There's no answer to that one then Leyth lad, it must be a conspiracy by the Leigh board and the RFL - what rotters they are.

If he is indeed our player, then it might be worth having a quiet word with him with regards to his use of social media as Barlow posting on Facebook "I've not signed for anyone yet" is obviously in complete contrast to what the club are saying.

I understand why he's still denying it and I suppose that in his mind he's still a Halifax player on loan to Featherstone who just happen to be flying high. I suppose he wants to finish the job for them before he switches into 'Leigh mode'.

As I said earlier, I don't think it should have been announced now. I think that as a club, we should be above these kinds of tactics and it's not really fair on him.

I now also think that it's up to him as to how he deals with it and if he wants to deny it, that's his prerogative. He's not really doing anyone any harm and he'll have to live with it when he finally does announce the fact that he is a Leyther.

You either bull ing or someones telling you porkies.

We have a two year contract signed by Sam in the safe at LSV and copy has been registered with the RFL.

He is probably trying to reassure his current coach and supporters that He is completely focused on the task in hand which is to win the 2013 Kingstone Press Championship Grand Final.

However Sam would be better advised just to keep quiet.

Sam was in the Fev club house when the news broke on twitter. He was asked by many Fev fans including myself if it was true and he told everyone it wasn't true.

He said its an option but he is playing for a contract at Fev. He's also posted in the Fev's Facebook page that its not true.

I suppose he could be lying, but if he is it seems strange that he would go out of his way get fev fans against him again when he could just easily say that everything was sorted before his loan move and there's nowt he could do.

Not sure why everyone seems to think his registration is locked away at the RL. Is it there with Finns Fax contract

would you like me to copy and paste the chat i had with him last night? cause from what he was saying he ain't a leigh player yet....

How many times has this happened? Wish we had signed Chris Hill and Sam Tompkins. Heard they are cracking prop forwards. Future England Internationals.

And Sam Hopkins as well :O0 haha

[uLeague Express[/u

"Paul Rowley has confirmed that Sam Barlow has signed a two-year deal with them."

"The signing is likely to be officially confirmed by Leigh through a press release at the end of the season"

No mention of announcing the news on a forum.

This might turn out to be a very good signing by Leigh, but has there been a legitimate explanation for the timing of the official announcement (and I don't mean "it was all over the forums and League Express"!)? If not, it beggars belief that they didn't get Barlow on board with the announcement before going ahead. You want your marquee signings to be saying the right things when they are officially unveiled, not "It's all lies", as Barlow has said. He's available because he's been at loggerheads with his previous club, but it makes it look as if he's at loggerheads with his new club before he has even joined them.

As I said

TROUBLE, not as good as he thinks he is, and not as clever it would seem

hes probably now been offered more money by Fev or someone else and is trying to get out of it . I know Andy is telling the truth I believe him and our club 100%

He told you on facebook !
I could set an account up as Sam Barlow

Must confess I am disappointed with how this has been handled and trust we learn from it.

Yes absolutely. It's a PR disaster in my book.

Someone from the BOM should phone Sam and ask him wether he has had a change of heart. Should he say yes then just let him go to wherever he wants to. No point in having any player at our club who isn't going to do his best.

Not even played a game for Leigh yet and already stiring things up.

Maybe he is edging his bets.............









Seriously though if he is actually allowed to play for Leigh by the time the new season rolls around you can expect him to play well for you for a few games, then you can expect him knocking on the coaches door telling them a SL club is in for him and wanting to negotiate his already inflated salary, and then finally when he dosnt get his own way expect his performances to decrease in quality quite quickly.

The question people must ask is why would Fax release a player, who many uniformed people think is one of the best props/second rows in the comp, a year early from his contract? It will all come out in the wash though, I just hope Leigh havnt paid him any money up front.

Recent history is littered with clubs signing players who 'are no good', 'trouble makers', 'indisciplined' etc etc. and then those players performing like world beaters at their new club. (the opposite is also true, I accept) Paul Rowley is obviously backing himself to get the best out of Sam Barlow, where maybe Karl didn't/couldn't, for whatever reason. Only time will tell whether that comes to fruition - so why don't we wait and see, and give the lad our full support as/when he arrives at LSV?

yes and considering he has 2,659 friends and pic of him and his partner on his profile pic... i'd say its legit

Happens every year with Leigh, when will lessons be learnt?

Well he's lying to you pal as we have a contract with his name on and so do RFL.

This has not been handled very well we should not have released this via Mark Taylor and rest assured it won't be happening again.

That said its a done deal he's a Leigh player for 2014 so let's move on.

Mind me asking whether it was cash or players used to buy him out of his Fax contract? Or simply just a case of Fax clearing out the trash so to speak?

Every year? I don't think so.