Castleford Tigers Archived News

Usual Boxing Day fare - put out a 2nd team and get beat - Not a lot can be gained from these types of games and the sooner they become competitive, the better.

Andy Hay is now a free agent after being released by Leeds - Anyone think we should re-sign him ??? He's a good forward to have - He's the age when forwards are usually reaching their best and is a Cas lad as well

Just updated the fixtures for the new season - We start off with Wigan at Home and finish with Wigan at Home - Should be interesting with all our new signings and certainly we shouldn't be expecting defeat in our 1st game - We can beat the Warriors this season.

Another new signing for Cas today - Paul Mellor - The following is taken from BBC Sport.

With me having updated the site, there are bound to be dead links, missing pictures or other things that are not working correctly - If you find any of these, please let me know so I can put them right.

I've just been looking through the WHO ARE YER??? pages in the INTERACTIVE section and a lot of the profiles need updating - If yours is on there, please take a look and let me know what needs changing. Thanks - Mark :-)

Well, this is the launch of the new site with the casrl.co.uk address - Not much different to the old one really is it :-)

Hi everybody - Sorry for not updating for a while - I've been busy getting the new site ready for launch. This should still take a couple of weeks or so before it goes live though.

Anyway, The Saints beat the Bulls 19:18 in the Grand Final on Saturday with a last minute drop goal. The Bulls maybe should have had a penalty in the dying seconds of the game for an involuntary tackle BUT, Saints should have had one a few minutes earlier for ripping the ball out of the tackle. SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS for those that wish to argue :-)

Anyway, it's nearly as satisfying watching the Bulls lose (and cry about it) as it is to see the Rhinos lose.

Hi again - I've been out and bought the new site name (Well, I didn't actually go out to do it, but who cares!!!) :-)

At the moment, it will just tell you to come back here though, BUT, by all means, feel free to take a look :-)

I am currently in the process of revamping all the pages - Nothing drastic, just a change of logos etc.

Hopefully this will be done within the next few weeks although stuff such as next seasons fixtures will take a while longer.

For now though, everything you needs is still here and when the new site is unveiled, everything will still be here only better (allegedly!!!)

I have decided to buy a domain name for this site. No longer will you have to visit www.rangey.demon.co.uk/tigers.htm to come here.

Instead, it will be something easier to remember and more catchy - I'd go for something like www.castigers.com if the official site hadn't already beat me to it!!! :-)))

Anyway, I can't decide what I want so I thought I'd turn it over to you - I'll be buying a .co.uk address so I need you to suggest what should come before this please.

There will be a prize for the person/s who suggests the name that I finally use - Its the usual Cuddly Jungle.com Monkey and mouse mat. They'll all have gone then and I'll have to see if Jungle.com can send me any more freebies :-)

We lost but put up a very creditable performance. No-one can be disappointed with the performance tonight and the fans were also outstanding cheering the team on to the very end.

This stands us in good stead for next season and I think we should all feel positive that we can have a better season next year.

Congrats to Steady - He turned the team around when people (myself included) were calling for his removal. The players responded and it just goes to show what can be done with a little extra effort.

Leeds beat Hull last night, so next weeks match should be a cracker after we stuff the Warriors tonight!!! :-)

We'll then take the Saint's in the semis and stuff the Bulls once more, to become Superleague champs :-)

The winner of the 100,000 hits competition was Craig Land of Cas - He got the 100,000 hits spot on. The next closest dump I got was from The Jester with 100,031

To commemorate this historic occasion!!! :-) I will be giving away a Jungle.com Mousemat and Beany Monkey to the person who sends me a screen dump to prove they were visitor 100,000 (If no one does this exactly, the prize will go to the nearest one sent in)

It wasn't pretty BUT, we got the 2 points and relegated Salford in the process. The Reds played really well but we just managed to come up with the goods when it mattered. We were professional whilst Salford played with heart alone.

So, next week is Wigan away in the 1st round of the playoffs and I bet we see a completely different game to today's.

Also, I can see some free drinks from my Wakey mates for the next few weeks too :-)

An excellent performance and more deserving than the 12 point gap shows. Widnes came back with a few tries at the end when Cas had slackened off otherwise the score would have been much greater.

