Its a tough situation, but we have gone part time, declined the invitation to even apply for SL and have now scrapped the academy. Is it time to send some communication to season ticket holders with the clubs vision and strategy moving forward?
Add in the still unexplained departure of Sheens as well.
It has been body blow after body blow for 2 years now.
How many top players has the WV Academy actually created? Potential of Brand & Norman in SL, but remain unproven as of yet. The ones we have had in recent times have been bang average, The NHS Twins are a classic example. The Club will do what most other lower league clubs do, and get their players on loan from the SL squads.
I don’t want to see loan players from SL clubs in the shirt thank you very much.Call the Chapelhows bang average if you want but I’d rather see them than the likes of Declan Patten and that Kiwi from Warrington whose name escapes me, just turning up for the sake of it and putting in half arsed efforts.Then there was Liam Finn, the less said the better.We are a second division club now, permanent.Until eventually it turns full circle and SL is no more and the game gets back to its natural level of semi professional.
If it comes down to cheering on other club's players in the Widnes shirt in games against teams also with other club's players then I think I’ll pass on it.Can’t see any good in it whatsoever.May as well call it a day
Just viewed the club statement, it makes sad reading, but I'm sure the powers-that-be thought more than once before pulling the plug.
Widnes is a Rugby League town, steeped in the history of the game, but as has already been mentioned (like us) you're a part-time team, in the second tier, and money will be (more than) tight, so was there an alternative?
You may well be seeing loan players in the line-up next season, which I'm sure some of you will find distasteful, but needs must, where needs must.
Personally, I think the decision to not apply for SL football was the right one, because with less funding than the other clubs, I reckon Leythers will struggle, and with respect, they have a better squad than have you.
Easy for me to say, but on the bright side, you've still got a team to support, as and when we can finally return to action.
Stay safe one and all, and have a magic Christmas!
Spelly.
How many top players has the WV Academy actually created? Potential of Brand & Norman in SL, but remain unproven as of yet. The ones we have had in recent times have been bang average, The NHS Twins are a classic example. The Club will do what most other lower league clubs do, and get their players on loan from the SL squads.
I don’t want to see loan players from SL clubs in the shirt thank you very much.Call the Chapelhows bang average if you want but I’d rather see them than the likes of Declan Patten and that Kiwi from Warrington whose name escapes me, just turning up for the sake of it and putting in half arsed efforts.Then there was Liam Finn, the less said the better.We are a second division club now, permanent.Until eventually it turns full circle and SL is no more and the game gets back to its natural level of semi professional.
It's irrelevant what we want to see in the shirt, it's how the game at lower levels works. There's not enough money to have a decent first team and an Academy at the present time. The decision has been made to secure the long term future of the Club. What is your preference?
Paulie xx
Short term future, I’d say.My preference is that I won’t be going through the gate and paying to watch other club’s players in the black and white. That may well be how it ‘works’ at the lower levels but it’s not for me nor I suspect for plenty of other Widnes fans.So it could very well have a negative impact.
The whole future of our game is negative and that has been the situation for many years. SL came out of a situation where bigger clubs than ours were going belly up.
Nothing to improve tbe game as a whole has been done since then and even now we see the SL reducing its numbers in terms of UK clubs, simply to make sure that they survive. That principly comes as a result of the professional contract system which led to players believing that they could earn enough in the game to see them through their working life. That is certainly true in Oz with huge TV deals and crowd support etc. but not sustainable in the UK with a very local support base.
The primitive part of the handling game is in the process of eradication and will leave a contrived, fast, game that isn't RL. Maybe good for the lives of players, and no doubt our grandkids will enjoy it, but we can only shake our heads and look at our dvds.
But, then again, the SL managers might say ' what?, Widnes dropping out? That's serious.Take a cut in pay and encourage all clubs to run Academies, and we'll pick up the bill!' Not a chance!!!, but imo it is something of that magnitude that the game needs if it is to survive even this decade.
Short term future, I’d say.My preference is that I won’t be going through the gate and paying to watch other club’s players in the black and white. That may well be how it ‘works’ at the lower levels but it’s not for me nor I suspect for plenty of other Widnes fans.So it could very well have a negative impact.
A question, with the greatest respect, if I may please mate. You say that you'll not watch a (say) Wire fringe player in your colours, but................
Would you similarly object to a Viking who's not making it into the seventeen, going out on loan to (say) North Wales, to sample some first team football, albeit not at your gaff?
Spelly.
I don’t mind utilising loan players from other teams, however as has already been said, Widnes is (still) an RL town and there needs to be a pathway into the Vikings for young aspiring players.
Losing the Academy may be financially sensible but IMHO a retrograde step.
BLAME RULE AND HIS MERRY MEN THAT SYPHONED EVERY PENNY OUT OF THIS ONCE GREAT CLUB. BLAME COVID, BLAME BREXIT, BLAME WHATEVER YOU WANT, WE ALL KNOW THE REASON WHY THIS CLUB IS IN THE POSITION IT CURRENTLY FINDS ITSELF IN. WHATEVER THAT SHOWER GET COMING TO THEM, IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH.
A question, with the greatest respect, if I may please mate. You say that you’ll not watch a (say) Wire fringe player in your colours, but……………. Would you similarly object to a Viking who’s not making it into the seventeen, going out on loan to (say) North Wales, to sample some first team football, albeit not at your gaff?
If a Widnes fringe player went out on loan then I wouldn't have any objections because it would benefit Widnes and I'm only interested in Widnes.Double standards ? Yes.
I'm talking about a glut of loanees, not one or two now and again.Relying on loan signings because we have nothing else.This is bad news and it can't be spinned as anything else.An impossible decision to make I agree and needs must etc.For me though its the beginning of the end or perhaps the middle bit of the end.The start of it was Rule and his cohorts with no interest in the well being of the club,only themselves.Widnes didn't need a CEO and marketing manager and all the other hangers on.Where did it get us ?
We must not forget that those Supporters who are on the Board are in or were in business and must also be going through hard times thru Lockdowns and cannot put as much money into the club as they expected. The rest of us should continue to support the club by buying our Season Tickets when they are available.
This is bad news but it is not the end of the world. We still have a club just so we all must stand together & support the club or it will be the end. I am sure the Board would not have done this lightly. Covid must have hit us very hard along with all the other things that have happened over the last few years. If we can get back on a firmer footing in the next few years who knows what will happen. The RL change the rules all the time unfortunately I agree the future of the game does not look good but people were saying that back in the early 1960s & we are still here. There is always hope. we have a reasonable squad for next season if we play good rugby & win most of our home games I am sure people will still watch.
While I am on here I wish all board users & all at Widnes Vikings a safe & Happy Christmas & Hopefully a better 2021 with some live Champonship Rugby League.
This is exactly why I written a thread on how RL clubs should be strictly fan funded and owned and now should be a part time sport.
This decision epitomises everything wrong with this utterly poisonous sport, every decision made for the “good of the game” is made with how directors can protect their assets and continue to take huge dividends out of the sport.
Rugby League is a minority sport that simply doesn’t attract enough revenue for anyone but owners and coaches to be paid a full time wage.