Featherstone in SL? What's the game plan?

[Damien]

Just now, Dave T said:

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?

I find it very hard to believe without any Super League funding. Maybe he is taking that into account when it comes to comparisons.

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, Damien said:

I find it very hard to believe without any Super League funding. Maybe he is taking that into account when it comes to comparisons.

Yeah, his quote is:

"and we have a healthy turnover that is comparable with some of the bottom five Super League clubs, without the consideration of what Super League would bring to us"

That would be pretty dishonest if he is adding £1.8m.

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yeah, his quote is:

"and we have a healthy turnover that is comparable with some of the bottom five Super League clubs, without the consideration of what Super League would bring to us"

That would be pretty dishonest if he is adding £1.8m.

Yeah that is pretty clear. £1.8 million is an awful lot of money to make up from other sources especially with Championship attendances.

[ov fev]

9 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

Why do they have to bring anything to superleague.  If they win the gf they get promoted.  Only In rugby league do fans say stupid stuff like this.  You don’t get football fans saying what would Burnley bring to the premier league.   Who cars if no one has heard of us 

[Rupert Prince]

Good luck to Featherstone no matter what they do.  But this thread is all a bit previous. 

[meast]

8 hours ago, POR said:

1. PLAYERS  

we've  got 15 signed on at the minute  a lot of them are young lads who I would have thought would like a crack  plus three aussies who yet to decide on their futures  plus we have 4 on  DR  from leeds who are nowhere near a leeds first team place so would think they would sign

2. DUAL REG

no duel re if promoted as for loans only first 28 days binding after that it's like a ferry roll on roll off player can be taken back to parent club at short notice only stipulation if they sign a loan deal for FEV can't be loaned to anyone else during loan period 

3. CROWDS 

yes FEV's crowds are just over 2000 but you got to think if you get over 200 away fans  then your lucky would assume SL would bring more and before FEV were omitted to let in london and PSG  crowds were similar to c#s and better than wakey and when @s got relegated over 7000 came to  FEV  to watch furthermore a lot of people including mates of mine walked away after supprting FEV  home and away for years only coming back to the c#s league and cup games  and who have said if FEV go up they will be getting season tickets

4. LONG TERM VISION 

academy  back in the day although it had won the league FEV were told  by RFL to disband academy and U16 scholarship to allow players to join SL clubs similarly just been told by the RFL to disband  reserves to allow players to join SL clubs so if promoted any ones guess

sponsors FEV have over 40 sponsors who I  assume would increase payment  and probably get new sponsors on back of promotion

 Community Engagement FEV have run a foundation for years  which has won numerous awards 

to grow the business FEV own their own ground and that makes them money plus plans to develop land they own and a local business think tank say's when up and running could bring in    over 70 grand a month but that's not for now it will be 2 to 3 years till it starts so will have to make do with the 2 million sky money

Some decent points, but why the need to shout FEV??

[Smudger06]

4 hours ago, Rupert Prince said:

Who long would their contracts be? 

Doesn't matter as long as there's a clause for the club to offer reduced wages in the event of relegation, and a sub clause for the player to be released if not willing to accept new terms. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

1 hour ago, scotchy1 said:

They seem to forget that getting to the level of wakefield has proven impossible for them for 2 decades and Wakefield have gone bust multiple times.

Is it really so hard to understand why a club that has probably received on average around £400k central funding annually over recent seasons has found it impossible to "get to the level of" a club that's been getting almost £2 million a year?

[TIWIT]

I am afraid that if Fev win promotion they will be used as a nail by the other 11 clubs there and get hammered. A lot.

[Smudger06]

8 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Is it really so hard to understand why a club that has probably received on average around £400k central funding annually over recent seasons has found it impossible to "get to the level of" a club that's been getting almost £2 million a year?

That's about the size of it. 

[Oxford]

I was hoping that this just wouldn't happen.

Having a fave old school v a cool new kid on the block means I'll smile whatever happens but I still believe that TWP will move SL on and the Flat Cappers won't.

Good luck to them both, and in their different ways they both earned being there.

[Steve Slater]

3 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

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. 

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. 

 

You are forgetting that it's one of the very few postcodes within the game that doesn't have a football league or premiership club. True, Wakefield is very near to Elland Road and has many Leeds United fans, but Rugby League is without doubt the primary sport in Featherstone, Castleford (and Pontefract) and those two clubs won't be worried whether or not whether LUFC win promotion to the Premier League. That fact alone makes the populations of Fev, Cas & Ponte 3-4 times greater in real terms with respect to the percentage of council tax payers interested in the game. Neither will these clubs be competing with soccer clubs to bring local sponsors on board.

[Smudger06]

10 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

What player, with any othe choice, would sign such a contract?

Plenty of players. 

