Time to disband Blues.

First topic message reminder :

Rather than create another region I think the Blues needs to be dispanded and the vacant space re branded with a distinct valleys feel. Obviously due to contracts the games would need to continue to be played at the Cardiff city stadium.

I think the people of Merthyr, Ponty, Caerphilly and the Cynon Valley would have no problem making the short trip down the A470. Smaller matches at Sardis road and a central base somewhere near Ponty or Merthyr.

It would be nice if it was owned by the WRU and there were central contracts so when the young talent matures it doesn't get poached.

As far as the current stars are concerned I would like to see the following player transfers so that the Wales team isn't affected.

Leigh Halfpenny - Ospreys. The dragons can't afford him, the Scarlets have Priestland, Jones and Liam Williams. Fussell and Barry Davies are rubbish and Halfpenny would fit in excellent with Dirksen, Walker nd Prydie etc.. I wouldn't be surprised if Halfpenny goes to France now.

Cuthbert - France. Needs to follow his heart and goto a better club to improve.

Players that need to go:

Czekaj - Rubbish
Tom James - Rubbish
Gavin Evans - mediocre
Dafydd Hewitt - mediocre
Most of the pack

Only the Dragons will take Henson as the Scarlets have plenty of class backs. Even if an offer came from the Dragons I think Henson will be too snobby to take it. There is no way on earth a SH club will gamble on him. Some other French club may give him a chance. I think there is also a possibility that a club like Exeter or Bristol may take interest. I think it would be wrong for Henson to go to Australia. Wales didn't need him in the world cup and especially not to win the grand slam.

I think Warburton and Roberts will stay as they are Cardiff through and through and a new squad of talented youngsters should be built around them. With Tovey joining the region needs to really worry about finding a solid pack. The pack is why the Ospreys have had some success.[list][*]

Alyn, the list of young guns is pretty good but I can't believe you mentioned players like Andrews and Fish who I believe to have no future with the Blues the way they have played. Hooker and tighthead are big problems. I suggest they look to the premiership, at teams like Cross Keys and Aberavon, because you are allowed to nick players from clubs outside your region. Keys have a good hooker on their books and it's unlikely for him to get in the Dragons team with the 3 that they have. The Keys props are very strong scrummagers who could become top players with the right training and conditioning.

I watched Fish play for Cardiff on saturday (he came of the bench). He is awful.

I was thinking, with Mcgeechan leaving Bath at the end of the season, maybe he could become director of rugby at Blues, maybe encourage a few of our best players to stay, great experienced coach for the youngsters to learn from and could maybe work with B and B, hopefully they could actually prove useful after all.

Don't think the Geech would want to go to Cardiff in the state they're in at the moment Martyr. Wouldn't mind him at the O's though!

AlynDavies wrote:

dogtooth wrote:heads must roll, and i mean litterally; as a fan i dont need to be levelheaded about my team. i want the blood of the idiots who orchistrated and pushed through this shambles, this utter, utter shambolic cockup.

The biggest mistake the Blues made was Peter Thomas keeping Dai Young out of loyalty. the Blues had a decent squad for many years and under achieved. Peter threw so much money at them but with such a poor coach in charge they didn't make any decent progress. When they started to run out of money Dai jumped the ship, and now it's about to sink. In a business sense the Blues did most things right, the Arms park is old and needed replacing, at the time it seemed a good idea to move into a new state of the art stadium. but the problems associated with the stadium have been terrible. Parking is a nightmare there, and the way punters are fleeced at these new stadiums are a disgrace.

The fact is many fans have left the club and regional game, and those that haven't have drifted back to the Premiership, if you saw the crowds at Premiership games you'd be amazed at their size. If the Bridgend games kicked off at 15:30 and not 14:30 I would hand in my Ospreys season ticket and get a Bridgend one instead.

I really should look further back into threads because there beaut posts like this;
"had a decent squad for many years. Dai jumped the ship because they were running out of money? In a business sense the Blues did most things right? The Arms park is old and needed replacing?"
All good stuff. Total balloons of course.

slartibartfast wrote:With the valleys seemingly finding some cash........

Haven't seen any evidence of this to date.

Morgannwg wrote:Alyn, the list of young guns is pretty good but I can't believe you mentioned players like Andrews and Fish who I believe to have no future with the Blues the way they have played. Hooker and tighthead are big problems. I suggest they look to the premiership, at teams like Cross Keys and Aberavon, because you are allowed to nick players from clubs outside your region. Keys have a good hooker on their books and it's unlikely for him to get in the Dragons team with the 3 that they have. The Keys props are very strong scrummagers who could become top players with the right training and conditioning.

Allowed?
Cardiff can employ who the hell they like, whoever they play for and wherever they are from. Marc Breeze for instance plays for Aberavon. That's O's territory by the way (ie Swansea in old money).

Dave, well yeah, that was the point I made. Not sure why you would pull that one up. Did you see the Keys game on the weekend?

Morgannwg wrote:Dave, well yeah, that was the point I made. Not sure why you would pull that one up. Did you see the Keys game on the weekend?

Just pointing out that regionalism is actually bollux and no, I didn't see the Keys game. Did they win again?

They did. Pirates are a team known for being strong up front in their division. The part-timers from Keys that packed down in the scrum outmuscled them in that area.

Morgannwg wrote:They did. Pirates are a team known for being strong up front in their division. The part-timers from Keys that packed down in the scrum outmuscled them in that area.

Morganwg, with the Pirates in the middle of the RFU Championship promotion battle, you can imagine that they did not send a full first team - that shouldn't take anything away from X Keys performance tho