: Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:57 pm  

Pepe wrote:

In your opinion.

But that would also be a team that is trying to bring youth through and not going for the quick fix of a load of old codgers to win things, in order to desperately make up for their obvious comparitive short-comings on every other area of their licence bid.

It was stated last night that the club haven't rushed out to fill their squad with over the hill antipodean journeymen and have carefully considered what will benefit the club both in the short and the long term.

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 8:28 pm  

-VIKINGMAN- wrote:

Yes, the average gate last time we went down was around 6,800 and that was after a very poor season. We hit the 8,000 mark quite a few times for home games and have hit 9,500 against Saints at home so we all know the potential is there. The trouble is we have been a yo yo club and have never had a consitent run (something the license would help with)

Away support has always been decent, local derby games with saints/Wigan/Wire would bring healthy gates and we dont mind travelling to Yorkshire.

Stobarts play a big part in terms of generating jobs in Widnes and the surronding area and they do have some big projects in the pipeline for Widnes. The fact that we have a hugely sucessful business man in charge is also a massive help. That in itself is a problem though as it is for most clubs with a sugar daddy. He wants to make us a club that doesnt depend on money men, he wants the fans to run the club. This would IMO mean us averaging 10,000 gates something which with a lot of hard work we could achieve.

Breaks my bloody heart , but I tend to agree with my 6 fingered friend on pretty much all of this , bloody mutants

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:34 pm  

Pepe wrote:

Of course we can be a force.

As far as attendances go, we were better than Quins, Huddersfield, Wakey and Salford, when in SL. In 2005, when we were relegated and playing terrible, we actually increased our attendances. With a good team, having some modest success, we would have been getting close to the magic 10,000 imo.

..............2002 2003 2004 2005
Widnes: 6510 6511 6153 6794

Wakey: 3889 4017 4806 5100

Salford: 4199 n/a 3996 4093

Quins: 3803 3546 3458 4003

Hudds: n/a 4722 4362 5853

All those other clubs have now increased their attendances. Some of them still can't get what we were getting through the gate in 2005 even now though. There is no doubt we would have also increased our attendances if we were still in SL. We'd probably be hovering around the top 6 best supported clubs in the game.

We have everything in place that is required to be a success; Stadium, some of the best player and training facilities in the sport, Youth development, large amateur catchment area, a tradition of producing some of the finest players to pull on an RL shirt, the best attendances in our division, great sponsors and a great backer.

We have the, largely, untapped areas of Cheshire, Sth Merseyside and North Wales to tap into, as well as having a borough including of Both Widnes and Runcorn with a combined population of 114,662. Halton borough council own 10% of the club and are helping the club promote themselves in all the schools in the borough. The people of both these towns own the stadium and also attend the games. It’s not just Widnesians who attend.

WTF more could anyone ask?

I'm a Wigan fan and I think exactly the same. The proof is in the pudding. What more to the RFL want. IMO they should realise they have cocked up and put you in next time round for sure. Widnes would be like another Hull KR, but even better with the quality facilities.

Thanks for all the feedback from all of you.

I am sure if you came back to super league you could be hitting 9,000 against saints, us and wire easily. With some success, even just finishing half way up the table, having not been in super league for so long your attendances would be around 7,000. How the RFL can say Wakey offer more to super league than you, I will never know!

What sort of away support would you be bringing to our place?

I think the most impressive attribute for Widnes is the fact they have kept the youth development going out of super league. Its nothing short of amazing. You add the stadium, attendances and all the rest of the potential, I really can see why you were all so upset when the franchise was announced.

A bit of a contrast really, we cheated to stay in super league, you have been cheated out of it.

WIDNES FOR SUPER LEAGUE

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:39 pm  

Cheers mate.

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:40 pm  

-VIKINGMAN- wrote:

Cheers mate.

Never said we were mates

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:42 pm  

Odemwingie wrote:

Never said we were mates

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:49 pm  

It's great to see fans from both Wigan clubs agreeing in this way. Widnes really does bring the world together.

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:52 pm  

Chris Dalton wrote:

It's great to see fans from both Wigan clubs agreeing in this way. Widnes really does bring the world together.

Cheaky b stard

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:58 pm  

Starbug wrote:

Cheaky b stard

Come on sing it with me.

"I'd like to teach Wigan to sing in perfect harmony"

You've been apart too long. Same kit, same area, you're even sharing managers now.

: Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:16 pm  

Also add to the fact, there were more people at the fans forum last night than there are Crusaders season ticket holders, says it all really.