mat wrote:
Would have thought letters given out to team about Club not being able to offer contracts for next year, at begining of month combined with all loan players being unavailable for Easter period pretty much explains downturn in team performance. Fan disenchantment is a direct consequence of that combined with total silence coming from the club.
Really struggling to come up with a theory for what's going on, unless there's a master plan we're not aware of. Thing that's nagging in back of my mind is clause in lease stating professional rugby has to be played at odsal until may 2018(19?). I know this was to do with a club having to repay a portion of odsal settlement if club left odsal, but I wonder if we don't fulfill that requirement it also voids the head lease scuppering whatever long term plans rfl have for odsal?.
I don't think anyone on here actually has any direct knowledge of the legal terms in the contract of lease, though that said, I can't imagine failing to play at Odsal for a season or two would negate the whole lease.
I can't remember the words "professional rugby" ever being used in any of the old reports either, to be honest, only that the club should use it for the majority of matches over the period, so semi pro or Pennine league, I'd expect that so long as the club continue to play games there there would be no problem. In that regard, if this were to be a problem for the head lease I think the RFL would forgo the rent to ensure the club stayed there.
Another thing which has never been disclosed (to my knowledge) is whether the "pay back" is for the whole sum of 'settlement money' or just for a proportion of it relative to the length of the contract breech. If the latter, it presumably wouldn't be too onerous anyway. Obviously I don't think anyone had the remotest idea of what was to befall the club, so how much thought and detail went into that bit of the contract is a moot point.
