Me. And it is. Starts the season off on the complete wrong footing. I've been saying it ever since we were first in it.

Brian Noble to go next when they lose to Cas on Friday night.

Give over, there aren't enough trophies to win.

Oh for the days of 1973-74 season and the County Cups, Floodlit Trophy, John Player, Captain Morgan, play-offs, Challenge Cup - and a Kangaroo tour, ashes series, with a Lions tour down under at the end of it all.

That's what I call variety in a season. Players could earn county caps and there was so much more on offer....why a Keith Senior type would never have been off e-bay had it existed then.

Now, all everyone wants to do is shorten the season, lessen the number of games because the players are tired. There's more to life than league gameszzzzz

I would hate us to have a season like in Oz where its CLOSED for half the year. Its not our culture to have six months off, nor will it ever be.

viking man wrote
WTF you mentalist, pre season results havent been the best and we have been awful in certain games. Isnt it better to get rid now rather than half way through a season?

If i was a mentalist i would not ask the question why sack now and not at the end of last season or before this seasons preperations started as i as a mentalist would know the answer

men⋅tal⋅ist   /ˈmɛntlɪst/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [men-tl-ist] Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. a person who believes in or advocates mentalism.
2. a person who believes that the mind and its functions are a legitimate area of psychological research.
3. a mind reader, psychic, or fortuneteller.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1780–90; mental 1 + -ist
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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It does seem rather amateurish, but there could be more to this than one loss. It is a stupid time to fire a coach, but let's all have a gander at Wigan over the next couple weeks ...

It will be interesting as in the past they have been quick to sack coaches after a few bad games.

Oldham with all due respect were an NL2 club and with or without 13 men they looked better than us. We only started to score once they tired and that you would expect against part-time opposition. It wasn't good enough.

For me it was clear from this one game that we were going in the wrong direction for the season. If Oldham could make us look ordinary then what of Leigh, Halifax, Toulouse? The natural order of things on the National Leagues is the team with the full-time squad and the biggest crowds goes through the year winning the title with seemingly little effort. Huddersfield (undefeated I think), Salford twice etc. This doesn't seem to be the case with Widnes and its not acceptable.

I was looking round the squad and they liked size, we lacked big names. Oldham had more than we did! It wasn't something that was going to be rectified by playing a few games. We looked worse than last year and that team was built by scratch.

I wouldn't say it was knee jerk I just think they realised they'd made a mistake giving him another contract and they could see how clear the indicators were that it wasn't going to be an different this year. We can't afford to waste a year. Plus we got 2800 for the game which was OK for the NRC but I think Saturday would have saw another 500 shaved off that at least. Its likely Steve O' realised just how unpopular he was with fans and how that could impact money and crowds, which are important for the whole franchise malarkey.

I concur, its like the Premier League starting the season with 4 rounds of the Carling Cup before starting the League.

Franchise application aside I really don't care if we win it or not. I was mildly happy when we won it last time but it didn't mean anything.

Really?

So, no one wants to start with the Northern Rail Cup then ?

With an 11-team league (20 games) would you want the season to end in July, then, like in 2001 ? I wouldn't.

I can't see anything wrong with starting the season in this manner as it allows the coaches to fine-tune their squads ahead of their respective Championship seasons without any undue pressure.

Except when you're bad enough to lose abysmally at home to a part-time side from a lower division the knives are out nice and early

He was always on borrowed time. Kurt Sorensen anyone ? He wasn't photographed in Widnes' new kit for nothing in Oz last year.....watch this space.

Quote: miscreant "So, no one wants to start with the Northern Rail Cup then ? With an 11-team league (20 games) would you want the season to end in July, then, like in 2001 ? I wouldn't. I can't see anything wrong with starting the season in this manner as it allows the coaches to fine-tune their squads ahead of their respective Championship seasons without any undue pressure. Except when you're bad enough to lose abysmally at home to a part-time side from a lower division the knives are out nice and early Firstly it wasn't an abysmal loss, Oldham played very well. Me and my brother have been critics of the Nothing Rail cup for a long time. Heres a little example from 2007 when it wasn't even pre-season, forums.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight= It just guarantees that when the real season starts there is about half of the excitement that there would have been.

Quote: miscreant "So, no one wants to start with the Northern Rail Cup then ? With an 11-team league (20 games) would you want the season to end in July, then, like in 2001 ? I wouldn't. I can't see anything wrong with starting the season in this manner as it allows the coaches to fine-tune their squads ahead of their respective Championship seasons without any undue pressure. Except when you're bad enough to lose abysmally at home to a part-time side from a lower division the knives are out nice and early Firstly it wasn't an abysmal loss, Oldham played very well. Me and my brother have been critics of the Nothing Rail cup for a long time. Heres a little example from 2007 when it wasn't even pre-season, forums.rlfans.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight= It just guarantees that when the real season starts there is about half of the excitement that there would have been.

Obviously you don't realise that Ste mac was in his 4th year at the club?

Brain nobles p45 is beeing written as i type this i suspect!