Quote: littlerich "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.'"
Rich you should know that my post wasn't aimed at the likes of you. It was for Nat's benefit who's continual baseless disdain for us is bordering on delusional. Where would we be without Steve O'Connor? Who cares!! We've got him and his exceptional business success striving to create a self sustaining club, with the best possible team he can assemble! Some seem to think he's just a money man but he's far more than that. And telling people that we'd have gone bust again without him is just about as ludicrous as you can get.
In my opinion comparisons to Leighton Samuels treatment of Crusaders suggest nothing but envy towards us. What he did at the Crusaders has no bearing whatsoever on what SOC has done for us. Samuels demanded Super League and held the RFL to ransom. SOC has taken his medicine, sucked it up and got on with playing the RFL's game.
As for whether or not people will be talking about us being crap in the Championship, we've made sacrifices to get to where we are and those sacrifices WILL pay off long term and make our 'crap' time in the Championship seem worth it. You only have to look at the talents of the likes of Grant Gore, Jack Owens and Chris Lunt to see this.
