if we don't get a franchise spot?

Like many others I'm becoming increasing peed off with the whole process and cannot help thinking it's a forgone conclusion we'll be playing in the championship next season. The more I get used to the prospect, the more I can see some silver linings.

Getting hammered by 50+ every week is no fun. I bought 2 junior ST's at the beginning of the year and my kids have pretty much got fed up with going to see us get beat and now don't want to come. At least in the Championship we would be one of the stronger teams which would hopefully bring kids back to the game.

Personally, I'm sick of WTW being treated as some kind of leper by RFL, sky and opposition fans mainly due to the franchising process. I think we've been on tv twice this season, I bet we'd get a lot more tv exposure in the championship and they would actually be games we have a chance of winning, which would from a sponser perspective.

AG has already said he is in for the long haul and that the investment would continue should we not get a license. Although it's not got the glamour of SL it would give us time to rebuild, invest in british youngers rather than 2nd rate imports trying in vain to compete in SL.

A year ago I would have said it's SL or nothing but with the off field management we currently have I now feel demotion would not be the end of WTW and we could actually come back stronger.

I agree with pretty much all that you say, however, I think that we may struggle to gain a SL licence in the future.
It has been said that ourselves and Cas are too close geographically for SL and IF they sort their own stadium out it we may never return.
Having said that, the NL competition is a lot more honest than the contrived version of SL than we have now.
No longer is our game about playing RL, it is about ticking boxes and having a face that fits.
At least we'll have some different grounds to visit and re-new a few aquaintances from years gone by.

If we go down, the RFL will have what they wanted and i dont think they'll make the same mistake again in letting us back in.
The RFLs geographic set up of SL will not be complete IMO until it resembles something like the Cricket County Championship.
I do not envisage it working but they will try to kill off current clubs every/every other, franchise round until they get their way or are ousted/go bust.
Where that leaves us, well to be honest if thats how the want it, we're better off out of it.

Don't like the word demotion the word here is SACRIFICED just to keep London and crusaders in super league.You can tell by the signings of young players that we are heading to the championship and the club have had the nod

the answer is YES!

look at Oldham or Swinton and replace with Wakefield thats the future if we lose this franchise

Can you imagine members of any other sporting body being treated in such a shambolic way.
Professional sport, your having a laugh !
Hey, we might all be wrong, Lets keep hoping

I've gotten used to the Championship idea so are notdreading it as much as I had been. During the Saints match I too came to the conclusion that I would rather watch a lower standard of RL but that little bit more competitive.

On the proviso that other teams get there stadiums sorted once we go it will be an awful long time time before we get to the top table again. The blinkered desire to spread the game far and wide will ensure new teams will be popping up in various far-flung places all with an RFL plan of being fast-tracked into SL. The clamour for a SL place next time round will be huge. Sponsorship isn't worth as much the lower down the pyramid you go, crowds will drop and thus income streams will be greatly reduced. This will lead to a lot of the behind the scenes activities that we've been praised for being shelved and people will lose their jobs. The standard on the pitch will drop (mainly the visiting teams when comparing this season!) and thus we run the risk of losing a generation of fans as no doubt nearby teams with greater marketing budgets will move in on out patch and fill the vacuum we have left.

So no, superleagues not the be all and end all as we will still have a club. But if you want the club to thrive and grow then its vital.

Would we?

This is the bit that I am currently struggling to see. I try to look upon our fall from grace with an air of positivity, however as much as I try, I can't. If has been touted on here, the majority of players contracts are null and void outside of Super League, where does that leave us? I don't disagree that the majority of our current squad is probably no better than what some of the current Championship teams have, but the difference being that they already have a squad in place for next season. Come the end of this season players will come and go and their squads will be added to and tweaked, but ours will be decimated. At this seasons end, we will have no license, no coach, a shadow of a squad, and the inevitable fall in income. The purpose of providing Widnes with confirmation of promotion in March was to allow them to recruit and alter the clubs structure accordingly for as smooth a transition into Super League as possible. Should we be told on the 26th as is predicted we will be vacating Super League, how smooth will our transition be? Our coaching staff is still in place until the seasons end, the players are still in place until the seasons end. Realistically, how can we begin what will be a wholesale recruitment for next season with a head coach who won't even be here?

I really don't see how we can possibly be one of the stronger teams in the Championship when we are facing what on the surface looks like an unholy amount of upheaval.

As far as supporting professional Rugby League for me…yes it’s the end of the world. I’ve been going for nearly 30 years and main reason is that I’ve been living the dream that one day that we might make it big and be at Wembley or Old Trafford. When the inevitable happens next week that dream will be killed for ever. It’s quite clear the direction the game is going and IMO we are not part Rimmer/Lewis delusional dream. Sod playing in front of 1500 crowds with no prospect of going any further, the whole system is unfair ( I’ve always argued that) not just on us but all of the lower league teams.

Although I don't think dropping out of Super League would be the end of the world it certainly wont be a positive thing. I think that once we are out we will be out for ever mainly because come the next round of franchises there will be a new far flung place that The RFL want to expand the game to who will be chosen ahead of us regardless of who has the best application.

end of the world..... No

end of any chance of Wakefield having a top level RL team again ..... Yes!

No it's not the end of the world, but if handles badly it could be the start of the end of the world. I certainly can't pick out a single positive all the same.