Cougars owners to stand down

[gazza77]

https://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/26215655.keighley-cougars-owners-step-aside-seven-years/

Another club facing an uncertain future.

[Sports Prophet]

35 minutes ago, gazza77 said:

https://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/26215655.keighley-cougars-owners-step-aside-seven-years/

Another club facing an uncertain future.

I wasn’t a fan of their politics on the few occasions I heard about them.

As an ex Cowling resident, the Cougars fans were my first regular exposure to local, fanatical, non-SL supporters. 

I wish the club well.

[OriginalMrC]

I think they should be praised for trying to build and promote inclusivity at the Cougars rather than the token efforts other clubs make. 

However there has been a number of misteps in how they have run the club and I wasn't a fan of their anti expansion mindset or their moaning about anything and everything when things didn't go their way. 

Edited June 22 by OriginalMrC

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

I think they should be praised for trying to build and promote inclusivity at the Cougars rather than the token efforts other clubs make. 

However there has been a number of misteps in how they have run the club and I wasn't no fan of their anti expansion mindset or their moaning about anything and everything when things didn't go their way. 

Agree with all that. The worry is that there doesn't seem to be a long line of people wanting to own rugby clubs at the minute.

[Angelic Cynic]

I wonder what they plan to do with the stadium - which is apparently getting a new 4g, or whatever g, all weather pitch laid - and the soccer club they are involved with,named Keighley FC?

[Griff]

1 hour ago, Angelic Cynic said:

I wonder what they plan to do with the stadium - which is apparently getting a new 4g, or whatever g, all weather pitch laid - and the soccer club they are involved with,named Keighley FC?

Depends who owns the stadium, I suppose.

[Indigogo]

Uncertain times for us as a club. Whilst many people criticised them for their politics and personal views, one thing that can't be denied is that they saved the club 7 years ago and have continued to fund it ever since. Where we go next is unknown, i highly doubt there's a plethora of people willing to take the club on and without someone with some money behind them it's hard to see how the club survives.

The timing does feel a little strange, the owners have recently set up Keighley Town FC to be run from and home games to be played at Cougar Park, they've organised the UB40/JLS concert at the ground next month and have recently opened a new gym/wellness centre. For the first time in a long time it seemed that we were making progress off the field to be a sustainable club going forward. Granted the on field performances have recently declined but with the squad we have i think that was to be expected, and as i've said in previous posts, if there was ever a season to save money on a squad, this was it. Unfortunately the recent poor results seemed to have been the catalyst for a lot of online hate and that appears to have been enough for Ryan & Kaue to walk away. 

We can only hope there is some good news in terms of new owenership but that feels a long way off right now.

[JonM]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Agree with all that. The worry is that there doesn't seem to be a long line of people wanting to own rugby clubs at the minute.

I'm better off financially than some of the people who're directors of Championship clubs, and I suspect there's quite a few others on here who could say the same. Why put your head above the parapet and spend your time and money on something that just gets you abused on social media, and probably in real life too? And that's for people who're keeping a considerably lower profile than the Keighley owners.

[fighting irish]

It's a shame that anonymous social media comments can bring about the gradual erosion of the passion (for the game) which first attracted them to step up and take the club on in the first place.

I wonder if the remarks were made (repeatedly) by a bitter and twisted few or by larger more significant numbers, vehemently opposed to these two generous benefactors.

I presume they have a better idea than I do.

It seems that a lot of the negativity was aimed at their personal lifestyle.

I'm aghast at this. 

I imagine, if the numbers were small they could ignore the ugliness but if not then it's hardly surprising that their resolve has been weakened over time.

Add in their growing conviction that their hopes of reaching the Super League were becoming more and more unlikely to be realised and it's easy to see why they might be tempted to cast an eye over pastures new.

I have to say i'm really saddened by this story.

 

[Hopie]

Owners pulling out is not a great thing, but I do recall a number of mistakes in their reign regarding coaching changes. They can use their position as owners to push political positions if they want, it is hardly likely to lead to universal acclaim, especially when the sporting team are poor at the same time, and I do wonder if there isn't some muddying of the waters where genuine criticism gets hidden and dismissed amongst the abuse. 

[JohnM]

1. In general, who would want to  own and run a Championship club?   It takes a special sort of person and they are few and far between.

2. The essence of our sport is measured and contolled agression. It seems from the  topic about  brawls in the commmunity game and abusive social media posts as in this case, that not everyone agrees.

3. Its not compulsory to support the club and if anyone disagrees with the owners support for LGBT causes, they have a choice.  Personally, I disliked Dave Whelan and Jack Robinson but that did not stop me being a Wigan season ticket holder.

