There’s some kind of Community link up, (still no idea why or how that works) maybe that’s what was being referred to by Fax

Hmmmm, Community Link up, Sharing Community work, Will only benefit one club of the 2, The biggest one i am afraid, Linking up with Any SL team will only be to the detrement of the smaller club. Always going to be the same i am afraid, they dont do it for nothing. I am sure the club know what they are doing and why they word things as they do as they will know how the fans would feel and they cant afford that, but can they afford to turn away good players who come for free in most cases now and skim the cream off the top.

The reply i got was something along the lines if why do you believe this brown stuff!

Any link up is at foundation and U23's only

I have my own concerns, but seeing as you seem to know who will benefit, perhaps you could kindly explain to the rest of us just exactly how it all works. Then I can make up my own mind.

Leigh will never be Wigan or anyone else's feeder club.

Don’t know how Sheffield’s prices compare, but in my experience at all but the big boys football ticket prices aren’t as high as some would have you think, for home supporters this season at Blackburn Category A+ games cheapest adult price £25 (2 games), Cat A £19 (8 games), and Cat B (13 games £15). Average price is therefore just over £17, both in our respective Championships and only a quid or so difference.

I still wouldn’t pay to go watching it mind!

A link up with Under 23's, SL clubs wont be running under 23's next year so does that mean you get wigans reserves as your under 23's and then when they are good enough and ready, Wigan get them ?. Just a thought.

I assume its the ones now too old for the new U19s. Other than that i've no idea. .....and i'm not asking the horses mouth as i got a rocket for almost believing what you put on re the twinning

Im only going off what was said at the meeting yesterday, Im sure it will all come out in the wash, It ussually does, Anyhow, we have replaced Penky today with Scott Murrell from Hull KR so things looking a little better for Fax now, He's certainly got some big boots to fill.

Well like most have said if we become a feeder club to anyone that's me done with RL altogether, don't think we will though to be honest.

I cant see this being right surelly we would have linked up with Warrington if we wanted to go down that route not wigan i can see it being loanees or duals and thats it. well heres hoping because if we do become an official feeder club to anyone what is the point of carrying on anymore seeya bommy neet rugby league.

How can a twinned club win a Franchise?

The Leigh board are far too knowledgeable to make the mistake of becoming Wigan's feeder club. The club would implode in a matter of minutes!

I also have mine.

Any twinned club should not be allowed to apply for a franchise let alone win one ,in my mind they have lost ambition. But on the other hand I have some sympathy with the Championship clubs even though I would not like my team to do it everything is weighted to benifit the Super League clubs.They are the ones who voted against runing the young teams as they decided they were too expensive to run,Shameful really when one of the areas looked at for a franchise is youth development.Then the champ clubs are expected to buy these youngsters off them( Cass are geting rid of over 30 ) to free up more money so they can bring over more Aussie imports .As someone else has mentioned what about the Champ clubs coach ,will they be compromised by the Super League coach telling him he has play his players ?

Much more expensive over here, the cheapest ticket at Wednesday is £26. Unsure about United. Ipswich and Leeds charge about £40!

As Mrs Brown would say Mo "Thats Nice ", dont worry Mo you and Frank B are the next to Twin



.

The link up with wigan seems to be because wigan council and lsv.co have made life a little easier for the club to play at the stadium.

It just seems daft to me wasting £50K+ for an u23s when you don't need one anymore.

I think at the fans forum it was stated that Leigh wouldn't be linking with any club inparticular but they would use DC's from Wigan (I wasn't there but I remember someone posting similar at the time).

Perhaps a press release just confirming that that is still the clubs intentions might be a idea with this becoming more in the spotlight.

I feel really sorry for the Dewsbury fans though, they must be gutted seeing there team in effect become a training club for Bradford Bulls.

