on the salford forum they are saying there's been a chap at barton for about 3 weeks now with a pick and a shovel digging the footings

.i guess that means there' more lies to come

Was Snow White with him?

The first franchise club (Celtic) moves ground and area , loses virtually every game and gets caught out for employing illegal immigrants.



The 2nd franchise club has had some unseen problems getting the new ground they said they'd have and the support and imagination of the Manchester public they said they'd attract.



I actually cannot knock either of those clubs (or there chairmen - definatly not their fans) as they can only do what they allowed to get away with by the governing body (and if the games 2 biggest winning clubs play out of old fashioned stadia then why should Celts & City Reds waste player contract money building grounds that will always be half empty)



It does beg the question of the validity of future franchise process's as its blatantly apparant that the RFL didn't dig very deep when getting long term assurances /plans during the last process from many clubs currently in SL.

she must be hiding in his little white van with her little friends waiting for it to go dark

The Criteria WILL change or too many current SL clubs will be demoted.

I misread that bit at first

Barton , Not penny Flash

i can't imagine what you think i wrote

I don,t know why just Salford are being criticised.



The economic downturn has put other proposed stadia in doubt for other Non Relegation League clubs.



My view is Salford and Celts are in because Sky wanted them in .



When the next round of franchises comes round you can,t realistically expect Saints to be denied one even if they stay at Knowsley Rd for the forseeable future.



I want franchising scrapped and P & R brought back but it,s still all down to Sky these days.



With due respect to us Championship clubs (sorry)only Widnes have a sufficient fan base at the moment to be in with a shout the way things are.





Franchising is stifling ambition in my view and has a negative influence on bringing back lapsed and potential new fans.

Not disagreeing with what you post Frank but Celtic and Salford didn't have great fan bases when winning a franchise and I suspect a 'paying' fanbase isn't whats happening at Toulouse (who for me are nailed on certs for a franchise next time around).



Leigh need to be the best RL club in Leigh (as daft as it sounds), get the local populace watching, get ALL the schools in for free, get the local papers talking about us, concentrate on on field and off field success , we then move to Atherton, Tyldesely , Bolton etc, etc, one area at a time and TBH the RFL cannot ignore us (or SKY).



With due respect to Batley (One of the best championship clubs IMO in terms of what they've done with little finance) does anyone think they would have been re promoted' if they finnished where Leigh did after just being relegated - or would the RFL have promoted another club from Championship 1





The club needs to build on from this good fortune and now make it happen if not for SL then to be the best supported , best RL playing team out of SL.

But the problem is that there are currently 3 Non Relegation clubs with virtually no away support and this has a knock on effect on the other clubs so Toulouse would be a no no for most present incumbants.



There isn,t just Wakefield struggling as a result of this and Toulouse would compound that problem but currently Widnes would to some extent relieve it.



Regarding our reinstatement I think Batley too would have been reinstated had they been the relegated club because to promote a Champ 1 club who had not met the criteria for promotion would have been bizarre.



One more thing although our crowds last season were poor they did go up when we were in the relegation dogfight. Something the RFL AND Sky would do well to ponder.