It’s exactly the same statement as last years record Whitehaven defeat!!! If someone could post it I’m sure it’s the same excuses just one year on pathetic
In reaction to Sunday’s defeat at Whitehaven, Widnes Vikings would like to issue the following statement to our loyal supporters:
Firstly, we would like to apologise to the supporters who made the long trip to Whitehaven on Sunday. Giving up a significant portion of your Bank Holiday weekend in order to support us is something that deserves a lot more in return, and we are sorry that we let you down.
The purpose of this update is to address performances this season, the issues faced behind the scenes and to inform our supporters of the work that has been going on for some time now to ensure a more competitive squad for 2022 is in place.
As mentioned at our Members Monday event, held on August 9th, we addressed the fact that recruitment for 2021 hadn’t paid off. Ahead of the current campaign, we had assembled a squad we were confident could compete for a play-off spot in the Championship, however this sadly hasn’t been the case.
We have been without key members of our squad for prolonged periods of the season, with a significant percentage of our playing budget unavailable at key moments during the year. Injuries are part of the sport, however we could not have foreseen the long-term absences that we have had to contend with throughout 2021. We have learned from this experience and tried to manage this risk in our 2022 recruitment and retention so far.
Strikes me as a bit of mixture of (implicitly if not directly) blaming SF for bad results and injuries too, so by implication suggesting the squad is good enough for the play-offs, therefore saying recruitment was fine all along. Not sure I buy that.
I suppose people wanted a statement and we got one, so that's a positive.
Nobody is arsed about a list of injured players, we all know who is injured, it happens to every club. The recruitment was poor apart from the Sheffield lads. IMO. 4 players from a relegated club, and a player with knee reconstruction ongoing, beggars belief.
As for the statement not being signed off, shows to me that no person is showing any leadership. It smacks that the board have told the social media office boy to "Just put a tweet out, Lad"
It's unprofessional, and wouldn't happen at any other club.
Up The Chemics!
Paulie xx
Nobody is arsed about a list of injured players, we all know who is injured, it happens to every club. The recruitment was poor apart from the Sheffield lads. IMO. 4 players from a relegated club, and a player with knee reconstruction ongoing, beggars belief.
As for the statement not being signed off, shows to me that no person is showing any leadership. It smacks that the board have told the social media office boy to "Just put a tweet out, Lad"
It's unprofessional, and wouldn't happen at any other club.
Up The Chemics!
Paulie xx
Sad times paulie, can see our crowds tanking
The club statement can be summed up in four words… “it’s not our fault”
As has been said, the sad thing about the statement is that there is no new thinking - no real deals of how to stop the slide. Our next match is crucial for this season.
The club is being run on an amateur bases with no accountability. All they do is put another player statement out each week saying stick with us we are doing it tough.
I personally believe finnegan lost the faith from the players and it has affected results
hopefully with a new coach with more experience or pedigree will turn things around. Maybe a list of potential candidates would be welcomed?
with the injured key players coming back and some consistency in the squad with players who aren’t quite ready for championship rugby being dropped it will allow us to kick on
I personally believe finnegan lost the faith from the players and it has affected results
hopefully with a new coach with more experience or pedigree will turn things around. Maybe a list of potential candidates would be welcomed?
with the injured key players coming back and some consistency in the squad with players who aren’t quite ready for championship rugby being dropped it will allow us to kick on
I agree a good coach should get more out of these players. A few of the new signings have been decent enough, but some of the recruitment has been poor. What we need is a coach who can recruit his own players. Levy, Holyroyd, Bent and a few others have been poor signings. Putting Grady with a squad number 10 said a lot about the recruitment, but I still feel we can turn things around with a decent coach.
@northwestviking Yes we were and the current management group steeped forward and, with donations from fans helping, rescued the situation and for that they should rightly be applauded.
However, we are not going forwards - we seem to repeat the same basic mistakes prior tonand during each season and the big concern from my perspective is that if something doesn’t change with the way the club is run we will be close to extinction again within 18 months.
You're dead right Chubby, we need to turn this season around somehow & quick. Some talk of writing this season off, to me, that would be calamitous. You do get the feeling the club is been run a bit like Captain Mainwaring & Dads Army
A new coach has to be appointed within the next two or three weeks, otherwise the season becomes another write off.The statement seems to be motivated partly by fear of a tiny crowd v Whitehaven with plenty of emphasis on returning players for that game.Thing is, we will probably win and maybe even beat Sheffield as well.The trick is to avoid lapsing back to the old thrashings.
We went bust in 2018 and almost went out of existence, only saved from extinction by fans and a group of local people who were prepared to put their finances and reputations on line to keep Widnes RLFC going.
Effectively, this is our third season since being saved from liquidation; and these very same people are the subject of unfair and unnecessary abuse by a few posters on here, questioning their business and management skills. I am sure that they will admit to making mistakes along the way, but we are not the only club to have made mistakes in signing players. Perhaps they do need to be more open with fans about their plans and expectations for this and coming seasons, but my guess is that whatever they say and do, a small minority on here - who must dream of a wealthy investor turning up to pump millions into the club - will take delight in throwing abuse at them and no doubt any wealthy investor too, if they do not provide funds to sign NRL players on unaffordable salaries.
Finnigan has paid the price with his job for that disastrous run of performances and we move on under a new coach presumably and look for an improvement in performances this season and into next season. We need to accept that there is nobody queuing up to invest money into the Club (unless possibility fans start demanding we accept us being absorbed into a big city Liverpool team) and neither are there people looking to take over the management of the club from the present group.
You never know, the new coach may turn performances around quickly; all players return from injury; we bring in a couple of signings or season-long loans to strengthen the squad; and we manage to reach the play-offs. We can but hope and dream, but one thing is certain and that is the Board, Finney, the new Coach, the players and anyone else connected to the club from the office cat up, will still be criticised on this “fans” forum. It’s all down to opinions I suppose..
A fair assessment Frank, including the holes in our forward plan!
However, the fight for survival is still on.
The stadium was built initially because the Council saw it as a potential advert for the town, with Super League on TV regularly and the Widnes name regularly mentioned. The rental deal was, I am sure, a generous one. It may have changed since but so has the Council's funding over the twelve years of austerity.
I doubt that the Council's wish for the advertising has diminished, there is always a need for firms to be attracted to the town to provide employment.
Missing out on the crowd's game day purchasing power is a blow of course, but maintenance of such a building is not chickenfeed either. Some sort of profit-sharing deal with the Council would be good though they would have to have a pretty good reason to subsidise the enjoyment of 2,000 residents to the detriment of the other 130,000 or so.
The community actions that the club is involved in prove its community base, covering mental health to kids in sport and shows some of the benefits to be gained by the borough at large.
Persuading a top coach to join us will be a hard ask for sure, and will probably need a two year deal at least with no quick exit for lack of improvement! Negotiating in the middle of a season is not ideal either and limits the likely applicants.
It will be interesting to see how the addition of our recovering players goes against Haven. The losing record will affect confidence, particularly among young players so hopefully the older heads will lead the way.