but they were the catalist they havent stoped bleating for the last 3 years how they get no money the game is dying and it is all the fault of no p&r it has nothing to do with franchising but all to do with championship clubs not being able to grasp the consept of running the club in a proper maner when this kicks in who of the championship clubs can go full time answer non of them so a 2x12 is a non starter as all it will do is wipe out the lower tear within 3 years i dont know if widnes will stay up next year but if they dont then it will mean the club will fold very fast as all the players we have developed will go to one of the sl sides

Complete rubbish, you are seriously suggesting the SL clubs owners are doing this because of ' whinging ' from below?

WHAT A RIDICULOUS POST....you have NO memory my scouse friend !!


Widnes Vikings go into administration


WIDNES Vikings are set to start next season with a six point deduction before they even begin their National League One campaign.

Widnes Vikings are set to start next season with a six point deduction before they even begin their National League One campaign.

That's the likely outcome after the club went into administration yesterday.

However, despite a degree of doom and gloom in the town, sources close to the Vikings were keen to stress that going into administration was the best way forward for the club.

Already some of the current directors are believed to be planning a rescue package.

Widnes' plight came into the public domain following their defeat by Castleford Tigers in Sunday's Co-Operative National League One grand final.

The game was billed as the £10million match with a place in Super League at stake and a strong likelihoood of a franchise to stay in the top flight for many years to come.

Had the Vikings won, many of the 2007 squad would have stayed on board to take up Super League contracts.

But, given the underlying financial position of the club, none are believed to have been pre-contracted to play in National League One in the event of Widnes failing to make promotion.

As a consequence, many are moving on to pastures new.

The destination of other Vikings players is likely to come to light over the coming days.

A statement released by the Vikings read: "Following Sunday's disappointing defeat, the board met at length on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the current financial position of the club.

"After these meetings the decision was regrettably taken to put Widnes Rugby League Football Club Ltd into administration.

"This decision will hopefully allow the administrator the opportunity to achieve a sale of the club and, with it, the potential to keep professional rugby league alive in the borough where it has been an integral part of people's lives for five generations and given great enjoyment.

"The administrator ill be seeking offers and already board members have confirmed their intention to put together a package to take the club forward into 2008 and beyond."

OK, OK, let's all agree, it's the power of The Championship clubs that have forced 14 SL chairmen to kill the game by bringing back P&R. Championship clubs also shot Kennedy and faked a moon landing (by cunningly using the Odsal ground at night).

Oh and Gilder when you say [i"Similarly, the intention was to set standards which clubs outside the top division knew they had to strive for in order to have a chance of getting a licence" [/i- do you think the intention to set those standards [uwas achieved by every licence holder? [/u It's OK setting standards for the great unwashed who live below stairs but when the toffs start reeking of fish it's a bit rich to start mocking the under butler.

If every licence holder was true to their franchise status and lived up to their "super" billing we wouldn't be having this discussion. It's they who have folded their deck, no-one else and certainly not the Championship clubs, holding their one dollar casino chip.

And before Headhunter trots out his usual boring retort FWIW my own club is not worthy of a SL place either and even on current form wouldn't be challenging for promotion any time soon. I don't have a problem with that. Unlike Headhunter, I attend matches and the view from down here isn't so bad IMHO. I enjoy it. Don't be dragging Championship clubs into the SL failure blame game - we're not even in it!

I'm not gloating, I just think it's rather funny that some (and I admit far from all) SL fans are now getting a tad nervous that their protected place in SL is under threat.

FWIW from me, "my club" is managing to operate within it's means (as are others in the Championship) without any funding from any TV companies, or indeed any major cash injection from individual sponsors. Perhaps if SL clubs learned that they need to balance their budget properly, the game might be in a better place?

...and before you start, previous administrations at Halifax have proved absolutely how to bring a club to it's knees...

Out of interest why do people think the SL chairmen have voted for this? I know our chairman has been going on about a smaller SL for years as he thinks it will mean avg players won't be able to command as high a salary if there are less employers.

I am guessing every chairman thinks they will be ok and avoid relegation but three are going to regret the vote. I wonder how unanimous it was?

IMO SL chairman voted for this because the amount of meaningless games is what is killing clubs.

I find this a very strange mentality. Playing to a avoid relegation adds very little meaning to each game for the majority of clubs. Every result has meaning, reaching the playoffs has meaning, finishing higher than your rival has meaning, winning the games you expected to lose and losing the games you expected to win has meaning. Only one team can win SL so revel in the week to week contest your club is engaged in.

Brilliant writing and absolutely spot on.

Meaningless performances more like.

Forgive my stupidity (I know, that's a lot of forgiveness) but why does it mean that three go down in 2014? There is no promotion of a Championship club next year so why are three coming down ??