I was really disappointed to read about what happened to Paul Hansbury.
A really good bloke who used to put 90+ hours a week in for that club.

From what little I know I think Widnes allthough they had finacial problems were well and truly stiched up by the RFL when they were relagated to allow Crusaders in to Super League.


In their hour of need they certainly did not get the same treatment as Bradford have had recently and as far as I am concerned Widnes are a much bigger name or iconic club in rugby league than Bradford will ever be.

As a buisness venture most if not every rugby league club would not be a good investment as there is little or no chance of making a great deal if any commercial profit that could be taken away to swell your bank account as compared to what would be classed as normal buisness and I would have thought that any new owner or invester would be doing so with this fact in mind.

They are normally attracted by love of the club and the game but that has to be balanced by common sense.

It then comes down to how much money they have and how long they are prepared to spend it on the club concerned.

Whether this is short or long term it would make good sense to get others on board to offset the costs and wouldn't automatically mean that the main man was going to walk away.

The game is on it's knees so much that a finacial crises will not be far away from most, another club today our club tomorrow or the next year so there is no return in looking at potential problems with other clubs as it will be us again no doubt sometime down the line.

But how much has he poured down the toilet to get them where they are now? Which, incidentally is bottom of the SL. If he "sold" the club now he will get little or no money from the sale because it needs more wads of cash just to get rid if the wooden spoon. It needs more Sky money, or a Chairman who lives, breathes and dies for Widnes or ultimately for some part of SL to return to semi- pro status, hence the rumoured change to two SL's of ten.

Purely hypothetical, but if I was to take ownership of a sports club tommorrow, I would implement a 90% of previous years income spend policy, this would force the club/business to operate more susstainably and also to market itself to improve its core customer base, which is the single biggest failing of so many sports clubs

Problem is your customers get hacked off if you're not fighting for a top six spot. Customers are fickle and there are no guarantees that you'll get enough of them through the door in order to pay for a competitive product. In theory you could spend hardly anything and finish bottom of the pile every year.

Yes was a good boy.

Joking aside the game is on a downward slope in how it is run to be honest.I am hoping Widnes come higher than bottom, and i expect bottom ,so anything higher would be a bonus.Teams like Salford cheated last year by spending beyond their money coming into the club,so i think a salary cap should be on attendances and build gradually.Wakefield have increased attendances by doing pretty well and luck with injuries.Goodluck Fax for the season.

What price were/are Wakefields season tickets ?

So the other option is buy a big prop and a fast winger and



Community work, marketing on a much higher scale along with a few leaps of faith are what will grow a sports business, just hoping for a winning team is just slowly dying, the world has changed as it always will, change with it or die , that applies to most businesses

Not sure mate and dont know if had many offers which can increase the average attendances.Widnes did not have many offers and sometimes can be good and bad.

Brew nobody will ever make money on a sports club, you put money in for the love of the club and don't expect to make anything back on it.

Heaven knows why anyone uses the word investor /investment in the same breath as a Rgby League club , if they are very lucky at best they might scrape out with the money they put in .Most can`t do that as it just brings the Club down if they do so they have to leave it till the Club gets in a better position to pay them back which will never happen.