If the board have written off circa £370K of debt *owed to them* then I fail to see how they pocketed the money, Widnes are somewhat like Leigh in this regard, with Beaumont offering to write off ALL of his debt but only to suitable new owners (which didn't happen) therefore Leigh Centurions still owe D.B plenty !

I don't & have never liked Widnes but I wouldn't wish this on any R.L Club, not even Wigan. I hope Widnes can pull through & see better times.

Well I can see Widnes disappearing and I will find other things to do now. Lost my love of Rugby League and how things have been run. Unfortunately the Town has more interest in football these days.

Grim news and this will be unbearably tough on the fans, players and staff.
The return of promotion and relegation seems to have brought a return to boom and bust, the very reason for abolishing the movement between SL and The Championship.
I hope that they get something sorted but, you do wonder whether all the stuff about a new club in Liverpool was being planned with some "inside knowledge" from certain parties.

On a related note, did Widnes receive and parachute payment when relegated ?

For the fans, stick in thare and stand by your club and hopefully something positive will happen. Bradford are rising again and Widnes' history is just as rich as theirs, albeit their success was more recent but, in the 80's Widnes were a great side, filled with superstars, it would be a huge loss for the game if they were to disappear.

I hope that Widnes survives. It has a very good stadium. But it it needs to survive in the Championship. Widnes is just not capable of competing in Super League with its paltry fan base.

Sounds to me like Widnes had been building up a fair bit of debt and their owners weren’t able to keep throwing money away. Some of them have apparently written off £370k of debt. Not to be sniffed at. One wonders what other debts exist and how the parachute payment (if one existed) was spent.

Hopefully they can avoid administration but it doesn’t look good. Like just about every RL club Widnes isn’t an “investment opportunity”. One doesn’t “invest” in a fully professional RL club as they are all (apart from maybe 2 or 3) loss making businesses.

They could in the long run go part time or have a mix of part time and full time – it depends on who comes in. Fingers crossed for the fans.

Have you not noticed that when a club is successful, attendances go up and if they are not successful, attendances go down, it's quite obvious really.
Having said that, Widnes, with their "paltry" attendances, were getting 2 1/2 times the crowds that your beloved London get and in a far better stadium and you've been desperate for them to gain promotion - double standards ??
They also have more fans than Toulouse, another side that you are desperate to see in SL- double standards ??
They also have an excellent junior development system. Do Toronto (your other love child) have this - double standards ??

IF the game in the UK actually withers and dies, where do you want Toronto, Toulouse, London and Catalan to ply their trade - Australia ??

You are utterly hypocritical, peddling some false "dream" and you need to get a grip on reality



Maybe, if/when Toronto run out of cash, you will realise that you have been chasing the wrong rainbow and IF Widnes should be in The Championship, what do you think will happen to their attendances.



Rugby League in the UK has failed to deal with Promotion and Relegation and the disastrous effects of clubs that drop from the top flight (or drop from the top 4 of The Championship), We've had 2 up, 2 down, Super 8's, no relegation and now 1 up, 1 down and they've all had major issues.

Instead of messing about with "innovation" we should concentrate on promoting Rugby League.

There isn't anyone within the RL hierarchy capable of doing this and until we solve this issue, we are all facing a slow lingering death.

Just wondered if the £370k write off of debt was done using the parachute payment?

well it might make room for Toulouse and its paltry fan base

Add London and Salford to this Paltry fan base. Wakefield and Huddersfield fan base is not amazing seen as doing well over the last few years.

Our so called big clubs also have paltry fanbases n’all. We’re lucky if anyone averages over 15000

When Catalans were in the midst of their terrible start to the season last year they were getting home crowds of around 6000 (6585 against Wire, less in other games)

Leeds when the stadium is fully done should be back in the 15k + region but still well down on their record average season which was well over 17k Wigan saints Hull Warrington the only sides in the 10k plus region. All can do better.