4. Maybe if the RFL explained their objective, strategy and tactics in running the Championship, the Keighley owners might change their minds

Edited June 23 by JohnM

[Agbrigg]

20 minutes ago, JohnM said:

 

3. Its not compulsory to support the club and if anyone disagrees with the owners support for LGBT causes, they have a choice.  Personally, I disliked Dave Whelan and Jack Robinson but that did not stop me being a Wigan season ticket holder.

 

Fair point and I wonder if it has actually put any significant amount people off or its just an handful who have made life hard for them.

[daz39]

9 hours ago, Angelic Cynic said:

I wonder what they plan to do with the stadium - which is apparently getting a new 4g, or whatever g, all weather pitch laid - and the soccer club they are involved with,named Keighley FC?

The Soccer club is actually Eccleshill United from Bradford that the owners bought, relocated to Cougar park and renamed them Keighley Town, cynics around the non league football circles claim this was done merely to obtain FA and sport England grants to use on the ground/rugby club, would be a shame if the football club were shut down due to this after a long history.

Edited June 22 by daz39

[BadlyOverdrawnBoy]

A large part of the problem is that social media thrives on negativity and disagreement, and is encouraged by the media owners for financial reasons. You can see it on the majority of the threads in this forum.

[Impartial Observer]

12 minutes ago, BadlyOverdrawnBoy said:

A large part of the problem is that social media thrives on negativity and disagreement, and is encouraged by the media owners for financial reasons. You can see it on the majority of the threads in this forum.

I disagree with you 

[Faxinhudds]

13 hours ago, JohnM said:

1. In general, who would want to  own and run a Championship club?   It takes a special sort of person and they are few and far between.

2. The essence of our sport is measured and contolled agression. It seems from the  topic about  brawls in the commmunity game and abusive social media posts as in this case, that not everyone agrees.

3. Its not compulsory to support the club and if anyone disagrees with the owners support for LGBT causes, they have a choice.  Personally, I disliked Dave Whelan and Jack Robinson but that did not stop me being a Wigan season ticket holder.

4. Maybe if the RFL explained their objective, strategy and tactics in running the Championship, the Keighley owners might change their minds

...or by doing that it may speed up other owners/directors to abandon ship? 

[Gooleboy]

A sad day for RL in Keighley. They may not have pleased everyone with how they have run the Club, but they put their heads above the parapet and took it on and have invested a fair amount of money into the Club. I can't see a big queue forming around Cougar Park to take it on as it looks like the Championship isn't of big interest to the powers that be any more and achieving promotion will be nigh on impossible to achieve after this season when London will surely go up. One final point, social media has a lot to answer for, as awful abuse seems to be the norm without any regulation.

[Fevrover]

5 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

A sad day for RL in Keighley. They may not have pleased everyone with how they have run the Club, but they put their heads above the parapet and took it on and have invested a fair amount of money into the Club. I can't see a big queue forming around Cougar Park to take it on as it looks like the Championship isn't of big interest to the powers that be any more and achieving promotion will be nigh on impossible to achieve after this season when London will surely go up. One final point, social media has a lot to answer for, as awful abuse seems to be the norm without any regulation.

Sadly manners and respect are dwindling  - fast!

[Gooleboy]

1 hour ago, Fevrover said:

Sadly manners and respect are dwindling  - fast!

They are, as online bullying and abuse keeps rising.

[langpark]

BBC have gone with a very different headline:  Rugby club owners quit over homophobic abuse

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78ymz3389yo

[Griff]

47 minutes ago, langpark said:

BBC have gone with a very different headline:  Rugby club owners quit over homophobic abuse

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78ymz3389yo

More newsworthy, obviously.

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, Gooleboy said:

They are, as online bullying and abuse keeps rising.

I only use this and Barnsley one.

[Gooleboy]

3 hours ago, Fevrover said:

I only use this and Barnsley one.

I would think that's more than enough!

[Fevrover]

16 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

I would think that's more than enough!

Correct!  

[Yorky]

3 hours ago, Fevrover said:

I only use this and Barnsley one.

Is that the BBS forum? If anything sums up the decline of respect, manners, open discussion its that forum. I stopped using it years ago, absolutely toxic. 

It used to be a really fun forum with interesting stories, open debate about football, the club and life in general. But for years it's just been a dozen people hounding out anybody that doesn't share their political opinion and belittling anybody who dare not praise Labour.

Some members have literally thousands of posts on a football forum without ever mentioning football, absolutely bizarre.

Thankfully on here sport is discussed and users are generally polite.....its a refreshing change in today's world!