Re: Workington game. : Mon May 30, 2022 10:44 am  

orangeman wrote:

Bongser buddy.....I defended Hughes when the RFL/SL Clubs/Lenegan left him holding the baby, but any support I had for him started to erode after the appointment of McKay, as well as his refusal to deal with McDermott's continued years of below average results, appointment of powell, returning to broncos but with a children's logo and the need to put RL on the url when RL was given as the reason for the change, the move away from the stoop with 225k rent cited as the reason (we pay the same if not more now in Wimbledon)......and buckets of poor decisions and recruitment since. Make no mistake....promotion to SL was a fluke and his reaction to relegation and then rejection in 2021 has been to throw his toys out of the pram and defund the club. So yeah.....I'm not a fan

Sorry, Orangeman, eyes obviously elsewhere on Saturday so didn't see your reply. A lot of what you say (whilst almost definitely true) is beyond Bongser's ken or remembrance. But he will say that, with the present play-off system, promotion to Super League is often a fluke. In the regular 2014 season, Leigh won the Champ at a canter but there was no promotion/relegation. 2015 saw us only lose one game (at Doncaster - wtf) and draw one late doors at Bradford. Comfy Champs (or rather this somewhat ugly League Leaders name) but just missed out on the wooden spoon in the Middle 8s. 2016 saw us lose one and draw one in the first four games after the last minute betrayal of Rowley before (ignoring the CCup) winning 29 games on the bounce to finally gain promotion (seem to remember a scary late resurgence from Broncos in the second (?) of the play-off matches).

Relegated (winning five) and shortly into the new season Mike Lathom (the Leigh chairman - nice to see him leading the team out at Spurs with a big grin on his face) had to talk Derek Beaumont out of walking away. Similarities there.

Think that we beat you three times in 2018 but you went up. In fact with 10 wins you made a damned fine fist of it but still came back down on points difference from Hull KR (the only club to have gone up and stayed up in recent years).

The artificial Toronto Wolfpack lost their only 6 games of a Covid19 hit season, withdrew from the remainder and were then wound up.

Leigh were arbitrarily promoted for 2021 (not even Google could've read all those dossiers before the decision was announced) and as sacrificial number fodder were duly relegated on a mere four points. 2022 sees Toulouse as the latest likely yoyo.

So yes going up can be a fluke, coming back down is (almost) a formality. Aspiring owners should know that already.

Re: Workington game. : Mon May 30, 2022 10:56 am  

Bent&Bongser wrote:

So yes going up can be a fluke, coming back down is (almost) a formality. Aspiring owners should know that already.

We were lucky to get promotion to SL but unlucky to come down. Since then we have ceased to be competitive even in the Championship thanks to Hughes.

Re: Workington game. : Mon May 30, 2022 11:01 am  

As I recollect the club gave 2 reasons for the expensive upheaval of a move to Wimbledon. 1) some old toffee about corporate and building crowds 2)that we couldn’t get into SL by staying at Ealing. Let’s ignore (1) until such time as the club put in even a modicum of effort on point. On 2 it seems to me that unless someone goes bust/ nearly bust Toronto/ Widnes or there is a pandemic leading to the spaffing up the wall of parachute payment. One goes up then down again and uses the parachute to make a tilt at going back up ad nauseum. So after Saturday it looks like Leigh go up and Toulouse down. Next year we have to contend with a monied up Toulouse and Rovers etc etc. We’ve no chance of going up as a PT organisation anytime soon so the whole thing is crackers. Then there is the issue of the huge rental costs of maintaining 3 grounds. What monied up businessman, of which London has loads, would look at that and think it was only well spent. Spending on players and youth set up yes, playing in a big old empty barn and training on the floor of a bar No.

Re: Workington game. : Mon May 30, 2022 8:18 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

Do you ever write short posts?

Yes

Re: Workington game. : Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:20 am  

Good luck to all those going today, you will need it

Re: Workington game. : Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:25 am  

11.30pm KO here.....plan is to stay up.

Re: Workington game. : Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:05 pm  

orangeman wrote:

11.30pm KO here.....plan is to stay up.

I hoped that was the Broncos plan for the season!
Unfortunately it’s not going well so far 6-12 down!

Re: Workington game. : Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:12 pm  

Defence need to step up 18-6

Re: Workington game. : Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:12 pm  

First I’ve seen of the Broncos for a while (watching on tv) this is an awful watch. Slow, clueless with the ball, soft in defence…… dreadful

Re: Workington game. : Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:20 pm  

wire-quin wrote:

First I’ve seen of the Broncos for a while (watching on tv) this is an awful watch. Slow, clueless with the ball, soft in defence…… dreadful

Was looking for a free trial of Premier Sports but settled for the BBC Cumbria commentary in the end. A vocal home fan near the commentary booth is adding to the atmosphere.