In a match that we needed to win, we looked by far the better side except for 10 minutes in the first half but our defence was solid.

Sampson came on in the 2nd half and got himself straight into the action in his last home game as a Tiger, receiving a punch for his efforts - He restrained himself today and just laughed it off though. A minute later, Widnes were still riled up and got a man sin binned (and we scored 2 tries during our man advantage).

We're back in 6th spot with this win and a victory next week at Salford would see us going to the JJB the following week to take on 3rd place Wigan Warriors in the playoffs.

The end of the game saw the players come back out for some awards, farewells, speeches and dancing!!!

Deano filled up and couldn't say owt. Players leaving for next season are Deano, Gay, Mather and Warren. Without wishing to be too negative or disrespectful to these players, only Richard Gay will be missed next year and even then, we've had to cope without him this season. With a couple of shrewd signings in the close season, Steadman could have a lot more success next year.

Well, how many of us would have predicted this result before the whistle blew!!!

I personally didn't think we played too badly. Granted, we didn't play to our recent good form BUT, Warrington were a good side today.

Some of you might say that the ref didn't give us the rub of the green but again, there wasn't that many bad decisions from where I was standing (Except for their 2nd try maybe!!!)

So, we're back down in 8th spot needing a victory on Sunday to just keep us in contention for the 6th and final playoff berth. A loss to Widnes would mean our season would be over.

I can't see that happening though, the team know that it's all to play for again and should come out fired up. We can certainly win this game and I for one will be hoping that they can manage to do so and that Sunday against Warrington was just a temporary glitch.

We were always on top of the game and even though it was only 10:2 at halftime Cas were always completely in control.

I'm going to hold my hands up again now - Waine Pryce had a brilliant game today - I've been one of his biggest critics this season but he looked full of confidence and that obviously has been what was missing from his game earlier in the year. If he continues to play like he is at the moment, I won't be on his back again :-) Well done Waine.

Wakefield didn't really look like scoring and Brad Davis had an absolute stinker of a game but I hope that Wakefield manage to avoid the drop.

We played some good rugby today with nice breaks and passing and also tried one or two fancy moves as well. I suppose it's one of the advantages of playing well that you can try new things out and if they don't come off then it doesn't really matter.

So, next week is Warrington away and hopefully another 2 points. The Wolves pulled themselves out of the relegation dogfight a little today with a win against the Blue Sox but it still could be any one from 4 that go down.

13 points out of a possible 16 over the last 8 games - What more can I say - After witnessing this performance "live" on Sky I'm convinced enough about the players attitude to say that I shall be returning to the games THIS season!!! Yes, you heard right - If you remember, the loss earlier in the season to Wakefield was enough for me to throw my teddy out of the cot and to stay away from the Jungle until the players showed they were trying.

I'm now more than happy to spend my �11 every match with the sort of performances they have been turning in over the last 10 games (even when they lost to Bradford and Hull they played okay and tried)

I don't know why they have now decided to play better than they were - Is Steadman doing something different ??? I was one saying that he should be given the boot as nobody could do any worse BUT, once again, I hold my hands up and admit that I was too eager to get shut of him.

Anyway, enough apologies from me, when I stayed away, the team were not trying, they are now - Enough said.

We're now in 7th position, just 1 point behind London and just 1 point in front of Widnes. 4 games to go - 3 of them against the bottom 3 teams and a crunch game against Widnes. Lets hope we can keep up the good run.

One last point - Given the way that we are playing and given Dean Sampson's disciplinary record, I believe that he shouldn't play again this season. I know that this will be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of Cas fans given his good service over the years but, he won't be match fit and he hasn't been used to playing in a winning team this season.

I was on holiday when this game took place so it was nice to find out we'd won so comfortably.

SOunds like we played well enough again and came away with the 2 points. Widnes are only 1 point ahead of us now in 7th while London keep the 3 point gap separating us from the playoffs.

Well, the team pulled themselves back into top 6 contention after another good victory against the Blue Sox. They are only 3 points off the 6th spot now with what looks like, a relatively easy run in.

