London Broncos were relatively successful up until 2005 on the field of play, finishing sixth in Super League X and thus in a play-off spot and we finished above the likes of Wigan and Huddersfield whilst teams like Catalans and Hull KR were in lesser competitions.
At this point we were relatively successful, but after this the problems started and I believe they can be traced back to five separate events.
1) The decision to associate with Harlequins Rugby Union Club in a way which was promoted as a partnership but in reality was set up so that we were merely a tenant in similar colours, with the option for the Rugby Union club to buy. This non-committal approach meant that the Union club as the more senior partner with far greater resources could afford to sit back rather than having to invest in our success or failure. If we were owned, I would suggest that the likes of the 'Big Game' and other dual code games would have been inevitable. Nic Cartwright and David Hughes seem to be behind that commercial arrangement. We should have been bought, or played as our own entity.
2) It could also be pointed out that David Hughes and Lenagan did not find sufficient capital in terms of salary to build a strong enough team in 2006 and with a host of injuries still waited to commit further funds. This led to disgraceful home performances at the start of the 2006 season, which meant that it was five or six games before a home win, thus whittling away any semblance of Union support, especially with a non-committed Union owner. My view is that it was highly unlikely if not impossible to find dual supporters who watch both Union and League in the same weekend.
3) With players returning from injury, results had started to pick up, but the start of our decline on the field can be traced back directly to Lenagan's decision to remove Tony Rea and the decisions made around management recruitment and subsequently player recruitment. Lenagan would not have stood by and seen McDermott take the team from 7th to 9th to 9th again to 11th and then 13th, but David Hughes was prepared to let Mac take us down the table through five years of decline and which culminated in only 8 wins from the last 40 games without stepping in. Mac could pull off the odd unexpected big performance but never regularly beat the likes of Salford, Wakefield and Castleford and thus improve things, whilst the newly promoted clubs and Huddersfield began to strengthen beyond them and us.
4) The disgraceful decision to hire Powell was very strange given that we had an ageing squad playing badly and that needed a refresh. Why had Powell with no managerial experience, been appointed in the first place? By who? Who drew up his contract? I am guessing it is Paul Blanchard. But it was ridiculous. Powell was never going to be successful. And more importantly his recruitment decisions were shocking - he seemed to auto-renew anyone regardless of form and performances, sign players with long track records of injury. He should have been given the boot at the end of the first season, if not during the season - but he should never have got anywhere near the job in the first place.
5) The recruitment of a full suite of 'big names' from Australia and alleged spend of the full salary cap has yielded some pretty decent players but the salary cap has been badly mismanaged for year after year by Mac and Powell. There are some older Australians on huge salaries who are well past their best, a sprinkling of younger juniors not fit for purpose, plus guys with some ability but who struggle to play 1 game in 2 and only then a backbone. This is mainly down to Powell again but surely someone should have done their due diligence, be that Gus or David. It was common knowledge that some of the players signed had missed game after game for years.
You could also look at the RFL and their insipid efforts and the reclassification of us as a 'non development' area certainly hit us more than most.
But we will rise again.
Cheers
Rammo
