'[iEver[/i' is a very long time. London had several periods ( right at the start, and at the beginning of SL, for instance ) when they were regularly getting 7, 8, 9,000 at home. Salford in the 1970s got even more, and at a time when even Leeds struggled to get 10k per home match. Besides, things change. In that same 1970s period my team, Warrington, probably averaged 5k. Now they average over 10k. [iWould we have missed them if they had vanished back then?[/i

I did point out why we survived and going straight back up was a big part of that Leigh would have probably been ok if they’d gone straight back up they didn’t and had to adjust Toronto not getting promoted was probably the worse thing that could have happened to Widnes meaning they knew more than likely have to spend at least 2 seasons in the championship

You have to remember that for many so called RL fans, the sport didn't exist before 1995 and the history and heritage of the game are irrelevant.







The bottom line for our game is serious lack of money / investment has left it is a perilous state and with far too many clubs already gasping for air, it doesn't take too much to tip them off the edge of the cliff.

Some believe our future lays in N.America and whilst Toronto have done extremely well to generate the level of interest that they have done. Lets just imagine if we put 12 clubs in major cities, all able to generate 12,000 fans every week but, without any foundation to them.
Where on earth will the players come from ?
Would these clubs be little more than parasites, feeding on second rate Australian players and what the hell happens to all of the kid's in the north of England who enjoy the game.
Without something to aspire to, the sport would further diminish at amateur level and the game would become extinct.
We could go for a Kerry Packer style superstars touring the globe and making decent TV money but, without roots, everything eventually dies and if we are not really careful, our precious sport if heading for oblivion.
Yes, we need some "glamour" to attract youngsters into the sport but, if we fail to engage with the youth, we have nothing.

News coming out of Widnes from Gareth Walker on Twitter:

Insolvency company O'Hara's are hosting a press conference with performance director Phil Finney. Peter O'Hara says: "The club has simply run out of money. We have secured the wages for this month but other than that there are no funds whatsoever. We’re not here to asset strip in any shape or form, but there may well be an instance where players have to be sold. We want to keep that to a minimum but that has to be an option."

Insurance remains the reason for Widnes not being able to play at the moment, and unless investors come forward that will not change. The upcoming Super League parachute payment may not be released to the club as well.

Another previously class team hits the black spot of Administration.

To all Widnes fans, batton down the hatches and hold tight, this will be a bumpy ride. But like the others before you lets hope you get through this and manage to rebuild.

Regardless of what some teenagers or drunkards on here might state, losing any club is bad for the sport in general.

During licencing we have the same 4 or five teams at the top and the same three propping the league up and the same couple of teams in the championship banjo'ing everyone every week with no where to go from it. Licencing IMO actually weakened the Leagues. It allowed below par teams to stay in a leage they were not suitable for recieving Sky money that could have been gained from a championship team.

Our owner Derek Beaumont is keeping his 'hands in his pockets' for this season, but don't rule him out, coming back and deciding to 'go for it' once Toronto are out of the championship. With Widnes currently 'in the poop' then next season, the championship will be very exciting, and one of 5 or 6 clubs could gain promotion.

You may be right about Toronto gaining promotion but, I hope not.
Also worth remembering there will be another (relegated) SL side that comes into the mix, so it will still be a tough ask (unless they too, "do a Widnes"icon_wink.gif.
As far as the Championship goes this season, it's a real sham that both Fev and Leigh, after finishing outside the top 4, couldn't compete.
Certainly with a strong Fev and Leigh, plus Toronto, Toulouse and Widnes, it could have been a really competitive league.
Sadly, this wasn't to be and with Widnes implosion, it looks like Toronto all the way, almost like the last stage on the Tour De France, when nobody can challenge the leader.
Once again funding (or lack of it) has killed the competition.

You may also have to throw York and Bradford into the mx for next season. Certainly Bradford will be stronger and you would expect pushing for promotion.

So in your view history (both older and more recent) counts for nothing...sad.

Widnes were one of the founders of RL IIRC and won the league (and World Club Challenge) in the late 80s as well as being multiple winners of the CC in the late 70s- early 80s. My first trip to Wembley was the 1993 CC final to watch Widnes play Wigan.

More than just the wins though, it is also about the some of the players and coaches. Just look at some of the players that came through Widnes - Alan Tait, Martin Offiah, Jonathan Davies, Andy Gregory, Joe Lydon, the various Mylers and Hulmes. Some great names!

RL existed long before Super League!

May as well talk to the wall, a lot on here have no clue about pre SL.

It is a sad day when a club like Widnes has to go into administration. I for one hope James Rule never gets his mits on a rugby league, or any business for that matter, again.

