Danny Ward's departure wasn't down to results apparently, after all they have done relatively well enough on the pitch.

Seems no deal has gone through for moving in with Wimbledon, possibly after what fanbase is left mostly seemed to not be interested in yet another new dawn in another far away part of London.

SL ignored London's application to re-join SL which Leigh got....

Maybe even 2022's impending introduction of a SKY deal that may well pay London nothing at all, is another one of a number multiple reasons to call it a day.....



.

Maybe your looking for something that isn't there.

You seriously think London are the reason why SKY buy RL? What a load of nonsense. Perhaps in the first few years but not for the last twenty.

The reason they do is that ten million people live on the M62 corridor or downtown that count. There are also thousands of interested fans across the U.K.

It being northern makes little difference in reality. It a popularish sport at a decent price, it’s a goo filler always has been always will be.

The simple and blatantly obvious reason SKY pay less is they are no longer the dominant satellite channel. There revenues are down and competition is fierce and RL never was and never will be the premier sport they all want.

SKY will stick with us at a reduced rate imo. The only way we will get a better deal is not having a London team that nobody care about but by having international success.

Should we win or at least do very well in the WC, assuming it happens, then we may have some leverage.

TV channels love international sport, especially the British ones. It’s certainly what gives the RU club scene it’s credibility.

There is no doubt that a strong London side would be a boost for the game and it's a pity that their regular moves, from ground to ground and borough to borough around London has killed any chance of genuine growth for them.
Right now, despite some great community work and decent numbers of players having made it through into SL and having a very good coach, they aren't a great "sell" for the sport.
Like everything, the answer is serious money over a sustained period of time and without a guarantee of a place in the top flight, who on earth would want to throw a few million quid at the London "project" .

Once again, RL needs to work out just what the hell it wants to do and where it wants to be in 5,10 or 20 years time.

Right now, we are like a ship, drifting in the sea in stormy waters, with no power and definitely no steering.

Without getting too political, can the sport tap into the "northern powerhouse" and "levelling up" funds that are supposedly being made available.
I realise that there will be huge demands on any funds but, it may be worth a shot.

As for the world cup, I really can't see the Aussies and Kiwis wanting to come over, especially if it may impact the start of their regular season, which is another huge issue for the game as they shouldn't be putting their domestic game above a World Cup.

Guess the troll needs feeding.

Many lols!!!!!

Maybe put Doncaster in SL, surely that’s the only sensible answer?

Quote ="wrencat1873"There is no doubt that a strong London side would be a boost for the game and it's a pity that their regular moves, from ground to ground and borough to borough around London has killed any chance of genuine growth for them. Right now, despite some great community work and decent numbers of players having made it through into SL and having a very good coach, they aren't a great "sell" for the sport. Like everything, the answer is serious money over a sustained period of time and without a guarantee of a place in the top flight, who on earth would want to throw a few million quid at the London "project" . Once again, RL needs to work out just what the hell it wants to do and where it wants to be in 5,10 or 20 years time. Right now, we are like a ship, drifting in the sea in stormy waters, with no power and definitely no steering. Without getting too political, can the sport tap into the "northern powerhouse" and "levelling up" funds that are supposedly being made available. I realise that there will be huge demands on any funds but, it may be worth a shot. As for the world cup, I really can't see the Aussies and Kiwis wanting to come over, especially if it may impact the start of their regular season, which is another huge issue for the game as they shouldn't be putting their domestic game above a World Cup.'" https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/news/ru ... uxbndlbing

