It will be our name that attracts a new coach, certainly not our squad.
Hopefully, that name will be Widnes RLFC not this 'viking' pap. Really hope we get a new badge (not the town crest) to eradicate the remnants of the OConnors, and ditch the terrible pointless nickname.
Up The Chemics
Paulie xx
@cuerdley-viking some fans on here after relegation from SL, myself included.
and me
At the time when many of us said that (myself included) we were looking at watching a full time squad in the championship that had a lot more quality than anything we had post administration. Don’t think many of us realised quite how bad the mess was at the time of relegation.
@mt I think the trouble goes a lot further back. The trouble stems from not having the money to pay for the best team we ever had. We bought the great team on the ‘never, never’ and we have been trying to pay for them and accumulating ever increasing debt ever since. We are where we are because of decades of financial mismanagement / ineptitude. The current group are the latest - albeit well meaning - set of people to not be able to stop the (increasingly rapid) decline. As I’ve said before, very sad but true.
@mt I think the trouble goes a lot further back. The trouble stems from not having the money to pay for the best team we ever had. We bought the great team on the ‘never, never’ and we have been trying to pay for them and accumulating ever increasing debt ever since. We are where we are because of decades of financial mismanagement / ineptitude.
That’s true RV, but in the championship alone there are other clubs, York, Sheffield, maybe Newcastle?? and of course Bradford, who have suffered from the same or similar mistakes.
And that’s not to mention the goings-on in soccer - so it it a general problem for sports clubs?
@mt I think the trouble goes a lot further back. The trouble stems from not having the money to pay for the best team we ever had. We bought the great team on the ‘never, never’ and we have been trying to pay for them and accumulating ever increasing debt ever since. We are where we are because of decades of financial mismanagement / ineptitude. The current group are the latest - albeit well meaning - set of people to not be able to stop the (increasingly rapid) decline. As I’ve said before, very sad but true.
I don't agree with that, the side we had from 1986 to 1992 set us back. We over spent and paid the price. Would I swap it or change anything, the honest answer is no. I feel sorry for the younger fans that never saw Offiah, Davies, Myler etc but its looking increasingly likely we will never see it again. The history books show us as back to back Champions and world club challenge winners so for me it was worth it.
Under the O'connor and Rule regime the debt was wiped out, we got into SL, the promised land and the slate was wiped clean. So for me you can't relate the golden years we had in the late 80's to the mess we find ourselves in now. It's a direct result from the Rule period. Remember we got to a challenge cup semi, the lower reaches of the SL play offs and signed players like Kevin Brown and Danny Tickle, even paying a fee for Brown.
It's clear we have no money to invest now, but its part time Championship RL. Other than Leigh and Featherstone who does? Batley and Halifax do a decent job of operating at this level and being competitive. We seem to lack leadership and ideas as an organisation. If im wrong then so be it, but you hear nothing from the club and the game day is boring and not worth £22 to get in, plus food plus paying for kids to come as well. For me it's turn up, watch us get beat, then go home. Nothing more, nothing less. Is anyone else's game day experience any different?
@mt I think the trouble goes a lot further back. The trouble stems from not having the money to pay for the best team we ever had. We bought the great team on the ‘never, never’ and we have been trying to pay for them and accumulating ever increasing debt ever since. We are where we are because of decades of financial mismanagement / ineptitude. The current group are the latest - albeit well meaning - set of people to not be able to stop the (increasingly rapid) decline. As I’ve said before, very sad but true.
I don't agree with that, the side we had from 1986 to 1992 set us back. We over spent and paid the price. Would I swap it or change anything, the honest answer is no. I feel sorry for the younger fans that never saw Offiah, Davies, Myler etc but its looking increasingly likely we will never see it again. The history books show us as back to back Champions and world club challenge winners so for me it was worth it.
Under the O'connor and Rule regime the debt was wiped out, we got into SL, the promised land and the slate was wiped clean. So for me you can't relate the golden years we had in the late 80's to the mess we find ourselves in now. It's a direct result from the Rule period. Remember we got to a challenge cup semi, the lower reaches of the SL play offs and signed players like Kevin Brown and Danny Tickle, even paying a fee for Brown.
It's clear we have no money to invest now, but its part time Championship RL. Other than Leigh and Featherstone who does? Batley and Halifax do a decent job of operating at this level and being competitive. We seem to lack leadership and ideas as an organisation. If im wrong then so be it, but you hear nothing from the club and the game day is boring and not worth £22 to get in, plus food plus paying for kids to come as well. For me it's turn up, watch us get beat, then go home. Nothing more, nothing less. Is anyone else's game day experience any different?
