Idealy Gateshead move in to St. James Park and get a franchise, weekend in Newcastle.

Is there anything to stop Halifax letting people in for a quid, say, then, to make this happen?

Commonsense would suggest Wakey & Cas to merge, Widnes and Halifax in, with Salford leaving.

But that isn't going to happen!

Exactly. Too many "I'm all right Jack" attitudes from people with short memories on here sometimes.

If the franchise system was implemented eight or nine years ago we'd have been in real trouble. Don't forget that.

"Common sense" suggested we merged with Widnes in 1995.

Would you have supported the Cheshire Cats? I wouldn't.

Club mergers that wipe out over a century of history for both in one fell swoop are NEVER common sense.

It should be something that is considered now. A lot of Warrington fans are favourable to the idea of Widnes coming back up and despite the rivalry between the clubs there has always been a strong affinity as well. Widnes on their own could never get back the heights that they used to but with Warrington now in a good stadium and with a strong set up on and off the field this would be the perfect opportunity to put a merger back on the table. I think calling it Cheshire sounds a bit poncey so Mersey Wolves would be a better compromise, with Warrington and Widnes existing as separate entities at junior level like they do in Aus with St George and Illawarra or Western Suburbs and Balmain. If we add a couple of thousand to our gates from picking up Widnes fans then it would do us good as well plus we could tap into all of the talent coming through the junior clubs in Widnes.

Of course there would be some dinosaurs who whinge like there are amongst the Cas and Wakey fans and if they get their way at least one of those clubs will die, like Widnes will if the dinosaurs amongst our fans have their way.

The Chief Execs from both businesses should get their heads together before franchise day and seriously consider a good bit of M & A it would be like RBS and Abn-Amro, or AOL - Time Warner. Stronger together.

I wouldn`t lose any sleep if we lost Harlequins, yes i feel for their hard core fans but how far have they really progressed in approx 30 years with the London experiment ?

At the end of the day its all about paying customers when your trying to run a business thats based around a rugby league team, some of their crowds this year have been shocking. Quite a few of the crowds have been under 3,000, how do they survive on such poor crowds when they have to pay a squad of players a SL standard wage plus coaching staff and all the other staff it takes to run a rugby club ?

I don`t see them ever getting regular crowds bigger than Widnes or even Halifax would do in SL, Salford and Wakefield are another 2 that are skating on thin ice.

If i had to pick a team now that the RFL would pick to drop out of SL then it would have to be Wakefield, you don`t want to see any team and its supporters drop out of SL but to go forward you sometimes need to make tough decisions.

Normally I'd have the same opinion about Harlequins but me Judy is currently talking about possibly moving to London and if I follow her there I'll end up watching them live more often than us I think so keep them in for now please!

Or Halifax and Bank of Scotland!!!!!

What about The Wire and the Redmen?

Obviously I wouldn't transfer my support to London clubs but living 200 miles away from my teams would make the local club an obvious one to watch from time to time, especially as one of my best mates lives down there and watches them.

Quins must stay!

Wire_Yed lives there and attends Quins matches I think.

Yep, tis true



Quins must stay

Widnes do not meet all 5 criteria, no. 4 being where they will fall short.

The only team who meet all 5 is Toulouse, who do not need to meet any criteria

Widnes have suffered for spending too many years in the Championship and that is why the fans have left.Not many people like to pay £15 to watch average rugby.HKR had poor attendances when where in the Championship but now has trebled.Give Widnes a chance and the average will get near 7-8000 with derby games against Wire,Saints and Wigan.Widnes are the only team to average more than 2500 in the Championship and have a good youth set up.Recently beating Saints,Leeds and HKR.We are in Group A and i think that is a achievement seen as in the Championship.With sponsorship from stobarts we could easily get the 1million turnover if was in Superleague.If Wakey,Cas or Salford spent 3yrs in the Championship their attendances would be much lower.Give Widnes a chance please i miss the Wire games.

Get Widnes back, ludicrous if they are not deemed fit for a licence.

i think widnes will be back. they seem to have accepted not getting in last time, and strived tofulful as many criteria as psooible for them to do it this time round. they have gone about it the right way, and that should be applauded. if they don't get it, i think it will be a very harsh decision.
i too think wakey will go, but its a close call between them and cas. wakefield seems to have progressed the least on and off the field out of the three who may be at risk. if they do go though, hopefully they can come back bigger and stronger, in a new stadium in three years time. a step backwards to move forwards if you will. its a horrible time for all involved though, and it if things were different, it could so easily be us. hopefully other clubs will see how far warrington has come as a club since moving to the hj, and use it as a blue print to see that with the right people in place, and the right attitude then constant improvement can be achieved

I think most likely is Wakey.

