And why would they be ? They're essentially a rhinos reserve set up. And the rhinos first team are bad enough!

For the ignorant amongst us, how can you have gone into admin yet continue with pretty much the same FT squad, apart from what appears to be the injured ones that you have cut loose - is it just a way to avoid paying your debts, can’t say I really understand this kind of thing

I believe that the debts still exist.

Receivership is when creditors get paid £% in the £, administration is a "holding pattern" until a new owner takes over the entity and its debts.

This is what caught out the various owners of Bradford....they were essentially taking on debts that they couldn't service. If this new ownership have anything other than a concrete plan to raise funds, it will fail.

They cannot rely on gate takings, sponsorship coming on board and other back of a beer-mat strategies......as others have said, they have outgoings of £150,000 a month (minimum) and 5,700 a game is a great step forward......but remember Bradford had gates like that and bucket collections and summer concerts.......and no disrespect to widnes, but Bradford are a much bigger side in terms of reach.

I really hope they can come through this.......and great job beating Leeds second string

We’re in the championship and have lost Inu, Tangata and Albert who collectively must be on around £150-£200k a year. The administrators, new consortium and creditors have clearly come up with agreement, hence why Widnes can still participate in the championship.
Administration doesn’t necessarily mean all your players leave and are sold.

I don't think you understand the 'administration' process in the slightest.

Before admin, the monthly wage bill was reportedly £120k! Even if those 3 were on a combined £200k pa that only drops it to a touch over £100k a month, unless the remaining players have taken a significant cut. Not sure you'll actually find that sustainable.

Administration is a formal procedure in which an insolvency practitioner is appointed as the administrator by the company directors, the company itself, its creditors of the company's debts or the Court. Once an administration order is granted, all legal actions against the insolvent company (including receivership and winding up petitions) are stayed for a period of about 8 weeks, during which time the administrator can draft a plan of action and propose it to creditors during a creditors meeting. The administrator assumes control over all assets and business operations with the goal of acting in the best interest of the company’s creditors, in order to repay as much as possible.

In short...the debts remain unless negotiated otherwise

Receivership is a process in which a creditor appoints a receiver over one or more of the insolvent companys' assets or properties specified in a legal charge within a secured loan agreement. If the charge contains a provision that allows for express appointment then receivership can happen quickly and sometimes without sufficient warning. Although the exact privileges and rights of the receiver arise from the terms of the individual loan agreement, all receivers must abide by legislation.

In short, the debts are paid if possible and often as a % of the real amount

We went into administration because of insolvency issues and the club had less than £1000 in the bank. Since then, it has been taken over by a consortium who are putting money in and are believed to be able to cover that current wage bill. We still receive £40,000 a month from the sky deal, £15,000 a month from VIQI which is an independent supporters group and there’s a chance of receiving the remaining parachute payment. I’m sure the consortium, along with on the day ticket sales can finance our team.

If all the debts are still there and the intention is to repay in full, then how come the 12 point deduction was not reduced like it was for Salford?

I think our debts were around £800k, I’d be extremely surprised if they were all still there. The administrators have probably struck a deal with the creditors and consortium, ie - 20p against the pound to be paid for all debts owed (that’s just an example)

Liam Hood returning to Leigh Centurions....

a new limited company has been registered now owns the club.
The remaining players contracts have most probably been taken on by the club but not necessarily at the same rate.
The old company would usually go into Liquidation, if there is any spare funds the receivers and the preferential creditors will get first shout and all the other creditors will get sweet FA

Oh goody, you can use Google and copy and paste. Now use what you've learned to figure out what is and has been going on. I'll give you some clues:
The company who held RFL membership as Widnes Vikings RLFC until the middle of last week and ran up some £800k of debt, Widnes Sport Ltd 06414112, will be liquidated at some point in the future once due process has been served. The new company, Widnes Rugby League Club Ltd 11853608 incorporated 28th Feb 2019 now has the RFL Membership as Widnes Vikings RLFC.

Many local business', who will have allowed the Club to run up more credit than was sensible likely out of a sense of loyalty, as well as the local Council tax payers, will have been 'done over' and will be lucky to get back a few p in the £ of what they are owed.

WoW.... =#FF0000Insult removed
Administrators are responsible for getting the debts settled or/and the company/entity remain running......Liquidators are responsible for getting anything they can back and ending the company...I was correct in my comments.
Cutting and pasting was just a way of underlining this....... =#FF0000Insult removed

=#FF0000Warning issued - Wanderer.

First of all, chill.

Secondly, theres nothing wrong with admitting you got it wrong

Whatever value remained in Widnes Vikings RLFC will have been realised by the administrators and in theory used to pay off any creditors.
Unfortunately, after covering their own costs and sharing whatever there was with any preferential creditors, there wont be anything left for any regular suppliers.
At this point there isn't anything left to liquidate and "liquidation" wont take place as the company has been taken up by a new entity.
Usually there would have to be agreements with existing contracts and a substantial contribution made to HMRC, plus a commitment to pay some creditors. However, I'm not sure if any of the detail has been released yet.
However, there is nothing left to liquidate ??