I'll be eating my words if they manage to do so and will also be handing out the praise as I've been a fierce critic of the inconsistency that has dogged the results for the first half of the season.

Our 1st loss in 4 and not an unexpected one but still a decent performance from a very inexperienced side.

Another good, generally solid performance from the team and I'm already contemplating going back to watch them again this season after my rant about then 6 games ago. Good to see that they appear to be putting in the effort again week after week. That's all us fans ask :-)

Yes, Wigan were below full strength BUT, they still had a heck of a lot of good players on show. We played well also and could have (and maybe should have) won it.

Wow!!! After watching GB's miserable performance, this was just the tonic I needed. Sounds like a good hard fought out victory by Cas and it was one we needed, especially with Wigan and Bradford to follow.

This was a good, well dug in, type of performance from Cas and the victory was thoroughly deserved - Although we nearly lost it at the end due to a dubious video ref call and could have won it earlier had it not been for a couple more dubious video ref calls (in my opinion)

5 points off of the 6th place - I reckon that we ***CAN*** get at least 14 more points if we continue to play like we have done for the past couple of weeks.

I haven't believed that we could finish 6th for a good few weeks now BUT, I may be starting to change my mind :-)

Bring on Leeds next Friday and a victory there would bring us back into contention even further.

I hobbled along to the specialist last week who promptly drained over 1 pint of blood from my knee via a MASSIVE needle - It felt massive anyway!!! :-)

Anyway, I asked him for a sick note thinking it'd be for another week and he game me one for 4!!! I've just got to sit down keeping my leg straight and rest it - God, am I BORED!!!

I have to go back this Wednesday to see what other nasty things they can do to me :-) and if all is okay, I have to have 2 bloody wisdom teeth out next week!!! I might as well just stay in hospital at the moment!!! :-)

Sounds like we could and should have won this one. Sounds like we also gave a decent performance too so for the 2nd week in a row, I'm not going to have a moan :-)

Okay, don't laugh, but I've buggered my knee up putting a bag of shopping onto the worktop!!!

I collapsed on the floor squashing a loaf of bread and throwing 4 pints of milk everywhere!!!

Apparently I have torn my knee ligaments - I felt a pop, a tear, and then another pop, before yelling various swear words at the top of my voice!!!

Anyway, I knew it must be bad because I wanted to go straight to Casualty with the England Denmark game only half an hour from starting!!!

So, I spent last week at home and have got another week off next week as I still can't bend my leg and have to go see a specialist on Wednesday.

Even though we lost, it was a much better performance last night and we could have and maybe should have won. Like I've said all season long (and as long as I can remember) If the lads put in the effort then I'm happy - Even with defeat (did I really just write that!!!)

As you will probably know from reading the messageboard on the Official site, 2 fans recently got the chance to meet with Richard Wright and ask him questions about all things Tiger related - Here is what went on :

Background

A formal agenda had been drafted for the meeting, but the discussion (which lasted 2.5 hours) did not stick rigidly to it in terms of sequence. Instead the conversation flowed freely amongst a considerable number of topics relating to Castleford Tigers and Rugby League. All parties felt that the meeting was constructive, and indeed because it was the first type of meeting that had taken place between a Castleford CEO and individual fans, there was a great deal of background to be filled in, rumour to be quashed and scene setting to be established. Consequently it proved impossible to cover all the items that were on the agenda, and the parties have agreed to reconvene at a later date for a further meeting. This subsequent meeting will allow for further input from other Castleford Fans following a reflection of the initial meeting outputs and also further detail to be discussed in relation to things such as the club's business plan and objectives, and how supporters can be represented going forward (representation at this meeting and the next being of a temporary nature).

Introductions

The meeting began with introductions from all the parties. Richard Wright advised that he had a strong background in business; having built and developed a fresh produce Wholesale and Distribution Company (R&A Stores Ltd.) and that he has business degree from Manchester University. Richard also advised that he was born and raised in Castleford, had lived in the area all his life, and was a passionate and life-long Castleford supporter.

