ON my way to Hilton Park on Sunday I was asked to support a boycott of the game by disgruntled fans; instead I paid my £7 to watch the game.

In hindsight I wish I had been persuaded because those who didn't see the game were the lucky ones - and £7 better off too!

It is difficult to criticise the players for the mauling they get match after match because there is no doubting effort is there. But the majority are simply not good enough for this standard of rugby.

I'm afraid I agree with the protesters. The trouble is at the top. Mr Higgins is entitled to run the club his way but it's not good enough at the moment, and soon there will be no one left on the terraces. Surely he can see that.

He needs to spend some money and quickly. He says it cannot be done because money is tight, but he has £90,000 Sky TV money which previous Leigh chairmen have not had at their disposal.

I'm sure Whittle at Wigan, who had a promising loan spell, was not overpriced, but he has returned to Central Park. It appears Mr Higgins' negotiating power is also lacking.

Keith Latham recently parted company, another wage saved, and still no signs of new faces. When Mr Higgins took over in 1991 he was quoted in The Journal every week stating that his door is "always open".

"This club belongs to the fans," he said. But no one seems happy with the handling of finances. Do we make a profit? When is the AGM? What assets do we have? Other clubs announce financial results annually ...why not us?

Not much of an open door scenario!

There are other problems. At the Dewsbury game a small boy went home with grazed knees and a sore arm because he fell over some ground equipment placed thoughtlessly at the bottom of the steps near to the toilets, near B&Q. At the Featherstone match the offending equipment was still there. Another accident waiting to happen is the electrical cables hanging loose from a conduit in the same toilets.

On Sunday a pitch steward was on crutches. How would he operate in an emergency?

Not that 900 odd fans would create an emergency. But, as the season unfolds, there is likely to be more stewards than fans.

Gerald Cowill

Stretford

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.