Quote ="wrencat1873"There is no doubt that a strong London side would be a boost for the game and it's a pity that their regular moves, from ground to ground and borough to borough around London has killed any chance of genuine growth for them. Right now, despite some great community work and decent numbers of players having made it through into SL and having a very good coach, they aren't a great "sell" for the sport. Like everything, the answer is serious money over a sustained period of time and without a guarantee of a place in the top flight, who on earth would want to throw a few million quid at the London "project" . Once again, RL needs to work out just what the hell it wants to do and where it wants to be in 5,10 or 20 years time. Right now, we are like a ship, drifting in the sea in stormy waters, with no power and definitely no steering. Without getting too political, can the sport tap into the "northern powerhouse" and "levelling up" funds that are supposedly being made available. I realise that there will be huge demands on any funds but, it may be worth a shot. As for the world cup, I really can't see the Aussies and Kiwis wanting to come over, especially if it may impact the start of their regular season, which is another huge issue for the game as they shouldn't be putting their domestic game above a World Cup.'" https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/news/ru ... uxbndlbing

Surely you don't think he's a Doncaster supporter

Indeed.
It's not even a subtle troll either.

No I don't and I don't think I said this at all.

The SKY deal is reducing but that has nothing to do with London at all......

Going back to this deal it was apparently struck quickly at a high value to reflect and head off BT who may have bid at that time, and new and supposedly exciting league system was introduced that had a big focus on the P&R battle.........

Ha, you agree with the analysis, that must make you a "troll" as well







Perhaps someone can come up with proof the Wimbledon move is up and running?

Did Ian Leneghan tell you this personally?

Just stop trolling

One of the biggest pluses that Rugby Union manages to attain is showpiece games at times of their choosing on free to air channels to get maximum exposure. None of this playing when tv companies have a slot to fill., & don't forget that RU is shown on about 5 fta channels in various formats.
Another great brainwashing piece concerning the public is that these international fixtures are played in stadiums that the RFU manages to fill by whatever means necessary & usually containing a fair amount of the great & good of society within those crowds.

Quote ="Donnyman"Ha, you agree with the analysis, that must make you a "troll" as well Perhaps someone can come up with proof the Wimbledon move is up and running?'" https://democracy.merton.gov.uk/documen ... Report.pdf Here you go, planning application for change of use to include Rugby being heard tomorrow, perhaps you can come up with proof that it's not rather than opinion?

Quote ="Donnyman"Ha, you agree with the analysis, that must make you a "troll" as well Perhaps someone can come up with proof the Wimbledon move is up and running?'" https://democracy.merton.gov.uk/documen ... Report.pdf Here you go, planning application for change of use to include Rugby being heard tomorrow, perhaps you can come up with proof that it's not rather than opinion?

The important quote to take away from the Carney/ward interview was that when asked, ward said he'd neither seen more heard if a strategic plan for the London Broncos over his tenure there as coach or player.
Hughes will either tire of flushing cash or his health will prevent him from doing so.....at that stage we are dead in the water with less income than the skolars.

