Castleford Tigers Supporters Club

Wednesday March 10th saw Tigers CEO Richard Wright and Director Andy Reed join CTSC members for a Q & A Forum at The Loft and at the request of CTSC members who were unable to attend here are some of the notes which were taken by CTSC Committee member Steve Golding.

They are only notes and not everything discussed will appear here as result. The aim is to highlight some of the key points that were made.

Richard confirmed that things weren't moving as quickly as everyone wanted but that it was hoped that this was only temporary. The club and Waystone are mindful of the Superleague deadline.

Funding was based on the land prices and in the current climate that is falling but at the moment we are confident that we can be playing in the new stadium for 2012. The Chemical licence on the old Hickson site is impacting on the sale of The Jungle, this is something that Wakefield Council are also eager to sort as it has implications on regeneration for the town.

Richard also confirmed that the preferred architect had been chosen although there were a couple of things to sort before the announcement could be made. He felt that the timing of this was a vital part of the project.

Next Richard was asked what the critical date was.

Richard responded by saying that it was difficult to say although he did confirm that the next Licence Application had to be submitted by 31st January 2011. The club need to show in that application that significant progress has been made.

When asked if there was any truth in the rumour that Wakefield and Featherstone would share the proposed stadium close to Junction 30 of the M62.

Richard was not able to comment on that but did say that they had studied Wakefield's application and that they were way behind our bid and that he couldn't see how they could achieve it in time.

It was suggested from the floor that Wakefield may try use Barnsley FC as a temporary venue whilst they progressed their stadium bid.

It was felt that this option wouldn't work and doubted the RFL would accept it as a short term thing.

When asked if they were confident that Castleford Tigers would retain their place in Superleague, the response was a resounding yes! We do need as a club to be pushing towards crowds of 10000.

Richard and Andy were asked if the RFL would allow the Tigers to use The Jungle as a 'Plan B'

Andy confirmed that the ground was not the only criteria and that others included; Crowds - which we would like to see increase, Home grown players - which with the likes of Westerman, Owen, Huby, Shenton as well as the next batch including Thompson and Davies, stands us in good shape and also Value to the Competition - which it was felt that Castleford Tigers provided greater value to the Superleague Competition than some of our rival clubs.

The panel was asked if we would consider playing at another ground. Andy stated that whilst it would be something to consider they would only need a 'Plan B' if the new ground wasn't far enough on.