I spoke with Blazer again last night, as i do every night, as you will have saw from the letter on the web site Mike isnt over concerned about the fact that we have signed guys yet. Sure in a perfect world we would have had a couple done by now. Wining the play offs buts the price up on a guys head mind you.

There are no cups handed out in May

A bigger concern to me is having a BNL team next year in Sheffield. It's good for the young Sheffield players but if it splits the fan base then it's financial curtains for any Arena base team.

I wonder if this is the reason behind Norton's change of heart and giving the club to the fans.

Just have to wait and see.

...if the club is as worried about the prospect of a BNL team playing out of Sheffield as some fans seem to be, surely there's one solution:- just make the Steelers the better team! Even if they have a better arena (I don't know all the details here), if we're the better team to watch (and the better team to support) surely people will stick with Steelers? However, if the BNL team start advertising tho, I wouldn't be surprised if they do get a decent turn-out. (Let's face it, a single leaflet in a bus shelter would out-advertise us at times!) Maybe now's the time to boost the publicity, just in case?

Just a thought.

xx KuwtieBunny xx =

An FBNL side in Sheffield would, in a lot of respects; not be a good thing; Having two football teams in the city doesn't seem to have done either of them any good and having two ice hockey teams may be the same.

But on the other hand, the derby atmospheres ARE fantastic ~ and should the two Sheffield teams play one another it would probably be a fantatstic occasion ~ I just hope the two sets of fans can get along without bitterness & trouble as generated by some football fans.

I would almost certainly go and watch the new team ~ provided one Norton Lea has nothing to do with it.

An interesting thought for some people ~ who are you going to watch if the new team decides it wants to be the Steelers ~ Can NL prevent them using the name?

Please correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that why his Steelers play benefit games with the Thunder? Because the Thunder owner also owns the Steeler name?

Another morsel for the conspiracy theorists ~ Don't forget the Arena ice time contract runs out after next season.

Alan

PS I don't believe in "Feeder" leagues ~ this country is to small, there are just big and small teams ~ some of them over-perform (Millers!) and some of them under-perform (Dingles ~ Hello scuff!)

that's IF a BNL team is run out of the new (but much smaller) arena, both owners must have to common sense to realise that the only way that they will both be successful would be to work together, and have the BNL team acting as a feeder team for all the talented youngsters currently playing out of Queens Road.

If they decide to take each other on and compete for support, then I believe it will ultimately split the Sheffield hockey fan-base and end up resulting in both teams failing.

If they were to work together I believe they could build a really successful hockey programme in the city to rival the best.

However, I reckon the application to run a BNL team in the new arena is a clever move, plus a bit of a gamble, in that should (when) the ISL collapses and the British hockey establishment comes to its collective senses and decides to reunite all the different laegues under one umberella, the owner of the BNL franchise will end up holding the right run pro hockey in the city. This might just coincide with the completion of the new arena. Cunning? Or a bit of a gamble?