I don't think the RFL care about that to be honest! What they do care about is that Cas have a much better stadium agreement in place, a developer who is committed to the site and has already started work on the site through the and some of the contracts already signed for the retail and, from what i here, more in the pipeline which will facilitate the build. Everything our developer seems very reluctant to do.

I will stake my reputation (as small and insignificant as it is)
THAT NOT ONE BRICK WILL EVER BE LAIDFOR A NEW WAKEFIELD STADIUM WHILE EVER BOX IS COUNCIL LEADER

He can say all he wants, but it will always be lies. The guy hates this club and he will do everything in his power to see we never get anything.

It's a good moral boost for the players just before the start of the 8's. Hearing the Chairman saying it's a possibility the RFL will kick us out of Super League.
Just what they all want hear I should imagine.

He's been saying it all season, things haven't gone too badly on the pitch.

So let's make it as difficult as possible for them to kick us out by winning the Grand Final

I'd imagine all that the players have heard since last game is "that's what happens when you think you can take you're eye off the game".

MC will do what he feels is right for the club and I can't see any reason to doubt his stance. The time for diplomacy is over.

If we do lose our super league place, it will be a sad say for the club, and also the sport in general.

I have said a few times that I love my club, and will support them till I die, but am out of love with the sport at professional level, with how much those idiots at Red Hall have ruined it, and if we are replaced by Toronto, I will walk away from professional rugby league alltogether.

Sorry if this sounds negative, but the council dont care if we exist, let alone be in super league. I also dont think the RFL, along with Sky and some super league sides want us in, given the constant negativity about us

Looking at wholly objectively, as hard as it is, I can understand the RFL position. Our ground is not fit for purpose. Our own chairman agrees with that. We have been promising a new ground since we were promoted. The failure of each has never been our fault, and we know where the villains are in this ongoing piece, but the RFL should be able to say that we can't play somewhere that isn't fit to play in, and there might not be a viable ground elsewhere. How long are the RFL expected to wait?

There are villains in this. I don't believe the RFL is one.

I agree with everything you say but I don't think the RFL will kick us out of SL because if they did that where would we play.

If our ground is not good enough for SL its not good enough for the championship either in its currect format. Because if we are in the championship you can't have a system of the top 4 play offs because we could get in the top 4 and then it would make a mockery of the system. For instance if we got in the £1M game it would be a farce because we could not go up if we won.

My bet is the RFL will realise none of this is our fault and give us a bit of slack.

Our current ground is not fit for purpose.
Cas' current ground is not fit for purpose.

We have no timescale for moving to a new ground
Cas have no timescale for moving to a new ground - rumour has it that a number of the retailers they were expecting have pulled out

Despite the fact that ours is in the public eye due to lack of progress, there is little difference at this moment in time between us and Cas. Until they start building they are in the same boat as us - so why is it only our place in SL that is at risk???

My concern is that the RFL have been cutting us some slack for 20 + years where the stadium is concerned. Yes, this latest farce is not of the current regimes doing, but we have had many years to try and sort this, but because we have jumped from one financial mess to another, we have never been in a position to do so.

I don't claim to know how real the threat is, but i could more than understand it, if it were to happen.

Have Cas made any commitment to the RFL regarding a "moving in" date ?
If so, that would be the main difference.

Whether they can meet that date and what happens if they dont, only time will tell but, there is activity on the site ?
(mind you there is a bloody big white box, which is getting bigger by the day, at Newmarket and that hasn't done much for us)

I asked MC about Castleford his answer was
Cas meet more of the criteria then we do &have a concrete plan to be in by 2020. However this is not about cas. Good luck to them

I have heard the exact opposite about retailers on their site but only time will tell a little further down the line if contracts are signed. What altered was the supermarket pulled out a while back and planning permission had to be altered to change the typre of retail allowed. This pushed the build back to 2020 but 3 or 4 stores are already signed and more are now close, or so i'm led to believe. If their timescale slips again then i expect them to come under the same pressure moving forward.

But if the top four play off system is changed and system of promotion that has a franchising based element to it is put in it's place then that little issue for the RFL goes away.

Not that I'm cynical at all, but what's the chances of the decision getting delayed until after the middle 8s, just on the off chance Catalans don't quite make it?

Well said

MC has been asked the difference between cas and wakey on this respect and the answer is fairly straight forward.

Belle vue does not meet the number of criteria the rfl require to deem it "suitable" . Wheldon Lane does. For now, anyway.

Hence the other questions in your post become irrelevant.

I'm pretty sure at some point soon castleford will be in the situation Wakefield are in, and will be demanded to evidence progression on the new ground. But as yet this isn't necessary.

I'm not making out Wheldon lane is anything other than a run-down old thing. And I certainly don't want to get into the monotonous "who's ground is worse" arguments....

But the answer to the above is fairly plain.

With regard to "D Day", I sincerely hope that the rfl interpret the council asking the developer to walk away as a positive. It could easily be misconstrued as a backward step.

I agree 100%, Fordy: should we receive any ultimatum from the RFL, then Cas should receive the same ultimatum.

Yeah! see what you mean DAVE. I was there when your floodlights blew up!! Very safe eh?

Bit of a pointless argument since they've been fixed.

I'll not bother mentioning the Princess Street wall that blew down then as that's now been rebuilt

If the RFL are aware of the facts (as I'm sure they are) then they will know the reason that Yorkcourt were asked to walk away was because they never intended to build a stadium. Just seems they used the deception to milk some green belt land they wouldn't otherwise have got and make some huge profit .
The whole things a bloody mess caused by some people who have no morals; and I don't just refer to the obvious ones that spring to mind. The fact we don't own the ground still annoys me.

Well, yeah. Floodlight fixed, wall fixed. Like I say, I'm not saying it's the Santiago Bernebau. Cas ground being unfit for purpose is your opinion, but luckily not the RFLs. There's no point arguing over it - cas currently meet minimum requirements and Wakefield don't. Whether that's fair or not, who knows, and I'm sure it's a bitter pill, but it doesn't change anything. And it certainly makes no difference to Wakefield's situation.

As it stands Wakefield have had to half their stadium capacity for safety reasons (presumably ongoing) which isn't good for the game or for Wakefield themselves.

I appreciate it's easy to look around and think "why always us" considering the sagas you guys have had to endure over the last 10 years. But comparing your scenario to ANYONE'S is pretty much impossible. I don't think any sports club in the UK is in a similar situation, on a whole lotta levels.

Hopefully you guys can get a committed developer at least showing interest before next week

The shame is, whilst our ground superstructure is in a woeful estate, you've got to admit that our playing surface is, and has been for a long time, probably the best in the League. Unfortunately, that's not what counts to those at Red Hall.