Quote sally cinnamon="sally cinnamon"14 teams in SL is too many, there aren't enough clubs who can be viable. I know people talk about Widnes all the time but if Widnes come up they will struggle and struggle and I bet in a couple of years time you will hear about financial crisis at the club again and administration. Then you get calls for a Cumbrian franchise, exactly the same would happen, they would last a couple of years and then go bust. It was hardly 'unpredicted' when Celtic Crusaders came in, that they would get in this sort of mess.
The irony is that on the other side you get people saying Wakefield should be forced out of SL and lose their licence to let an expansion team/Widnes come in, but despite having a rocky ride in the last decade, Wakey have managed to keep their heads above water and survive. The only expansion team that has managed to make it without going bust is Catalans because there's money and infrastructure in France, so if we let a new team in I would be looking there at places like Toulouse, even if they aren't a huge success on the field at first at least the French clubs have got money behind them.
Celtic were always going to be another Gateshead Thunder mind you if Widnes had been allowed up instead I bet they would have ended up going bust as well. Widnes might make it up in the next year or so and it feels right to have them in the top division because of their history but it will be sad to see them come up and just be everyones whipping boys until they go bust again.'"
I think you need to get yourself a new crystal ball there, because it’s talking complete .
Widnes would be a B grade club, playing to the full salary cap, immediately on entering Super League. We may struggle on the field for the first couple of seasons, that’s only to be expected, but they would be one of the most financially secure clubs in SL. The club didn’t amass any debt while in SL last time, and this time they are run far better and have a multi-millionaire backer in the form of Steve O’Connor. The Vikings have a SL attendance average of 6,500 - 7,000 – and that’s with a poor team heading for relegation. During the period we were in SL we averaged at least 1,500 more than Wakefield, Salford, Huddersfield and Harlequins. We also have excellent nationally recognised sponsors in Stobart and are getting more on board at a fair rate of knots. We've also just made £1million profit!
So could you please explain why we appear so weak to you, instead of just assuming that they will fail?
Because, it seems to me, that you know all about Widnes.
