Can anyone shed any light on the rumour the club turned down a potential investor?
Can anyone shed any light on the rumour the club turned down a potential investor?
Clue will be in the 8th word! 😀
To the Widnes Public and supporters of Rugby League
The following statement is the truth and nothing but the truth.
I joined the board of Wines Vikings 9** May 2025. I put money into the club to get on the board and I have also brought a lot of sponsors in to support the Club to help build a squad.
At the time I was at Widnes, I have seen a lot of things and I have tried to improve the club. I believe the squad Widnes has now is due to what Alan and myself have put together through the finances from us and these new Sponsors.
Since then, I have asked members of the board to invest more money in the Club, for the good of the Club. Apart from 2 members, everyone else said no, they have no intention of putting any more money into the Club.
Following the Doncaster game, I spoke with their Chairman, they put aside money in a separate bank account. This in preparation for the next years shortfall to build a squad ready to compete to get into Super League.
I decided to resign and walk away from the Club because I feel the present Board seem to be happy to accept mediocre results. I feel this is because they have not got the funds and are not willing to invest further to improve the squad.
I offered to buy all but one member out, they refused my offer, they did however offer to buy me out which I accepted as I felt I wasn't wanted in the Club.
I cannot see this Club moving in a positive way in the near future with the present Board members.
I am not happy how I have left the Club and would like the opportunity to do more for the Club. I would also like the Widnes Fans to initiate a Fan's Forum with the Members of the Board and also myself to talk about how I can do more for the Club and to help get the Club back into Super League.
As you will be aware, Tim is also resigning. He was promised a lot of things, and told he would have support to make things happen. As far as I can see, this hasn't happened and he hasn't received what he needed to move the Club forward.
To move the Club forward and to have a chance of being in Super League, I believe we need more office staff to cope with the shop, social media and the day to day running of the Club. We also need separate funds in an account which would solely be used to get better players. This is what I was trying to do while I was at the Club and I think this was happening over the last year but since I have resigned, I know the Sponsorship support, which has been fabulous, will decline and things will become stagnant again.
My hope is to go back into the Club, buy various Board Members out and build the Club back up to where I believe the Club should be, which is in Super League. I feel fans want to watch a good standard of Rugby and if we can give them this, we will get more and more fans coming to watch. We need to speculate to accumulate, but in a sensible manner and I was willing to put money in to do this.
I feel the existing Board members have done a great job but have taken it as far as they can and it needs someone like myself with funds and ambition to take the Club to the next level.
Andrew Horabin
Taken from Twitter
Sorry but unless he has enough money to bankroll a 500k squad a year we need more than 1 board member. Don’t live in the town anymore so will be interested to hear what comes from this forum tomorrow.
@member151 Wow, need to get back from work to attend this one.
He's not one to lie and hence the hurried qa
why if they not willing to put more money in won't they sell ?
To be fair to the Board, they've always repeated the sustainability mantra. Something that Andrew clearly disagrees with, as an advocate for 'speculate to accumulate'. Without wishing to take sides, we have tried the speculate to accumulate approach fairly recently, and it didn't work. It's why we have the current Board with their sustainability mantra, we almost went chips.
But I do agree with Andrew that the sustainability approach probably won't get us into SL. Ever.
@scouseviking55 but if he can buy the rest out who aren't putting more money in and have refused surely he's a better option esp since he also brought a hell of a lot of sponsors
@vikingfox71 perhaps those sponsors would be prepared to put more money in, if the club was showing more ambition. Unless we keep up the effort they'll soon get bored of putting money in to the business club and not getting anything out of it.
@jon you must have one of those new dictionaries Jon ambition? Is that a new word lol 😂
@jon you must have one of those new dictionaries Jon ambition? Is that a new word lol 😂
My dictionary has pictures and diagrams I'm that hopeless. Autocorrect saves me 95% of the time....the other 5% I change the rest of the words in the sentence to those I can spell.
@vikingfox71 sponsors are great but they’re not guaranteed to continue to sponsor every year.
I’m not bashing the fella but I hate the speculate to accumulate because it’s never worked for us before and I’d rather a sustainable club than a boom and bust club as I don’t think we recover if it happens again.
Matt Roberts and Matt Taylor don’t deserve to be pushed out by this fellas dream, which if we’re honest is unrealistic with the way SL is going.
Has roger got any money? probably not but he’s well revered in the town. Does that give him any grace?
Rod Steele - former common poster on here, not sure what his money situation is at the club
stuart Murphy - wigan fan really and done well to keep the ship steady. Clearly not a millionaire
lets (hopefully) hear a honest take from the clubs side before we pass full judgement I think is best
@scouseviking55 no one saying they not good people scouse but you can't put in once and stay on board forever lol maybe they could have sold and then they could become sponsors with what money they have but why stay on the board and refuse to put money in ? That's not right surely
@vikingfox71 sponsors are great but they’re not guaranteed to continue to sponsor every year.
I’m not bashing the fella but I hate the speculate to accumulate because it’s never worked for us before and I’d rather a sustainable club than a boom and bust club as I don’t think we recover if it happens again.
Matt Roberts and Matt Taylor don’t deserve to be pushed out by this fellas dream, which if we’re honest is unrealistic with the way SL is going.
Has roger got any money? probably not but he’s well revered in the town. Does that give him any grace?
Rod Steele - former common poster on here, not sure what his money situation is at the club
stuart Murphy - wigan fan really and done well to keep the ship steady. Clearly not a millionaire
lets (hopefully) hear a honest take from the clubs side before we pass full judgement I think is best
Problem is they said about an investor from the Middle East and an Australian. Listen to latest Podcast from Mike Parson with Matt Roberts. We as fans need to know the truth and I know Twinny really well and loves the club and wants us in Super League. It is not ambition wanting to be a feeder club with Warrington reserves? Look at Doncaster showing more ambition than us without the fan base. What scares me the average will go from 2k to 900 fans if this carries on. I believe in promotion and relegation, but also like ambition because sport should be about trying to win and be the best you can be mate. It becomes boring if just plodding and no way do I want to watch Super League reserves. I do not mind a 23 Man squad of own players then rest with reserves. Unfortunately this not looking good unless some miracle happens tomorrow night.