I don't think anybody on here wants partnership with any club and would love Cougars to be strong enough to stand on there own 2 feet.



If all Clubs had we would.



The truth is a simple



We could loose loads of games get relegated to the league of death.



This way gives us a fighting chance.



Cougars is a business and has to make a business decision.



Some fans may not want Super League players in our team.



Others may come because there are Super League players in the team.



True fans have supported and invested in the growth of the club for years

but these same people are the keyboard warriors are not the ones who stand to loose money if the Club goes to Championship 1.



The Core of the teams players will be Keighley and they want to stay in the Championship. The directors have also an investment to protect.



I sympathize because they appear doomed if they do and doomed if they don't. I would choose the doomed which gives us a chance of staying in the league JD worked so hard to get Cougars promoted into.



I don't believe the majority want to see Cougars in the 3rd tier with no visiting support. I also don't think even the proposal of boycotting any games will do the sport any good.



What can't be cured may have to be endured.

100% with you micky

I just love the way certain use the term, real or true fan as a form of insult.



If it wasnt so sad it would be laughable.

I have £xK in the bank, do I invest it in Cougars or do I invest in a deposit for a house I'm looking to buy? With your sense of logic I choose the latter because my love for the club should be unconditional. Unconditional love is something I reserve only for my family.



You seem to compelled to draw this in to a bitter and personal argument, i'm not going to lower myself to this level of communication.



The fact of the matter is the club has made a decision I very strongly disagree with. I do not feel that decision is in the best interests of the game of Rugby League nor do I believe it best represents what I believe to be the values of the club I also feel the way it was relayed to the fans was extremely poor. I will continue to watch games, but not at Cougar Park or at the ground of any other partnered club.



I realise that my decision is drastic, and to an extent could negatively influence the livelihoods of many people who I hold in high regard at Cougar Park. However I no longer feel I can give my hard earned cash to an organisation that has embraced concepts that are anti competitive and against the spirit of fair play however much I love the club.



If the agreement with Castleford is torn up, I will willingly return to Cougar Park.

I thought it was the SL teams that stopped the U 23's- U 20's to save themselves each £100 k. Thus putting the onus on "Twinned" clubs to pay for the privelege of keeping these players match fit?

The above may well be the case and a situation out of our control.



The Club have a hard year ahead and still need support.



This will split the fans.



Some will accept the change and continue to support although with reservation.



Some will find the pill too bitter to swallow and no longer continue to be supporters.

Lets face it Cougars RLFC is a business - you have to move with the times - the one sure thing is new customers will not be interested in a falling club. The fans that have gone regularly home and away will still go. To survive we have to see what our competitors are doing and be better than them. New customers, can Keighley provide these without being at the top of their game?

You are right the club is a business.



Now, if a business (a shop for example) that you were a regular customer of came to a business decision that directly affected the product you were paying for in a way that you considered wholly unethical and communicated it to you in a manner that was way below the standard of what you'd consider good customer service would you still spend money with that business?



That is in effect the real question here.

But they are trading within the standards of the profession and governing body so cant be unethical? If the product only appeals to a very limited audience and the business is suffering you have to appeal to a wider audience at the risk of losing your original customers.

I cant see the problem with duel-registering. Though think there needs to be a limit of 2 players from the parent club. Though I dont agree with the amount of Wire players Swinton were allowed to field last week.

Stealth,

Why is it so disgusting how the Club broke this story?



Do you think they should have told you before it was confirmed?



It went in the Towns paper and on Thursday it was tweeted, on youtube, on the Forums and the Cougarmania.



I posted it there myself.



I don't think the delivery was disgusting. Paul March explained how we had been left in this predicament and explained the terms of the partnership in a video. A bit better than in text in my opinion.



I don't don't think you would have liked the news if it had been delivered by Gary Fawcett to your house written across the belly of a lapdancer in cream.



If you think Gary or Paul are doing such a disgusting job then maybe you should go an offer some them the benefit of your knowledge face to face instead of being a keyboard warrior.



Yes some people will not accept change. A few may now accept change and stay away. I think it will be a few.



However staying in the Championship will ensure crowds come from Fax, Fev etc. IE hundereds larger. Also the new offer of season tickets may bring a few down.



You could even try watching it to see if you don't like it before slating off all involved before the first game.

Just because a business is acting in a manner that is considered within the standards of the profession does not mean that it isn't acting unethically. Sometimes, the system is unethical. Take the banking industry or estate agency for example.



Does the club really only appeal to a limited audience? Only 20 years ago there were 5 times the amount of fans coming though the turnstyles. Successive boards of directors have consistently failed to ask the question. Why? Most of those people are still around, why are they not coming? Has anyone bothered to ask or research why? Over the last 10 years the clubs marketing strategy has been terrible. It has constantly targeted only one section of society, young families. This is flawed on a lot of levels. After combat sports, Rugby League is one of the most violent sports there is, the product on the field is hardly conducive for bringing kids down to. Though if you are going to attract kids down you have to align it with a strategy that retains these kids when they become adolescent and have to pay more to get in otherwise it's virtually pointless. But nothing is being done, the whole strategy is flawed and one dimensional. The club seems to have no idea as how to communicate with fans. Here's a money saving idea, shut the clubs website down, it's hardly ever up to date, it is poorly laid out, difficult to navigate and shows the clubs image in a bad light. It is a complete waste of money. Even the clubs social media offerings are amateurish, it should be the most up to date platform the club has. With retweets and sharing club news can be spread quickly even more so than that old fashioned yet ever so effective word of mouth. The biggest news story of the week wasn't even mentioned until 2 days after the local weekly paper and then in a manner that assumed everyone knew. Then there's the customer service. We have kit launches so close to Christmas most have bought all their presents and even then, can you take one away there and then? The shop was a great idea, but folk who weren't regulars were asking me if it was a shop or an office? The game day experience is terrible, the staff that do work there work their backside's off but there isn't enough of them. Try getting a burger and a pint without missing 10 minutes of the second half so I don't bother and the money stays in my pocket. The stewards look like they've been taken off the doors of the 101 and are generally ill mannered and intimidating. Not exactly what you want if you're trying to attract families down.