[MADREDNIGE]

1 hour ago, ov fev said:

Why do they have to bring anything to superleague.  If they win the gf they get promoted.  Only In rugby league do fans say stupid stuff like this.  You don’t get football fans saying what would Burnley bring to the premier league.   Who cars if no one has heard of us 

No disrespect to these clubs but what do Wakefield, Huddersfield, Salford bring to SL because if its crowds Iam sure we could match theirs. 

[paulwalker71]

10 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

Plenty of players. 

Wishful thinking, I suspect.

Given a choice of a two or three year deal with a solid SL club versus a one-year deal with Featherstone, and further year(s) with strings (which means less money), I don't see many players signing. Why would they? 

I'm afraid those sort of contracts are going to attract players who can't get a deal elsewhere - which is why Derek Beaumont had to hand out 2 year deals to players when Leigh were promoted.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

3 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

Wishful thinking, I suspect.

Given a choice of a two or three year deal with a solid SL club versus a one-year deal with Featherstone, and further year(s) with strings (which means less money), I don't see many players signing. Why would they? 

I'm afraid those sort of contracts are going to attract players who can't get a deal elsewhere - which is why Derek Beaumont had to hand out 2 year deals to players when Leigh were promoted.

You do know that all SL player contracts contain a 'void on relegation' clause?

[paulwalker71]

8 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

You do know that all SL player contracts contain a 'void on relegation' clause?

I do. Which leaves the promoted club with players from London.

Who do you think would want to play for Featherstone who aren't either a) already signed for other clubs in SL or b) have already committed to stay with London?

The promoted club signing players from the relegated club was one of the arguments about why relegation got scrapped back whenever it was before licensing!

If you mean in the future, why did Derek Beaumont end up with a load of players that he couldn't get rid of without threatening to not pay them?

[Chris22]

I hope that Toronto get promoted on Saturday. That's not because of anything against Featherstone, simply because they have been the most consistent team in the Championship for the last two years and I believe deserve their chance. Far more than side that finished in 5th.

Saying that, Featherstone have come so far this year. Was it only last year that they were struggling to field a 17? Ryan Carr has done a wonderful job. It has been a brilliant end of season run and great to watch them play and dominate in the last few weeks in the play offs.

If Featherstone come up, then you can only praise an incredible play off run. Yes, they will be vastly underprepared for Super League, but in some ways that's the entertainment of it. The Featherstone fans could never have even dreamed of this at the start of the season and now it is a distinct possibility. That is one of the benefits of removing the glass ceiling. Fans of clubs like Featherstone can be allowed to dream again.

If they come up, they will be favourites to go down again. London have shown that it is possible to compete with low budgets and resources and Featherstone would no doubt use them as inspiration if they can win on Saturday.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

11 hours ago, paulwalker71 said:

1. PLAYERS I understand from comments on this forum that Fev have about 10-12 of their own players signed for next season. I think we can assume that some of those would not wish to convert to full time, meaning that you might have, say, 6-8 players ready for 2020. Given that most of the recruiting has already happened for next season, where would you get sufficient players of a good standard to create a squad of 23-26 players?

2. DUAL REG Obviously you cannot DR with teams in the same division (I believe that is the rule), so you'd be presumably looking at perhaps getting a few loan players? We already know that Leeds will be running Reserves as well as first team next season, so how likely is it that Leeds (or anyone else) will have players that they will want tied into long-term loan deals? So, again, where will you get the players that you would undoubtedly need?

3. CROWDS Someone said on another thread that they thought Fev would 'easy' get 6-7K crowds in SL. Why? The average this season has been 2304, virtually the same as it has been for a few years. By comparison Wakefield averaged 5468 and Castleford 7253. Are there there really another 4-5K latent RL fans floating around the Wakefield MDC who are just waiting for Featherstone to get into SL?

4. LONG TERM VISION Is it just about Featherstone 'having a crack' for a season and then returning back to their (possibly) natural level. Or do the club have a long term strategy for being a permanent feature in SL. What are the plans for an Academy? Reserves? Sponsors? Community Engagement? How do they plan to grow their business to create a sustainable future in SL?

 

They are good questions and it's valid to ask. Even though I'm a Fev fan I'll try and answer them objectively.

Players - This is the most difficult aspect to me. As you rightly point out, we would need to convert a fair few from PT to FT, and it wouldn't be for everyone I'm sure. The most obvious thing they could do is try and sign the Leeds DR guys - Golding and Albert would be available I'm sure and it may be possible to get McLelland/Sutcliffe on loan.

Loans from other SL teams is another obvious avenue although you dont always get the right quality when loaning from the same division. There might be some signings from dare I say it, Toronto, if they miss out and there would be an obvious influx from Australia I would imagine.

It certainly wouldn't be easy but the 5 guys who we have already signed are decent quality and would convert to FT if they aren't already. I think a good number of the existing guys would want a crack at it too. You can always go back to your career but it might be the only chance some of them get at a SL gig.

