I am just playing Devil's Advocate and telling it as it is. The stark reality is that Leigh have no money and we will never be in SL. I would love nothing more than to see Leigh as the top team in Rugby League again but those days have sadly gone.



Choices are:



Pray for a white knight to bankroll us and take us to the promised land.

(highly unlikely but fingers crossed)



The supporters to keep up their commendable work in fundraising to put a competitive team out next season.[size=85:2a8ewwzd[size=85[/size

(definitely happening but we will only ever be in the Championship and what happens after 2015)



Merge and rebrand as a Manchester team

(will be welcomed by RFL and SL and will definitely attract investment, players

and a place in SL)





When I have been to Toulouse, I can see why they wanted them in SL, the home of Concorde, a large International Airport, a vibrant city. They want large cities and large town teams eventually and whoever survives below are just feeder teams. That is how it is going to be and unfortunately Leigh and the other heartland teams don't fit that mould. What happens after 2015 when we are turned down again?



I don't like it but that's how it is.

Graham , we know how it is , but your suggestion just wouldn't work , Castleford are the model we have to look to , a town of similar size , but with a fan base 2-3 times what we can muster , they know their future relies upon the stadium they hope to own , unfortunatley that option has gone for us , so we just have to try even harder



The short term donation plea we are currently seeing is not and cannot be a long term solution either as some seem to think , the only answer is more numbers , that is the challenge

Has someone pointed out yet that neither Leigh RL nor Swinton RL are actually from Manchester?

Merging Leigh and Swinton, then calling the team Manchester would be a disaster. It will alienate rugby league fans in both towns driving away their support, the club would not be taken seriously by sponsors as it will not be located in Manchester and the club would become a laughing stock among other pro clubs in the sport. Stupid idea that would kill the game in Leigh and Swinton.

I think the issue is we don't have any resources to pool unless Swinton have money that I don't know about?



It's a good idea in principal but I don't think it will generate any more support and just serve to shrink the number of North West teams.



For people worried about the name though how about "Leigh Lions"

I don't agree with the re-branding option but I do think that the club should be realistic in looking at it's catchment area or rather it's economic climate. I work closely with the community in Leigh and an awful lot of people could not afford to attend even if they wanted to. For some people the "low" amount of £20.00 per month for a bronze package in the touchdown club may as well be £200, it is that unaffordable for some. Now I'm not saying that the club is a charity that should supply the community with entertainment, but I am saying that if it wants the community to engage with the club then the club should engage with the community and look at getting as many people as possible for as little as possible. I don't know how much the current season ticket prices are/were but is it better to sell 1200 season tickets for £100 or 800 for £150? Also why not throw in a free kids ST if required? Ok the club doesn't make any more money but the profile goes up. I know it's difficult to estimate the take up but surely it wouldn't do the club any harm to be seen to be working [ufor[/u the community of Leigh.

Leigh Lions playing in blue and white might attract the Swinton fans or even just "Lions".

Yes, they're going to give up the 20 years of fighting to preserve their club in a whim just because a team plays in blue and white - there are plenty of those already!

That's fine on paper Dave and Im sure if the public of Leigh could guarantee buying those season tickets or paying around £10 per game then it would be worth looking at but they won't and it's no good saying we don't know till we try it because by that time we really would have gone bust. As for the club working for the community of Leigh let's turn that around and say why don't the community of Leigh work for the clubs survival in numbers. Free or reduced prices are OK if operating at a profit and until that happens it will not happen sheer economics say so especially when its 90% (or more) of the business revenue. It's a business after all not a charity, if the people in Leigh were really bothered about Rugby why are they not flocking to see Leigh East and Leigh Miners both teams who provide a decent standard of Rugby league admission £2?

Can't speak for anyone else, but certainly when the seasons run alongside each other I won't be able to justify spending both Saturday and Sunday watching rugby. Doesn't make me any less bothered about RL.

I'm not saying watch BOTH I'm saying if Pro Rugby is too much then there is an amateur alternative with a decent standard of Rugby league played anyone bothered about watching RL could watch them but they don't, even when the seasons were seperate, I'm pointing out the apathy of the public of Leigh in supporting it's sporting clubs, as an ex Genesis/RMI fan you of all people Matt should know that.

Know exactly what you mean, but I think it is worth noting that £15 every other week (with all the other matchday 'additionals' chucked in) is genuinely out of reach of an ever-growing number of people in our town. In all honesty, I don't know what we can do about that though purely and simply because we can't afford to make it a tenner every week, and even then I'm not convinced it would make much difference. I would like us to seriously pursue the idea of offering much cheaper prices for kids though.