So which plan, if either, do you think offers the most hope?

Discuss without apology or even a lemming.

Martyn Saddler's is as mad as a bag of spanners. It is 100% unworkable and designed to pander to people who hark for the good old days. It would do little for the development of the game with the top clubs still hoovering up the best talent and the same clubs featuring at the end of the year.
Richardson's is a bit better.....I definitely think we need an independent commission to run the sport.

Mine? A stronger Top tier with a clear pathway to get into it is key....if we move to licencing then there needs to be some cold hard decisions made...no more bullcrap smoke and mirrors about new stadiums....either build them or bugger off. And mergers....they need to happen. Castleford and Wakefield need to merge and build one new stadium......and then work to attract a 12k average gate.
If London are involved, then SL or whatever it's called need to own the club a la storm.....if sky want change then they need to get their chequebook out. There needs to be a 10 year plan, visited after 24, 60 and 84 months with progress being rewarded and failure to hit targets resulting in reduced funding.....

Personally....3 teams from Manchester, a team from Liverpool, 3 from Yorkshire as well as a hull side and 4 other sides......all with a clear set of targets they must adhere to. I'd remove the cap but have stricter rules on overseas trained players. All clubs would run academy's as well as a ladies side. Benefactors will be fine, but clubs will have a minimum target to hit of income from fans & Sponsors. Also clear targets for community work
A collective marketing team.....pushing the comp as well as helping teams who need it most.
But clear understanding that your place at the top table is dependent on you pulling your weight.
Get it up and running....once it's working the independent commission can negotiate with media.....if we have 6 games a week averaging 15k in the stadiums then we will have a product to sell....currently it seems like post covid, many fans have found other things to do......and Saddler's plan for st Helens to murder Workington twice a year is insane.....although if it come to be, I'd want us in conference 3 which looks like a 2nd tier comp already...

Martyn Sadler tonight is one Angry man , that Leigh did not win! Will we have a photo in League Express in the motioning with our match report, I will not hold my breath,

Martyn Saddler is fruitloop and a perfect example of why the game is going backwards......as for a match report, there's no mention of the result on our own website, let alone a report. Key and Eagle don't work Sundays obviously and the Monkey will be too busy with his clique in the bar after the game

This is good …. Could you imagine the reaction if you put it on social media !!

I started getting League express by post after many years of not getting it last year. After my first subscription period ended I cancelled it. I can see why I cancelled years ago. It is utter tripe and hasn't moved on in 10 years at least. Schofield still had a section! (He is so yester years man). The guy that does the amateur game spouting the same rubbish.
It is a woeful paper.

Martyn Saddler us currently defending his 1930's dream of a conference system by comparing th RFL with the NFL of the1960's over on totallrfacist.com.
It's folk like him and John Drake who try to steer the game through public opinion, but only if it matches their opinion.
Fanzines were great....but once the owners or moderators decided what could and couldn't be discussed, they become hymn sheets for the choir.
To be clear....he envisages the current RFL scenario with 1960 USA.......except the USA had college football as well as a new comp, the AFL to tqp.into, not to mention TV networks tripping over themselves.......Saddler reckons a Workington will get dragged up by losing by 50 to St Helens reserves and that SKY will bankroll it

Absolutely. It is important to remember what he has done for the game and the sports press in the past, it is a great legacy undermined by the pompous buffoon he has beome.



I see two major problems for Super League.
Firstly, the debate about franchises/P&R etc boils down to how fill the twelve available Suer League places from the seven suitable candidates. That means, about five places going to clubs who do not have a strong case and the dividing line being arbitary.
The second issue is Super League was designed in the 90's to sell satellite dishes to a new national broadcaster that needed subscribers. That was cutting edge at the time and is outdated now.

I will respectfully disagree with the look towards Liverpool and Manchester. Machester in particular is about as competitve a sports market as anywhere on Earth. no-one can look at Manchester and think, "Here is a city that just lacks some top class sport". Compare it to other cities (Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Basel) and the situation is stark.

John Drake is a reasonable man. His boss in Martyn Sadler. What can he do? Work for one of the UK's other major publishers in rugby league?

I was banned from total years ago for predicting that the game in the UK was shrinking to the extent that it would end up with smaller income streams. I suggested league copy unions model and stop letting the tail wag the dog (clubs run the game)
I was branded a union troll by the majority and banned due to complaints received.
Fast forward and we're exactly where I said we'd be.....with maybe 5 or 6 clubs running the game, no international structure and finding being reduced from bottom up.
Just watched a full Twickenham and murryfield generate more income for their respective unions in one day than SL gets for a year......it doesn't make me a troll....just a realist, but drake doesn't like debate or discord on his boards.

I have made similar predictions, but was not banned for that. I think the game has a choice of going more international, i.e. if we want twelve viable markets we will have to export to them.

Martyn Sadler is posting under a pseudonym there posing as a regular rugby league fan. When he posts as a regular rugby league fan, he adopts a boorish and moronic persona, which tells you what he thinks of us generally. Writing that got me banned