I'm afraid the cult of Sir Kev may be the undoing of what has been the most incredibly well run club I can think of.
Firstly the lack of succession planning for the staged retirements of peacock, sinfield, burrow etc was odd. Then to trust Sinfield to oversee the recruitment of coaches despite no record of having any skills in that department was also odd. A great player does not automatically equal a great at anything else.
I was raised in Leeds and started to watch us when we were awful in about 92. Going to school in Leeds was therefore rubbish on a Monday morning. But I don't hate them and never have really. Anyone who loves the game couldn't genuinely think having Leeds outside the top flight would be good.
I'm afraid the cult of Sir Kev may be the undoing of what has been the most incredibly well run club I can think of.
Firstly the lack of succession planning for the staged retirements of peacock, sinfield, burrow etc was odd. Then to trust Sinfield to oversee the recruitment of coaches despite no record of having any skills in that department was also odd. A great player does not automatically equal a great at anything else.
I was raised in Leeds and started to watch us when we were awful in about 92. Going to school in Leeds was therefore rubbish on a Monday morning. But I don't hate them and never have really. Anyone who loves the game couldn't genuinely think having Leeds outside the top flight would be good.
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Well I like to think I take a wider view rather than a parochial one. If anyone can explain to me why having a top flight minus Leeds is actually positive for the sport I'd be interested. If it's just because you grew up with Leeds as our main rivals then meh.
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The only positive would be the exposure the Championship would get for a year or two. Though I have thought many times that if Toronto failed to gain promotion surely a Championship made up of
Bradford Leeds Toronto London Toulouse Halifax Leigh York
As a core with the possibility of Newcastle joining, taking perhaps a year or four to get traction, would be better for the sport if it's ever to lose the flat caps and whippets image and become a metropolitan, nationwide sport and so be more palatable to the aspirational types who would rather be seen in Tesco than associate with the "grimy pit and mill game the northerners play....."
Call it the Rugby League Premiership as the Super League seems to have lost the name of the game from their world.
With that line up it's not such a big leap of the imagination to be thinking of a Superleague 2. If more city teams fall out of the top flight then you might need to rethink the scale of the 2nd division completely.
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It'd be ironic if the Championship had a wider geographic footprint than SL yet got a worse TV deal.
As for who comes down I think it will be London. I'd rather it wasn't them. I'd prefer it to be Leeds as it's been a while since I've been to Headingley and I like that away trip.
"If you start listening to the fans it won't be long before you're sitting with them," - Wayne Bennett.
There’s 2 criteria for me. 1 - which clubs would have to do a bit of “cloth cutting” if relegated, which would give us a better chance of competing with them next year. My assumptions would be London, Wakey and/or HKR. Due to a lack of multi millionaire owners.
Sorry to disappoint you but Neil Hudgel is the owner of one of the largest law firms in the country with offices in London, Leeds Manchester and Hull. He is also involved in several other business ventures and he is certainly not short of a bob or two. Is he a multi millionaire? probably.
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[quote="Aldy"]Sorry to disappoint you but Neil Hudgel is the owner of one of the largest law firms in the country with offices in London, Leeds Manchester and Hull. He is also involved in several other business ventures and he is certainly not short of a bob or two. Is he a 2@ ? Absoloutly.[/quote]
Sorry to disappoint you but Neil Hudgel is the owner of one of the largest law firms in the country with offices in London, Leeds Manchester and Hull. He is also involved in several other business ventures and he is certainly not short of a bob or two. Is he a multi millionaire? probably.
To be fair he's probably based that assessment on the sort of squad that Hull KR assembled the last time they were in the Championship. It was a good squad but it wasn't amazing, and certainly not at the levels of limitless spending that Toronto have been hitting, which is probably what he was alluding to with the 'multi-millionaire' comment.
Hull KR will be fine if they come down because they have a very strong support base and Hudgell as backup if/when needed. A side like Wakefield, with average support and no benefactor of any kind would be in big trouble if they came down.