Wire attendances used to be e and only a wealthy owner and (comparative) success has changed that. The others are successful sides in RL hotbeds so no excuses not to have big crowds.

People rip the p1ss out of Salford's crowds but it's a minority sport round here, far more so than Leigh or Widnes who have had worse problems than us. I hope Widnes survive, I really do. They had some great teams in the late 80's/early 90's when I started watching the sport. However, if they don't can we have Olly Ashall-Bott please?



PS. Yes it's a joke before I get stick.

PPS. But we'd still I've to have him.

That can't/mustn't happen! As a Leyther, I know (from very recent history) what you must be going through. Keep the faith and hope this can be resolved. It's heart aching being a 'mere' helpless fan, when all this is going on, but someone will bale you out. Whatever the expansionists on here say, Widnes [uIS[/u a 'big' club, just like Bradford, and mustn't be allowed to fade away. I assumed that a spell in the Championship would be a good chance to rebuild, but it isn't easy to run a full time club in this league, especially with a couple of other full timers to compete with.

Whilst all this is dreadful for all the fans and all the players and staff, spare a thought for Kieron Purtill, Harrison Hansen, Liam Hood and Jack Owens, for whom this must be a very painful case of deja-vu!

Stick in there, and good luck for a speedy recovery.

wrong, crowds went up with the stadium, moran only took over after we moved into the stadium, and we only won a tropy 5 years later.

Out of the 4 clubs to be relegated in recent times Widnes Leigh Hull KR and Bradford 3 have gone bust and we survived because the owner stuck around and the fans bought into it selling more season tickets than the previous season in SL and we bounced back the next year which was important as if we hadn’t I think things would have been different the problem with the championship is you have a few teams with SL aspirations and the rest with no intention of been promoted

Great post Alan, I echo all of what you say.

Toulouse has a fan base of around 1,500, which is exactly the maximum that Catalans got before they were promoted to Super League.

Now Catalans regularly get 8-9,000. When Toulouse is promoted to Super League I expect it to attract the same numbers.

Should they make it into SL, where would Toulouse play ?
Their current stadium is perfectly good for playing in The Championship but, the capacity of around 4k is some way short of accommodating the numbers that you have been dreaming about.
Also, Catalan wont be too pleases about having to "share" the current pool of French players.

It would be a great "derby" fixture though.

We’ll survive somehow, just a shame because it’s a squad that maybe isn’t a match for Toront. but with the whole squad made with the majority of players coming through the academy, something great has started this season. The club have worked so hard in not breaking the bank the last couple of seasons and playing their own talent, it’s just been ran appallingly.

Hope things are sorted out for you. The derby games with Wire have benefited both clubs financially, and look forward to their return in the near future. It worries me about the game in general, with recent financial issues at several clubs. Were now in a fortunate position. However, that may have been very different had Darren Burns not booted a ball into the Fletcher End when we were in a relegation battle. Those were humbling days, and it makes it easier to brush off the bitterness from some rival supporters when making a signing. Chin up, and wishing you well for a return to SL.

Thanks a lot, same here. Wire away is the one I look forward to the most, even though we haven’t won since Cahill took Hodgsons head off 6 years ago

Spot on this big club stuff makes me P*ss 7-15 k for our big clubs. If my two local football clubs were at home on the same day there would be around 130K at two matches, with many more in the pubs/clubs.

RL can't half fill one stadium when there all playing.

Hope a solution is found , always enjoy my visits to , and the atmosphere at Leigh when they visit , a good bunch

Widnes always used to produce great young player, some of the best players i have seen came from or started there career there, in the 80's they was the side a feared, remember the old regal/JPs cup draws and CC draws always thinking please not Widnes. Gave us a couple of bloody noses in big games in the early 90's too. really hope they can bounce back, but the town and the fans need to get back behind the team.

Even when Widnes had those amazing sides in the 80s they still didn't get regular 5 figure crowds. Loved watching them back then - unless they were playing us!