We've been linked with almost every free agent of the game since we've been super league bound and quite a few on contract. If we signed every one of them we'd have a squad larger than Barrows 46!

What happened I can't do anything about. I was at that game and there were a lot of frustrated fans as it was Mark Smith's last game and he didn't get the send off he warranted but its fair to say that every club has people we'd rather take up another hobby, and you shouldn't let it colour your opinion of all of us.

Whatever the issues of "the rules" it's wrong to attack us for it. I dont even buy this "we weren't trying" business. We've had two teams cheat the cap whereas we have been sticking to it. We've been playing youth players and certain other teams haven't. It's difficult to assume we're going to win the league when most of the teams in it are paying the same wages or more than you. I admit things have not been the best on the pitch, but we're not working under P & R are we?

But if we had P & R we'd never have voted for the lower cap rate. Swings and roundabouts.

FFS, this again .

Ronnie, do yourself a favour, go and have a lie down son.

It would be the same for any club going into SL from a league with a £300k salary cap - even via P&R. So, what is the point you are trying to make?

You're right. All you've done here is bore us all with a massive, pointless whinge.

Those 20 seconds or so of your life must of been costly. Teams with a winning mentallity generally do better when they get promoted as the squad generally has a better morale and they can keep the foundation of the squad in and build around it. Instead you are going to build a completely new team with no chemistry whatsoever which is why you will do worse than you would if you got promoted.

I don't agree with the salary cap but thats a different topic all together

To certain extent, you may be right. But spending up to the salary cap would be a far more important factor, as the squad would have to change dramatically anyway. More often than not, clubs struggled after being promoted via P&R and usually finished around the bottom end. There are very few exceptions. So, this doesn't really back up what you are saying. The main reason why Widnes fans think we will be at the bottom of the league has more to do with the hopeless coach we have in place and not the squad, which has largely been discarded. What chemistry the squad has will come down to good coaching and the quality of the players recruited, and not how a very different bunch of players faired in the Championship.

I actually would bring P&R back tomorrow and raise the salary cap in the Championship to £500,000 (based on club turnover and profits) in order to ease transition.

Judging by the amount of tripe posted on here by certain barrow fans, they cant get enough of slating us, just because we are on the up and looking good as a club. Yes, we are widnes fans, and our club has been run exceptionally well and we are blatantly the best overall prospect from the championship. But as a barrow fan you cant do anything about that but bitch about us like many of you have done for the majority of the past 3 years. so you can slate us all you want but its irrelevant and we couldnt care less.

I agree with what you say about the salary cap about the Championship. I think alot of it should be done to a percentage of turnover to dictate what salary cap you should have. If your club is ready for SL because it is a better business than other clubs then you will be able to spend more on your team therefore will still have to perform well on the field and also improve your club. I think this would be a better balance of improving your club and still being competitive on the field.

Although we have been cheating for the last 4 or so years because we decided to put a muppet with an massive ego as our chairman, the foundation of our 2009 winning team were already playing in NL2 the season before. The Championship player of the year was Andy Ellis he was playing in 2008. Top try scorer james nixon was playing in 2008, and his centre was also playing in 2008. All 3 of these were playing in 2008 and were the main reason we won the league. I think this would also be the case from Championship to SL.

You could talk about P&R and salary cap ect for hours but in the end, the RFL makes the decisions.

Which is precisely why criticising Widnes is pointless.

Surely on that logic discussing anything on a forum is pointless because in the end no one has a choice on what happens in RL?

Not if logic is used, and a genuine point expressed.

Just whinging, talking utter bollox and then contradicting your own contention, is likely to be met with the scorn it deserves. I can't even see any discernible point to what you have written.

Apparently widnes have 3,700 Stronghold members, which I think means Sseason ticket holders. Quite encouraging considering the season is still 6 months away and they've not made a marquee signing as yet. If they double that they'll nearly reach the target they've set themselves. Nice to see a bit of ambition.

I'd imagine we won't hit more than 5k max. Hopefully we can attract one real big name to whet the appetite though. Unfortunately, there's a lot of negativity around the club at present and I can't see many more fans digging deep into their pockets.

I suppose 5 straight defeats will take a fair bit of wind out of people's sails! Granted the signings aren't exactly mind blowing but signing the likes of Briscoe, Clarke and Hanbury is probably about the best a promoted team can hope for being realistic.

Wouldn't surprise me to see widnes pick up one of the off contract NRL stars for next season - a big name would help.