Three years on with the franchise experiment and is it working in the championship?

Right if I remember rightly as they worded it at the time it was meant to help the championship clubs strengthen as we have 3 years to grow oh and knock together a super state of the art ground as well

So on the end of the three year journey which three clubs as this system spat out at us

Widnes-ground yep,nutter with money yep-crowd growing yep- team errr no,one train final win no grand final appearances let alone wins

Barrow- ground no,nutter with money -yep,crowd growing- possible yep,grand final apperance and win

halifax-ground yep,nutter with money??? not sure,crowd-potential yep,grand final wins and appearances

So after three years these clubs are the ones who qualify for the right to go up

But shouldn't these three clubs be forging ahead of the rest of the clubs this season seeing as this is the season were all there planning comes together?

Instead we have a widnes which must be the worst team in the clubs history.

Barrow chopping and changing coaches through the season no movement on ground

Halifax floundering at the wrong end of the table

So what becomes of the team that gets the nod this week? do they throw the towel in completely this season thus effectively ruining the league this season?

One other thing does our season this season count to the next 3 seasons,confused yep only in rl could you make such a mockery of a great sport

I don't think there will be a new entry for 2015 unless something drastic happens. As long as the Championship remains as unpredictable as it is now then I'm happy.

I agree Matt , I don't think anybody will get into SL in 2015 , 2013/4 possibly , because quite simply it is only a matter of time before the Crusaders go bust again , and I can see that happening before 2015

Wether we want to be the club that replaces them is another matter ?

We have to move forward or we will die,simple as that

Couldn't agree more.

Life for Leigh is never going to be easy - but if we give up striving to be the best then we might as well pack it all in, because the club will go the same way as the others with no ambition (think Rochdale, Swinton, Oldham, et al). Of course, we shouldn't bankrupt ourselves trying, but we should take calculated risks and we should seize opportunities that are presented to us.

If you look at some of the clubs already in SL, then I don't see why we can't compete in there. And even if the clubs were all awesome, I'd like to find out what we can achieve within our budget and resources if presented with the opportunity.

Case in point, W***n and Blackpool would never have been given a chance if the Premier League worked the same way - and look how much fun they've had proving the naysayers wrong.

Think of like this, if we get promoted, fans come, yeah, we'd probably get whipped a lot, but the dream of going to leeds, saint helens, wigan, hull, bradford, seeing leigh against the top clubs every week would be a dream realised. I want us to be in Super League or a Wembley cup final appearance, that should be the clubs ambition.

Who says it isn't Tom? with the amount being put into the club I can't see our benefactor wanting second best

I agree Fred. I think we should have top ambition, it annoys me hearing some people say we should give up on the Challenge Cup, I heard it going to the ground today, and i thought well, we aren't gonna get anywhere with a small club mentality. If we aim high then it gives us somethiong to strive for, ad well. I'll say lets go for something this season, either GF or NRC WIN and get something under our belts for the next round of applications.

Quite right Tom. Be content with second best and we always will be.

I am working on a plan to have a bylaw introduced in Leyth at 2-30pm every match day so that all pubs must close at that time and free beer at the LSV at HT.

Maybe then we will get more back' after today our lads deserve that.

Good word that , ' Ambition '

Great if somebody else is paying for your ' Ambition '

Yes I'm sure we would all be happy going to W1g4n , Leeds , Saints , Wire and the rest getting hammered every week , but do you really think the so called ' fans ' that will happily be at Blackpool if we reach the NRC , be happy to cough up twenty quid a time to see us get snotted at home week in week out , year in year out ?

That my friends is the issue here , who pays for this ' Ambition ' ?

some other buddger

then again your rich

Times like that you find out who your real fans are. Yeah fair enough, ambition is costly, but I bet staying in a lower league with no ambition would cost more.