Surprise Suprise its Stobarts.Sorry to the widnes fans for sounding a little bitter about this decision,but lets go back a few months.RFL announce championship team will be promoted, everyone agrees it will be Widnes and eh who is it WIDNES,stobarts already have naming rights to the halton stadium according to reports and a few months later after WIDNES get promoted, it is Stobarts that are sponsoring the super dooper league.As i have already said, i do not want to seem bitter towards Widnes (even though i may be) i just seem to smell a conspiracy theory going on here, you may or may not agree with me on this and before all the Widnes fans have a go,i think you did deserve to go up.

I was told that this would happen a couple of years ago by a (then) prominent Widnes players dad he had heard it from the Widnes Chairman.

Good luck to them after all it 'aint nothing to do with us.

Next up - Stobarts win contract to transport players to away games!

or Wood's dinner

well how can it be a conspiracy when every person i speak too and i think the vast majority think widnes were the club who should be promoted. as a rl fan and not just a leigh fan any big business we can get to join in our game the better i say. n

Been a Widnes fan I feel lucky we have good backers.Last night I saw us play the best rugby in a long time.Hopefully over time we will attract more quality on the field.

I predict Widnes will win everything this season.

Think that might get me a free pint.

Good effort Frank.I know we looked in first two friendlies but last night was like a new team.

By that reckoning then Widdows Mason best pull thir finger out! As the season is about to start is it not time as Leigh fans we focused on our own team and own league and didnt look like the jealous jilted lover all the time?

Our Dave said that Widnes played a lot better last night and the game was even until the final few minutes, I hope they keep the improvements coming.

Mate he was spot on and changed when a number of players went off like Marsh,Briscoe,Watts, and Cross.A few injuries did not help, but 2 tries right near the end made the game look not so close.Anyway concentrate on what your club are doing, and i am sure you will be joining us in 3 yrs time.Salford,Wakey, and Castleford are not fully safe.

We need to concentrate on RL in Leigh, forget the bigger SL picture and get the feel-good factor back. Be the best that we can be and enjoy wherever the ride takes us this year.

TBH superleague has never been an ambition of mine I would rather be a big fish in this little pond than a minnow in a pool of sharks I stated it before our last forray there that it would rip the heart out of the club and it very nearly did, no I didn't want it then and personally I don't want it again.

Not sure if I do anymore Fred. Not if the present format is kept. The Championship is full of very skilled and entertaing rugby league players as is the Championship in fuzzball and I would sooner watch lower league football if I was given the choice. Still a second rate game though fuzzball.

I do not buy into that argument.

In everything in life I think you should try to be the best or at least to aspire to it.

Cas Wakefield Quins Widnes why do they bother ? Is it because they can never be better than Wigan Leeds and the others ?

Can you imagine franchising in footie ? Course you can't because fans of footie would not put up with it.

Restore sanity to our pro game and you never know crowds might start to increase rather than decline which is what has happened since RL decided to abandon ambition.

Sorry Fred can't agree - one word - ambition

With the right planning in place 'The Sky's The Limit' and so it should be especially in sport IMO

Great minds think alike

It's achievable for any club in Rugby League to become the best. There's still the potential, with some ambition, vision and good execution, for any club to rise to the top.

There are some big teams in Rugby League, but there's few clubs reaching their full potential. It's always going to be tough of course, but then who would have imagined that we could put a competitive squad together with probably 30% of the money we were spending just a few short years ago?

With the correct people, we can achieve great things.

Its all about money, income streams need to be built and exploited, only when that happens will our club, or any club break the current status quo

Iwasn,t having a go at widnes, more the RFL.I wish Widnes all the very best next season and prove to everyone that a team can come up from the championship and be competetive and hopefully other teams will follow.Good luck to the boys on sunday and looking forward to a great season

I think Widnes have ambition and with Stobarts be aiming for the playoffs over nxt few yrs.

Well,well,well. Woods and Lewis excel again. Free naming rights. Not a penny for SL. Free advertising for Stobarts.

Dictionary meaning of sponsorship - One that finances a project or an event carried out by another person or group, especially a business enterprise that =#FF0000pays for radio or television programming in return for advertising time.

PAYS being the operative word in all that.
If that's the case then those two have made SL and Championship in to products not worthy of selling as the TV rights have gone for nowt to Premier Sports.

And as a Halifax fan I also believe that Widnes should have got in to SL but there are clubs in there that possibly should n't be there.

The Watcher thanks the Lord that FredParky has nowt to do with the running of Leigh RLFC.