Seems to me that part of their problem is down to the fact that they DID spend hundreds of thousands on semi-pro players, when sadly they were in the SL and needed some who were a bit better.

i fully agree, and its a point i have been trying to make with regards to the proposed Paris club and also the current position Toulouse are in

spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on winning the championship will have very little benefit for them or other clubs,

i would rather see Toulouse spending £30k on another development officer or junior coach than on a 30 year old player who will play in the first team for a couple of years then leave when they move up to SL

Do you need "to give them a chance" when they don't even have 17 players?

It's hardly an insight to say that this isn't a good thing.

The most obvious would be a chance to build up a larger supporter base and blood more welsh youngsters, so that those youngsters could hit the ground running in sl.

I was pretty split about whether the crusaders should come up this time, but i'm leaning towards the idea that they should have waited till the next franchise as i think that would have seen them lay more solid foundations and allow them to be better on and off the filed when they got to sl.

Id doesnt matter know though, they have a licence and everything possible must be done to ensure they survive (and the new club flourishes(sp)).

And that is precisely the reason why you are not worth debating anything with.

Fwiw i attended my club's fans forum and squad night on tuesday and was in awe of the people i listened to speaking about the long term plans for our club. I'm looking forward to continuing the journey that they have started in Widnes and another two years of success in a vibrant competition.

Widnes fans have nothing to be bitter about. We've moved on. It's about time people like you did the same rather than trotting out that same tired and ill informed opinion of us just because people like me disagree with your opinion.

I suggest you refrain from getting personal and making this into a mindless rant about bitter flatcappers.

the amount of anti expansionists who say we arent worth debating with then keep doing it

What sort of plans have been made?

You're more than welcome to join the discussions on the Widnes forum about the squad night and Widnes' potential.

translation - no plans.

i just made it up

thanks for the heads up.

I'm with Smokey's initial point on this one; four years ago we had nothing, at least there's a profile there now and 2 Welsh based teams.
The problem could be, if this takes off in C1 then they might be the death of the Crusaders. They, with any luck need to get back to Newport asap.

In wrexham I cannot see them surviving. I know a few people up there that are considering going a few games but they said it's not really their team, why bother. The other point is could they set up something up grassroots wise in Chester? It's not far away and Chesters right on the heartlands but there's NOTHING RL wise in the city. They dont even realise there's 2 codes of rugby in the city for the most part. I doubt you could get people from chester going to watch the Crusaders but it may be worth attempting to get a development officer in the schools. They've got nothing else of any note sport wise in that place.

Nobody is disputing that allowing CC to join NL2 was a good idea, only that pushing them for SL was a disaster.

Instead of having one SL on the verge of collapse and yet-to-be-created CC1 club, we could have had a top CC club with a decent plan for SL.



Chester Gladiators don't exist then?

Quote: Dico " The other point is could they set up something up grassroots wise in Chester? It's not far away and Chesters right on the heartlands but there's NOTHING RL wise in the city. They dont even realise there's 2 codes of rugby in the city for the most part. .'" www.chestergladiators.com They already have community links with clubs in the vicinity.

Quote: Dico " The other point is could they set up something up grassroots wise in Chester? It's not far away and Chesters right on the heartlands but there's NOTHING RL wise in the city. They dont even realise there's 2 codes of rugby in the city for the most part. .'" www.chestergladiators.com They already have community links with clubs in the vicinity.

Yes I know about those, don't try and get smart but I know numerous kids who attend schools in chester that haven't even mentioned RL on their curriculum EVER. The presence of a SL club within ten minutes drive could change that

According to the RAC site...

Chester to Wrexham, 13 miles, 20 minute drive

Chester to Widnes, 19 miles, 30 minute drive

Chester to Warrington, 22 miles, 32 minute drive

Chester used to have 2 SL sides within a half hour drive, give or take, and still has one (the current CC holders no less).

Surely that extra 10 minutes compared to the trip to Wrexham wouldn't be a deal breaker for many?