Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:29 am  

Well, not quite but he might as well have done: WIDNES chairman Steve O’Connor believes the Vikings can ‘dominate’ rugby league in the coming years. The club submitted its bid for a Super League place in 2012 last week. But speaking exclusively to the Liverpool Echo, O’Connor insisted his team won’t be there just to make up the numbers if their bid is successful. He said: “We believe we’ve got a management team, an infrastructure and a business plan that could dominate this sport for many years to come. “We’ve seen four or five clubs taking most of the honours in the last 15 years or so. “There’s no reason why Widnes couldn’t be one of those clubs. “We’re very confident we can be a dominant force in rugby in years to come.” The Vikings face competition for a Super League place from fellow Championship clubs Halifax and Barrow. Only one team who meets the RFL’s selection criteria is guaranteed to make the step up. O’Connor is confident Widnes are leading from the front having been denied a place in the elite during the last round of licensing. He also believes the club’s outstanding junior development programme is set to bring benefits for England’s prospects in the international arena. He added: “We’ve spent more than two years digesting, comprehending and delivering what Rugby League requires. “Rugby League needs Widnes Vikings to deliver another very competitive team. “They need a club that can bring a fabulous fanbase and professional, global sponsors. “I believe our whole package is just so much more robust than the competition. “We’re all about sustainability and delivering a supply chain to a sport that needs positive stories. “We’ve got some great youngsters coming through who will ultimately help solve some of the problems we have at international level. “We’re looking to supply three or four players for the World Cup team in 2013 and beyond.” Meanwhile, the Vikings are stepping up their preparations for the Co-operative Championship season. This week the club unveiled their new ‘away’ strip at an event hosted by one of the club’s sponsors, James Edwards Land Rover of Chester. “I think the fans will be impressed with our new away kit. “And unveiling here at James Edwards is another sign of how we’re working in partnership with our sponsors. “James Edwards Land Rover is a brand that’s about ruggedness and honesty which is a great fit for Rugby League.” http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/ot ... -27794177/

Well, not quite but he might as well have done: WIDNES chairman Steve O’Connor believes the Vikings can ‘dominate’ rugby league in the coming years. The club submitted its bid for a Super League place in 2012 last week. But speaking exclusively to the Liverpool Echo, O’Connor insisted his team won’t be there just to make up the numbers if their bid is successful. He said: “We believe we’ve got a management team, an infrastructure and a business plan that could dominate this sport for many years to come. “We’ve seen four or five clubs taking most of the honours in the last 15 years or so. “There’s no reason why Widnes couldn’t be one of those clubs. “We’re very confident we can be a dominant force in rugby in years to come.” The Vikings face competition for a Super League place from fellow Championship clubs Halifax and Barrow. Only one team who meets the RFL’s selection criteria is guaranteed to make the step up. O’Connor is confident Widnes are leading from the front having been denied a place in the elite during the last round of licensing. He also believes the club’s outstanding junior development programme is set to bring benefits for England’s prospects in the international arena. He added: “We’ve spent more than two years digesting, comprehending and delivering what Rugby League requires. “Rugby League needs Widnes Vikings to deliver another very competitive team. “They need a club that can bring a fabulous fanbase and professional, global sponsors. “I believe our whole package is just so much more robust than the competition. “We’re all about sustainability and delivering a supply chain to a sport that needs positive stories. “We’ve got some great youngsters coming through who will ultimately help solve some of the problems we have at international level. “We’re looking to supply three or four players for the World Cup team in 2013 and beyond.” Meanwhile, the Vikings are stepping up their preparations for the Co-operative Championship season. This week the club unveiled their new ‘away’ strip at an event hosted by one of the club’s sponsors, James Edwards Land Rover of Chester. “I think the fans will be impressed with our new away kit. “And unveiling here at James Edwards is another sign of how we’re working in partnership with our sponsors. “James Edwards Land Rover is a brand that’s about ruggedness and honesty which is a great fit for Rugby League.” http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/ot ... -27794177/

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:33 am  

Never a good feeling to wake up in your cornflakes, is it?