Finances

The first issue to be discussed was the club's solvency and financial situation. It was put to Richard that other clubs seemed to spend more money on players at the expense of profit, presumably on the basis that they are speculating to accumulate. Richard revealed a dossier of figures on the club and its peer group, and it is clear that when compared to other clubs in Super League Castleford are amongst the better financial performers. Using the last reported set of accounts only Widnes, Bradford, Leeds and Halifax performed better financially than Castleford. The last reported profits for all Super League clubs are outlined below in Table 1.

Club	Profit	Club	Profit

Halifax	� 177,000	Wigan	-� 476,000
Leeds	� 108,000	St. Helens	-� 569,000
Bradford	-� 58,000	Warrington	-� 747,000
Widnes	-� 78,000	Wakefield	-� 834,000
Castleford	-� 191,000	London	-� 1,310,000

The financial performance of Super League clubs is alarming and quite frankly absolutely staggering. The game clearly is in a precarious financial state, and evidently Castleford are not alone in reporting negative operating profits. That said it is disappointing that the club has found itself in such position.

It was also shown that in terms of debt the club owes almost �400,000 to outside parties, and also has been loaned �600,000 by the directors over a period of 10 years. Whilst this does mean that on paper the club has debts approaching �1M, 60% of that debt is to its own directors. Furthermore, in financial terms it is considered a manageable debt as the clubs assets e.g. the ground, more than cover this. It is also worth mentioning that the club has substantially reduced the loss accumulated in 2001 and is forecast to break even this year.

Richard revealed the club's present financial situation started in Darryl Van de Velde's era and was made worse by the 1997 relegation battle and the loss in 2000. Fans will recall that Darryl Van De Velde was a coach who liked to sign well-established players, as opposed to the long-term commitment needed to nurture junior talent. It will be recalled that during that era, the club made substantial outlays on players such as Lee Crooks, St.John Ellis, Ian Braggar, Jon Wray � and ironically the largest outlay on the club's present coach, Graham Steadman. It was also revealed that the battle to stave off relegation in 1997 was very expensive, with the appointment of Stuart Raper and his assistants, and the signing of players at short notice with substantial compensation having to be paid to clubs in recompense e.g. Brad Davies' signing from Wakefield. The 1997 relegation battle alone cost the club over �250,000.

The issue of funding is our main concern. It is clear that Castleford does not currently have a backer who is willing to throw money into the business, as is the case with other SL clubs. A number of options were discussed which included sourcing such individuals, looking at Venture Capital money, available grants and sponsorship ideas, and continuing to develop a more open and trusting relationship with the supporters. We acknowledge that the business plan establishes a number of clear objectives, but we believe is needs to more clearly address this issue. Without new funding, irrespective of source, it is difficult to see how we can attract world-class players.

Richard confirmed that Sky do not pay clubs on the basis of the number of games they have on the television � every Super League club is paid exactly the same amount of money by Sky and that is �600,000 a year. Richard also confirmed that Sky have the absolute right to televise any game they wish at any time and date they wish. He shares the fans frustrations at the changes in fixture dates and times, but contends that effectively every single club is powerless to do anything about this.

Richard went on to say that he had made contact with the new SL Executive with a view to discussing some ideas he has for the development of a stronger League, a closer competition and less predictability in the outcome of games.

The club were given a conditional franchise pass mark when the franchises were awarded last year. The condition was that the clubs facilities were updated to a benchmark for all Super League clubs. These benchmarks cover the whole range of facilities in a Rugby League ground, from the number of toilets provided and the number of seats available in the main stand, to the size of the dug outs.

Wakefield Council agreed that if the Club could produce a scheme to develop the Whitwood site of 80 acres any monies raised from the development could go into the funding of a stadium on the site. The original idea was a leisure park including cinemas etc. Monies from the sale of land would have funded a new stadium.

Since that time each scheme proposed has been refused as the council granted all such permissions to Glasshoughton or planning guidelines have changed. Whilst everyone (including the club) acknowledges the importance of the Glasshoughton site to the town, the only use for the Whitwood site that has been supported by the council is now industrial development - but this would not generate sufficient funding for a stadium. The club are still working with the Council in trying to develop a community training facility on the site but they acknowledge that the stadium project is now dead.