DR - obviously wont happen and players would need to come from elsewhere. DR only provides 4 players anyway so the hole might not be as big as it seems.

Crowds - I think the average would be more like 4-5000. There would be some decent gates in derbys and against the big boys and a few bigger ones at the beginning too. I don't think crowds would be the problem, especially in the first season.

Long Term - Mark Campbell has had his eye on SL for a good few years now. We were in a good position for a licence until licencing stopped. We've improved the ground, have good sponsorships and income streams and have the land the we are looking to monetize. Theres a good chance Fev would go straight back down but I think the club is set up to become established if they can get a foothold in that first year. 

The biggest issue is the squad and likely the coach leaving to be Leeds assistant. Hopefully if we do go up he'll stay but its seems like hes going.

To be honest I doubt we'll win on Saturday anyway so it's likely to be a moot point but one thing is for sure, there isn't a fan who doesn't want to get there and even though most people acknowledge it would be a struggle I think most fair minded fans of all clubs would be happy to see us give it a shot if we earned it on the field.

[Smudger06]

29 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

Of course there are, loads of SL quality players looking to sign tiny contracts with no stability

You do know there's a Salary Cap and that central funding pretty much covers that salary cap? And also rules on squad sizes etc? 

[paulwalker71]

Is there some reason why a lot of Featherstone supporters seem to feel the need to start posts with the phrase 'You do know that....'?

To be honest, it comes across as just a tad supercilious - especially when it's followed by a statement that every poster of RL Fans knows about!

[whatmichaelsays]

46 minutes ago, Steve Slater said:

You are forgetting that it's one of the very few postcodes within the game that doesn't have a football league or premiership club. True, Wakefield is very near to Elland Road and has many Leeds United fans, but Rugby League is without doubt the primary sport in Featherstone, Castleford (and Pontefract) and those two clubs won't be worried whether or not whether LUFC win promotion to the Premier League. That fact alone makes the populations of Fev, Cas & Ponte 3-4 times greater in real terms with respect to the percentage of council tax payers interested in the game. Neither will these clubs be competing with soccer clubs to bring local sponsors on board.

I'm not forgetting anything.

Leeds United are already reguarly selling out their games, so I'm not sure what effect any promotion they achieve will have on any RL club, be that Castleford, Leeds, Wakefield or Featherstone - and all of those clubs are equally vulnerable if Leeds United do impact on RL. 

But my view is that the Wakefield district would struggle to sustain three full-time professional RL clubs who will all be trying to tap into the same catchment area for new fans, new sponsors and for column inches in the local media. Every club should be looking beyond their catchment area of course, but history tells us that few are very good at it. 

[DoubleD]

42 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

They are good questions and it's valid to ask. Even though I'm a Fev fan I'll try and answer them objectively.

Players - This is the most difficult aspect to me. As you rightly point out, we would need to convert a fair few from PT to FT, and it wouldn't be for everyone I'm sure. The most obvious thing they could do is try and sign the Leeds DR guys - Golding and Albert would be available I'm sure and it may be possible to get McLelland/Sutcliffe on loan.

Loans from other SL teams is another obvious avenue although you dont always get the right quality when loaning from the same division. There might be some signings from dare I say it, Toronto, if they miss out and there would be an obvious influx from Australia I would imagine.

It certainly wouldn't be easy but the 5 guys who we have already signed are decent quality and would convert to FT if they aren't already. I think a good number of the existing guys would want a crack at it too. You can always go back to your career but it might be the only chance some of them get at a SL gig.

DR - obviously wont happen and players would need to come from elsewhere. DR only provides 4 players anyway so the hole might not be as big as it seems.

Crowds - I think the average would be more like 4-5000. There would be some decent gates in derbys and against the big boys and a few bigger ones at the beginning too. I don't think crowds would be the problem, especially in the first season.

Long Term - Mark Campbell has had his eye on SL for a good few years now. We were in a good position for a licence until licencing stopped. We've improved the ground, have good sponsorships and income streams and have the land the we are looking to monetize. Theres a good chance Fev would go straight back down but I think the club is set up to become established if they can get a foothold in that first year. 

The biggest issue is the squad and likely the coach leaving to be Leeds assistant. Hopefully if we do go up he'll stay but its seems like hes going.

To be honest I doubt we'll win on Saturday anyway so it's likely to be a moot point but one thing is for sure, there isn't a fan who doesn't want to get there and even though most people acknowledge it would be a struggle I think most fair minded fans of all clubs would be happy to see us give it a shot if we earned it on the field.

Golding has signed for Huddersfield AFAIK. Rumours that McLelland has already signed on a season long loan for another SL team as well

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, TIWIT said:

I am afraid that if Fev win promotion they will be used as a nail by the other 11 clubs there and get hammered. A lot.

And they'll enjoy every single one 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, scotchy1 said:

What player, with any othe choice, would sign such a contract?

Obviously it will be the ones without that choice , as it always is