As someone who has studied the goings on at the club with a microscope, during the long and slow painful death we are witnessing, there are a number of key dates to consider.
1. 11th hour redemption in 2005 & 2006 the first season as quins. We were buggered until Lenegan came along and shifted us back to the stoop. The last season as the broncos at Brentford saw us make the play offs with just short of 3,900 fans. There were a handful of fans (maybe 2 dozen) who walked away, unhappy with the Harlequins name. Stupid double header crowd aside, we had 4,100 at games that year....we had a Rugby League CEO in Paul Brown and a match day experience that included bouncy castles and petting zoo for the kids and bands in the bar after the game.
2. Lenegan buys Wigan. Reports at the time stated he wanted to remain as the senior shareholder at Quins, but the other clubs (or some if them) saw a conflict if interest......so Hughes was lumbered with the cost of running the club, which still had 4,000+ fans, but no CEO with a RL pedigree. The relationship between Harlequins union was now managed by Hughes and where Evans at union and Lenegan/Brown had got on....Hughes didn't get on with the landlord. At the end of 2008 we were moved across to the bigger kings bar but increasingly the match day experience became strained. The RFL reached out to offer marketing help and arranged for two WCC warm up games, both being well attended....but the club still hadn't attempted to attract locals to games and there was no marketing.
3. Paul Blanchard was offloaded to us as a CEO from HKR who dodged a bullet as he had no experience of the game, let alone running a team in London. He was replaced by fielding supremo, Gus.....and between these two, we saw between 15 and 20% of our fans drift each year....until in desperation, The African Fielder convinced Hughes it was the quins name that was killing us, so we went to be the broncos again.
2013. After already telling quins we were off at the seasons end, before finding a home (there's a pattern here) we made the CC semi final......we got spanked live on TV, Hughes spat his dummy and put us on the block...either for sale or closure.
That December..... The RFL paid the guy at Barnet £100,000 to take us in and Hughes wound his neck in.
4. 2014.....with no time to build a squad, we headed for the trap door. Towards the seasons end, the now expert recruiter had taken on a 3rd rate coach called Joey Grima, who I believe holds the worst coaching record of any broncos coach. After a bitterly disappointing first season in the 2nd tier, we move to th wedding venue in Ealing...... Here is what Mr Hughes had to say about that.
[urlhttps://youtu.be/Aam3_ld7dzQ[/url
2018.....Accidental promotion which then highlighted how far SL had fallen the following year when a championship side almost avoided the drop in 2019 then resulted in us starting 2020 with an average squad.....before covid pulled the plug.
2020.....At some stage during lockdown, conversations regarding a replacement for Toronto turned to stadiums.....and Ealing was declared not good enough, enabling the northern clubs to pull up the drawbridge and promote not Fev, but Leigh.
Now saddled with a new stadium project, Hughes has gone stealthily silent, letting 2 more of his fantastic appointments run the club down in preparation for part time existence whilst essentially alienating 70% of whatever fanbase they had left. I'd add that anyone who offered to waive a refund in 2020 in return for a polo shirt has yet to receive their shirt, whilst any negative comments on social media results in the club issuing bans. In once case a fan has been asked to never return to watch the games.....a fan of a Few decades
Mr Hughes has ploughed £30,000,000 into the club and has absolutely nothing to show for it. His pig headed reluctance to listen to the RFL or other SL chairmen and his desire to run his club his way has done this and if the RFL don't step in, then the academy players who are coming through will be lost to union and the game will be reliant on Hector at Skolars .

So the troll who started this thread is right.....London may well fold, but it has nothing to do with anyone else other than David Hughes. In his time he may have flushed £30,000,000 of his money, but he also flushed another £20,000,000 in central and TV funding too.....not to mention the gate receipts of some 500,000 fans in that period too .....I'd laugh if it weren't so utterly depressing

Donnyman has never come up for proof for any of his claims. Apparently Ian leneghan confides in him all the time. That’s his proof

He’s the biggest troll on rlfans yet you all still fall for it

That's what I said so looks like your trolling too.





Apparently the move to Wimbledon was linked with the unsatisfactory nature of Trailfinders as a Super League ground. Apparently the move isn't fully ratified yet and was part of Hughes hopes London would get back to Superleague either by being invited back to replace Toronto* (Leigh got that gig) or by winning Promotion (not much chance of that)...

Broncos have been on the verge of folding twice before, first when Virgin pulled out and Hughes and Rae agreed to call it a day but Hughes changed his mind (from Tony Hannons book the first 10 years of Superleague) and secondly this [i"The club's financial struggles were made evident when, on 20 November 2013, the club announced that it would have to enter administration in ten working days if a new owner was not found. On 3 December 2013, London Broncos announced, "The club will be instructing lawyers to file a further notice of intention to appoint administrators at court, which shall be effective for 10 business days".[/i The club's saviour David Hughes later decided to give it another go.........

It's not hard to conclude as many do, that now may well be the time and circumstances to finally call it a day.

But of course it could be Mr. Hughes will decide to carry on, even though...

(1) his Supereague days look to be over,
(2) his central funding looks to be lost with the reduced SKY deal
(3) more and more fans call it a day
(4) Wimbledon will be expensive .......That's why the title of the thread is "London Broncos's MAY fold"

* Expansion clubs regularly fold you know, so no need to troll the messenger

The thread title is London Broncos [umay[/u fold.........

It's certainly an opinion that I have backed with many facts above. So it looks like your opinion is Hughes will happily be moving to Wimbledon........

