I’ll put on here what i wrote on the other forum given it’ seems relevent to this thread…..
The fact we are in this position is entirely of our own doing. We have done NOTHING to the ground for years despite knowing full well it didn’t meet minimum standards, preferring to sit back and hope a new one fell into our lap, even when these schemes quite obviously had fallen by the wayside. The RFL gave us special despensation for years (along with Wakey) to remain in super league based on promises that we never fulfilled. If they wanted us out then they had every right and opportunitty to do so which kinds of blows the conspiracy theories out of the water.
Now though the landscape has changed and the IMG system is in place those at the top of the club, the ones who have been sat on their hands, are now in panic mode and having to spend momey on a temporary bodge job to salvage our super league lives. The money for this has to come from somewhere and the only place available short term is the playing budget. Yes during that time the product on the pitch will suffer but without that sacrifice for a year then it is certain relegation and given the level of debt the club carries the result of that is not worth even considering.
We are fortunate that the ground is able to be tweaked to gain us extra points as if the extra seats couldn’t be added to to the princess street stand, the TV gantry extended, the floodlights have extra capacity to be able to meet minimum standards, etc then we’d be stuffed. But they can be so doing it is a no brainer. It is what will save us.
Taking our bat & ball home now would be the absolute worst thing we could do. Whether we agree with the way things have been run or not and whether we like the IMG sytem or not (and for the record i don’t particularly like either!) it is what it is and the club needs us now more than ever. If i see a team of what is mainly young blokes busting a gut for us then i’m willing to put my money where my mouth is and i’ll get behind them because thats what Cas fans do. We ain’t born with silver spoons in our gobs, we ride it out when the going gets tough and enjoy the good times when they come along. If we want Jepson to bring new investors along then we need to show why we deserve it, show them this clubs potential, show the passion behind it.
I’ve seen us at wembley, i’ve seen us in a grand final, i’ve seen us pump Wigan to win a trophy. But i’ve also seen us relegated twice. It’s sport, it has ups and downs. The full ground redevelopment will give us the wherewithal to compete at the right end of the table again but until then we have to remain in the fight to make it to that point. If that means a bit of short term pain for long term gain so be it, needs must. It might not always be easy to take but it really is a necessity.
Rant over! It was quite cathartic actually!