Hi all,
I'll try to give a balanced opinion.
Firstly, when David Hughes was first involved with the club he was in his mid 50s and a working trader, whose bonuses alone were said to be more than enough to pay his entire contribution to the club.
I'm led to believe he is now 78 years old and I would be astonished if he is still working regularly, though it is not impossible.
My view is that his own personal financial circumstances have changed.
The club's income has also massively reduced, from over 1 million in 2019, to probably the best part of a million in 2020, with the parachute payment to probably only a couple of hundred grand or so as of now, before the gate.
Media articles of the past suggest that Mr Hughes was very much of the view he wanted to "protect his family pot".
Where I think his head was turned, is that he has been sold on the idea that Featherstone, for a much lower spend, has managed to build a borderline SL standard squad; whilst even Whitehaven last season did very well on a minimal budget.
In some ways, I think Hughes felt that there could be an opportunity to bring in very good part time players; players who in theory might not even join at all with a full time commitment.
I do also think that the senior leadership team at the Broncos felt that the London trained players could be directly replaced by similar or even higher quality players from the academy and/or that there were players just as good at London Skolars.
For instance, if Sam Davis did not sign you could put in Rob Oakley whilst Gideon Boafo could be swapped for a Macani or a Caro.
Also, there were plenty of tip offs of third division players ready to step up; about 8 from Skolars, 2 or 3 from West Wales plus perhaps more realistic prospects such as Foster.
I think the club was all too willing to overlook the continual past unavailability of players too such as Albert as well as over-rating existing players abilities.
For instance I did not perceive that either of Leyland or Horsman were midtable Championship standard, nor quite a few others such as Oakley, Blakemore and Latu. In fact, there were quite a few I thought were no better than the bottom three in League one. I had previously seen the Broncos reserves away at Coventry Bears, and did not come away impressed.
I felt that the better club trained players were Boafo (who was one of our best 4 players) plus Jones, Sam Davis, Hindmarsh and perhaps Williams.
The mid level ones were probably Hodson, Adebiyi, Ogden and Egodo; I could see why they might be released due to missing games or perhaps lack of tryscoring threat.
The ones I felt might be lacking the necessary ability or who were just finished were Horsman, Leyland, Oakley and Blakemore.
Also, of the existing squad, I felt that Hankinson, Miski, Sammut and Fozard were critical players. We needed players of this calibre. I could see why you would crack down on non performers like Moran and Navarette and maybe some of the injury prone lads. But not all had let the club down.
Players like Walters and Hindmarsh simply refused to agree terms; others like Meadows were enticed on relatively modest terms; he is then said to have played in Hodson. Other players moved to take an actual offer after waiting all season; for instance Aston waited all year to go.
I was told that the club did target past leavers where it was felt there was some chance, but for instance Toby Everett and Jon Magrin were said to have settled down and others like Joe Keyes may feel they were treated poorly in the past. Also, some of the players were at clubs with greater prospects like Halifax.
I can see why there has been a desire for cost savings and I can see why things have gone the way they have, but I think the club has been perceived as having bad people involved; also that these bad people have bad judgement.
The truth is that the catchment area for Featherstone is perfect; there are about 5 or 6 clubs in each of the top three leagues in close proximity.
Whitehaven might one season in ten hit lucky.
But you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater in a catchment area of few or no replacement players.