I don't see what the big fuss is all about? This seems like a sensible concept to me


What's the worst that could happen if we become a 'feeder' club to Wigan? Or if indeed the whole championship becomes a 'feeder' league to the super league?
1. The best players in the championship will get signed up by the super league teams (that already happens now folks: Hill, Walmsley etc) super league teams will still have to pay a fee for the player.
2. Fringe super league players will be offered to championship clubs in way of loans, dual regs, signings (yep that already happens now aswell: Spencer, Brierley etc)
3. It means young, talented rugby league players who are too old for the junior teams but not yet ready to compete in the super league will get a chance to play and earn experience with hard working, well-coached championship teams. Quite honestly without this concept I don't know what these lads would do and I think you'd find more and more players losing interest and focusing on careers outside of rugby (Bryn Hargreaves is a perfect example). If that happened then literally the future of rugby league really would look pretty dim.
4. It means teams like Hunslet, York, Dewsbury and Swinton will be much more competitive next year (I hear a lot of moaning on here about the pointlessness of some teams in the super league who arent competitive but surely being a Hunslet or York fan must be more frustrating?) Now these clubs and their fans can look forward to seeing a greater selection of players than before?
5. Talented players from both leagues don't have to re-arrange their whole lives in order to continue their rugby careers (travel, jobs, accommodation etc) we all saw how it didn't work for Worrincy this season - poor lad missed his family and couldn't get a job!

Whether you like it or not the championship is a lower league than super league which offers less pay and extremely limited opportunities for promotion: as Leigh are a championship club we are in a position that means ALL our players, and coaches for that matter, would jump at the opportunity to move up to the super league FACT. We already are feeder clubs in a feeder league and being twinned with another club would make no difference in my opinion.

The fact of the matter is that if we want to get in the super league and stop being the poor, pointless neighbours we need to tick the licensing boxes: 1. Win the NRC or get to a GF (tick!) 2&3 have good attendances and a healthy turnover- so it's simple, I've said it on here before: we, as a club, need the good people of Leigh to put down their lobby, pick up their wallets, ignore the fact that they could go watch Wigan for a couple of quid more, be proud to be a leyther, and come down to the LSV once a fortnight to cheer on the mighty Centurions!!!!

If a mere 10% of leythers do (Thats 4,300 - I've done my homework) then we'll be in the super league in no time.

So are you from warrington or wigan

Some well put points but I'm in the opposite camp.
Why bother paying £16.00 to watch a team of 6 or 7 (or more !) Wigan reserve players wearing a Leigh shirt, I might as well pay that few quid more and watch the Wigan first team (of course hell would freeze over first but you get my drift !).
By saying we are a training club it says 'we are actually now totally unambitious and rely on the parent club to get players which will probably ensure lobby sales remain high and gates at the LSV remain low.
The lack of information about these 'ventures' is also a concern as no-one seems to know for sure what the restrictions actually are.

The bottom line is it comes down to what do you want to watch, if its just watching a game with no real emotional attachment and no real feeling of the players on the pitch representing you then I suppose it is a good idea but for me sport is about atmosphere and passion and to be honest watching 7 lads with Wigan in their heart running round in a Leigh shirt so they can eventually get in the Wigan team doesn't do it for me in anyway shape or form, maybe thats the risk the club has to take - but lets be honest to link up in such a way does risk alienating a diminishing support base even more.

I totally agree; I'm all for emotional attachment and ambition but the sad and painful truth is that we are a championship club; nothings permanent and there's no guarantees: Aspinwall is a great example but every one of our players is in the same boat- someone else comes calling with more money and emotional attachment goes out the window I'm afraid (just look at our 2011 squad - ripped apart in a matter of weeks) even Brierley who's been one of our best and most exciting players this season (always patting the Leigh badge on his shirt, waits patiently to thank the fans at the end of the match, regularly gives his wristbands and boots to kids on the front row... He was even in tears at the full time whistle v Sheffield) has a clause in his contract to say as soon as a super league club comes calling he can leave, no questions asked. Emotion? YES. Attatchment? NOPE.

I just read that post back and depressed myself- what I'm trying to say is that if we're all hoping to watch a team of young Leythers win the GF, attract another 2000 fans, have no interference from any other club and then be granted a licence on a silver plate then we're all delusional. Alternatively if Wigan twin with us then the worst that could happen is we get some talented Wigan lads- I didn't here anyone complain about the dual regs not having any attachment to the club last year - I thought the likes of Laithwaite and Spencer, for example, did us proud this season. We need to focus on building a strong squad capable of winning games and attracting more fans and I for one think Wigan can only help us to do that. I'm sure many other people disagree but that's just my thoughts.

I agree with your last two paragraphs and other points in your post but twinning for us no.

Once we accept that principle together with licenscing we will have lost our ambition as a club.

The dual contract system has limits and having players on loan spells is not just limited to Championship clubs.

With regards to players being cherry picked by a club in the league above that happens in other sports but the thing is in those other sports clubs/sides have the opportunity of winning promotion and those in the league above have to try to avoid regulation.