Clearly, the club now has to look at the development of The Jungle, with a new main stand being the priority, and initiatives to raise capital for a new main stand are currently being investigated. The terracing at the Railway End also needs reconstructing and the 200 club was an attempt to finance this. Richard now admits that the club �didn�t handle well� the promotion of the 200 club proposal and concedes that the idea wasn�t as well received as they would have liked and that it is now dead.

Other jobs that are required include such things as upgrading toilets, providing a cr�che facility, and improving the facilities for disabled spectators. The reasons for upgrading the ground are not just to meet set criteria � a good ground will in fact provide substantial leverage in encouraging new sponsors. National brands, and even well known local brands, do not want their brand associated with dilapidated facilities � they want to be associated with clean, modern facilities that reflect the values in their brands. A stadium with top class facilities will help to create an environment of success � something that sponsors are looking for.

Richard stated categorically that neither he nor the Board of Directors chose the players that came to the club or assist in the selection of the team. He advised it was the both Castleford board's and management's philosophy, to hire a coach and to allow them to make coaching decisions. All players that come to the club are the coach's choice, no one else's � the board provide the financial mechanism for bringing the chosen player to the club. Richard remarked that whilst a number of people had criticised the club for not recruiting strongly after the 1999 season, spending on players rose considerably in 2000, not least because the club had to pay more to its existing players as they now could justifiably claim to be 'Top 3' players. Richard emphasised that the signed players were the coaches responsibility and underlined the fact by citing that players such as Logan Campbell, who was signed that year, was entirely the choice of Stuart Raper � who preferred not to bring 'big name' players in and who wanted to reward the 1999 players for their performance.

Richard also felt very strongly about the club's recent performances. He is bitterly disappointed with the defeats by Wakefield and Widnes, and following is a direct quote from him on current performances. N.B. This was written before the Salford game.

"Firstly I believe we have a good squad and are more than capable of being a top 6 side. This season we have shown that we are more then able to match the big sides � but we have only done this in patches. I thought we would win the game against Wakefield and then 'kick-on' from there, but now we seem to have dug a bit of a hole for ourselves. We have to see how the players respond in the next few games � they certainly did not respect Wakefield and they lost that game at the outset. What is disappointing about that is that when the players do not respect the opposition, they do not respect the Castleford fans. The players are disappointed in the performance and are looking to bounce back, and at the end of the day it will simply not be good enough if we are out of the play-offs with a third of the season left. Some of the players need to take more responsibility for the own performance and the performance of the team as a whole."

Mike Turner will become the club's Commercial and Marketing Director on the 1st July, and Nicola Goodrick-Turner will also become the club's Community Development Manager, and will further develop the club's community programme, building on the existing links with amateur clubs, education and business. Mike and Nicola are husband and wife.

Nick Halafhi is considered by Richard to be an excellent capture, who will help the club to develop the youth set-up before handing over the reins to Dean Sampson. Richard reports that Dean is already getting stuck into the role, and that it is important that young players not only have someone capable of nurturing their talent, but that they have someone that they look up to � and Richard believes that Dean has both these qualities.

It was confirmed that there was a potential takeover a number of years ago, but that this was not by Hewden Stuart as a local rumour has often purported. Richard did say that Hewden Stuart have been a tremendous sponsor and supporter of this club and he is thankful for their contribution, but they were not the party involved.

Whilst Richard did not feel it was appropriate to reveal who the person involved was, he did advise that the takeover was not allowed to proceed because the person would not invest any money in the club. As has already been outlined, a number of directors have made substantial loans to the clubs and the aspirant was asked to contribute at least a similar sum and then he would be accepted onto the Board. He would not do this, but continued to lobby existing shareholders to sell their shares to him. A proposal was then made to the aspirant that if he paid off the director's loans, full control of the club would be given to him, but again he refused and would not bring any money into the club. The Board of Directors therefore decided that his interest was not to the advantage of the club, and chose to reject the approach.

For those not familiar with the concept of share ownership, it is important to note what occurred here. The aspirant was offering to buy the shares that already belonged to individuals; therefore any monies that he paid for these shares would go to those individuals � not to the club. Effectively, the individual wanted control but would not invest any money into the actual club itself, a concept that the board refused to believe was in the best interests of the club.