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:39 am  

Leyther_Matt wrote:

Never a good feeling to wake up in your cornflakes, is it?

As long as yer don't wake up to find yer've p*ssed on yer chips, dare to dream!

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:50 am  

Today Rugby League, tomorrow the world.......Mwwwaaaahhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaa !!!!!!!!

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Thu Dec 09, 2010 10:53 am  

What I love about O'Connor is he talks about what we can achieve WHEN in SL and what we ARE doing now to make that possible, when you read other clubs talk it's all if's and but's regarding academies and crowds etc, Widnes are aiming to deliver that package from day one, not start to build it from then!

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Mon Dec 13, 2010 7:47 am  

Let me first say I am not your usual Widnes RFL knocker. If franchises are the way to go then Widnes are quite rightly the CLUB that should be awarded a franchise.
Being realistic though you haven't even dominated the championship, despite being on paper the team with the highest spending capacity. I know the argument about buying a whole new team for SL and your youth but it is very premature to buy into the suggestion you could dominate SL. That sort of comment is exactly the sort of motivation that other teams thrive on.

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:31 pm  

Rugby Ball a £300,000 salary cap is not much, compared to 1.8 million you can spend in Superleague.A few teams spend upto near £300,000 in the Championship, and part of that is spent on the Academy.Teams like Fax,Barrow,Fev, etc have mainly bought experienced players.So to be honest, it could go either way.2 Rail finals and top5 in the last 2 yrs is not too bad.This year i hope we go a step furthur, and be in the top 2.

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:44 pm  

Good job I haven't got a copy right on that top line Mr 20!

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:11 pm  

rugbyball wrote:

Let me first say I am not your usual Widnes RFL knocker. If franchises are the way to go then Widnes are quite rightly the CLUB that should be awarded a franchise.
Being realistic though you haven't even dominated the championship, despite being on paper the team with the highest spending capacity. I know the argument about buying a whole new team for SL and your youth but it is very premature to buy into the suggestion you could dominate SL. That sort of comment is exactly the sort of motivation that other teams thrive on.

I agree, if we would have dominated on the pitch then I don't think anyone would have been criticising us or our bid. IMO the recruitment has been weak and even the so called better players that we have brought in have been a let down. Unless there are more signings to come, I cant see much changing next season. I admire SO'C and his desire to achieve major things at the club, but IMO he is going to have to focus far more on on-the-pitch matters in future. Youth development is great, but it can be very expensive and by no means a guaranteed method to success.

To be honest I have stopped reading the press releases from the likes on TO'C, PC, SO'C and even the one by DB - its like yeah, yeah, another realease saying how great we are and how much we're doing behind the scenes - and all the time I'm thinking "yeah but is any of this going to make me any more excited about going to games next season?". I totally agree that its premature talking about dominating SL when we can only win about 50% of our games at Championship level. I half get the impression that SO'C belives that all we'll have to do is sign a couple of good Aussies and add them to our youth players and we'll be ripping it up in SL - its not gonna happen. From the squad we've got now we're gonna need about 18 signings to add to 7 of the current squad/youth players.

I also don't buy into the academy excuse as u21's don't count on the cap, so its not as if the academy players have taken up space on the cap, that we could have spent elsewhere. I'll admit, this season we were unlucky with the run of injuries and losing Webster, but IMO for next year we'll have no excuse if the same players miss most of the games with the same sort of injuries. IMO the 1st thing we should have done was replace Webster, followed by a big ugly prop. Correct me if I'm wrong but Webbo hasn't been replaced and Gannon has been replaced by Frodsham (even though Frodsham is more of a replacement for Davies).

Re: Great words from the Great Man - Widnes to dominate RL! : Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:38 pm  

Vic King wrote:

Good job I haven't got a copy right on that top line Mr 20!

Think it was just a copy & paste job as should of been deleted, my apologies