I'd sooner play them twice a year in SL than see them go down. It's a bitter irony that in their 'exile' years when pleading to get into SL the war cry was that Widnes is a 'natural RL town' and the crowds would flock to see the side in SL. Sadly this has proven untrue. Like most potential supporters, they won't show up year-in-year-out to see their team prop up the league and get nowhere in the cup. If they are eve to be competitive they need new owners with the will to invest.

We're in a results business. People soon get fed up with constant failure, especially when they're forking out £20+ for it.

Our recruitment under Smith for his last 4-5 years was shambolic. Widnes Salford's and especially Leigh's has been catastrophic in the same time. That's why they're struggling. All the money Leigh have urinated up the wall on misfits and has beens. Laughable. Widnes and Salford have just sleepwalked into where they are.

Recruit badly, you pay the price

I agree, particularly with the second half of your statement.

The main difference this time for me is that IF they go down again (I admit to being happy-ish about this prospect in previous years) is that I think that there will be serious ramifications for an old rival this time, there's a good chance it will be over and out from them

I understand completely why this thread exists and was expecting much worse when I clicked on it, but there's actually a lot of fair comments. Whilst we'll always be around in some form, there's a good chance that we've already played our last ever Super League game. Despite doing a lot of good work off the pitch, together with our excellent youth set up, we've got nobody to blame but ourselves for our current predicament; we're increasingly out of our depth at this level and several years of poor recruitment has caught up with us.

I'd be happy for us to re-group and be a decent competitive Championship team but it's the derbies I'd miss most - every other game seems flat in comparison.

I thought when Widnes sacked the coach I felt you signed your own death warrant. Betts had dona great job keeping Widnes in there with the odd high flash.

What a relief that we are not as cruel & nasty as you thought we might be. Well not all of us anyway.

Classy Dire fans www.wissl.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8488

Classy Dire fans www.wissl.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8488

This. Widnes seems to be too small a town to support a Super League club without a wealthy owner who’s prepared to bankroll them.

If I were a Widnes fan I’d be happier watching a successful championship team topping the tables and the attendance charts with 3-4000, than getting smashed each week with the same attendance and no atmosphere. Anytime you want to see a bit of super league you can watch Sky at the pub or put on some clandestine clothing and head to a Saints or Warrington derby game.

I actually made a tongue-in-cheek statement on a recent Jonno the Great trolling thread, in which I envisioned seeing Widnes as a feeder club to Warrington with their decent youth setup. Now I’m thinking that may actually be a good idea - they can dual reg with us and we get to share our fringe SL players and talented youth. I may even head down there to watch them like I used to watch our reserves (off to wash my mouth out!)...

Didn't hear the end of it from my Wid supporting mates when we were languishing in the middle 8's. That link to their website is hilarious though; they have lots to worry about, yet they are more concerned about what Warrington fans are saying on a RL forum.

If Wid went down, I'd feel sorry for my mates who support them, but to be perfectly honest, that's as far as it would go. They deserve to be relegated, they've been abysmal for ages and a spot in the Championship is probably what they need. I could go so far as to say I hope they go the same way as Leigh; in a load of bother financially and all the players leaving, but that might be taking it too far.

PS - I couldn't care less about them beating the, what was, 4th best Australian team in the '89 WCC.

No chance of us staying up now. As much as I love beating Wire (Can't remember the last time it happened), it's the game I look forward to more than any. Warrington away, a proper rugby league day out. Action on the field and a good day out on the Ale from 10 in the morning until the following day

We apparently have a sponsor Luke Backhouse who has money to burn. Rumoured that he wants to buy the club outright and spend a fortune but the club are reluctant to sell for whatever reason I don't know. He funded the Gelling signing.

Like many of you say, we are in the position we are for a reason. Last season finishing 12th should have been the wake up call James Rule needed. Finishing rock bottom again I have no arguements about going down, it may be the best thing for us. We will be back but fear it will be a lot harder. Can see Ollie Ashall and Danny Walker being snapped up, 2 great young players surrounded by absolute garbage.

Good luck against the Frogs on Saturday.

When I Googled the populations of all the towns with Super League teams I was quite surprised to see how small Widnes is, however, it's not just about the size of the population it's also about the RL heritage. It's far easier to attract the next generation of fans when they follow in their parents footsteps. Widnes has a long rugby league heritage and they have travelling support. Whilst Toronto, Catalan and Toulouse may get good home support (I'm not sure how many London are attracting these days) they won't be swelling the attendance figures at away games.

I'd hate to see Widnes go the way of the once mighty Bradford Bulls.

You don't want one with money to burn. You want someone like Simon Moran or our new Chairman Stuart Middleton who will spend money but wisely and patiently. Moran kept his expenditure to a minimum whilst the finance team - led by the very capable but boringly named John Smith, and Norman Summers, (who is still a director) got the club on an even keel financially in the run up to the new stadium move. Splashing the cash too early (see Dr Koukash at Salford) is not a good policy for the long term future of the club.

Haven't read the thread but don't think we should be laughing til we see how at least Saturday pans out!

Coming from Manchester and having never met a Widnes fan, my only experience of Widnes fans is JonnoTheGreat; the most bitter man in this website. So thanks to the Widnes posters above for not biting to the thread title and having a fair and square conversation.