We have over years brought good players through our academy, a look at other teams personnel bears that out. Worth pointing out also that many were doubted as future stars by our own supporters!!!
But also over the years we struggled to finance a purposeful senior side, and many suggested that the academy was unaffordable!
Presently we are still in recovery mode, trying to maintain a reasonable league position on minimum finances. For us to make a real assault on a SL place our financial state will have to improve drastically. Fag-packet financial calculations might lead anyone to presume that we are better placed than we actually are, but reality can be very different.
As James pointed out the new league format is still basically an idea rather than a guaranteed reality. Our aim has to be to prepare for that reality.
I would guess that the future will be a bit like the present in that we will probably seek experienced core players with up and coming youngsters passing through on their way to SL. In a sense we have little to offer except our illustrious past, a good stadium and a loyal following.
That was pretty well where Leigh and Fev have been until their finances improved. Just how much they will benefit will depend on how the new league is developed. The number of loan players throughout the game is making the leagues, SL and Championship, a bit like playground knockabout teams with players moving from team to team as the season progresses.
@sandgroper Yet the core issue of producing players is not being properly addressed, in fact our successful academy was forced to be closed.
In a respect, we are in a similar position to the late 90s, rebuilding after a financial meltdown. We were able to get back up there thanks to good management from the late TC and then good coaching by firstly Whitfield and then Kelly.
Suppose, though, the landscape is different because everyone outside SL was PT and we had to overhaul the likes of Hunslet and Dewsbury who were easier targets than Leigh or Featherstone today.
Many a true word!
Whether its my advancing years or something, the game has become much more 'flexible' in that it is hardly town v town anymore. I suppose that we have more of a team of local lads these days than we have had for a while.
The reality of promotion will take a while, if ever, but even at this level we need at least good solid and consistent effort for me and others to maintain our enthusiasm. It must be hard at Board level to measure just how much cash to sink into the team with the game on the brink of change.
Imagine getting promoted and then being 're-organised' into the lower division with hardly a chance to prove yourself!!!
My optimistic hope is that we can maintain a reasonable standard for the supporters sake and that the club can somehow build up a war chest ready for the sunlit uplands, should they ever appear!
@sandgroper Yet the core issue of producing players is not being properly addressed, in fact our successful academy was forced to be closed.
In a respect, we are in a similar position to the late 90s, rebuilding after a financial meltdown. We were able to get back up there thanks to good management from the late TC and then good coaching by firstly Whitfield and then Kelly.
Suppose, though, the landscape is different because everyone outside SL was PT and we had to overhaul the likes of Hunslet and Dewsbury who were easier targets than Leigh or Featherstone today.
Our Academy was a burden on the club and cost us big time the finances spent on it could of been spent on the first team squad and may of kept us in SL. The state the club was in the last thing we needed to waste money on was an academy.
I agree the club had to close it from a financial point of view but it doesn't stop the fact that there isn't a big player pool to pick from and shutting decent academies doesn't help improve that.
Dupree has been a decent signing and would have hoped to have kept him for another season, but I guess he was looking for the next step-up.
I thought that the Academy had to be scrapped because the central funding was withdrawn, but I am not sure that any savings from not having an Academy would have been spent on players under the previous ownership!
I think the game needs Academies to bring through young players and/or Under 19 Teams, as well as reserve teams. Whether there are enough players around or the game can afford it is another matter.
It’s a damn shame that academies were forced to close. Financially it might make sense but strategically it’s a short-sighted approach.
However, if anyone has watched any of the local premier or conference teams recently, there are still good players coming through from under age competitions. That IMHO means there is still a future for our game.
Dupree has been a decent signing and would have hoped to have kept him for another season, but I guess he was looking for the next step-up.
I thought that the Academy had to be scrapped because the central funding was withdrawn, but I am not sure that any savings from not having an Academy would have been spent on players under the previous ownership!
I think the game needs Academies to bring through young players and/or Under 19 Teams, as well as reserve teams. Whether there are enough players around or the game can afford it is another matter.
Frank what the game needs to bring players through is to support the amateur game like in the past instead of having greedy we want it all super league, to be honest imo it is the only way the game will survive.
