The IMG proposals are in.
Despise them. Despise the idea we will be locked out of the top flight.
How do we all feel about it?
I feel like it is anti-sport to the core. They are aided and abetted by the useful idiots in the RL media.
How do we view the future of our beloved club?
We deserve to be 2nd tier as it stands, given inept on and off the field performances.
But why is RL becoming a corporate patsy? It is the complete opposite of what the core values of RL should be.
Do we, as Widnes supporters, support these ideas or not?
Are we willing to accept an amateur future?
I think it’s a hard pill to swallow but we are where we deserve to be at the moment m, with sensible improvements year by year I believe we should be in a position to look at the second round of licensing in 2027/28?
we as a club will need investment to make it back up. I know it’s not everyone’s best option but licensing is the future
Gone past caring,whatever happens,happens.We were unlikely to win promotion on the pitch,anyway.Best we just accept our standing in the game as a small,second division club.
Couldn’t give a flying biscuit anymore
I disagree with licensing, full stop. Sport should be decided by results on the pitch, court, field etc. Obviously it doesn’t make much difference to us in the short term as I doubt even our most optimistic of fans thinks we are anywhere near challenging for promotion in the next couple of seasons.
@mt I wouldn’t write off the IMG proposals just yet. You never know, the RFL may make a decision for the good of the game as a whole and not just the few clubs that control the game. What is wrong in aiming to raise the standard of the game, both at club and international level and raising its profile, as well as looking for clubs to aim to be financially sound? I presume that the IMG brief is to identify commercial opportunities for the game.
As has been mentioned, the only difference between perhaps the majority of SL clubs and particularly those without a well-heeled sponsor, and the likes of Widnes, Bradford and others, is the difference in central funding. If there was a fairer distribution of funding to clubs say meeting the “category A & B standard”, with a reasonable salary cap, maybe the game would be more competitive in and between the top two divisions of SL. You could still allow the likes of McManus etc to fund a couple of marquee players.
Having said that, my guess is that the outcome of the review will be to distribute the bulk of the Sky and any other commercial income to the favoured 12/14 SL clubs and dump the rest. Perhaps I am too old to care any more.
Well said Geoff
I’m surprised that there isn't any momentum for a breakaway league from Championship and below. I’m not sure I would want to join a dysfunctional SL that has so much dislike for heritage clubs. A ten ream stand alone SL would look pretty feeble. The threat of a breakaway would mebbe lever a higher proportion of central funding ?
As others have said, beyond caring now. Superleague isn't the dangling carrot it was as far as I'm concerned. With the constant tampering from the powers that be, it has zero credibility as far as I'm concerned. Happily continue watching widnes as we are, obviously I wish we were more competitive but hey ho.
So I was fuming when I heard the proposals because I am just too young to have seen the great Widnes teams, also because what is the point of sport if it is a tick box exercise?
Let's play compare the stadia and owners rather than play the game.....
The phrase RL Family is dead.
I will also continue to watch us, because it is OUR club.
However, the wider game and the buffoons who run and report on it are a different matter.
This, this, this is what neither the RFL or their consultants understand!
we will continue to support our well supported club long after the IMG’s and the RFL board members will have been and gone! We’ve done relegation/promotion, the licensing, the changed rules to relegate again and sure as eggs are eggs, these rules will change again.
Get us our Academy back up and running and I think many long standing fans now departed, will return. The Academy was the heart of the club and it was only when it had gone that many of us realised this! Don’t need SL. Doesn’t make sustainable sense for us!
Another key element of the IMG report is to raise the profile of our game and attract new audiences.
We have a head start with JK being an articulate media and television pundit. Whilst he isn’t an SL coach, he is generally respected within the game and is an international coach too.
Widnes need to cash in on his association with our club.
RL got the kiss of death when the contract system was adopted by Wigan. Then the clubs were almost bankrupted and hence Sky jumped in and we were sold out.
IMG are simply following the Sky lead, looking for 'new support' which in their book means cities or at least very large conurbation areas. We are in such an area but we have at least five SL clubs within it, reducing the support pf individual clubs. In IMG/RFL land the clubs should merge and become Man U/City/Liverpool size.
The RL supporter doesn't see that, nor should we, but it doesn't fit the desired pattern. The pressure to enlarge/merge clubs will remain, maybe due to new 'city' clubs starting up. It has become a TV sideshow and it's a poor show finance/attendance wise compared with Women's Soccer SL etc.
Sadly sport isn't sport anymore it is a well paid career for many, unlike the broken time few quid that started our version of rugby.
As many posters have said I will support our club for as long as I can stand or sit in the stadium.
The possibility of another split in the game may not be as silly as it sounds and will depend on the success of IMG's plan. If it is successful the incomers may well drive the heartland clubs (even the big boys!) out of the top TV rankings!!!! Clubs like Fev, Leigh or even ourselves will find it hard to gather enough weight to stay in the top grade.
The course taken by the Widnes club, harking back to a Sheens comment, is gathering local lads together much as was the case in 1895 (though I wasn't there!). That will satisfy my needs tbh.
The problem could be that there will be an insufficient number of clubs prepared to take that line. Which prompts the question of what do 'investors' in clubs like Keighly or other small traditional clubs want for their investment? If it is to keep our game alive, that's fine.
For what it's worth I can't see RL, in any form, making a dent in the growth of Women's SL.
If we do go down the licensing route, it will be interesting to see what grade Castleford and Wakefield will be given on the promise of new stadia. Will Wakefield's plans of modifying their stadium be enough to satisfy the new stadia criteria? And will Castleford's continuing empty promises of a new stadium convince the SL powers that be that this time a new ground will materialise?