You forgot to mention keeping the game within the M62

to be honest i've been disappointed.
I probably expected too much but considering both you and Salford came up at the same time I think they've fared far better.
I've seen a few of your games and been really disappointed by the standard and okay you haven't been hammered much but most of the games you were never really in them. I was hoping you'd sign a couple more 'marquee' players too.
On the positive side i'm confident if you get it right on the pitch the fans will come, you've had a couple of good attendances (and some bad ones)and the club setup impresses me from what i've read. JD seems a good coach too but comparing you to catalans would be pointless, different kettle completely, it's an experiment, one which for me is just about floating above the expectation line.

Out of ten i'd give you a 6 thus far.
I'm looking forward to reading about your progress over the next 2 years.

One last thing I hope the rumours of the clubs financial problems are just tosh but with a couple of attendances you have to wonder.

Its been a failure.


Their player recruitment has been terrible. I mean, they have a bloke from Queensland coaching the side who has gone out and filled the team with imports that would struggle to get a run on the very fringes of our reserve grades over here.

They have signed guys who would have probably gone back to being brick layers and laborers if not for this club!

Disappointed. Your recruitment has been poor and makes me wonder if you have close to the amount of income to spend near the salary cap. Your crowds have been poor and your ground is a dump. I was really hoping that the RFL would only put new teams in that were ready and had the infrastructure but clearly they haven't. That was after all the whole point of licensing wasn't it?

Having said all that I am a massive supporter of getting a SL club in Wales and you are it so good luck and I hope you can build a strong club quicker than the London attempts.

To be fair to Celtic, I imagine recruitment from Australia was always going to be a bit tough given they had no track record at all. Having said that, a lot of their signings smack of 'no money'. They need to start replacing some of the average players with much better ones in key posiitons. I'm not a huge fan of it, but a marquee player wouldn't go amiss either.

Awwwwww, poor Celtic. Still didn't stop them breaking the bank whilst in the 3rd division for Josh Hannay

I suppose signing as many Aussies as you want is always going to be 'tough'.

this thread was always going to get traditionalists upset, they wanted celtic to get hammered every game to prove their point, but it hasn't happened. If we want our great game to survive we need to expand and Celtic is a great opportunity with a fantastic fanbase that can be grown very quickly.

What do you base that on?

in 10 years time when france and wales are strong internationally people will all agree that les cats, toulose and celtic all should be in SL.

if the ESL can develop a credible international tournament then the game will make millions from it

if RL can make massive inroads against union in NZ it can do the same in wales.

competing with RU is easy when you have a product like RL.

]

Stability and Widnes are words that shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

How many times have they gone into administration now? "Stability Widnes'"

Since you posted that they have been in Adiministration twice and then said they were the richest club in the world three times.

Happened in 2007 when the club was under the control of Steven Vaughan. Vaughan - a dodgy boxing promoter who owns Chester City FC, who you may or may not know are absolutely doomed after going into administration and relegation from the football league.

The crisis of the 90s was a long time ago, as the club are under complete financial strength.

The club is absolutely solvent. This is not a Widnes fan claiming we should have been in ahead of Celtic or anyone else, I'm putting the record straight.


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On Topic

I'd give the Crusaders 4/10. Not bad off the field, hopefully they can attract continued support as they need to continue to build. Hopefully a new stadium for them will aid this, as Brewery Field isn't adequate.

I thought Celtic should be a bit more competitive on the field, to be honest.They've recruited poorly. They had since July to prepare for SL, and have got a -poor team. If they had been more competitive, attracting fans would have been easier.

Nonsence, we had a better first season with home-grown players. I wouldn't hold the second against the Crusaders as they don't have an LER to draw from.
I think they've done well enough, need to make a big step up next year and again the year after that.

not great so far, not a disaster...4/10

the team has got to be one of the worst to ever grace Super League - with no "marquee" names or anyone vageuly high profile. Whether it is to do with a lack of money, or the inability to attract players to a new club, I dont know - but they wont last long if they cannot get off the bottom of the league.

Off the field, crowds are not bad, but are only going to go down unless they can get some big names and high performers in.

They have done ok, did anyone expect them to win a match? No, therefore they are 4 points better off than anyone expected.

Crowds have been not good, but not far off some more established SL clubs either.

Playing wise, from the moment they kicked off they got better and better, and are still learning about life in SL. I was and still am dubious about the coaching ability but next season will be a better test of that.

Off field - I couldnt comment, but the small bits I have heard speak of an innovative club looking to push themselves forward at each turn, hell true or not being linked with Gavin Henson is a massive publicity coup.

Now is not the time to judge Celtic, or Salford, or any other club on the lower end of the liscence grading, but at the end of next season with just one more year to nail it.

ps.

Widnes and stable are not words to put together, it might be in the past now, but their track record speaks for itself.

And ultimately they had the same chances as everyone else in the application, and came up short, blaming it on a former chairman is pointless, all clubs woes are the faults of former chairmen.