Did I dream Starbug saying Leigh were crap and rightly went down or not?



Widnes finished 2nd bottom and were relegated, which in any other year would not have happened. This second relegation spot was generated to allow the French in as well as whoever won the NL GF.

Whilst being the rules at the time, they are also the facts; nothing there which rewrites history.

To claim that Widnes only went bust to enable them to rewrite an unfavourable rental agreement

[rather than because their board spent money they didn't have to maintain a squad they couldn't afford, gambling the entire existence of the club on winning one game of rugby (in the hope of using the next year's TV money to repay the deliberate holes they'd left in their finances and lied to the RFL about as part of the promotion assessment) – and losing that gamble]

though …


that's blatant rewriting of history.


Whingeing about being relegated because you finished in a relegation position, after accepting that 11th was a relegation position at the start of the season: that's just sour grapes and deliberate victimhood*. More so when you're doing it on behalf of somebody else.

Ignoring the role of Leigh's SL and full time adventure in the 'financial restructuring' (I think that was the phrase at the time?) that followed shortly after is either wishful thinking, deliberate amnesia, or rewriting of history, mind.













* and of course, I speak as a fan of a club who was rightly relegated after finishing 11th, because that was the relegation spot, and we'd signed up to it at the start of the 2006 season.

Then you need to see a doctor. You're either suffering amnesia or the onset of dementia.

Our chairman/sugar daddy walked out on the first game of the season. The whole squad recruitment was based on him staying with the club, when he dropped out we had two choices. To continue and play for Super League and pay off our debts that way or to drastically reduce our wage bill and risk re-building a whole squad mid-season. Not wildly different from what you described but it's worth noting the circumstances of the time. We didn't just go out and spend what we knew we couldn't pay for, we spent as we thought we could pay for so long as our sugar daddy paid the bill (something the RFL don't seem to be wildly against I might add). Yes it was a mistake to continue and a huge gamble which didn't come off but it wasn't as reckless and clear cut as you made out.

In the run-up to the GF you managed to assure the RFL of your financial soundness as part of the promotion asssessment. Having assured everybody you were 'sound as a pound' – the day after the GF you (ie the people in charge) wound up the club and sacked your entire playing staff without notice. Reckless and clear cut I'd say.

Fortunately, you found someone prepared to rescue the club and get it back up and running again before the following season.

That doesn't alter the recklessness of gambling the entire existence of the club on one night in October and losing – which was a betrayal of the players, and all the other employees of the club, and more importantly the fans. And of both the short and medium term future of the club … without that failed gamble, I've no doubt Widnes would have been in a much stronger position to mount an SL bid from NL1 (if not necessarily from within SL) in 2008.

The authors of the misfortunes of Widnes RLFC in 2007/8 are no-one other than Widnes RLFC.

it's my forte

I think you will find in an earlier post Demonuk said his memory had failed him and he had forgot what had happend.

[iAs[/i reckless and clear cut.

It was the decision to continue with the same playing staff once circumstances changed that was reckless. Rather than as you originally implied that we went out from the offset with a squad we couldn't afford. It's worth noting little details like the person who bankrolled the club walking out in this story, hence it not being [ias[/i clean cut as you originally described.

Oh there are a number of villains involved in the story. All from within the club.

See so it's your lots bloody fault the Taffs got in , if you lot had done things properly we wouldn't have Celtic in all this trouble now

Or would we