One of the main reasons that Catalan have been a success so far is that apparently they were told 18 months before they made their debut in the top flight that they were going to be included in SL so they had time to get quite a few things in place, also another reason they have been successful is because the area where they play is a rugby league area.

Celtic only have about 7 months to put together a SL coaching set up, a SL squad of players which isn`t going to be easy as they will probably end up with either reserve grade aussies, players coming to the end of their careers or journey men that have been around the block a few times with a bt of SL experience.

My own opinion is that they shouldn`t have been granted a licence this time round, i`m all for expansion but they havn`t proven so far that they can attract the crowds, they have a ground that the RFL have said they are trying to get away from, also they are from an area where rugby union is the main game and so far the crowds havn`t appeared or shown much interest in RL down that way.

Widnes with a decent team on the pitch have a far better chance to pull in decent sized crowds and offer more to the competition than Celtic do, personally i would be very suprised if Celtic are a force of any kind in 3 years time or if they are still in business, its going to be very hard for them to develop any home grown talent of any kind in a rugby union area.

If they wanted to keep their subscribers surely they would stick with the so called 'bigger clubs' like Widnes and Leigh as its those fans who are canceling their sky.

Mate, you have a top 6 SL side to support, me and dalt (and several others) are having to face another three years of game with Batley, featherstone and the like. Compare that with saints, Wigan, Leeds bulls week in - week out. Just be grateful wire are a very well run club with loads of fans. Within 3 years Widnes will be playing in front of under 2000.
And with regard to 'rl dying' I have no opinion, but I think the way Widnes have now been shafted (by the rfl & our own directors in the past) I think we as fans reserve the right to have apathy towards the powers that be.

it's a shame the Widnes fans seem to be blaming Celtic.

The RFL are solely to blame for letting inferior teams in ahead of Widnes

True but its only natural really I guess.

They should send Richard Lewis a 3-eyed fish in the post in an attempt to display their anger..

Sorry matey but the RFL cannot take any portion of the blame for mismanagement from Stephen Vaughan at Widnes when you looked to him as a saviour & he looked to you as a plaything. OK you have been hard done by twice in the creation of SL & the expansion to include Catalans, but to pull out the sour grapes when your own board has not (on more than one occassion) run the club on a sound financial footing is casting aspersions somewhat.

Fine be depressed. Be apathetic if you want but also be realistic that in 3 years time when the next group of franchises are announced you should be in a strong position to mount an accepted bid for SL status. This is the time when Widnes need their true fans to turn out - the ones who will take the trips to Featherstone, to Batley & to Workington. Not the ones who throw their satelite systems out while watching videos of "when we were good"...

SALFORD.

I was actually thinking about current SL teams who were a fair bit behind Widnes in their application

I'm thinking teams that include players such as Fat Sculthorpe and Ned-how the hell have I made a career in RL-Catic?

Salfords, be in the new stadium in 2010, tap into the massive fan base that is Manchester, does any one really think these will happen....Salford have pulled a blinder here.

Not much promise when you're on the doorstep of Football's recent Champions League winner is there?

That's 1 of the 2.

The second aren't a great distance from them

Why couldn't they tap into that before now?

Not tapped into the manchester fan base for a hundred years...but get a point in the criteria for it...brilliant.

I agree with some of your points, however Catalans still finished bottom in their first season, so that extra 18mnths didn't seem to do them too much good. It doesn't matter if CC finish bottom in their first year, that is another of the benefits of franchising, they are technically being given three years to show they are up for it. Also, the franchising system has been pretty long winded and detailed, so you'd expect CC to have things ready to go...