Outside bet in The Welshies, I think their finances may go t*ts up soon.

I hope Widnes some up, have lots of friends and family there. Cant beat them if you don't play them.

Like that saying mate, and the banter not their at the moment until we start playing your team.I have a few friends who support Wire and be nice to get the derbies back again.If we are both in the top 6 we will fill the stadiums.

How do you know Widnes don't meet all the criteria? If they don't then certainly no other Championship club does.

One thing is for sure, Toulouse currently do not meet at least two of the criteria and will be given no special dispensation to apply. Ergo, there is no way at all that Toulouse will be coming up this time.

Conspiracy theorists might say that the five criteria are designed to ensure that no Championships clubs are able to apply for a licence after all, but the RFL's confirmation that at least one will be promoted means that at least one club meets all five. That could only be Widnes and possibly Fax

A couple of lads have been working on our house today and we got chatting about rugby league, they are both from Widnes and they were telling me that they know people high up at Widnes.

This isn`t official by any means but this is what they told me, they said that Widnes will be awarded a SL franchise and to accomodate sky Widnes have had to spend £50 - £80k on a new hospitality area for sky, i`m not sure if that includes a new commentary position as they were speaking of a room/area so not sure what it includes.

They also said that the council have or are going to spend a substantial amount in certain areas to meet some SL requirements, as i said thats not official but its what i got told today and both the lads seemed genuine enough and pretty clued up about the goings on at Widnes.

:11tvxqe4

LICENSING AND CRITERIA FOR A SUPER LEAGUE LICENCE

A1:6 a) There shall be no promotion or relegation between Super League and Championship
from the 2008 Season onwards. Instead for the 2009 Season and for every 3 seasons
after that, the Board shall invite applications for membership of Super League from: (i)
current Super League Clubs; (ii) Clubs in the Championships that meet minimum
standards set by the Board; and (iii) :11tvxqe4[i:11tvxqe4any overseas clubs invited to apply by the Board[/i:11tvxqe4.:11tvxqe4
Those Clubs being offered and accepting a Super League Licence for 3 years shall
participate in Super League – for the avoidance of doubt, all Clubs offered a Licence
shall be obliged to re-apply for a further 3 year Licence at the end of each 3 year
Licence period. Those either not being offered a place or not accepting a place offered
shall The Board shall have discretion to set criteria for membership of Super League and
discretion to assess Clubs against set criteria and determine membership of Super
League from 2009.

c) At least one Club that has competed in the Championships during the Licence Period
2009 – 2011 and that meets minimum standards set by the Board will be granted a
Super League Licence for 2012 – 2014.

d) For the purposes of A1:6 (a) above the applicant must submit a completed and signed
application form and provide such documents, including financial records, as the Board
shall at its discretion require.

I see why you've highlighted point (iii) above, which could be seen to classify Toulouse as an overseas club rather than a Championship club. However, I suspect that as Toulouse have competed in the Championship for the past two seasons, their Championship status ought to supersede their overseas status - i.e. they will still have to comply with the appropriate minimum standards expected of all Championship clubs.

Blake Solly from the RFL was interviewed on Boots N All last night and he was pretty forthright in his assertions that the successful club would have to meet the five minimun standards outlined overleaf, which for me, currently precludes Toulouse.

Now there are many who say that the RFL are well-versed in hypocrisy and favouritism, but if they are coming out now - just 4 months before the deadline for Championship club applications for a Super League licence - stating that there are five qualification criteria, only to later circumvent these and award a licence to Toulouse, who have not met these criteria; ahead of a club like Widnes, who have; then all hell will surely break loose and the streets of Widnes and the gardens of Red Hall shall burn as blood flows through the gutters and heads adorn pikes. Not to mention message boards crashing.

Let's say it would be interesting.

A better idea would be to scrap this stupid franchise system and bring back promotion and relagation. Have a maximum of 2 foreign players in each team (decided on where they were born and not how long they've lived here).Keep the salary cap, and any club who breaches it, loses all their points from that season. If 2 or more clubs breach the salary cap, they all go down and replaced by the same number of teams from nl1.A maximum of 2 foreign players, will be good for future international teams.