I may be wrong here, but don't the SL teams pull £1 million a season from the RFL/sky? (perhaps someone can confirm this?)

If that is the case and the salary cap is £1.6 million in SL like last year, then surely you only need to find £600k to be up to the max?

I would imagine you were near top of the salary cap last season (either 300k or 400k I can't quite remember) in the Championship, with only £100k funding by the RFL. So you found either £2-300k to operate with much poorer gates than you would in SL. Even the most conservative of estimates would double your gate numbers from what? 2500 in the championship, to approx 5000 average in SL, just because of the proximity, travelling support would easily get you over that figure.

13 home games in SL excluding cup @ again a very conservative average of £10 (probably more) per person x the extra 2500 fans each week = £325,000 if my maths is right.
Not to mention the the extra sponsorship and merchandise sales.

So you can't be that far off being competitive, surely????

Iv'e read somewere SL clubs need a turnover of about 3 million to compete, and
The HKR chairman is on record for saying you need to average 10 thousand gates to break even.

JESUS! DIDNT MEAN TO START WORLD WAR 3!

ALL THIS SPECUALATION IS FANTASTIC.

JUST THINK IF BIG NIGE AND HIS PALS READ ALL THIS, THEN THINK,

"THIER RIGHT YOU KNOW THEM BLUE AND WHITES! THERE ISNT THAT MUCH BETWEEN FAX AND WIDNES' BIDS.......

...SO WHAT WE'LL DO IS, WHICHEVER TEAM BETWEEN FAX AND WIDNES HAVE SCORED MORE TRIES BY FEBRUARY 28TH WE SHALL ELECT AS THE CHOSEN FRANCHISE...SEE YA WAKEY"

CRYSTAL BALL I TELL YA

You'd think so wouldn't you? Why have Wakefield gone bust? Why did Celtic go bust? Why do Harlequins need propping up? There must be some other "miscellaneous" expenditure occuring at these clubs.

Go down to the Shay in the championship till 2015 and watch winning rugby and potentially more trophies to come and generally look forward to Sunday's

or go up next year, get battered out of site every week, and scrape through the 3 years and have to have a benefit game and get fans from every club down to have the club again.

its clear to me what i'd prefer.

i don't think were ready yet, although the fact we have a chance is a nice thing to have.

lets not run before we can walk though ey, we have been doing some good things on and off the pitch over the last 2 seasons.

lets keep the progress going for another 3 years whilst winning on the pitch, hopefully pick up some more floaters and then make a bid and the club should be ready.

we have turned the corner were on the way back.

Good things come to those who wait!!!! is the best quote i can use in this situation

All very laudable. You're crap at Rugby though - not that it matters to any Widnes fan anymore

I have to thank the few deluded fax fans for making me laugh out loud this morning. Nat the ultra troll in particular is on fine form with his anti Widnes garbage. Without O'Connor you cannot say we would have folded the other year unless you have entered a parallel dimension to see what our alternative to O'Connor would be. As for your comparison to Samuel, it's about as wide of the mark as it gets!!! Please explain for the benefit of further laughs where the similarities lie!!

Jealousy is for the weak and when you're on top the weak just want to bring you down. Champions you may be Nat and Fax4life but you're living in a fantasy with the guff you are spouting. Keep 'em coming, this is good comedy!

You're not on top though are you? On the pitch that is. Yes - your license bid is astounding and if all i cared about was a glossy franchise bid then i would be insanely jealous. The only teams i am jealous of is Wigan, Leeds and Saints. The money that i spend on my season ticket and the money i pay at away grounds enables me to watch the most exciting team in this division for the last three years. That's all i care about - that i get value for my money. At some point Widnes fans will wake up and start asking - what about the way my team plays? Am i happy with what i am paying to see and the results that have been served to me? You can't have been over the last two years and you probably won't be for the next 10 years in SL because you aren't going to reach those three teams that i am jealous of. When will be the next time you win a trophy or appear in a final?

I applaud the ambition of Widnes and they are the best of the current applicants. The next step for them is to concentrate on their raison d'être - to be a decent side on the pitch. You don't want people saying in three years time "They're a mediocre Super League side aren't they? Yes, they were crap in the Championship too".

Good luck anyway.

Tbf though mate it's presumptuous both ways that Fax will still go great in Champ & Widnes suffer in SL... Who knows. Also whipping boys first year? Hull KR weren't and we'll have 10 months + money to prepare.

I enjoy the Championship and still go home & away each week but nothing beats the buzz of SL, triple crowds, top draw players you can't not want to be there if we are all being fully honest.

Agreed, although I could leave some SL fans to rot on a barren island though but yes i agree, watching your team go up against the likes of Wigan, Saints and Leeds is great.

My beef isn't with Widnes. It's with the RFL at the almost total lack of consideration as to what goes on on the pitch. If they had their way - in priciple, Blackpool FC would not have been allowed anywhere near Football's Premier League.

Things would be no different in three years. SL clubs would be three years more ahead of us on the pitch. Until the Championship is Full Time, which is never going to happen, there will never be a team that can step up without wholesale changes. Not even Widnes.

It is a nightmare really, you want to see your team win things but you also want to see them in the top flight and up against the best teams/players. We've been up there and did alright but then it went pear shaped and I don't think anybody wants to go back to a time when you just want to win 1 game for some respect.
We are currently watching what I would say is the best rugby played at the Shay, fast and exciting, and the silverware has come with it so I'm still not sure if I want us to go to SL but I guess that's where we need to be. If we get in SL our style of rugby would be a breath of fresh air but would probably end up with us winning very few games so would we then go to 5 and a kick?

Agreed, its a risk I grant you that but I seriously dont think we can increase our crowds much more in this division, we play great rugby, 2 finals, a win, we shall see this year if the crowds go up.

I say if we get offered it go for it.