Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 6:32 am  

I can understand the reasons in theory but didn't most of the money the trust raised go towards the reserves? It was easy for them to raise money as people had an idea where the money was going so if you wanted to help the reserves the trust would be where you put your money. Now they are left as just another supporters group and despite all their hard work they may now stuggle to raise as much money as they have done now competing against Fax1 so if the BOD have budgeted to use the amounts riased over the past few years they could easily get a shock.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 6:38 am  

Cassandra wrote:

'
This one will not, haveing put upwards of nearly £400. a year for the last 4-5 and more. I think I have done my share towards fund raiseing. I thought helping young players get a foot on the pro. ladder be it our or another club was the best way to go. As for the club surely it is their responsibilty to budget for the season, the fund raiseing for the junior squad was a bonus as I see it?

I'm with you. I completely understand why the board have made the decision, but why not say this earlier rather than get a team in the comp and then fold it. I've put a lot in over the years on the belief that I was bringing young players into the game and into the team. I was told that the funding for the reserves was being kept separate from the first team. Feel let down and won't be putting any more into the club.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 9:27 am  

Completely agree with all the postings after reading the Boards Statement a reality check on the mess the Game is in.
The Priority is the safeguard of the Club otherwise we could end up in the same financial
Morass that our near neighbours are

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 9:47 am  

Best reserve products, Rawsthorne and Butler, gone.
Woodburn-Hall will be gone once his studies are over.
The Welsh lads won't set the world on fire and improve the first team IMO.

Follow Fevs lead and take advantage of DR as I'm sick of watching bang average RL without value for money

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:13 am  

jeffvickers wrote:

Best reserve products, Rawsthorne and Butler, gone.
Woodburn-Hall will be gone once his studies are over.
The Welsh lads won't set the world on fire and improve the first team IMO.

Follow Fevs lead and take advantage of DR as I'm sick of watching bang average RL without value for money

I get what you are saying but we would not have signed Braber, Morris, Moore, Rawsthorne, or Butler if we did not have a reserves team not to mention the fringe first team players who have just signed new contracts.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 11:04 am  

From looking at the statement from the new BoD, with emphasis on the new.
They have come in and looked at the club from top to bottom or root to branch as they stated.
The aim would be keeping the club afloat in the sort term and sustainable in the longer term.
This would mean a huge amount of work and TIME that would involve an order of importance.
Initially they would not really know what could stay and what had to go or what could be sustained and what could not.
As time has gone by they are now in a more “informed” position to make the appropriate decisions.
This would apply to the reserves that were part of what they inherited and likely looked a good thing and consequently they applied to be part of the new set up, which by the way if they hadn’t done so they would have been heavily criticised.
Now with a deeper knowledge of how the club stands and with the bigger interests in mind they have made the decision (very reluctantly I bet) to cut the reserves.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 12:10 pm  

I actually wholeheartedly agree with the decision that the BOD have taken. Let's be honest, the reserves is a lovely option to have if the competition was valued by the whole of the RFL. The trust has say raised in excess of £250k to fund the team over the last 5+ years. What players has the reserves actually produced from the scholarship, through the reserves and into the first team that are good enough and in the team week in week out.... None!! Rawsthorne was on trial, RM wouldn't sign him and we lost him to Hull, Butler was picked up after losing faith in the game after rejection from several SL clubs, Moore was signed from Cas, JWH was a product of London as he was rekeased to pursue his Education at Leeds Uni... The reserves has never produced a Maguire, Edwards, Murrell for that matter since the club had a proper scouting function in SL when we unearthed and developed the likes of Chris Chester, Danny Tickle etc... The club still has the pathway from Calderdale College and if your good enough, your old enough, just look at Siddal product Morgan Smithies. In all honesty anybody with any promise will be scouted by SL in their early teens....

I think the club needs to get it right both on and off the field but the 1st team must now take priority. I'd rather people come together for a truly fans sponsored player recruitment programme, similar to squad builder in Fax1. If you were to theoretically blend the Trust and Fax1 together you have the perfect Supporters Club as both attract different fans to them.... I know this ad a founder and former Chairman of The Trust. Both do a great job but both can still contribute greatly to the club if communicated with properly.

Well done Fax for taking a tough decision but it's absolutely the right one for the club right now as I think the money spent on the reserves in hindsight couldve been spent better elsewhere.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 12:40 pm  

Apart from the funding to be able to run the reserves of course you need the players.
As the BoD pointed out as the weeks have gone by since they took over it’s become clear that Fax didn’t have access to enough players of the right age and ability to be able to compete against their SL counterparts in the new comp.
What would be the point of getting hammered both results wise and physically every week?

Sustainability goes beyond finance but I’m sure the fund raisers will be trying their best to keep that aspect of the income streams alive and we can all decide wether to buy into it or not.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:33 pm  

There are a number of issues here, firstly the club needs to keep going financially otherwise even if we had a reserve team that would fold along with the club.
In terms of getting the players in who are good enough, all the top level quality youngsters get cherry picked off by SL clubs, just look around SL now and there are plenty of Fax lads playing, there are at least 3 in the England Knights team today. None of these lads have been near the Fax setup unfortunately and that is why we won’t have the quality of players to compete with the SL reserves.
If we were in a league with Championship reserve teams it might be a different matter.

Hopefully we can revisit the reserve setup in the future.

Re: Reserves no more! : Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:36 pm  

Norman Bates wrote:

There are a number of issues here, firstly the club needs to keep going financially otherwise even if we had a reserve team that would fold along with the club.
In terms of getting the players in who are good enough, all the top level quality youngsters get cherry picked off by SL clubs, just look around SL now and there are plenty of Fax lads playing, there are at least 3 in the England Knights team today. None of these lads have been near the Fax setup unfortunately and that is why we won’t have the quality of players to compete with the SL reserves.
If we were in a league with Championship reserve teams it might be a different matter.

Hopefully we can revisit the reserve setup in the future.

Agree 100%.