The club has recently developed and opened a top-class educational facility in the area that was previously the Lifeline bar. Richard believes that this facility is not only the best in Super League; it is amongst the very best of any sporting club in the U.K. � including Premier League football clubs. Richard hopes that this will lead to even stronger relationships with the young people of the town and surrounding areas, but also indicated that the classroom will be as much for adults as it is for young people, and that he hoped many people in the area will take advantage of the resource.

Whilst the next meeting will cover this issue in greater detail, and indeed will hopefully clarify the next steps for those fans hopeful of becoming the fans representative, a number of ways that fans can help were outlined.

Clearly of paramount importance is the introduction of capital into the club for the development of young players, the signing of established players and the development of facilities. The club will shortly be announcing a superb offer to season ticket holders to try and increase the supporter base � and they will be placing a tremendous amount of trust in the season ticket holders. The club would like to reveal this themselves, but we would like to take this opportunity to ask season ticket holders and fans to remember that when the offer is announced it is in the club's best interest to take the gesture in the spirit it is intended � and not to abuse it. All will soon be revealed! Other ways to provide financial support to the club are obvious ones: buy a shirt, buy a season ticket and buy other things from the shop!

The issue of future fan representation was touched upon, but time was running short by this stage, and it was felt that it would be wise to address this particular point at a further meeting. Richard was very open to ideas about how this could be achieved and emphasised the clubs intention to break down any barriers that exist between itself and its fans.

Fans having a financial stake in the club in the form of shares was also touched upon but not discussed in sufficient depth. This issue will also be discussed further at the next meeting.

We feel that this is a sound record of the meeting that took place, and we hope that fellow supporters feel that the exercise was worthwhile. If you have any comments or any questions that you would like us to raise at the next meeting, please e-mail them to casfansconcerns@hotmail.com. We will do our best to respond to every mail, but if this proves impossible you can be assured that we will make a general response on an appropriate website or by using another media channel.

At last, a victory :-) Mind you, if we had lost to Salford there would have been even more uproar!!!

Anyway, I'm not going to moan about the team for a change. I'm going to say well done.

I didn't see the game - I stuck to my principles and stayed away as did over a thousand others looking at the size of the crowd (just over 5000)

We've got nearly 2 weeks to go now before our next game at the Saints so we should all be fighting fit and ready to go.

We tried to win the game today and should have sewn it up in the first half but a couple of players once again made the same mistakes that they make week in, week out. God knows why they keep getting into the side.

Anyway, it was a better performance BUT, as if we didn't already know it, we just don't have enough quality players in the side.

I don't know where to start - I'm really, really, really angry at the moment - The players today were absolutely PATHETIC - Make no bones about it, I COULD have turned up today and have done just as well as most of the players and also cared a lot more about it than they obviously do. I really feel that to be the case right now.

The first 15 minutes was bad and I thought that we'd get better. For Pete's sake (bet you didn't know that Pete was a swear word did you!!!), we LOST A SCRUM!!!, we couldn't hold onto the ball, we gave away 2 penalties for ripping away the ball and could be tackle ? Could we heck!!! (it's hard to come up with words like heck when that just isn't strong enough!!!)

Wakefield are not even an average side but they made us look like Salford!!! God knows who Salford will make us look like next week!!!

Our tackling, especially in the 2nd half was non-existent - 1 on 1 tackles were missed for a couple of the Wildcat's try's and that just isn't good enough.

I've made a decision not to go watch the team until they can start to string together at least a couple of victories or put in some effort every week.

You may say that I'm not a real supporter of the team, just turning up when we're winning but I say that how can I support a team that just doesn't have a clue!!! If they were trying their best then I would still be going but EVERYONE today could see that just wasn't the case. As usual, when the going got tough, we through the dummy out of the cot and started fighting!!! Great, if I wanted to see boxing, I'd go to boxing. Wakefield had us right where they wanted us. We didn't have an ounce of fight in us where it matters -on the field.

I got round to thinking if we'd improved this season and I have come to the conclusion that we haven't.

I seriously think that it's time for the board to start looking for a new coach because we need some new ideas and also I can't see how by changing the coach, we could get any worse. Steadman has had over a year in charge now and things haven't changed for the better. I was one of the people who was prepared to give him a chance when others were knocking him when he got the job, but now is the time for change.

