Quote Bullseye="Bullseye"Widnes have done really well. They have a good man in charge who stays away from the limelight and lets people get on with their jobs. They have a decent modern ground and have stuck by a coach and allowed him to develop a side without pressure.
I wonder if that would’ve been so easy had relegation been threatening. Maybe they would’ve looked more short term. Perhaps Betts might have got the bullet by now?
Looking at Widnes you can definitely see the benefit of allowing a promoted club the chance to develop without being relegated.
Then again you can also point to some other clubs who have not developed in that period despite having the benefit of no relegation. My own club probably deserved to go down in 2014. Wakefield have been bumping along for years. Salford have spent huge amounts without any return.
You can’t simply close SL off. You need to refresh it and bring in clubs who can offer something when others aren’t progressing otherwise you get complacency and stagnation.
Perhaps any Championship side that gets promoted under the new system should get 2 seasons relegation immunity? It’d give them more of a chance. As it is any team that gets promoted has the devil’s own job recruiting at that time since everyone is signed up apart from those released by the relegated club.'"
Widnes are looking good but for my money Brett hodgson is the brains behind that outfit and the football they are playing.
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