I think having an academy is essential to keep the club an attractive option for us as a super league club
without it we are just another team like Leigh,Batley/Barrow etc
we aren’t the chemics anymore we are the Vikings and aren’t looked at in the same light. We are probably classed as a stepping stone club which is at current what we are. It’s about changing that and moving forward but with current owners/CEO we won’t be able to succeed and progress imo
When you realize your salfords feeder club 🤦♂️🤣🤣
Yep........the birds have come to roost. Still, as Bill Kenwright (EFC chairman) recently told Everton fans, ''you've had the good days'' maybe that's us to?? 🤔
Oh my God! Not only peddling their colours, but now people are using Everton quotes on our message board!
Dupree has been a decent signing and would have hoped to have kept him for another season, but I guess he was looking for the next step-up.
I thought that the Academy had to be scrapped because the central funding was withdrawn, but I am not sure that any savings from not having an Academy would have been spent on players under the previous ownership!
I think the game needs Academies to bring through young players and/or Under 19 Teams, as well as reserve teams. Whether there are enough players around or the game can afford it is another matter.
Frank what the game needs to bring players through is to support the amateur game like in the past instead of having greedy we want it all super league, to be honest imo it is the only way the game will survive.
Absolutely 100% spot on - never was a truer word spoken.
The current professional game has no foundations, either in terms of having a solid grassroots base of a junior and amateur playing pool to enable players to progress into a professional senior level or in terms of fostering a supporter base that encourages the dwindling number of existing supporters to ‘spread the word’ or enticing new supporters along to watch good football.
I’m not going to say any more as it’s not good for my blood pressure 😁😁
The limits on overseas imports was all part of the effort to boost the UK game. Didn't really work as the imports are usually into key 'spine' positions, thus discouraging local 'spine' youngsters.
Saints have bucked that trend, but are pretty much on their own.
The financial arrangements are always the weak point, players and clubs demanding more top end expenditure to the detriment of the roots of the game.
Sport in general has deteriorated in my opinion by becoming a high earning 'career'. What used to be amateur sport demands sponsorship to buy success so that genuine sport lovers, who take part for fun, are trampled underfoot. Interesting that with TV coverage we have encouraged a new population of 'guru' analysts from many who could have become coaches.
Understandably they choose a decent pay packet without the stress and pressure of squeezing performances out of players!
The limits on overseas imports was all part of the effort to boost the UK game. Didn't really work as the imports are usually into key 'spine' positions, thus discouraging local 'spine' youngsters.
Saints have bucked that trend, but are pretty much on their own.
The financial arrangements are always the weak point, players and clubs demanding more top end expenditure to the detriment of the roots of the game.
Sport in general has deteriorated in my opinion by becoming a high earning 'career'. What used to be amateur sport demands sponsorship to buy success so that genuine sport lovers, who take part for fun, are trampled underfoot. Interesting that with TV coverage we have encouraged a new population of 'guru' analysts from many who could have become coaches.
Understandably they choose a decent pay packet without the stress and pressure of squeezing performances out of players!
The elite clubs bring in £25m a year through a TV deal - some of which (albeit a small amount) filters through to grassroots clubs and helps fund the RFL to run those competitions. Take that £25m out, and what happens?
Rugby league is far from a high earning career - not to mention now the increasingly publicised apparent health risks. The way the game has gone in the past 10-20 years with the emphasis on the collision must surely make people think 'why would I bother/risk playing amateur/part-time', and I think is why you see a drop off of players from academies because they don't see the point if they aren't full-time players and afforded the recovery/rest/security that comes with it.
Money wasn't an issue for RL when it had it - and was spending money to attract RU players. Now RU is full-time, there's simply no need for RU players to defect; and for youngsters, a career in RU or football is far more lucrative.
Time has moved on. There is so much more for people to spend their time on, rather than say playing sport as a pastime; not to mention the sheer variation.
Participation isn't always the answer either - basketball has the highest participation rate below football in teenagers and young adults; yet it doesn't attract funding / sponsorship / growing professional game.
Off to Fev for the rest of the season ? According to rumours on totalrl.com 😮