I do feel sorry for Widnes I would rather have them in than either Salford or the Celts........it seems the RFL have been suckered by the many promises of new stadium.....

Salford planned to be in their fancy new stadium five years ago...

[urlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/1083348.stm[/url

I do think the RFL have wimped out a bit with their choice. There is always a lot of talk about expansion of the game and I really think they've missed a great opportunity.

Personally I don't think we need the luxury of 2 teams in one city (Hull and Hull KR) and Castleford and Wakefield, geographically very close and both were shaky on the license possibility.

I'm pleased Celtic were awarded a license but I'm not too convinced about the inclusion of Salford who are very close to ourselves, Wigan and Saints. Even including Salford I do feel we'd have been better dropping Wakey and putting in a team like Tolouse.

I feel sorry for Widnes and the derby being back would have been nice but I do think another 3 years of careful financial management will mean they're pretty much bang on for one next time round. I think only 9 months after entering administration is probably too soon for them to be given the opportunity and I'm sure that was probably one of the only reasons they were left out.

Whether you agree with it or not, that announcement is no real surprise.

Disappointing Yes!!

Surprise No!!!

Because Knowsley Road, Craven Park and Belle Vue are really impressive stadia

Indeed

but we are stuck with them if you like, as they were already superleague teams and no one was ever going to get "chucked out".

what message does this send to the Doncaster's and Leigh's of the world who have improved their facilities no end...

in the end it was the shape of the map that decided the two new clubs....

Errr and were did you stick your neck on the line and predict the correct outcome?

Just watched the news conf on Sky, the point a lot of people seem to missing is its not just Widnes who have missed out, i would imagine that the application from Leigh would have been stronger, so why have they not been mentioned and what is the diffrence between them and Cas and Wakey. The set up at Leigh to me on the outside seems much further ahead than some of the others granted licences or close to one

No a lot for Donny they didnt apply.

As for Leigh as the report says it's looking good off field but need to shape up on the field. With Widnes it says that it need financal stabillity. Its looking good for these in 3 years time and will give a kick up the ass to wakey and cas.

I am looking forward to heading down to south wales. I think that there crowds will pick up next season. Most of the games this season have been on tv.

halifax, leigh and widnes all have better set ups than, wakey, cas, and salford. is shows the rfl always wanted Celtic in and thats why the mave moved the weekend to Edinburgh most of the fans and teams were very happy in cardiff and the set up was fantastic

why has a new thread been created, we already have an official franchise thread

Big gamble on the welsh, I thought cas or wakefield may miss out but they didn't they need to pull there fingers out now and get SL standard stadiums.

How exactly did you stick your neck on the line making a prediction??

Law of averages with you. Spout enough e and some of it is bound to stick, eventually.

Widnes fans in meltdown. I would have been shocked if they got in. Ok the ground is semi good and better than others and they have a fan base but they havent been to good on the pitch for the last 4 seasons and going tits up didnt help.

I was replying to a post refering to widnes. Where leigh are concerned they are arguably the third strongest team in NL1, with the RFL wanting to strengthen and expand the game, Celtic and Salford were shoe ins. As long as Warrington are in i dont really care about anyone else.


Posted by Foz (arrrrrggh log yourself out dammit)

Quote ="the flying biscuit"taking away what both clubs have planned for the future........ we will be visiting these two stadia next year.......is this what the licences were about...??? '" yeah compared to this www.widnesvikings.co.uk/stadium.html its laughable

Quote ="the flying biscuit"taking away what both clubs have planned for the future........ we will be visiting these two stadia next year.......is this what the licences were about...??? '" yeah compared to this www.widnesvikings.co.uk/stadium.html its laughable

[url=http://www.therfl.co.uk/superleague/news_item.php?id=11208RFL final summary[/url

Dont agree with this at all imo Celtics and Salfords stadiums are not super league quality while the widnes ground is It should have been Widnes And then Wakefield Kicked out for Touluse as wakefields stadium is appaling

IMO the existing twelve SL clubs have virtually had an automatic entry into the 'club' as the RFL would be poop scared of the lawyers. I can't see this changing over the next three years, and as long as one of the fourteen doesn't perform ridiculously bad either on or off the pitch then Wierdness or Leigh won't get in in 2012 no matter how amazing an application they have. (Obviously the same won't be true for possible applications from the likes of Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin or Moscow).

It's now a closed shop, and I feel particularly sorry for Leigh after all the investment into the sports village.

good idea, lets kick a super league team out who are 7th in the league for a french team who got absolutely anialated by bradford in the cup, that will improve the league won't it.

widnes most probly didn't get in because they went into liquidation last year and teh rfl won't want to make the risk.
salford will of got in because they are a super league standard team, got relegated last year and are top of nl1 this year.
and celtic were always going to get one, this is pretty much what millenium magic was all about, getting wales into the sport, for me this was always going to happen

The funniest thing about this is they decide to give the green light to a team with no real history in the game which are based in South Wales, shortly after announcing that they will be moving the Magic weekend (one of RL's biggest annual events) away from South Wales in 09'. Figure that out!

The RFL are braindead. I hope this decision fails miserably.

Steve O'Connor handled the decision with great class and dignity. I'd encourage people to take a look at the statement he's issued on the widnes website.