[urlhttp://widnesvikings.co.uk/article.php?id=4545[/url

That is bizarre. Gerrrard will still make it elsewhere I think. Thacks, what's going to happen to him? I thought the whole point of him signing with us was yo play SL with the Vikings instead of Bradford or whoever else? Hence him delivering the bid?

Fook me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I thought you were joking....

Even when I clicked on the link and it took me to the page I thought... ay ay.. he's a bit of a wizard here with his own hosting space.
Bit lost for words on the Thackray thing.

Wish I was, I was gutted when I read that. Of the players that we are taking to Superleague, I thought he would have definately been one.

me too! thought it was a wind up. but in the cold hard light of day, i dont see why your all surprised about thacks. i couldnt see him doing a decent job in superleague anyway. he can get away with it in the championship, Superleague defences wont give him the chance to get away with much of anything.
also, i think the timing is ill advised. this could further demoralise and destabilise an already shaky squad and turn an increasingly dodgy season into a disasterous one.

Netherton bang on... Ford, makes some sense.. Gerrard, a little surprised.. Thacks, completely mental decision.

The problem has not been Thackray.. the problem has been Betts and his unfathomable tactics at times.

You make a really good point here.. if Thacks ain't going to SL just who is deemed good enough??

to an extent i agree. it seems some are being used as scapegoats when the powers that be should be looking to themselves.
however, none of these decisions really surprise me in terms of my perceptions of those players ability to deliver in superleague.

And we thought the season couldnt get any worse.

I thought the whole idea of having that big 'VIQI' event to get Thacks to resign was done in the format that he would be retained for our first season in SL?

Unless theres underlying factors in which he has stated he wanted to leave at the end of the season.

Really cant get my head around this. Another DR from Wigan as well? Thats like sticking two fingers up at the likes of Gore, Lunt etc.

What a way to turn such a farcical season into an absolute joke.

and to top it off, our hilarious friend WireWonder is busy assaulting the VT now hes banned from here.
meanwhile, back on topic - stick the Yoof in now! use them now while the pressure is off, we cant get much worse.
but i doubt we will get better until the managment are shown the door.

Not even going to comment on this right now

You've signed some half back on DR from Wigan aswell, sorry if its already been mentioned.

Interesting, Thackeray has been pretty poor this year tbf and doesnt have the vision or hands for a real good 6. The rest im not fussed at all.

Mellor at 7 and I'anson at 6.


This year will be now be even worse with these announcements.



BTW Mellor is a cracking player.

Hasn't Thackery been playing at Full Back though? Not suprised he hasn't been playing well if thats the case?

A Betts masterstroke!!! He has played there but he hasn't been playing there if that makes sense.

I feel for Thackeray,he must be gutted.I thought he deserved a chance to show what he can do with a decent pack and scrum half alongside him.Let's hope some more tough decisions are made soon.

Sort of



I'll be honest, I thought Thackeray would have been one of the first players to sign up for Super League.

Thackeray has carried for us for a while now. Even when we had Webster, Thacks was still the main playmaker. With full time training he would of went well for us. He deserved at least 1 year

The rest im not fussed about. Netherton and Gerrard are too slow for even this league.

He did deserve at least one year,even if only as a back up,second choice half back.No doubt the wise men behind the scenes will have a replacement lined up.Paul Cooke or Graham Holroyd probably.

Netherton was championed by Cullen and now he's been told he isnt wanted for 2012.


Please explain that one Cull and the reasoning behind letting smithy go!



Thats what im most furious about.

Kirk Netherton is one of the poorest players I've seen play for Widnes.

Yes, he would go well as a sumo wrestler IMO.

Very poor decision to make, especially at a hard time in the season. Will this affect the way they play? After losses to batley leigh and Hunslet that's all we need, an announcement like this to throw a spanner in the works. Like VM said, the reasoning behind the Netherton one is confusing, replacing him for Smithy then letting him go?

Got to feel sorry for Thacks. He's just turned 25, not exactly passed it. With full time training i really think he would make a very valuable squad player at least. Definately not our worst player this year and there would be at least 5/6 players i'd show the door to before Thacks.

All this after the "Join VIQI to save Thackeray"

Shit news.

I feel for him because he has been an interesting player to watch. Started off slow then burst to life in 'that' semi Vs Fax and went on to play some great off the cuff stuff for us until this year.

We cant carry a halfback though because every once in a while he chips in with a bit of brilliance. All too often he is stifled at this level by the better sides who pick his plays off easily, Leigh in particular.

Not sure a halfback who has no kicking game, nor was ever the most creative with a show and go and inside ball as his main plays was ever going to be ideal to step up to SL, full time or not.

He seems a nice guy so good luck to him.

Its just looking soul destroying on the field isn't it at the moment. Wasn't Allen captain? then I'anson now its finnigan. To be fair i think the best ive seen Thacks play was that semi final against fax. Hasn't been amazing since but hasn't been shocking. betts comes in, benches him or plays him at FB and puts Gerrard at stand off. His decisions baffle the hell out of me.