The planning application is a planning application? You got a copy of the signed agreement between Hughes and Wimbledon?? Link please??

No...what you did was imply loads of things without a shred of evidence.
........you're simply guessing. Danny ward was asked to leave as he wasn't going to renew next season.
....that we do know.
You claimed SL ignored the Broncos application to replace Toronto. They didn't they assessed it like the others and decided Leigh was right for them.....or if they did
ignore it, how do you come to the conclusion that they decided Trailfinders wasn't good enough?
I'm wrong by the way....you're not a troll. You're a poor imitation of a troll

I've given you proof that the amendment to planning application is progressing which is key to any agreement to move as without it there's no way they could play there. Club have stated they are moving and the planning application is progressing, grateful to hear why you suggest otherwise and why I'd be party to such an agreement between Broncos and Wimbledon AFC? My opinion is that it's one hell of a gamble for the club.

You've posted no evidence whatsoever to back up why Danny Ward departure wasn't down to results. Given Danny Ward stated on Sky that it was agreed he was staying until the end of the year but was asked to leave after the Featherstone result. What leads you to state it wasn't down to results? Let me know what you have that differs from someone who was party to the conversation?

You stated Broncos bid was ignored, Leigh were announced as having the best application, London were refused not ignored unless of course you can prove otherwise.

And just to be clear, proof please not the owner of Wigan or Saints told you in a dream.

To orangeman

I don't revel in the misfortunes of London R.L but do question their approach to achieving stability as I feel you may well do yourself.

I read your post with interest & out of it I have 2 burning questions.

Given that London R.L has been offered & given as you say both intellectual & financial support by the RFL *something not offered to all R.L Clubs* & given as you say circa £30 Million *invested/gifted* + £20 Million of Sky/RFL money as you point out is not enough to sustain London as a Super League pro team or currently a top Championship team then .....

1. What is your current average attendance ? (As it directly affects sustainability)
1a. What is stopping it's growth ?

2. Is there value in London restarting as a Championship 1 Club &
2b would it be possible to become fan owned ? Would there be any desire in that or be financially viable, albeit starting at a lower level ?

So sneakily, 4 questions really.

Nor do I Ste, nor do I...............And exactly like you, I question their stability...................

Thats a long way of stating you having no evidence whatsoever to back up the move has stopped, Danny Ward was let go for non performance reason and the SL application was ignored.

Thank you.

1. I'm just an observer of a sad situation, I've followed London's journey since they were the main story on BBC news back in 1980 when they were Fulham. First game was a 9552 crowd against Wigan. Their hoisting to Superleague saw this crowd beaten when 9846 turned up for the visit of Brisbane Broncos. The club were on a high and fantastic to see. So was Branson leading the team out at Wembley in 1999.

It was David Lawrenson who wrote how Mr. Hughes and Tony Rea discussed the future of the club after Branson's pull out in a discussion that ended with an agreement that there was no point Mr. Hughes "Throwing good money after bad". The record is Mr. Hughes has thrown an enormous sum at London and we all may thank him for doing that. We all knew things were likely to come to an end and the 2014 1,000 crowd against Catalans in a season London could only beat a Leeds reserve team looked like the last. However time and again Hughes ponders his situation and time and again he comes back.

You have no "evidence" at all that London will go on forever, and no "evidence" that the move to Wimbledon will happen but if you follow the fans comments across the social media their feeling is that this is finally the end. It's a discussion point like it or not, and this is a discussion site like it or not........

2. Well what "evidence" do you have Ward was sacked for [i"Performance reasons"?[/i If you look at Mr. Ward's performance since he took over the coaching reigns it actually is very good indeed. He did a fantastic job with the youngsters and got the club promotion to Superleagye from a very competitive Championship, and he knocked over Toronto in their own back yard. London may have been relegated 2019 but they played their socks of and there was nothing between the bottom four clubs.

Ward is a great bloke and an excellent coach who has done a great job and London are fifth in the table. [i"performance reasons"[/i? Show me some real evidence