One thing is for sure.

Without our BOD, coaching staff and the rest of the people behind the scenes who keep giving their all tirelessly for the club we would be going nowhere fast except backwards.

Whilst I'm at it, what burns me most was the abuse us championship fans took for questioning licensing. We weren't opposed to expansion, didn't want Rugby League to be semi pro and stuck in the heartlands.



As I remember, we said it could be a club killer of clubs weren't ready, (where are Celtic Crusaders again), would be done shoddily with an agenda and would weaken the championship making normal promotion impossible if it was ever reintroduced.



Apparently being right made us "flatcappers".



And that is all that is wrong with the game. There is no plan, there is no family, there is no strategy. The sport is where it is because it doesn't know it's from its elbow. We must be the only sport in the world that has promotion and relegation but has laws in place that prevent promotion from happening. A sport that hops around from shooting itself in the foot all the time! What a great product we keep managing to mess up!



And Nigel Wood gives himself another 5 unaccountable years on a salary greater than the prime minister. You couldn't make it up.



Frankly I'm grateful to all who have had a hand in Fax recently, they've all been saints battling against all the adversity and indifference

I think the Board should communicate more with the fans I agree it is an area the club have never been good at to be honest but they are doing their best to be fair and we do not have a sugar daddy like Leigh, London and until this year Sheffield.

Lets see where we finish and then I am sure the Board can tell us where the club is going when they know what funding they will get.

We have made improvements with things like the programme, having a screen, Fax Pro TV and a Reserve team its just that nagging thing that the club seem a bit remote from the fans and for me do not try hard enough to get into those that don't support Fax like around town and in pubs with fixture lists and flyers like FCHT do the club rely on the dedicated few.

I think there are a lot of very good comments on here. From a lot of passionate fans (and perhaps around longer than me) with memories of bad times as well.



I don't really want to look back, although I accept it impacts the future as we start from a position based upon our history. What I want to see is the BOD tell The fans what it is they are going to do over the next few years and why.. These guys run the club, and based upon past experiences look like they are doing a good job. We all have our views in what is the right/wrong way ahead but they need to explain what is going on. I am fed up with the focus being purely on the next match, or next player, or next meal offer.



So my key questions are really

What do they mean by better foundations? How much of this has been done and what's next? How long will each stage take?

Are we going to continue the way we are (Part time) and hope things improve or is there a clear plan timeframe to move to a full time club? (I don't know the "right" answer for this as I don't have enough information, but I agree if Sheffield are where we will be then it's a daft step)

What is the financial position of the club now and is there a forecast of the way ahead?

Why do we have so many uninvolved shareholders?



In a sense I am asking the type of questions my boss tells me about the company I work for and can show me.



And I don't just want to know for next year, tell us the plan for a few more years.



For goodness sake if they know it share it, if they don't know it then perhaps they are not as solid as we think.

I Had a convo with a fax mate about this. I think the decision whether to go FT or not, depends on how many of your current squad are willing to go FT. What's happened to Sheffield will put anyone off. But Leigh went FT and got it bang on. Main reason is, most of Leigh's championship winning side went FT. Most of Sheffield's didn't and they ended up recruiting from C1. I hope you do go FT and keep the main of your squad. Some good things happening at Fax. One of the best RL stadiums, foundations being laid, and a solid fan base.



On the structure i always HATED licensing as i loved relegation/promotion scraps. How the championship survived those years is beyond me. I don't think the current structure will last long. With Wakefield's embarrassing season last year and Leigh finishing top3 years in a row and still not getting promoted, it is exposing it's flaws. I've said now we've finally sorted our HB issue out, if we sneak into the top 4 i think we will be the top championship club which says everything about the system as we don't deserve to be anywhere near promotion on our performances this season.



1 up 1 down, top 5 play-off in SL (you know the system that worked). But hey, the RFL are innovative so let's fix things when they aren't broken.

I agree,good post.Only thing i will say in defence of the current system is that if Leigh do get promoted they will be much better prepared for super league than a part time club who finishes top after a one off good season.

I totally agree. By the time a club knows it would be promoted as "Champions" go up, only average Full Time players available to be signed for following season.



So my suggestion:



Team top halfway through season is promoted. Plenty of time to recruit.

Crowds for rest of season dwindle with no interest, result:Championship dies. In fact I am surprised Fat Controller hasn`t implemented this scenario already

Not so well but, if you're planning to be a full time club at some time in the future, you'll need to have a year of transition and probably not do so good. It's either that or stay part time for ever.

Well, I've read that a couple of times and even with you being a bulls fan, I can't find owt to disagree with. Amazing!

The thing is if you get promoted to SL you still get a choice of better quality players than every team in the championship simply because unless you are willing to throw stupid money around like Leigh, most players want to play at the top level.

Already did it with Widnes. Never finished above 3rd or 4th for 3 years then amazingly got a licence. They qualified to apply by winning the NRC once. They had a full years notice too

Courtesy of Ben Black!

Really enjoyed the content of this topic and some really good points made. I think the club has improved it's communication. Perhaps another fans forum once the fun and games are over re matters on the pitch to give some of the questions on here a hearing?

Looking at the middle 8 concept it is heavily weighted in favour of the SL clubs who are simply used to a higher intensity of rugby week in week out - Championship sides could do it for the odd game but not 7 on the trot. Leigh look to be the only team capable of causing a serious upset.

I think the club and RM have made it clear in the past that our pathway to SL will be a slow one building from the bottom up. Not what some want to hear but as a lifelong supporter I personally have seen too much of the boom and bust management and all the heartache and embarrassment that brings.

We might be 'throwing stupid money around' but it would appear not as much as Toronto, from the number of our players reported to be heading over there! (or it could just be that our Yorkshire contingent are jumping at the chance to train at Tong, rather than travel to Leigh every day!

)

Will be interesting if Leigh do not get promoted this season or next how they handle a proper challenge to be top dogs with 2 teams probably spending up to the SL salary cap.

Could be three, if Toulouse have a big backer!!

And Toronto get some dispensation the year after.

and the year after that. And the year af....

So Partime means going backwards, or at best standstill. Wow what a dream!

Has anybody been watching super league lately??

The quality of games is poor.

Super league isn't the promised land.

Whilst SL isn't the promised land in terms of quality rugby it is where the money is I'm afraid.

Norman , I will arrange a Bucket Collection for Sunday.

Are you seriously trying to say that the standard in the championship is as good as Super League?



Super League is not the promised land, it's the NRL, which is why a number of our best players go there and why we pay a "premium" over NRL salaries for players.



If some Fans want Fax to be a level two, Partime club then that's fine, but let the BOD tell us if that's there ambitions.

Some of the thursday night games recently have been dreadful and on what i've sen recently i'd back Leigh to beat Salford.But on a form line through Bradford we should have beaten Leigh-so who knows..