Should we...or should we not?
More than cake on offer
By Haxbytyke
November 12 2011
As the halfway point in this season’s Championship approaches, no team has laid down a marker that says, ‘we are the team you need to beat’ if you want promotion. Bristol has gained the most wins from their ten games with 7, while five other teams, including Leeds have won 6……
On the other hand, Cornish Pirates have only tasted defeat once, but 3 drawn games, mean they have been unable to build any sort of commanding lead at the top of the pile, and with only three points separating the top five teams, nobody can be saddled with the favourites tag as far as promotion is concerned. It is making for some exciting and competitive games, but is it good for the professional game in this country?
Every season that passes, the gap between the top two tiers widens. This season will almost certainly be the first where the relegated team from the Premiership do not finish top of the league at the end of the regular season. In recent years, Quins, Saints, Leeds, and Worcester have returned at the first time of asking, and all did so by spending enough cash to ensure they had the right mix of experience and youth.
All of those mentioned above had been the target for the rest to aim for, but this season, the target isn’t there, and I believe if it is Newcastle who drop next time, they too will lose their better players, and like Leeds now, will not have the cash to buy their way straight back, and this will do nothing to help bridge the gap.
Even worse, if nobody is promoted because the eventual champions fail to meet the required criteria, they will lose their better players, as the top clubs circle like hawks promising them something they cannot achieve where they are. As Leeds fans know too well, it is difficult for young players to resist these overtures, and if the better players are tempted away, then the quality of the Championship will reduce even further, and the gap become wider.
From Leeds’ perspective, this season was never going to be easy. Injuries to key players, following the exodus of others was going to be a massive challenge to our own talented youngsters as they took their first steps into senior rugby. There was little money available to strengthen the side with battle hardened campaigners, and after only a few weeks, a long hard winter looked in prospect. However, 5 successive wins have now put Leeds on the shirt tails of the leading clubs, and in some quarters, the P word is being mentioned. With so little between the top teams, there is no reason whatsoever for Leeds to stay in the Championship to be extended by another year.
Is that what we want?
There are reasons for not wanting promotion. The majority of players are still young and inexperienced, although they are learning quickly. A couple of beatings by the likes of Sarries and Saints certainly wouldn’t boost the confidence, another season at this current level would see them mature into a very good team There is, for the fans, the pleasure of visiting proper rugby grounds and mixing with the traditional supporters in their welcoming clubhouses. Our supporters have eloquently argued that if we do get promoted, and then struggle, the vultures will circle, and we will once again see our team ripped apart with another exodus.
Well, I think the vultures will be circling now, and if we fail to get promoted, some of our many talented youngsters will be offered bait they will find difficult to refuse. At least if we go up, they can try the top level with their own club. There is also the small matter of funding, which I believe will be drastically reduced if we stay in this division. It will be difficult for whoever wins promotion to strengthen their squad, with the play off final not until mid May, but at least there will be funding available should any players still be looking for an AP contract.
‘No’, I hear some of you cry, ‘we’ll come straight back down’! Maybe, but with another parachute payment to keep the ship afloat: and for me this is paramount. Nobody else is likely to cough up a huge sum of money, so let’s get what we can where we can. As much as I am enjoying the competitive nature of Championship rugby, I honestly believe we need to be in the Premiership if we want our club to thrive in the future. The longer we stay away, the more difficult it will become to return.
I also believe that in the not too distant future, the AP will increase to 14 teams, and to not be in that group could well be a disaster, especially if they go down the ‘Super League’ route and suspend relegation and promotion for a couple of years.
Although my concerns are primarily for Leeds Carnegie, I’m sure one or two of the other clubs fancying a stab at the elite are going through the same emotions.
I am not saying we will be promoted, obviously I hope we are, but my one hope is whoever eventually wins the right to join the top table, meets the necessary criteria, and is able to do so. Otherwise what point in a second tier of professional rugby in England?
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:15:06:21:09 by Wildwillie.
