Tallahassee is right if it was crusaders or harliquins the rfl would have been in.
Tallahassee is right if it was crusaders or harliquins the rfl would have been in.
The RFL have been involved with all the clubs that have been in financial difficulties in recent years but only to provide advice and guidance, and they charge for it. An aspect of the Crusaders' debt was a fee to the RFL for their advice and guidance provided during the rescue operation which saw the club relocate. The RFL wanted their money and negotiated with the administrators as did any and all other creditors at the time. I read that in the RL press so the same information was available to you. Whether the RFL bailed out the Quins in their previous guises I don't know as I wasn't an RL fan at that time, at least not beyond watching Saints occasionally, but the RFL have clearly stated in recent times that the only assistance they have offered the Quins as they are now is advice and guidance. They have offered the same to the Championship clubs who have struggled. The RFL have made it clear that they are taking a tough stance with clubs over their finances. This is the 21st century. For any RL club - or indeed any sports club - to survive it needs to operate as a responsible business rather than depending on a sugar daddy who at any time could pull the plug and ruin the club (Gateshead being the most extreme example of just that happening in recent years).
Saints were fortunate in that just when our useless board were driving the club downhill again (due to lack of business sense, not love for the club), McMannus and his buddy came along with all that high flying banking background and not only rescued us financially but also turned the club around as a business, both in practice and in culture. We probably now have one of the most professional clubs in the English game. I am quite sure Saints is a good example of what the RFL wants for all clubs, some on a much smaller scale obviously, but the principles and practises will be the same.
Wakey's Chairman or Chief Exec, whichever he was, showed the world just how out of touch their board is by pronouncing that the club would not ground share with Castleford. That, to me, was a great example of how parochial and out of date rugby league still is. He would have known what a perilous situation Wakefield RLFC was in at the time and yet he still went ahead and dug in his heels. They are now paying the price for their foolishness. Or rather, the fans are. They didn't ask for a stupid board of directors/sugar daddy,whichever is appropriate to the Wakey club. But they will be the ones who may be left without a club to support in the near future thanks to the stupidity of those in charge. Something Saints have suffered from pre-McManus.
I think Wakey should go into administration and reinvent themselves. That way, they will have their debts written off and they can start afresh. It may cost them a Superleague licence next season but surely that is better than costing them a club for good?
Unrelated to their fans but i was at this game also and years later i met Geoff Pimblett at a wedding function and i remarked that i thought he should never have been taken off in that game/or had he been dropped for the game(my memory is hazy)? I thought he was going to deck me,maybe he thought i was being patronising but he told me that as professional players you always accept and respect the coaches decisions.Thats why i was reluctant to believe rumours of player unrest during Mick Potters tenure. Even if there could have been i dont think it would have made the public domain.
Pimblett was dropped. We switched Peter Glynn to full back and he made a right pigs ear of it.
Their fans were a disgrace that day. Whilst I have never had any trouble at Wakefield I was once on the Saints bus on KR returning to Lea Green and 3 of them jumped on the bus threatening everyone.
That aside I do not want to see any club going out of business. It makes the game look bad. There is job losses and loss of fans of the game.
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