay to sign them compared to the other clubs who may be interested? 

And they cant keep their squad as is, they cant get the dual reg players from leeds, they cant get the part time players etc to play full time for one year, they will need around 15 players just to be sure of getting 17 players on the field each week. 

And if they do manage to do all that on players only signed conditionally, they have to start redundancies for the off the field staff they can no longer afford and then start signing a whole new squad all over again and restructure their entire business to be sustainable at a massively lower level

If Fev get promoted, they spend what they see fit.  If their playing squad lacks quality because they limit their spending, then so be it. 

It would be up to them.  They are not forced to spend an extra brass farthing.

However SL clubs have to have a reserves team.  Is this true of Toronto if they come up?

[MADREDNIGE]

16 minutes ago, gingdong said:

youv no idea have you, Featherstone Rovers are a very iconic name in the sport youl find much better known than many super league clubs, people are bored of the same teams in rugby league super league is a bore athon

But IF we go up it would still be a boreathan surely? 

[Scubby]

21 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

https://www.rlnews.co.uk/were-ready-for-super-league-campbell/

Would have preferred to hear about his vision for Featherstone rather than just have a dig at other clubs if I'm honest.

[MADREDNIGE]

26 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

https://www.rlnews.co.uk/were-ready-for-super-league-campbell/

 

[paulwalker71]

1 hour ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

https://www.rlnews.co.uk/were-ready-for-super-league-campbell/

There's not a lot of 'flesh on the bones' there 

[exiled rover]

8 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

There's not a lot of 'flesh on the bones' there 

Yes I thought Mark had lost a bit of weight too. Top bloke!

 

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

Would have preferred to hear about his vision for Featherstone rather than just have a dig at other clubs if I'm honest.

Agreed. What is Fev's turnover because he states that it is comparable to the bottom 5 in SL, before you even look at them getting into SL?

Is that true?