Fantastic letter to Nigel Wood written in that TRL post: : Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:18 am
Dear Mr Wood,You claim to love the sport of Rugby League, if this really is the case, please do the decent thing and stand down with immediate effect!
Since taking control of the sport, you and your cronies have single handedly crippled our game. If you want a reminder of some of your blunder's, here is a quick recap:-
1. Crusader's - fast tracked to SL, the visa c*ck up, taken over and moved north as they were skint. Went bust again, dissolved in to a Ch1 team with gates averaging a few hundred.
2. Bradford - Bust and saved because the SL clubs will get decent home gates against them so they are allowed to carry on as though nothing had happened.
3. Salford - Bust and you'll probably do what you should have done to Bradford and demote them, but the greedy SL clubs don't get good enough gates from Salford to warrant saving them.
4. Wakefield - Bust. Missed every target you set them regarding ground improvements, the same one's you set them in the previous licensing that they failed to hit. This time if they missed them, you were going to demote them, they still haven't done it, the saga continues.
5. Castleford - In the doldrums and severely struggling, like Wakey missed every target set in the last round of licencing regarding ground improvements the saga continues here too, will they ever build the new ground - Doubtful in my lifetime!
6. London - Massive strides here, really well done. Average gates just over 1000 for a SL club is almost remarkable. Is it possible to attract less fans to anything in London? However, no-one in the capital even knows they have a team. If they do, they must all be washing there hair on match days.
7. Different divisions playing to different rules (bonus point "experiment" still running and failing), I cannot think of another sport where 2 divisions would play to different rules to every other team in the sport, if it is successful run it in SL? You won't do it Mr Wood, because it has the opposite effect to what it was designed for, it promotes negativity not attacking play.
8. Licensing, introduced to ensure 1-5 on this list cannot happen, that worked well didn't it!
9. Magic Weekend - Lets take the game around the British Isles, spread the gospel! Another Epic Fail, how many new supporters has the sport won from this? Your only attendees are already fans of the clubs taking part and the majority don't attend. If it worked taking it to Scotland and Wales, why is it now hosted in that major development area of Manchester? Disagree with me and put your spin on it? her's a fact for you, the avg gates at the derby games of approx 20k for Wigan v Saints, 10k+ Leeds Bradford 20k for the Hull derby, how many tickets do you sell for the Mickey Mouse Weekend? Not many over 50k I'll bet, and yet the 3 derby games mentioned would pull this alone by having them at home, and you wouldn't have to fork out umpteen grand to borrow Man City's ground!
10. Blackpool - Bust and no longer exist
11. Halifax's SL application through to the 2nd round in the process then branded the worst the RFL has ever seen! If it was so bad how did it get through the first round?
12. Barrow - Bust and broke the salary cap, but you lot couldn't work it out until after the season had ended. A team fully loaded with FT professionals obviously costs over £300k a season to assemble. Anyone with half a brain knew the likes of Rooney, Cattic, et al. must be earning more than £10k a season, Surely you must have thought, anything less than £30k for Rooney and it wouldn't even cover his fuel costs to get up there 4 times a week?
13. Internationally - I don't think we have ever been further away from competing with the Aussies and Kiwi's, roll on the WC, one thing is for sure our game is going down the toilet!
14. 2nd most watched sport on Sky yet you sell the SL sponsorship, sorry sell is the wrong wording, you "give" the sponsorship away for no money and accept a few posters on half a dozen Stobart trucks as payment!!! I ask you, I only wish the papers had even the slightest interest in the game to photograph the brown envelopes changing hands on that one!
15. Championship clubs have had funding reduced by £10k per year because your flagship clubs are struggling to cope on the £1 million per season they are given.
I could go on, but alas I am getting rather upset thinking about how an incompetent moron such as you Mr Wood, can be allowed to, frankly, pinch a £200k+ salary for what you do, when clubs are struggling and going to the wall due to your failings!
The game is a laughing stock, and the book stops with you Mr Wood!
BET HE READS THIS NOT
