www.widnesvikings.co.uk/article.php?id=3118

www.widnesvikings.co.uk/article.php?id=3118

A lot of work ahead of them if their SL application is successful.
They will have to replace a Championship quality squad with a SL quality one.
That will be difficult to do.
I wish them the best of luck as I really do hope Widnes get into SL the next time around, then stay there.

Me too.

Hopfully Dennis will be given a fair crack of the whip this time around. Really happy that an relativley young English coach has got the gig.

Good luck to him.

Welcome back Denis to our game good luck and here's hoping you get a franchise in place of one of the yorkshire clubs that are in danger of being kicked out of SL

+1

Glad to have him back in RL, hope he brings success to Widnes and gets that England RL job he was after...

+1

cant be much worse than the coach we have now!

Good luck to him and to Widnes.

As for a franchise, poor old Widnes really have been shockingly treated by the RL in the past. (We complain quite rightly about the anti-Wigan bias in RL circles that surfaces from time to time (the ridiculous "spirit of the cap" ruling, the fiasco of Roby being awarded MoS ahead of Barrett etc) but Widnes have had a far harder time of it than us over the years.)

The long suffering fans of that club deserve better. Widnes must surely get a franchise next time around.

But this is RL we are talking about, so I fear that even with the current Wakey and Crusader debacles there is still a chance Widnes fans could be in for yet more disappointment....

Think he’ll do really well. In one of the books I read (not sure if it was Terry Newton’s) it was said that he was a good coach, but had only just stopped playing and was still too close to the team as one of the lads, otherwise he may have done well.

Good luck Denis, good to see an English coach given the chance. Hope to see Widnes in SL they deserve it a lot more than some other SL teams I could mention.

I don't quite see how widnes have been shockingly treated as everybody keeps saying. They were relegated fairly and squarely and didn't get back up via the GF when it was still possible. They got themselves into a huge financial mess and didn't deserve a franchise the last time they came around. However, Steve o'connor has turned them around and they do deserve SL status this time around and they will get it. I just don't see how everybody is blaming the RFL for widnes' plight.

more chance of hell freezing over.they were promised a franchise for 2012 on the same day salford and celtic were given the nod for the current franchise period.

Yeah, he was pretty much forced on to the coaching staff on his playing wage which Wigan couldn't keep on the salary cap.

I think if you look back at the whole history of SL a rather different picture emerges.

In relation to the most recent decision and the financial mess, that was the previous board/owners' issue. The O'Connor bid should have been judged on its own merits rather than punishing the fans for the errors of the previous owners. Especially as it is clear to anyone that a number of clubs had major financial problems at the time of the franchise bid/were likely to develop them in future due to the weakness of their business case and planning. I don't see why a Widnes bid that was technically and financially sound should be blackballed and weaker bids put through in an attempt to punish Widnes. That's just ridiculous - our sport isn't in a position to be doing that, if the RL wants to punish clubs then they should insist on personal guarantees from directors/owners rather than hitting the fans. And I haven't even mentioned yet the fact that the stadium plans of a number of clubs were obviously aspirational at best and downright fictitious at worst. So the decision last time was a joke as well, but that's just my opinion!

Denis' pic on the official Wigan site makes him look like he's advertising for Safestyle UK! (other double glazing firms are available)