No it has not been taken up by a new entity and the old company still exists. The Administrator of the old company will follow procedure and once he's finished his job the company will come out of administration and go into the next phase of the process, likely a creditors voluntary liquidation, to finally wind up and 'liquidate' the company. It's not a quick process and the 'old' company will continue to exist for some time. At some point in the future there will also be a report by the Administrator/Liquidator which will give details of accounts and creditor payouts. Meanwhile the new company gets on with the job of running WVRLFC essentially unhindered by the actions of the old.

For example, the previous incarnation of the Bulls (Bradford Bulls Northern Ltd) went into administration on 14th Nov 2016. They came out of admin on 3rd Feb 2017 and entered into creditors voluntary liquidation, a state which they are still in some 2+ years from administration. Whilst that was going on the new incarnation of the Bulls (Bradford Bulls 2017 Ltd) came into being on 13th Jan 2017. The Liquidator published a progress report in April 2018 and estimated it would take approx. another 2 years before his work was completed.

While it is great to see that Widnes RLFC has been saved & I wish the club a speedy recovery for the sake of their fans, I have to ask, why did it take nigh on oblivion to see 5,700 attend a game ?

Don't get me wrong, a near 6K crowd is great to see for the Chemics & I hope the fans continue to turn up in numbers but how sustainable is that ? I would think that the attendances might receed more towards the Clubs usual average after a short time but still be higher than previously ?

As I've already said, unless the players have taken a significant salary cut it's not easy to see how the club can go from unsustainable to sustainable with basically the same (in reality reduced as season ticket income and at least one month's future TV money already gone) income. I'm not sure any of the new board are rich enough to subsidise things and whist there's been quite a few new subscribers to VIQI there'll be quite a few who've done it out of 'sympathy' and won't be there long term. The new company will also likely to have had to buy any useful assets from the Administrator, such as kit, equipment, trademarks, website etc - last accounts (up to Nov 2017) show tangible assets valued at approx. £80k.

I work with 3 or 4 Widnes fans. It's all they ever talk about. The comings and going of Widnes, 1989 & the history they have, the trouble the club is in, what the players are doing right/wrong ect...

Neither of them have been to a game in over 10 years. "I'm not spending my hard earned money on that lot" is the response when you ask why. That sums up their fan base for me. I'm well aware the only reason Wire are in the position they are in now is down to an 09 trip and win at Wembley. it was that win that peaked the towns public interest. but the only way any team in any sport attracts big crowds is from silverware.

Luckily, much like Salford, there are some true die hards in Widnes who turn up week in week out. I hope they bounce back into SL and see some success. A strong Widnes and Salford with good crowds would be immense for SL. Leigh as well for that matter.

In one little pocket of SW Lancashire (Traditionally) to have 6 teams (Widnes, Wire, Saints, Salford, Leigh & Wigan) mixing it up with good crowds and good intensity in and around the top of the league would undoubtedly breed public interest and is the only way RL could possibly snatch any sort of limelight from the Soccerball meccas of Manchester and Liverpool.

I went to the game on Sunday and the buzz was great. Was with my dad and he said he noticed people who hadn't been the game in 20 years, I've got friends with the same attitude, "I'm not paying to watch that e". It was good to see the town rally behind the team, sitting rock bottom of the championship and bringing in 5500 fans is a great effort by the club. With the release of some quality first teamers this week, I can see results dropping off, fastly followed by the crowds. It's all about survival this year which for me is almost certain, but play offs will be too far away.

That's just the way I see it for Leigh still, However, apart from Toronto (and surprise package Sheffield - it's amazing what a couple of class half backs can do!) everyone else has been more than capable of taking points off each other. e.g. we've beaten Fev and Toulouse at home, which we failed miserably to do last season, 'Fax have struggled against everyone, (except us!) and Fev have blown hot and cold, etc. etc. I'm not entirely sure that the play-offs are beyond you - although that largely depends on who you can manage to keep hold of. Here's hoping we manage three closer games against you, than we did in SL! And, those three games excepted, good luck for the season.

Liam Hood will be huge for you guys. Very, very impressed with him. Looking forward to the Leigh game more than any, loved the old games at Hilton park and the new ground.
We’ve beaten Toulouse, Featherstone and Halifax and if we win our game in hand over Sheffield were only 5 wins offs a playoff spot


Think we’ve lost too much quality to get there though.

I guess, at the end of the day, if you don't manage it this time you have, just like us, got to be relieved that your club is still very much alive. I wouldn't want any other fans to go through the end of season and close season that we went through.

I pointed out that administration and liquidation were two different things. Is that wrong?
As for "chill", the condescending tone of Mr Dog was worthy of the response it got.....I may not be a tax lawyer or accountant, but the fundamentals I do understand, be that in lay-man's terms.