Sick of everyone coming out with we need a plan, the same crap excuse has been used for 10years. What we need is a team GIVING THEIR ALL, is that really too much to aske from a fan ?.
The problem is people will never be happy. Even when we finished 8th, 7th and 9th in Super League and reached the playoffs, people wanted the coach out, didn't think the team was good enough.
As has been mentioned, some people need a reality check. It's 30 years since "the glory days" and no one of my generation or since has experienced anything close. Beating Wigan to go top of the league after seven games of a season is literally the high point.
I'd bite your hand off for 8th in Super League now and consolidating like say Hull KR with at least the odd cup run to hang our hopes on.
Most fans would be happy with just putting in an effort well that's the agreement of everyone around me in the North Stand and in the bowler pre match. the old adage reality check has long gone the fans know where we are and we are going nowhere. where you one of the people who thought the coach was crunchie James ? Do you think the team under performs ?
Instead of quoting others why not for once give your own opinion like the rest of us ?.
Whoever we appoint the club needs to back them. You can't do the job without assistants, analysts
Didn't we have all that and more, in Super League ? Betts, Cassidy, Hodgson, O'Carroll etc.Look where that got us.Not saying the coach should go it alone but we don't need to go overboard either.Doug Laughton managed with Harry Dawson.
Sick of everyone coming out with we need a plan, the same crap excuse has been used for 10years. What we need is a team GIVING THEIR ALL, is that really too much to aske from a fan ?.
The problem is people will never be happy. Even when we finished 8th, 7th and 9th in Super League and reached the playoffs, people wanted the coach out, didn't think the team was good enough.
As has been mentioned, some people need a reality check. It's 30 years since "the glory days" and no one of my generation or since has experienced anything close. Beating Wigan to go top of the league after seven games of a season is literally the high point.
I'd bite your hand off for 8th in Super League now and consolidating like say Hull KR with at least the odd cup run to hang our hopes on.
Most fans would be happy with just putting in an effort well that's the agreement of everyone around me in the North Stand and in the bowler pre match. the old adage reality check has long gone the fans know where we are and we are going nowhere. where you one of the people who thought the coach was crunchie James ? Do you think the team under performs ?
Instead of quoting others why not for once give your own opinion like the rest of us ?.
He won't Micky.. he's a journalist 😂 if he slagged the club team etc.. off he might very well be interviewing them the following week.
He needs a lesson in showing some passion from our french loving baguette banging Pascal 😂
@delta-machine We aren’t a big club in the Championship. The last 6 teams we have played from our division have beaten us.
At the most optimistic we are the bottom of mid-range in a below average league.
Not sure why you think you need to translate for Cuerdley Viking but sadly, very sadly, you are both wrong, if that is indeed what CV meant
@delta-machine We aren’t a big club in the Championship. The last 6 teams we have played from our division have beaten us.
At the most optimistic we are the bottom of mid-range in a below average league.
Not sure why you think you need to translate for Cuerdley Viking but sadly, very sadly, you are both wrong, if that is indeed what CV meant
I'm not translating for anyone sunshine.. I mentioned all apart from recent results as to why we are a bigger club cloth ears
@delta-machine Calm yourself, you’ll do yourself a mischief always assuming that everybody is having a go at you.
if you showed a table based on our last 6 matches we would be bottom. If you look at last years table we didn’t make the playoffs. We are not a big team certainly not if you include SL and sadly not in the Championship either based on our finishing position for the last couple of seasons and so far on this season’s results.
Like I say, I don’t think this is your (or CV’s) fault. All I’m saying is that I think your opinion isn’t right on this one. Of course you are free to think mine is wrong, it’s ok for people to have different views, it doesn’t mean that I hate you or think you are stupid.
@delta-machine Calm yourself, you’ll do yourself a mischief always assuming that everybody is having a go at you.
if you showed a table based on our last 6 matches we would be bottom. If you look at last years table we didn’t make the playoffs. We are not a big team certainly not if you include SL and sadly not in the Championship either based on our finishing position for the last couple of seasons and so far on this season’s results.
Like I say, I don’t think this is your (or CV’s) fault. All I’m saying is that I think your opinion isn’t right on this one. Of course you are free to think mine is wrong, it’s ok for people to have different views, it doesn’t mean that I hate you or think you are stupid.
I'm completely calm Roystung 😂 I'm a lover not a fighter. Still think your talking crunchie.. all about opinions pal.. just make sure you read mine properly before commenting on mine.
@delta-machine I’ll try my best if you write anything worth reading.
😂😂 Love it
I'll try and make it child friendly next time 😉
We're not a big club anymore the past 30 years prove that.
One promotion and sneaking into SL through the back door doesn't make you a big club.We have a squad of players a few staff and some stock on a market stall.
Stop living on past glories.
We're not a big club anymore the past 30 years prove that.
One promotion and sneaking into SL through the back door doesn't make you a big club.We have a squad of players a few staff and some stock on a market stall.
Stop living on past glories.
If you read my post tricky dicky you'll see I said we are a big club in the championship.. top 4 club.. I didn't say big club in the whole of rugby league.. read before getting carried away sweetheart.
@delta-machine Hi there,
As promised I’ve just read your last post very carefully and I have to say that you didn’t say we were a top 4 club in the Championship. What you said was that Cuerdley Viking meant to say we were a big club in the Championship not in the wider game, which in turn wasn’t actually what Cuerdley Viking said either.
All that aside, now that you have finally said “we are a big club in the Championship.. top 4 club..” what are you basing that on ? Our current league position ? The spot we finished in the League last season, or the last full season before ? Currently we are 8th, last season we finished 8th and the last full season before (2019) that we finished 11th. We were joint 5th in 2020 and when the season was cancelled we’d only played 5 games. I can see your point though our last three seasons of finishing 8th, 8th and 11th certainly points to us being a top 4 Championship club.
