Re: Home Next Year : Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:02 pm  

BroncOnIon wrote:

And who might this new investor be? Unless you know that DH has been approached?

No investment has been forthcoming with Hughes in charge, is that because there are no interested investors or is it because they do not like the investment terms Hughes is offering? So why not try a different scenario - one without Hughes in the picture. Let's see if that attracts a new investor or forces the RFL's hand.

Re: Home Next Year : Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:57 pm  

Aachen wrote:

No investment has been forthcoming with Hughes in charge, is that because there are no interested investors or is it because they do not like the investment terms Hughes is offering? So why not try a different scenario - one without Hughes in the picture. Let's see if that attracts a new investor or forces the RFL's hand.

Too late as far as the RFL are concerned. If Hughes had played for keeps back on 2008/2009 then maybe the RFL and/or SL might have purchased the club, as was later touted as a possible solution at Bradford, but now we aren't worth the hassle that the RFL would get from the myopic chairman of the middle 8 who seem to have the ear of Nigel and his cronies.
I have no doubt that if allowed, Ian Lenegan would pick up the reins at London if Hughes were to step away, but I suspect it is as you assume, that his terms are too harsh for anyone else to come on board whilst the club is saddled with the IOU's that Hughes holds.

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:07 am  

Last time I recall David Hughes talking about it, he said he'd be happy to hand over a debt free club for nothing to an appropriate investor, I doubt any have come along. In a city of 8.6 million, at best there have been 7000 London Broncos fans interested enough to watch regularly, and it's unlikely that many would be able to fund the club. Given we're down to less than a 1000, it's even less likely. I expect the search continues.

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:31 am  

I'm sure "the many" can indeed take the reins, and build a successful club. I've personal experience of the level of commitment we could call on should the need arise, and the support across the game for a successful London. I am as convinced as I've always been that a supporter owned Broncos can be a success.

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 5:55 pm  

kit80 wrote:

Last time I recall David Hughes talking about it, he said he'd be happy to hand over a debt free club for nothing to an appropriate investor, I doubt any have come along. In a city of 8.6 million, at best there have been 7000 London Broncos fans interested enough to watch regularly, and it's unlikely that many would be able to fund the club. Given we're down to less than a 1000, it's even less likely. I expect the search continues.

700 is the number we are now on and nobody will invest 1,500 per fan per season........not when there is little chance of that figure ever getting back to the days of it only being 200 pop.

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:56 pm  

Well if nobody will invest we might as well stick with what we have

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 8:56 pm  

[quote="Jim Pooley"]700 is
drone
the number we are now on and nobody will invest 1,500 per fan per season
Drone
........not when there is little chance of that figure ever getting back to the days of it only being 200 pop.
Drone

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 9:35 pm  

mickyb1234 wrote:

Well if nobody will invest we might as well stick with what we have

I still think you would not know that for certain till Hughes walks away. Based on what has happened at other clubs in recent years, investors have only come out of the woodwork at the eleventh hour and any offer of RFL assistance even later still. London was very far from the financial predicament of those clubs when Hughes contemplated walking away.

London managed to attract the likes of Lenegan in the not so distant past. I assume Hughes owned a minority share and Lenagan the major share at that time? I'd be interested in knowing how Lenegan became interested in London in the first place. Is the RFL offering any assistance in finding a new investor now, even if it is only selling the idea of London RL to potential investors and RL fans in the North. Is the RFL offering any assistance in finding a stable home for RL in the south ...are they actually at all interested in expanding the sport outside of the Heartlands? Again, I don't think you would really know the answer to these questions until Hughes walked away.

Re: Home Next Year : Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:14 pm  

mickyb1234 wrote:

Well if nobody will invest we might as well stick with what we have

Just to clarify.
2008:- 3,600 fans delivering 50k+ a game revenue, 9th spot in the elite division, Academy in the play offs, 500k PA national sponsor, state of the art Rugby Ground and offices.
2015:- 650 fans delivering 0 revenue, 6th in the 2nd tier, Academy at the foot of the table, selection of tin pot local sponsors, looking like we're homeless again in 2016 and moving West again, offices in Hertfordshire.(North...not west)

You'd rather stick with the slow agonising death that the club has had inflicted upon it by a single person because no matter how badly that person CONTINUOUSLY gets it wrong, they are at least paying for the privilege of destroying us, rather than "rip off the plaster' now? What's the worst thing that could happen?

Would you stop attending if we dropped down another peg?

Re: Home Next Year : Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:25 am  

Did we even have a main sponsor in after Streetwise Sports until WIN, who lasted half a season? I can't believe Sports Café paid 500k a season - and if they did it was over the odds and as part of IL's support.
As of now, we also have a state of the art rugby ground. The Hive.
I'll raise you 1997, 7000 fans, 2nd spot in the elite division, Academy producing 1st team players (not sure of their record), a well known sponsor (no idea how much that was worth), reasonable ground.
Who was responsible for the failure of the club to drop to such depths as 3600 fans and a club dependent on the largesse of IL?
Don't bother answering - it's rhetorical. I'm not that bothered.