I believe O'Hara was the administrator for Trinity, he sold our best players at the time.

He’s talked a lot about this being an option already, the same will happen.

And as for whoever’s comment about teams like us playing in front of a man and his dog, twice we were bottom of the league and twice we brought 2500-3000 fans all the way up to Newcastle. I’d like to think we brought something to superleague, even if it was a good away support every now and then.

We’ll bounce back, I couldn’t imagine Widnes without a main rugby league team.

He made a speech as well when he left about how he’s left the club in a good position and signed a good squad to compete in the championship

In fairness KK, and administrator has to keep the business going by whatever means they can.
They will cover their costs no matter what and if that means selling players, so be it- they dont actually have much choice, unless there are other assets within the business that they can sell to raise money for running costs (including their own charges).
If you remember it was Mick Carter that was selling "a player a week" to get us through to the start of the next season, which was done with loanees and cast offs, plus a couple of players, including Kirmond, who was at the top of his game.

Once the dust settles and assuming that there is someone willing to step in, you would expect Wire and Saints to help with a few players.

I still wonder whether Koucash & co knew about this when they were talking about starting a club in Liverpool (and yes, I know that Widnes isn't in Liverpool but), there is a slight whiff with the timing of all of this.

Koukash and Luke Backhouse held talks recently about a takeover, only when they saw the amount of debt, they backed out.

Now might be the perfect time for them to swoop now eeee gone into administration. Granada reports suggest £250k would be the minimum number for someone to take over with. This is now far healthier than the price of the real debt (pre administration), in the region of £800,000

I think Koucash knew about this from day 1 and he's just sat back to see what unfolds now, he may still put a bid in but if the players drop out that will surely sink any deal that he may want to offer, looks like a poker game between the administration and Koucash who will show their cards first

I watched the Sky match last night. Did not hear one mention of the Widnes situation . Nothing outside the top tier seems to matter to them. Perhaps the Vikings are the first major casualty of the new structure. And perhaps there are a few existing SL clubs who might go the same way if they were to be relegated this season.
Last week’s Observer had a superb full page article on the rebirth of the Cougars. A better advert about the community values of Rugby League than anything produced by the RL authorities with some great quotes .
And the incentive for any prospective new owners of Widnes and the actual new owners of Keighley? A 12 point deduction.
I despair

They definitely discussed it, but I think it was during the build up to Thursday night's game.

Nice theory but the events of that period would suggest that it didn't actually have much effect on preventing clubs overspending.

I’d say it did for Widnes. Their youth production and club in general was far better in that period than either before or after.

Licensing won't stop mismanagement, but it removes the all or nothing nature from both perspectives of promotion or relegation. The issue last time it was exclusive and not inclusive creating animosity in the game. Not to mention the effect it had on the club most likely to drop out was worse than P&R, they were effectively a dead team walking for a whole seeaon with sponsors and players unwilling to commit to the club whilst their position was up in the air.

A licensing approach with teams added as and when would be the best option for RL but the issue will always be the lack of funding to facilitate this. Even the bigger clubs are pretty much reliant on the TV money and are desperate to take more of the pie when in theory they need it the least.

We don't have a player draft system but maybe funding reflect this in a way and be awarded in reverse to truly raise standards. The bottom team get the most cash to give them the opportunity to go get the better player and increase standards. I know this won't sit well with a lot of supporters with this form of sporting socialism (particularly with the country itself cut down the middle politically on such issues outside of the game) but with the interest in the game as a whole, if the rich clubs just get richer, you're going to have an ever decreasing number of teams to play leaving a four team league.

Despite what other people may think, I do not want the Widnes club to disappear.

I do think that the Championship is the ideal location for the club, and in an ideal world there would be more financial resources --- in the form of Sky coverage and money as well as business sponsorship --- for the Championship. If we had a thriving Super League, with all SL games televised, and at least one Championship game televised, each week, then Widnes could flourish in that environment. But that dream is not going to be realised until Super League contains more non-M62 clubs --- especially London, Catalans, Toulouse, Toronto and New York --- to make it a truly national and international competition. But if that did happen the rise in rugby league's profile and popularity would mean that Championship teams would get trickle down benefits and would not likely go bust so easily.

Widnes has the decent stadium and enough loyal fans to sustain a Championship team I would think, if only the backers can be found. I hope that backers for Widnes can be found soon.

This is never going to happen, no matter where the teams are based. On your fan base criteria your advocating that London, Salford, Huddersfield and Wakefield (perhaps some others, too) should be in the championship as that is their place. You'll need a better argument, as Widnes deserved to be in the championship due to results om the field.