Any youngster thinking that the lights are brighter in the Premiership with other teams, needs to have a honest chat with young Joe Ford before making any decision. I hope that might make them think twice.
Also, I hope that the team spirit that DE has reignited in the team instils some kind of loyalty in the boys so they may not be so quick to jump ship!
I hope we keep them, they are all future stars!
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'
but first things first, and the slog of climbing up the table.
I would like to think that this young and exciting side will be given time to develop, both on and off the pitch. Most of them have grown up playing together through the ranks and I would hope that two-way loyalty would count for a lot when the hawks come a-circling. As Zan so rightly says, the boys have only got to talk to Joe to see that the grass isn't always greener at a 'bigger' club. Has anybody heard of Scud recently?
Miserati - and Proud to be!
What do we want?
To stay in the Championship, perform well, visit and enjoy othe clubs facilities and fans who know our game well and are happy to discuss.
Gain promotion to the Premiership, receive loads of dosh?maybe suffer some heavy losses and struggle a bit with other fixtures. Visit grounds where their fans are blinkered to their own colours, then have a fairly demoralising season on the terraces and all the anguish that brings.
We talk of our youngsters and how well they are performing, (other than occasional long distance tries against!) and further, the next crop of children coming through the Academy.
Bear in mind that they will all have had an extra year learning the business by next season and the way some of them are shaping up, they are going to be serious players as they mature!
Assuming we can hold on to most of them, as I am sure Diccon & GH would wish to, then I see a bright future for them, whatever league we are in!
Only time will tell. What I would say is that on the terraces this season, our games are far more enjoyable than they have been the last couple of seasons or so.
Glass half full & rising, onwards & upwards!
Up the Carnegie TYKES !
I have previously posted that, in one way my heart would wish for an instant return to the Premiership. After all, who does not want to see some of the worlds best players plying their trade at Headingley, whether that be playing for the opposition or for Leeds.
On the other hand there is my brain that suggests that a period of consolidation is required. Whilst the 'boys' are improving week by week, there is still considerable room for improvement. It is also a point that our senior players have not realy gelled with the youngsters and have spent a considerable time, this season, on the treatment bench. Time could well be the healer.
There is also the factor if finances to be considered, as Haxby quite rightly mentions.
At this stage of the season, I am not sure onto which mast to pin my flag!
Forget club loyalty and kissing the badge the finances would not be there to keep all the players and of course the best would go as Leeds would not be able to compete with a premiership clubs wallet.
For every Joe Ford or Luther Burrell there is a Callum Clark and a Kearnan Myle and when your young and talented of course you want to play at the highest level.
Go for Promotion camp here.
We carry on playing the games but we're not really trying to win??
If we're good enough, we go up.
If we're not, we don't.
Either way nobody is doing anything other than trying to win.
To be talking otherwise on the back of 6 wins is quite astonishing actually.
Which ever camp you fall in, the likelihood is that the rest of the season will be a nerve jangler.
Financially I am not sure where we stand - we are not exactly setting the world alight with our attendances, though that may improve if we continue to win. Can we afford not to go up - I genuinely don't know?
The crop of youngsters we have are an exciting bunch but could we hold on to them for another year..... however, if promotion were not achieved then, it would become progressively harder.
Right, am off to check my lottery numbers to see if I can spare £10m for Leeds Carnegie
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
Miserati - and Proud to be!
This is why it would be important to bring a few players in if promoted with the experience neccessary
But it’s all about funding and none of us know what will be available if anything on top of Premiership funding.
Plus we have lost home grown talent in the past when they cant play due to a more high profile signing.
Danny Care for one.
We (or anybody else for that matter), could win 31 of the 32 games a team needs to play in order to get promotion, and still miss out. Now that would cause a mass exodus, and there would be no funding from anywhere.
All the above may be academic if they ring fence, move to franchises, the top clubs split etc.
One of the major reasons for being promoted this year is that we will be in the Premiership when this is all decided.
It's as much about us being seen to be the 13th premiership club and NOT somebody else.
The money is of course a no-brainer: £2.6 Million vs £350,000