Hard to argue with that dan 1 except to say that I find it hard to criticise those on the Board who are trying and have put their hands in their pockets as far as they can afford.
Looking at locally we have a load of potential SL clubs watching and picking up our potential saviours. Players these days are cash orientated and who would blame them. To many their skills are maybe their only chance of a few years big paydays. But as players come along, maybe a local businessman with fire in his belly might appear to galvanise things again, not individually but to re-direct our Board. We can only hope!
For myself the club has been an ever-present in my life, giving something for us to focus on when things elsewhere were tough, so I can't see me jumping ship now.
The great times were 'great' and thankfully I was there!!!
@dan1 I agree with you about the great side - they were the best club side there has probably ever been (possibly alongside the St George team in Australia in the 60’s.
I don’t agree with you about the slate being wiped clean with Ste O’Connor - the debt remained but was hidden by his ‘loans’ which he reclaimed prior to his departure. It masked the issues which reappeared with the failure to get the numbers he wanted to get to the match and the money shelled out to no talent hangers-on at the club. Like I say, the debts were hidden rather than removed.
The obvious lack of funds has been exacerbated by the fact that the club can’t generate revenue from the ground facilities and an acceleration in the general public losing interest in the game and, in our case with ex-fans losing interest in the club.
The club has been run poorly by nearly everybody in charge since the mid-60’s - it didn’t really matter that much in the pre-professional era as everybody was in the same leaky ship but it was more a case of ‘situation desperate but not serious’.
The situation is a lot worse now as the game in general is run badly. It’s hard times and unfortunately we are in the group least able to defend themselves.
To be fair, I think if we had stayed up in 2005, things could have been different. The crowds were getting there (league average of circa 6800 IIRC) and we had a star like Peachey lined up.
We are very much similar to Halifax in the mid 2000s atm in my view. They capitulated in SL and had financial problems. They very nearly got relegated to the 3rd Div, winning a Play-Off with York at our ground.
However, they got good management in with Martin Hall and Matt Calland and by 07/08 had become a very competitive Championship team: they finished above us 3 years running and won the GF at Wire and the NRC.
If we can get the right management team in place, with canny transfers, we can get back into a position of competitiveness, if not necessarily right at the very top of the league in the immediate future.
We need Delta to coach Widnes and this would not happen with him at the helm.
@royston-vasey Agree with you that our finances are damaged by our lack of ability to generate income on match days but on the plus side, we don't have the maintenance bills that other clubs do. Yes, we pay rent as tenants and there are match day costs associated with putting a game on but we don't have to pay for any of the upkeep of our stadium which many of our competitors do with theirs. In addition, we have a regular income available to us via VIQI for player signings which other clubs would die for and we are (were?) one of the best supported sides in the division. Surely we should at least be competitive. I appreciate some other clubs have owners with deep pockets but should Batley, Barrow, Whitehaven be thrashing us like they are doing? We have been unlucky with injuries but so are lots of teams. Recruitment for me has been under whelming. The coach has gone. Maybe we need changes off the field as well.
@bedford-viking Agree with all the points you make Bedford and I think the last point about the club needing to change off the field is the biggest one. Sadly, it seems to be the hardest to achieve as there don’t seem to be any takers at the moment.
@bedford-viking Agree with all the points you make Bedford and I think the last point about the club needing to change off the field is the biggest one. Sadly, it seems to be the hardest to achieve as there don’t seem to be any takers at the moment.
Plus the fact that you may get someone worse with no real interest in the club!
Reading the Wiki write up on the club and Vinty.
The comment that he demanded the same dedication and effort that he had rang a bell. He had that charisma that we rarely see these days, anywhere! The training was stepped up and we became the 'Cup Kings', then on to even better things.
Touching again on a comment I made on a previous post regarding sponsorship. Apparently Fev have a number of part timers with jobs. This of course was a requirement pre the contract era but is an alternative way for firms to sponsor the rather than a straight cash donation. I would guess that our Chairman employs some in his landscaping business and Beaumont certainly does.
It could be a way of becoming nearer to Full Time which would improve our player-pulling power. The loss of large employers in the town doesn't help of course!!!
We need Delta to coach Widnes and this would not happen with him at the helm.
Kin right my french loving baguette muncher.. team is a disgrace we need a head coach in and fast.