Quote mr. chairman="mr. chairman"Interest in Sam as been there for a while before Leigh's problems . He is better than hill your right . They need to be looking for the next hill , Hopkins ,Rowley,Baldwin , Martin and higham . They are out there I found all these it's not that hard'"
Agreed Keith.
What's imperative for me going forward for the town and area as a whole is these kids i.e the future Sam Hopkins make it to he top, be that with a succesful Leigh (long term) or via Leigh Centurions as we are at present in the second tier of RL. It's good to see Leigh a stepping stone in some respects and we need to use the postive element of this thought process as for years it was seen as complete no no for the top kids to even consider Leigh, and Leigh lads who were top class only wanted to come for a final pay day after promising careers or if they failed to make it at the top.
Fred and Dave Parky seem to be really pushing the U20s and these are hopefully the next Crop of kids hopefully some of which step up and go on to big things. I've recentley supported LCTV as it will hopefully give much needed media exposure via the Internet to the club, and as we all know kids are glued to the Internet and social media and this is really being pushed and will hopefully attract kids to want to be the next Chris Hill or Sam Hopkins. John Roddy was a driving force behind Leigh's social media drive and LCTV so well done John while we are on that subject.
What is equally essential for me going forward is weather it be your club leigh East, Miners or indeed all the local area junior clubs we build trust with the mothers and fathers of the district they need faith in the people at the top table of our organisation and need to see the right communication structures and pathways in place for the kids and also the correct mentality and Professional attitude.
One of my Future projects I'd love to work on is giving the towns young people not just young players the chance of apprenticeships with my company. If bought into I believe this could give Leigh as an RL community an edge and attract more buisnesses to follow suit and give a real edge when negotiating with parents for some of the best youngsters by offering a link to futher education and a trade to support the RL. As a father or mother of a real promising kid being chased by some big clubs it may give Leigh an edge if your kid could take a Lesser standing club in RL with a championship club but have the security of a good apprenticeship and education it would be a no brainer for me which route to send them down. How many who go to SL clubs from School actually make the big time and how many end up playing championship having failed without an education or trade having followed the dream???
