Its funny how the franchise rumurs are only appearing on our board

Probably because Belle Vue is perceived to be worse than Wheldon Rd and our financial record is worse than Castlefords.

We might agree to it if the alternative is we take our chances on being awarded a franchise and if we don't get one then we are out for three years with no guarantee we'll get back in even then.




Probably due to 12 of the 14 clubs not being threatened!

I've been toying with posting this for a week or so but decided against it; now that it's out there though, I can say that I heard exactly the same thing with exactly the same details, from someone who is in an excellent position to have the inside track.

Personally, I think it would be a decent compromise; it would get the RFL off the hook (and we know they look after clubs who help them avoid embarassment) whilst giving AG and co a bit of breathing space to get NM sorted.

We all know that Cas won't be going anywhere in the next 12 months, so it would be no contest come the next round of franchises.

Big risk if true, whos to say NM will get the nod? People didn't think it would get called in but it did. If we don'y have the weakest application then we should remain in Super League, end of.

Who is this person Bren? PM if you prefer not to post on here

I won't do either I'm afraid, otherwise he'll stop telling me stuff, then I won't be able to contribute to 'rumours' threads.

What if after 12 mnths Cas haven't started building but have finished in the top six? Will they kick them out? Where is another £1.3m coming from to finance a 15th SL club and where will we find another 25/30 players of SL standard for the extra club? Wakey, Quins and Crusaders are already demonstrating that there aren't enough quality players for a 14 team league. How will 15 teams impact on the Magic weekend? Won't the Championship be a totally unfair competition should Wildcats receive a parachute payment and extra salary cap benefits? Do you think the other CC clubs are going to accept such a scenario on top of all the other disadvantages they face?

I wouldn't hold your breath on this one fellas.

Cas will know that no stadium progress will mean no substantial franchise even if they win the GF, the TV contract has been increased and there could easily be a redistribution of funds in order to create a 15th share, if Wakefield had the finances to spend the full cap I'm sure they could build a competitive squad, I'm expecting the MM weekend to be scrapped due to the poor crowds and overload on the fans pocket, TMK this is already in place for demoted or defranchised clubs, like I said earlier, the CC will be us most unaffected by this as Wakey will be replaced by Cas or not, and their pathway to SL via franchise applications will be unchanged.

Let's face facts, the RFL can pretty much do anything they feel they want to within this process.

It's another rumour but it's one I've now had told to me by three different people all of whom are well connected.

I have heard that phrase too often on here

Hopefully it will only be for a season we got NM sorted were back in 2013. Regarding parachute payment premiership clubs get this when relegated to the championship + we have bigger cost not just on field but with our A rated community program. I imaging we would be keeping a full time team both on and off the pitch and most of the parachute payment will probably be to avoid staff been made redundant

I'm sure the cc clubs would appreciate our large travelling support for a season

Not from me you hav'nt!

So will Halifax, who have met the criteria for SL, be allowed 12 months to sort out their Academy, scholarships and community initiatives? The CC clubs have 3 years in which to qualify on field, either by winning the NR cup or reaching the GF. Should they be disadvantaged by an unlevel playing field in the first year and possibly the second if Cas were to come down? Honestly, would you be happy with that if you were Championship fans?

Slugger you are on the right track.

I havn't heard this latest rumour bye the way, but if it were true I don't think Peter Box or his puppet master Mark Burns Williams would just sit back and allow it to work out nicely for us. All Cas have to do is get planning for wheldon Road and they are back infront of us and then all our plans are out of the window. Do people honestly believe that if this rumour is true Cas will not get their planning and therefore their funding before the newmarket enquiry is finalised.

If cas get planning for wr and the pi goes our way for NM then were are both in. It's not a case of them or us like it is at the moment

First and foremost this isn't my plan, I'm merely telling you what I've been told from people I respect.
I expect that the RFL will do what they want to do irrespective of whether the clubs agree or not, from memory I don't think many of the Championship clubs were happy with the introduction of franchising in the first place but it didn't stop it from being introduced.

Secondly, the Championship clubs are judged by an almost completely different criterion to SL clubs so the inequity is nothing new.

Thirdly, the Championship clubs might be given Hobsons choice about accepting, it might come down to a choice between accepting this plan or accepting no one being demoted/promoted.

True, but they will already be in and we will still be out.

Like I said a very very risky strategy if true

My understanding is that both clubs will be in their respective positions on a 1 year licence, so there won't be the option for a further 2.5 years of prevarication, with 6 months of frenzied PR at the end, involving hardhats and promises of £300 trillion of inwards investment, so less risky than it appears.

Well thats a different take on whats been posted so far, so is it 15 teams for next season then

I don't think so.

I interpreted it as 14 teams with Cas in and us out but both will be reviewed in 12 months time, if things have changed for us but not for Cas we will replace them, if we have both made progress then we go back in and make it 15 teams for 2013.

If this is true then I am not happy because I don't think we should accept going down even if it for just one season. Also what happens if after 1 season Cas do get ahead of us in the stadium race then we will be stuffed.

I've got a bad feeling about this too. Once we accept being "relegated" then we are doomed. If the RFL are trying to come up with crazy plans like this to try and appease everyone then they don't feel comfortable in just not giving us a franchise. Keep fighting I say...I thought we had the stadium issues covered anyway in either playing at Oakwell or sprucing up Belle Vue.

Well said sir



Problem is that RFL asked us not to consider Barnsley. I often wondered what their real intentions were when they did this.
Unfortunately I feel our fate ,whatever the circumstances are, has been decided months ago.

They have backed themselves into a corner, they now see a strong WTW and dont want to lose it,.

Sorry, can't see this having any mileage. Firstly how is the money going from the TV deal going to be distributed between all superleague clubs if the RFL doesn't know how many clubs are going to be in the division from one year to the next? Clubs aren't just going to take a cut in income halfway through a franchising period. And anyway, the clubs would have to vote for it wouldn't they? That ain't going to happen.

Also we ain't gonna know anything about NM until april at the earliest. Even if we get a thumbs up from the government then we have to go back and apply for full planning permission, another three months there potentially. Then get the funding unlocked. So we ain't going to be on site til late summer next year/early autunm at best. Leaving it a bit tight for a review. And even if we make a start on time its a years job to build it so we'd need somewhere to play that is SL compatable for 2013. A year in the championship with no guarentees means AG won't be spending half a million upgrading BV and the RFL don't want us at oakwell by all accounts. So we wouldn't actually hit the criteria for that year. Sorry, would love it to be true but I think there is an awful lot of wishful thinking going on here.