: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:47 am  

Pepe wrote:

Yes. There'll be no real advantage for any club in this league anymore, no matter how strong they are off the field. That's sort of the point: anyone can end up being champions or relegated. It sounds like a recipe for an exciting league, but not very good for clubs that have ambition and the wealth to be better than the others.

Your right, hopefully prestige / SL ambition and the better coaches will hold us in good stead however!

Pepe wrote:

That's not really what I'm on about. Forget this/next season. Look at the situation we'll be in should we not get a SL place in 2012.

Would agree with that as I have mentioned after 2012 future is bleak for the NL's it's a shame as I feel could be rarely good divisions if we had an NGB that focussed on the SPORT not 1 league (Why I think SL & RL should have sepearte bodies, like the Prem and the FA!).

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:49 am  

How far has over-spending got us? Even in SL? Nowhere. I'm positive that Cullen can build a squad better than most in the Championship.

And if that frees cash from SOC's pocket to splash out for a SL squad if we get the nod, then that's fantastic.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:59 am  

J20 wrote:

Your right, hopefully prestige / SL ambition and the better coaches will hold us in good stead however! .

richardviking wrote:

How far has over-spending got us? Even in SL? Nowhere. I'm positive that Cullen can build a squad better than most in the Championship.

And if that frees cash from SOC's pocket to splash out for a SL squad if we get the nod, then that's fantastic.

If we don't get a licence for 2012 Cullen may not be here to pick up the pieces. We don't know who we could end up with.

There'll be no more guaranteed places for Championship clubs for a SL licence and we would face the very real prospect of being relegated. Far more than we do now.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:16 pm  

Pepe wrote:

If we don't get a licence for 2012 Cullen may not be here to pick up the pieces. We don't know who we could end up with.

There'll be no more guaranteed places for Championship clubs for a SL licence and we would face the very real prospect of being relegated. Far more than we do now.

Again though our income would still put us in better stead than any other NL club so saying we've got a good chance of going down is daft! There's still 11 teams all in same bout! Why are we worried about relegation in the slightest? No other sides are bothered about it!!!

P.S. I ma very optomistic we WILL BE IN SL 2012! They have no reason to say know and know it's off benefit to them! Never mind teh fact I bet SOC has every transcript of EVERY conversion he's ahd with them for a nice libel case next time around!

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:32 pm  

Pepe wrote:

Bang on, Chris.

It would be a very frightening prospect for Widnes if we don't get the nod for 2012. We may as well be bumbling along with crowds of 1,000 and have no youth structure, like most of the other clubs. We would have no advantage over clubs with attendances of 400 like Gateshead. It would be very possible that we could be relegated and find our club dying on its ar5e in Championship 1.

We'll be competing with no financial advantage with clubs like Batley, Sheffield, Dewsbury and Oldham, as well as the traditionally strong clubs in this league such as Halifax, Whitehaven, Leigh and Fev. Then there'll be the RFL expansion clubs who'll be full of Aussies and probably won't have to worry about silly things like a salary cap.

This is bad news for us. It really is.

What really concerns me is, the league next year will basically be a random free for all. We could be runaway winners, we could be bottom sailing towards relegation with no chance to improve. Our crowds and financial situation should guarantee we are safe in this league. Huge budge in the salary cap, no budge in the ludicrous no promotion two relegation in a twelve team league. It's a worrying prospect. Our final is out of the way already, great, but we have another challenge now and it's not a positive one.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:35 pm  

Why such negativity? We're bang on for a license.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:01 pm  

richardviking wrote:

Why such negativity? We're bang on for a license.

We pretty much should be, but I don't think a spell in Championship 1 with miniscule crowds when we are presenting our credentials will do us any good. If this league is truly random there is a 16% chance we will be relegated at the end of it. There are other factors to consider for us so it isnt truly 100% random, but you only need to see just how competitive it is this year. Leigh are a team who should be safe and they're struggling.

We should be nailed on for a license, but then we should have been last time and we were overlooked.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:06 pm  

Chris Dalton wrote:

What really concerns me is, the league next year will basically be a random free for all. We could be runaway winners, we could be bottom sailing towards relegation with no chance to improve. Our crowds and financial situation should guarantee we are safe in this league. Huge budge in the salary cap, no budge in the ludicrous no promotion two relegation in a twelve team league. It's a worrying prospect. Our final is out of the way already, great, but we have another challenge now and it's not a positive one.

Good post.

This is something some people don't seem to be able to grasp.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:08 pm  

richardviking wrote:

Why such negativity? We're bang on for a license.

Hopefully you're right.

But if we don't get one, the lowering of the salary cap could spell disaster for us. How much money we have, or don't have, will be totally irrelevant.

: Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:26 pm  

Chris Dalton wrote:

Leigh are a team who should be safe and they're struggling.

Why? They have no divine right to be safe. They recruited poorly.

Yes, Widnes have no divine right to win the league, but I'm confident that we're much more equipped to win the league than most other sides, albeit of a cap reduction.

I'm pretty sure that many teams will operate well below the cap next term.