The table is definitely sad reading for Cheshire Rugby league.
Maybe it's time to think about a Warrington/ Widnes merger again to see if a consistent big team can be established.

We're not biting.

It's an interesting taboo. What would the world look like now, had all the mergers gone ahead?

Warrington wouldn't have a team as Cheshire would have reverted back to the playing venue team... Widnes. Just like Hull/Gateshead Huddersfield/Sheffield.

Maybe you would. Gateshead re-formed eventually becoming Newcastle and Sheffield also re-formed. The net result is playing at a lower level though.

Yes lower tier as reformed is not exactly true.
New teams who have taken the name of a current club who rebranded and dropped the former name.
If you can follow that.

What?? Venues were never discussed. I would imagine the plan (if it had ever gotten to that stage, which was never going to happen), would have been to split venues. In 1995 both Naughton Park and Wilderspool were under-invested stadia, so there was no obvious first choice. Likely it would have come down to whoever could get investment for the ground development first.

It would be interesting to be able to jump to a parallel universe to see what would have happened. I fancy it would have to turned into some disastrous nightmare.

I remember it different. A new stadium to be built over by Curdley Cross.

Even so it was all small speculation. No one kicked up more a fuss about it than us Wire fans.

Have the sands of time clouded this widnes wire merger for me...?

As I recall the idea was banded about. And I saw the graphic on sky sports at the time showing what would be the proposed teams. ... but it sounds like as the years have gone by people think these mergers were closer than they really were. ....

I mean come on a team called Cumbria...? Was that ever discussed sensibly?
an area that size with not the best travel network to link the club's together..... you'd have been better merging Huddersfield and Leigh.

As a fan at the time I felt no immediate possibility of those mergers ever happening. Was that because We were a division above Widnes With the better stadium (more seats and all covered!! ) and better team. And more of our identity would have been retained. ..I don't know.

All I know is. the group of us at the time discussed it once and decided we wouldn't watch a team not called Warrington or not playing in Warrington.

I suspect it wasn't as close to happening as some have since made out......

We've been told by sky what to do since day one......if they wanted merged teams they'd have got them

There was a big cash drop for merging. The Wire fans dug their heals in. Why must Wires(back then) and Widnes but not wigan and saints. It stunk of lyndsey pie love.
He now boast he was right after Catalans...ahem what happened to Paris and London?

The idea was basically to benefit sky by picking up an ailing sport & moulding it in their image with stupid animal names & a franchise system. They didn't realise how parochial rugby league was & still is. It would be like asking Liverpool & Everton or Celtic & Rangers to merge.