See and there I was trying to be balanced. I don't have to clutch at straws and a president was set on the exclusion of Widnes round before last......

I was actually more having a pop at bradfords debacle to be honest, artificially subsiding the business to a B license, spending the cap and not being able to support it. But your speed to jump to the defence says more about how you are feeling than me. I am not bothered genuinely.

Rank bad business planning and worthy of sanction when coupled with the RFL ground bail/buy out.

But the president was rebuked by the RFL in the last licence round, obviously because of the Crusaders issue, so what happened three years before that is of no matter, unless they change their mind of course!!!!
Everybody knows that the license system is a sham, the RFL will have known about Crusaders as they will have known about the Bulls, what is the only real issue for the RFL is that clubs are seen to be making progress (despite the documented problems at various clubs) and they are in up to date stadia, (the latter aids the former).
Unless there is a polar shift (or someone implodes) this is how i see it:
Wigan, Saints, Warrington, Leeds, Hudds, Hull, London, Catalan and Bulls all untouchable for various reasons, top clubs, beneficiaries, geography the birthplace of RL RFL own ground etc etc etc.
Widnes, Hull KR, Salford, Cas and Wakey are all vulnerable.
Widnes and Salford both have new grounds (although i think Salford may well be on the edge) if in a weeks time we get a nod then NM will help us fulfill license B and stadia criteria, that leaves Cas and Hull KR (who are also "rumoured" to have some problems, HKR that is) looking like sitting ducks.
There is a "rumour" that more than one may have to go and teams like Halifax, Leigh and Featherstone are all moving in the right direction, we should also not discount the possibillty of another French club.
Certain clubs are bullet proof (IMO the bulls are now one of them) so your only concern needs to be GH, it wasn't a dig or an attempt to jump to the defence of anyone, just a bit of pragmatism, and if you don't get it sorted you will be a sitting duck

Interesting points all round. As you say, add in mystery RFL factors and anything could happen couldn't it?!

Indeed they could, but i am firmly of the belief that any nasty ones will only affect certain clubs.

I'm with you on that - the Bradford situation has been a joke from start to finish and if the RFL were subject to any proper scrutiny, they'd be facing some serious questions right now about competency, fairness and capability. As it goes, the general lack of interest in the sport means that the governing body gets away with murder on a regular basis.

It's always been clear that WTW and Cas are the gingerhaired stepchildren of SL and until we both have our new stadia up and running, that will remain the case - at which point, Wood and co will appear for photo-opprtunities (wide-angle of course) and crow about what wonderful examples of heartland clubs we are and how their strict licensing criteria has created the opportunity for us to develop fantastic new facilities etc etc.

You speak for yourself !

Until the stadium's are actually built we can only dream of being just like Salford City Reds.

That ultimately is the sad truth of it!!!

And even then, the problems don't end; there are worrying rumours about their parlous financial state and making the CEO redundant the other day is not a great sign.

Exactly mate. 1 step forward for a few crushing steps back.

I'm sure every fan of CT / WTW would love their clubs to be playing in great new stadiums, but at what cost? Playing in a new ground doesn't solve everything, it merely ticks a dumb box.

Salford's main problem is of course attendance; I think both our clubs would need to see 10k through the gates on a regular and consistent basis to generate the required revenue in their proposed new stadia and certainly from our point of view, that looks entirely do-able. Our crowds are up by around 30% this year and we look set to post an average for the season of over 8k. I imagine that Cas could achieve something similar.

I'm also of the belief that NM will house a football team, making the facility itself more finanically viable, but that's only conjecture at this point.

You would also have a rent to pay whereas CT wouldn't.