Quote The Chair Maker="The Chair Maker"Im actually coming round to the belief that Quins decline on the field is down in part to the lack of relegation.
I think the people running the club know that the RFL would be very reluctant to demote them, due to the effect this would have on Sky TV money, and also the RL's attempts to garner more national media coverage.
By being in such a seemingly impregnable franchise position, they know they can get away with doing very little.
In the past the owners knew they had to spend money on a playing squad otherwise it would be curtains for the club.'"
The lack of relegation may mean we're not in the state of panic we would be if it existed, but the real problem is we've failed to replace Ian Lenagan as an investor, and the commercial operation is still underdeveloped.
Quote The Chair Maker="The Chair Maker"
Im also purturbed by the fact Quins no longer appear to have any form of merchandise operation.'"
We do (I wear my Quins RL winter jacket almost every day at the moment) although replica kit availability has become a running joke.
Quote The Chair Maker="The Chair Maker"
It appears to me that we have a situation were a full time professional league has a London based club that is operating as a professional entity in name only. In reality its running as a semi pro outfit.'"
Unfortunately the cost base contradicts this.
Quote The Chair Maker="The Chair Maker"
Sadly its a chicken an egg scenario. The Quins wont get new fans without going out and promoting the game, but the club cant promote the game because they dont have enough fans to generate the income to drive growth.
I think Salford are in very much the same boat.'"
It's investment that's at the root of it. If you look at a successful Australian expansion team like Melbourne they've had significant, systematic investment via Fox Sports and the NRL, if we got that we'd have the parochial element posting death threats. So we make the most of what we have. Marketing costs money, the club doesn't have money, simple really.
Quote The Chair Maker="The Chair Maker"
I want to see the game succeed at the professional level in London, however i think the present setup isnt working.
Yes we need to be patient, but at the same time we shouldnt be complacent and turn a blind eye.'"
Without investment there's a limit to what will ever be achieved, and past experience has told us that patience is the least bad option.
Quote The Chair Maker="The Chair Maker"
There is a real danger i think of Quins turning into a "traditional" RL club eg a parasite that does nothing to grow the game, but spends year after year getting the begging bowl out asking to be saved.'"
The club is at the centre of a huge development effort, one that simply didn't exist as little as 10 years ago, now we've now got at least 7 players who've come through the development programmes contending for first team places, some like LMS, Clubb and Sharp are first choices, others like O'Callaghan, Bryan, Bolger are making the 17 regularly. Of course there are questions over how much some RL fans are really interested in the expansion of the player pool and what that brings. Besides there's never been a begging bowl, it might be an enduring myth, but that's all it is. David Hughes has spent millions keeping us alive, not the RFL or other clubs, the only "favour" the other SL clubs did us was allowing the club to continue after the previous holding company was liquidated, and even that was a self-interested decision rather than one from the kindness of their hearts.