I'm not knocking the team/club just for the sake of knocking them - I feel very strongly about them and really want them to succeed. I don't think they can do this at the moment with the current set up.

I am well aware that we don't have lots of money to spend on new players and also understand that the best players also don't want to come to Cas to play. We'll have even less cash in the future because there'll be plenty more like me who won't be wasting my hard earned �11 to see that. If I want to through my money away in the future, I'll be hading to pay to get in to the sewerage works because you get to see a better quality of poo (couldn't get away with the S word!!!) there than you do at the Jungle.

Stuart Raper had the same problem, but he made the players believe in each other and their own ability and got the best out of them. Someone else should also be able to do the same - It doesn't look like Steadman is capable.

Back to today, the ref did make a couple of bad decisions but they were not enough to mean that we lost by so many points. We really were that awful. My rant is just about over but I really would be interested in what everyone's opinions are about the above points.

I'm full of good luck, but it's no help to me - Whenever I stay away from games this season we win - When I go, we lose!!!

I took the dog for a walk yesterday in Queens Park and managed to see Andy Lynch score his try - Well, I could see Cas on the attack and heard the crowd roar (about 3 seconds later being at the top of the hill) and then heard the loudspeaker saying his name. Maybe I should stay away more often ??? :-)

Another disappointing result - I decided to go to Halifax yesterday for 2 reasons, 1. I had never been to the Shay before and 2. I thought that after the St Helens game, things may have taken a turn for the better!!!

I thought that we haven't got wingmen with any pace and yet again, for Halifax's first try, Pryce didn't know what to do or which man to go for and ended up totally stranded.

Kyle Warren should have won the game for us - He knocked on when he only had to catch the ball and drop over the line.

Saying all that, I didn't think that we played too poorly - We were trying but we didn't seem to have much idea in attack and I don't suppose the Ref helped us!!!

Well what a pleasant surprise. 18-0 down in 20 minutes and a comeback to win comfortably in the end. What more do I need to say.

A very disappointing result especially after the improvement over the previous couple of weeks. Also, Danny Orr looks like he may be out for a while with a back injury.

A good performance by Cas but it sadly wasn't enough. We played well for most of the match but if we're honest, we got what we expected. Lets hope the lads can take a step up from here for the rest of the season.

Yes, really, it's not a misprint - Congratulations to the team who have once again confused us spectators with a great performance against the Reds. How they can play so differently from week to week continues to astound all of us - BUT, I am certainly a lot happier now than I was this time last week.

We were outplayed for much of the game but I thought that the lads tried their best tonight and I wasn't as disappointed as I have been recently - It was an entertaining game and unfortunately, we came out as the losers.

Effort like they put in for periods of the game tonight is now needed for the remainder of the season

It sounds from the reports that Wigan were just too strong for us. Most of us expected that to be honest though. Lets hope they can raise their game next time in the semis.

The crowd didn't like it and we were lucky to come away with a draw BUT, I thought that we actually tried today and that's all I'm really interested in.

I am starting to come round to the idea that we aren't a top team - Certainly not at this stage of the season anyway, and have lowered my expectations accordingly.

Well, we won but it wasn't convincing - We'll have to play a heck of a lot better against our semi-final opponents of Wigan.

I won't say anything else for now but I'll see if we improve in the next few weeks.

WHAT A LOAD OF S*T THAT WAS THEN!!! Unfortunately, that IS my constructive criticism for the side. They were absolutely appalling and how they can be so different to last week is beyond me.

Even the better showing in the 2nd half doesn't make up for the useless performance in the 1st.

The Tigers also got it wrong with the ticket sales for next week - I went to get mine before the game only to find out that they were not on sale until after the game - I wonder how much revenue they will have lost out on there after that performance??? I'll certainly be considering carefully whether to turn up or not.

A good opening day victory for Cas saw them gain a very comfortable win against the Wildcats who looked very average.

The Tigers made some awful mistakes in the 1st half giving the ball away in bad field positions on too many occasions putting themselves under pressure -They did come up with good defence though.