Here's a stat.Widnes has never finished top of the league at this level, since we were omitted in 1995 when SL came around. Sixteen seasons (we had 11 seasons in SL.) When Neil Kelly got us promoted we finished second.
Sick of everyone coming out with we need a plan, the same crap excuse has been used for 10years. What we need is a team GIVING THEIR ALL, is that really too much to aske from a fan ?.
The problem is people will never be happy. Even when we finished 8th, 7th and 9th in Super League and reached the playoffs, people wanted the coach out, didn't think the team was good enough.
As has been mentioned, some people need a reality check. It's 30 years since "the glory days" and no one of my generation or since has experienced anything close. Beating Wigan to go top of the league after seven games of a season is literally the high point.
I'd bite your hand off for 8th in Super League now and consolidating like say Hull KR with at least the odd cup run to hang our hopes on.
Most fans would be happy with just putting in an effort well that's the agreement of everyone around me in the North Stand and in the bowler pre match. the old adage reality check has long gone the fans know where we are and we are going nowhere. where you one of the people who thought the coach was crunchie James ? Do you think the team under performs ?
Instead of quoting others why not for once give your own opinion like the rest of us ?.
Apologies if you feel I don't give my opinion. I feel that I do. What would you like my opinion on?
I thought the writing was on the wall after the York game, when Jack Owens returned and was well below par and seemingly frustrated.
When we conceded the virtual exact try against Leigh to the one against York with a short chip chase close to the line, but with a different full-back, it was perhaps more clear that it was the way the team were being coached to defend rather than individual error.
There are some players I don't think are Championship standard. I can be a nice lad and work hard, but it doesn't mean I'm good enough to play Championship rugby.
I think SF was hampered slightly by starting in COVID, and so struggled to get fans on side from day one. He cares massively for the club and is very passionate about it, in spite of what fans say about him and what he wears.
Maybe at times he was guilty of overthinking, maybe trying to think too hard or be too clever, particularly around interchanges. There never seemed to be a 'back to basics' approach. Whether the basics of the game are more complicated than I give credit for is a different argument.
In terms of the club, whether there is a plan in place or a strategy only the board will know. Whether that's something they ought to present to the fans or be more transparent about is a fair question, but I wouldn't say that they are obliged to. Clearly re-building the club isn't an overnight job, and it's about more than just what happens on the pitch.
There are some good things being done in the local community and with the kids camps, and I think PF has been pretty vocal in his priority being getting rugby balls in kids hands to protect the future of Widnes and rugby league in the town. My own son went to one of the holiday camps and loved it. The difficulty of course is making sure that lads like my son want to watch Widnes play rugby, when they've got mates who support Warrington and St Helens that they see on TV play in front of packed stadiums.
I don't think anyone knows what is happening in the back office - so it's difficult to offer an opinion. Ultimately, what any semi-pro club needs is people that can cover a number of different disciplines and all be focused on doing what it takes to run the club - mucking in doing various jobs, doing what is possible to generate revenue particularly through sponsorship, merchandise and ticket sales, and of course engaging with the fan base. I've seen first hand how this works successfully at other clubs in our division when you've got the right people - I can't comment whether it's the same at Widnes as I've not been involved.
I'm not sure how active the club are in the commercial space since Dave Rolt left, but you can only assume that they are generating enough revenue through sponsorship to be as sustainable as possible.
With Widnes now being a part-time club playing out of a rented stadium, it's hard to gauge just what activities the club can do.
Clearly there are challenges over the stadium which ultimately impact the fan experience - whether that be the prices of tickets, the ability to buy tickets (or pay cash), and generally the environment of the ground; the concourses and stands are looking very drab. There are many things that could be done, but perhaps it's a case of club v council - who pays? And also whether the council want the rugby to really plaster the stadium with their stuff when they require it to be used by other clubs too.
I appreciate some feel the fan experience is as simple as winning games (that's all I would care about myself) - but it's not just about that in terms of attracting new or young fans. Even if we were winning games, I'm not sure new fans would necessarily jump at the chance at coming back for £22 a pop - given the alternative entertainment around and also the fact that the fixture list is so inconsistent (we've played two home games on Sunday in the first three months of the season).
Going back to Super League - the years 2013-2016 is about as good as it will ever get for Widnes in my opinion; and it's as good as it's ever been in my lifetime. 2014 we made play-offs and got within 80 minutes of Wembley. During that time, there were fans critical of Denis Betts and the team but we are a world away from even those days. I was critical of Betts at time, particularly around half time team talks etc, but I never felt like he was big issue and that turned out to be the case. I don't think sacking Betts was the right call and still feel he would have kept us in SL - though of course that would have simply just kicked the Rule/O'Connor can down the road for a few more years.
The only way Widnes can be successful is by working hard to be engaged with fans and maximising the relatively small catchment area they have - I appreciate there's a theory we need to reach out to new fans in Liverpool etc; but if the club can't even get people from Widnes in, what hope have they got of getting Liverpool people in when St Helens and Warrington are just as convenient to get to and watch, with games of a better standard and a superior fan experience.
Widnes need to somehow find the sort of community feel that Hull KR, Featherstone and Castleford have managed to find and develop in recent years - where they all place themselves at the heart of their communities, focus on being the best they can within their limitations, and actually boast decent average crowds in the context of their populations. Obviously in the Rule era, Widnes were trying to be made out to be this 'elite' club to satisfy Rule's ego; whereas actually all he was doing was disconnecting it from the community it is completely reliant on to exist.