And to be fair Starbug we supported the Super League bid and thought it would be a success as we thought it was going to be done properly.
A skeleton staff, non payment of players, little to no marketing and generally doing things on the cheap leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. It will take years in South Wales to recover from this image that it isn't a place to expand. It is, I am sure of that, it just needed to be done properly.
For example, if Moss and Co had marketed a game down here like they did the opening fixture against Leeds then it would have sold out. I have no doubt about that. As it was Celtic Crusaders and their owners did not or could not. Either way it was not done. About two thirds through the season there was no merchandise in the club shop. A Championship 1 club might scrape by like this but a Super League club, I think not. As I say rule out the bid for Super League under Samuel but don't rule out South Wales altogether. If the money was there to do it all properly the club would be going from strength to strength now.
The club still achieved over 3,600 average gates and has shown youngsters breaking through after 2 years of having any kind of an academy. That was in spite of most things being done wrongly. Imagine what could be achieved if we could get somebody on board who could sustain a club down here for 5 years or more. I don't mean just scraping by like Samuel did but actually spending the salary cap and running a full age range academy also. After the first 5 years or so I think the club would be fully or close to self sufficient as the fans would support it. Don't forget we had a 3,600 average with a team that won 2 of 13 games at home all season.
People, though, will wrongly write South Wales off as a venture that should not have been taken. I agree this time, it should not have been taken under Samuel, but it is an area ripe for expansion but expansion with guaranteed money, infrastructure and a sound business plan. Hopefully with South Wales Scorpions this will be the case and if they don't have all of this in place I hope they don't get too ambitious too quickly.
I feel the Wrexham lot have this and can do a lot more than Samuel and Co could. I also feel, unlike others, that it is hardly Moss' fault that he was the only realistic person who wanted to buy the club at the going rate including debts. This is life and it gives Scorpions a chance to build a sustainable and more solid foundation in South Wales and if the Crusaders can get a solid foothold in North Wales I can only see it being more beneficial for Welsh Rugby League and Rugby League as a whole in the future.