After the break, Cas played a lot better and scored some good tries and also played some good rugby.

Cas have been handed the easiest possible tie in the Quarter Finals of the cup. The Tigers will take on the Doncaster Dragons on 17th March at The Jungle.

Mind you, looking at the other ties, we should go into the Semi-Final draw with Wigan, St Helens and Leeds so things should get tougher then!!!

I don't know much about the game as Ceefax didn't really show anything apart from us being 6-0 down for most of the game (according to their updates anyway!)

What is good for the Tigers is that they again managed to keep the opposition down to only 6 points.

I think I've now got everything on the site up to date - Only thing I've still got to do is a new screensaver.
As usual, if you'd like to see something on here or if something is incorrect, please let me know :-)

Just updated the players pics/profiles page with stuff unashamedly taken from the Official Tigers Website.

Hi Everybody - Just to let you all know that I've changed my e-mail address due to large amounts of SPAM being received.

So, with immediate effect, my new e-mail address is

mark@rangeyMONSTER.demon.co.uk (remove the monster to reply)

and NOT mraynor@rangey.demon.co.uk

Please update your address books :-)

Also, if you reply to any e-mails that I send out in future, when you click on the reply button, you will have to remove the word MONSTER out of my e-mail address.

I believe that this solution (although a bit fiddly at first) will stop me receiving all the rubbish that I've been receiving (around 25 unwanted e-mails a day)

If you forget to remove the MONSTER part of the e-mail address then I'm afraid that the e-mail will never reach me.

If you send anything to my old address then I will receive it for a while but not forever :-)

This way, hopefully I will still be able to correspond with people that I want to rather than with get
rich quick schemes or people advertising SEX, SEX, SEX!!!

Hang on, that might not be so bad after all ;-)

Cheers - Mark :-)

Cas have been drawn away to London in the next round of the cup - Not an easy tie but one that is certainly winnable and also one which will be a good "practice" to set up our first Superleague tie with Wakefield the following week

A good start for Cas saw them comfortably more on into the next round in a really scrappy game controlled heavy handed by Steve Ganson who seemed to enjoy blowing his whistle at every opportunity - Maybe it was a new one that he got for Christmas!!!. Saying that though he was consistent for both sides and just seemed to lay down the law to the letter.

Salford never really looked like breaching the Cas try line and I doubt that we will see a team all season that tries more "spoiling" tactics than them.

Lets hope for another team of about equal stature in the next round - Maybe one of the French Sides :-)

The Tigers had a very good victory in their last warm up game before the real thing gets underway in just over a weeks time. Lets hope they can keep it up - Someone pointed out on the official messageboard that it was our first win since the 3rd August last year!!! So it's nice to break our duck just short of the 6 month mark :-)

Okay then, looks like I might have got it wrong as there is also Wigan v Hull in the cup - we won't be on TV after all!!!

The draw for the 4th round of the Challenge Cup has just been made and Cas are at home against the Salford Reds - Expect to see our tie televised alongside the best tie of the round, Bradford v Leeds

Cas lost 30:12 to the Bulls tonight in a warm up that Bradford needed, in order that they can beat the Newcastle Knights next week for the World Club Championship.

Once again, the Bulls looked just too good for us although we did put up a decent enough performance.

Cas have announced their squad numbers for the forthcoming season. Please find them at the Player Pictures area

Danny Orr has been made Captain of the team for next season although he has lost out on goal kicking duties to Wayne Bartrim

Cas have also arranged a game against Halifax on 30th January for Nathan Sykes' testimonial

Cas lost 56:12 to the Rhinos at Headingley today - I didn't go - I thought we would be fielding a weakened team and we were 10 first teamers down. Not sure if this indicates a long long season ahead or not!!!

Some news at last - Next seasons fixtures have been released and can be found, not surprisingly, on the Fixtures page

The Tigers have made a new signing - 27 year old Kyle Warren from the North Queensland Cowboys.

He's a 2nd rower or loose forward and should play in one of these positions for Cas

Cas are currently trying to sign Ryan Hudson from Wakefield - I don't know a lot about him but my Wildcat mate says that he could be one of the best props in Superleague in a few years time.