www.superleague.co.uk/article/rf ... ment/22945 The faint hope that the league would be expanded to 15 or 16 teams has more or less been confirmed here so you fear the worst.

www.superleague.co.uk/article/rf ... ment/22945 The faint hope that the league would be expanded to 15 or 16 teams has more or less been confirmed here so you fear the worst.

Yep as I posted on the Fax thread.

Unfortunately out of the ‘disposal’ clubs, Trinity are perceived to be the weakest. The administration thing will have done he club. It’s not supposed to count, but when comparing the two most likely clubs to miss out, only Trinity have been in admin.

The only thing that would’ve made a difference was if a real money man had come in. Glover has done good things under his tenure but I doubt he has the wealth of Parkin. I felt at the time if he had taken over (although his motivations/commitment appear to be questionable) the RFL would have been a little more ready to overlook the events earlier this season.

Wasn't the rule change to allow clubs that have been in administration to apply for a franchise (before it automatically discounted them) but would be assessed in the criteria instead?

i.e. club A went into administration but club B didn't they're equal on everything else so the club that didn't go into administration gets the spot...in a fair world this would mean the Crusaders would be gone.

Widnes applied last time after been in admin so I don’t think it was that. The administration was used as a justification for their rejection. Of course that’s not something the RFL can use this time around due to the Crusaders factor (and also the image rights).

The rule was changed to keep Crusaders up

its a strange one because the RFL quashed the Administration rule in order to protect the Crusaders meaning they can't beat us with that stick again.

In terms of stadia we are closer to a build than Cas, have included plans for a temporary upgrade of Belle Vue and also submitted a lease for Oakwell.

Our youth development is probably inside the top 6 in SL, Wigan, Sts, Leeds, Wakefield, Cas, a n other

Our average finishing position isnt the worst (mid table)

in every other measurable aspect of the club we are either as good or much better than some other SL clubs.

It would be interesting to get the full rundown of the RFLs assessments of each club and study how they make and justify their decision

im packing sirs bags as we speak , its a long way to cumbria

I believe the ground at Cas is compliant in a lot of areas at present, it lacks in certain areas but has the needed 12000 capacity. It is on a par with Hull Kr and Bradford.

No surprise on that one then.

I too would like to see how they break each application down. They have done this in the past franchise renewals. They have probably got a load of BS manuscripted as we speak.

Everything submitted will be kept but other typed up ones will be used.

It would be very interesting, however, all we’ll get is a poxy slide show, with pictures of the badges of those clubs that are in.

One crumb of hope. Hull Kr have signed David Hodgson from Shudds. Looks like they're preparing for The Championship.

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/22 ... nouncement 11am on the 26th July.

www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/22 ... nouncement 11am on the 26th July.

Nobody should be surprised at this news, as I stated months ago the RFL had no intention of extending the size of superleague. Providing nobody went bust our club was always going down to the championship, the only decision was whether another club, namely Castleford, went down with us and Halifax came up in their place. This is now extremely unlikely. Ultimately though the RFL want a SL club in this area and the administration was the bullet that took us down. If Cas are building GH by the next time round then there is a high chance that we will not be reappearing in superleague anytime soon, whether NM gets built or not. There is a desire to continue spreading the game, expect a team to be set up in Ireland soon, possibly Edinburgh too.

I'm afraid Richard Wrights PR machine has done the trick once again regarding ground progression and Wakefield are left to count the mistakes of the previous regime.

The thing that worries me is when I try to think about it as unbiased as possible, irrespective of how good our application is or isn't I just can't see Cas getting the chop. As the others are all but protected, rightly or wrongly, I can only see it being us and the RFL know out of all the clubs most fans of other clubs see it that way too, so the decision is easier politically for them to make. I just hope there is enough unknown unknowns, to paraphrase an utter turd, to provide me with a shock

Yes they probably will they seem happy to throw money away on lost causes

About those known unknowns do not forget we fans don't have the full financial details of every club, so there may be a twist in the tale somewhere

I believe there are several twists to come in the next week and beyond.

I also haven't discounted the 1 year licence for 2 clubs scenario, with both being reassessed on stadium progress when that year is up; with Cas & Wakey both finally showing substantive progress on new stadia after years of obfuscation, broken promises and downright lies, it doesn't feel beyond the realms of possibility.

So how does this work with the statement that it is definately going to be 14 clubs?

I don't think so for one reason. It doesn't add up. There will be 14 teams in sl. There are 13 teams left and 15 going for it. Assuming Fax are unsuccessful there is still going to be one relegation, so how would giving you a one year license work? Who is going to go down instead?

The situation that was described to me is that one stays up and one goes down, but both are reassessed in 12 months rather than 3 years; the club able to demonstrate that it's delivering the stadium it promised in its 2011 application gets a SL licence until the end of the licence period, bringing both clubs back into line with the normal licencing timetable.

It seems to me to be a solution that achieves the RFL's objective whilst demonstrating fairness to both clubs and let's face it, any organisation that can deliver a £15 million stadium whilst we're in the depths of a global financial crisis deserves kudos; it'll be no mean feat on the part of whomever pulls it off.

I hope you're right but I can't see it myself. The RFL set a precident with Widnes last time and i'd be amazed if they deviated from that.

I hope so too.

james voice on the interveiw on ridings didnt convince me we are in superleague next season perhaps the club have had the word already