Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:12 am  

andrew aspinall wrote:

Yeh we had Halifax let us down because you gave them a better offer although we are supposed to have an affiliation with fax through our lottery scheme( training camp my a##e!)and then your lot give our fans and club the impression you would play some first teamers only to get your puppies! We at Keighley couldbe really benefitted from two potential lucrative home games with yourselves and fax and we feel let down by you both, and those feeling are spread from myself a fan up to management, fact.!2 teams I really wanted to do well in the past ? I couldn't care less about either now, I'm very dissapointed with your efforts to provide a club like ours a day out we could really enjoy, win or loose.!

Andy Halifax did not let us down.
The players had a training camp to go to.

You wouldn't expect our players to go to a training camp, during the day and play Fax on the evening could you.

The club must have known this Saints team, was always going to be a under 20 team.

I have to admit, i had heard nothing about this, till i saw it on the Saints website.

Did you or anyone else know this was going to be a under 20 team?

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:14 am  

andrew aspinall wrote:

Yeh we had Halifax let us down because you gave them a better offer although we are supposed to have an affiliation with fax through our lottery scheme( training camp my a##e!)and then your lot give our fans and club the impression you would play some first teamers only to get your puppies! We at Keighley couldbe really benefitted from two potential lucrative home games with yourselves and fax and we feel let down by you both, and those feeling are spread from myself a fan up to management, fact.!2 teams I really wanted to do well in the past ? I couldn't care less about either now, I'm very dissapointed with your efforts to provide a club like ours a day out we could really enjoy, win or loose.!

Woah! This fixture has been arranged for ages. According to Saints management it was arranged as an under 20s fixture. That was the original deal. It always has been such (and is advertised as such on the Saints website). That does not mean there won't be first teamers in there. The match against Widnes last Tuesday was also largely under 20s but first teamers like Kieron played in it.

While I think Saints have been dumb to arrange three matches in one week - making it financially and otherwise impossible for a high number of Saints fans to go to every match - they did not arrange this fixture on the last minute or for it to be the run out for the full first team. That was always going to be Barrow, last Sunday (as Mike Bennett's testimonial), but the match was cancelled due to the snow - a factor that not even the great and glorious Saints could control. So originally it was going to be Barrow and Keighley as friendlies and those two matches have been arranged since well before Christmas. Snow cancelled one, Halifax agreed to the game on short notice (a week's notice, in fact), and we're still visiting you guys even though some players will have played at least twice already.

We haven't 'let you down'. We are fulfilling our arrangement: which was, and always has been, for a largely under 20s side to play your guys. The unfortunate bit is that three games have taken place in a week and that is Saints' club's fault entirely but it wasn't arranged just to let you down or have a go at Keighley. That is a very childish attitude to take.

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:51 am  

To be fair to St Helens, I think its a cook-up on Keighleys part telling the town we had a Friendly v St Helens and not telling them its the U20's side. How many Keighley fans who havent been for sometime are going to come expecting to see the likes of Wellens, Cunningham and Pryce.

If it was always the U20's coming over, that should have been made clear from day 1.

However, anyone who has taken notice of both St Helelns reserves and junior acadamy teams over the last few years will notice how good they are. Grand finalists in both the last few years, becoming Champions at least once.

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:12 am  

andysilsden wrote:

To be fair to St Helens, I think its a cook-up on Keighleys part telling the town we had a Friendly v St Helens and not telling them its the U20's side. How many Keighley fans who havent been for sometime are going to come expecting to see the likes of Wellens, Cunningham and Pryce.

If it was always the U20's coming over, that should have been made clear from day 1.

Exactly.

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:45 am  

To be fair to Saints I don't think we expected to send the kids to play Keighley. We had a game arranged for Mike Bennett's testimonial which was cancelled due to the snow. The only available date to reschedule Mike's game was Friday against Halifax. So the first teamers who would probably have played Keighley played in the testimonial against Halifax instead, as it would be disrespectful to play a kids team in a benefit game.

Thus Keighley were the victims and got a squad full of no marks to play against. It would probably have been fairer to cancel the Keighley game once the need to rearrange the testimonial was known.

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:12 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

To be fair to Saints I don't think we expected to send the kids to play Keighley. We had a game arranged for Mike Bennett's testimonial which was cancelled due to the snow. The only available date to reschedule Mike's game was Friday against Halifax. So the first teamers who would probably have played Keighley played in the testimonial against Halifax instead, as it would be disrespectful to play a kids team in a benefit game.

Thus Keighley were the victims and got a squad full of no marks to play against. It would probably have been fairer to cancel the Keighley game once the need to rearrange the testimonial was known.

Keighley were always going to be playing Saints under 20 team.

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:53 pm  

Did Saints end up bringing many?

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:50 pm  

I wouldve guessed about 50 or so but fair play to them!Thought it was good of them to bother at all!

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:30 am  

Yeah, we were led to believe by our own people that we would be playing the 'mighty' version of st. Helens, I don't think it's the Saints club's fault;

I don't think it was their fault that we didn't have the right equipment on stand-by either, or that they had to wait around for forty-odd minutes, or that they had to play a shortened game.
I think we deserve an apology, but I won't hold my breath.
If it had originally been advertised as '30 minutes each way, against Saints' kids team', I don't think I'd have paid a tenner to watch it!
On the plus side, top marks to Rach for getting two cracking beers on!!!

Re: Will all the Saint Helens fans............ : Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:28 pm  

Mick W. wrote:

Yeah, we were led to believe by our own people that we would be playing the 'mighty' version of st. Helens, I don't think it's the Saints club's fault;

I don't think it was their fault that we didn't have the right equipment on stand-by either, or that they had to wait around for forty-odd minutes, or that they had to play a shortened game.
I think we deserve an apology, but I won't hold my breath.
If it had originally been advertised as '30 minutes each way, against Saints' kids team', I don't think I'd have paid a tenner to watch it!
On the plus side, top marks to Rach for getting two cracking beers on!!!