Widnes have handed head-coach, Dennis Betts a new contract which will see him remain at the Stobart Stadium until the conclusion of 2014. The Vikings have also handed extensions to assistants Mick Cassidy and Dave Banks plus strength and conditioning coach Clive Brewer. READ MORE ON THIS STORY....

Widnes have handed head-coach, Dennis Betts a new contract which will see him remain at the Stobart Stadium until the conclusion of 2014. The Vikings have also handed extensions to assistants Mick Cassidy and Dave Banks plus strength and conditioning coach Clive Brewer. READ MORE ON THIS STORY....

Fully supportive of Denis coming into the new season.
However I feel that's rather premature move with a huge couple of months ahead.

They need to get TIW back up so I can laugh my off watching half of them have break downs over this.

You would wonder why we need to do this his pedigree isn't such at this stage that any other club would offer him a deal.

I'm not going to knock the stability, that's crucial in any team, as long as we keep on improving like we did through last season then ill be happy. People still shouldn't expect much, we'll still be in the bottom 3 this coming season.

10 wins next season should be a realistic target.

The only thing I can think is quite a few contracts up at the end of the season so getting coaches (if trusted) sorted first makes it easier to decided who they want to retain and for the players to decide ASAP.

I'm happy with the stability and steady improvement. A few more wins this season and finishing 2 or 3 places higher shouldn't be out of reach.

Him and the full coaching staff setup have my full support and always will. However I was surprised by this. We have a thin squad and with injuries this year, we may be in for a struggle again. That said, our full strength team is capable of beating 6/7 teams.

Finishing bottom last year with 5/6 absolute hammerings for me doesn't warrant a contract extension. The club and Dennis are always talking Bout stability, I think it would have been better to analyse the performance of the team and Dennis' contract issues 3/4 months into the season.

Onwards and upwards anyway. One thing we can now say is that our current team is Dennis' team. He's worked with them around 14 months now so hopefully they are building a good working relationship with each other

Looks like a clearout at the club is happening. Paul Hansbury, kit-man, is the first according to Twitter, with more to follow.

Very sad news if Paul goes real shame. I understand one of the lasses from the office has gone too, won't say the name unless confirmed but she was always friendly and helpful and appeared on top of things when you asked her anything.

True about 'Big Lad'. He's absolutely gutted. Bad and sad news. Is something amiss or is the regime simply cutting its cloth accordingly?

Been a stalwart in good times and bad.

Best of Luck Paul.

Hopefully simply getting leaner. RFL seem to have altered the off field requirements quite a bit, presumably to help clubs spread the cash thinner.

Does make you think if a total finance re-think, for the game as a whole, is coming. So much happening to save cash.

Wonder if it is going to see the end of 'expansionism'?

We are never going to challenge RU or soccer, better making sure that our domestic game is fit and well and managing its finances.

Rule has cut all non-essential spend. Does a kit man need to be on a salary? I know a SL club not too far away from us has a young lad doing it.

But the point is that we are reverting to the semi-pro era, which was what Lewis was trying to leave behind.

Where, in those days, the TV revenue (from the Cup then) was a happy little bonus, now it's the gate money that is the bonus! We have been trapped into living almost entirely from the Sky cash.

This is OK while Sky pay up, but the game cannot stand on its own any longer.

If Sky up the ante we will be OK but as it stands at the moment we are on the way back to semi-pro status imo.

The game was fine then, until the bigger clubs started the contract system and ran out of cash.

Cutting spend and helping to make the club sustainable is his brief. I have had a chat with James Rule and increasing income for the club is Priority One.

Getting more people through the turnstiles and the efficiency of the non-playing staff are two important ways of doing that.

I think that the RFL will pay far more attention to the financial aspect of running a club than they have hitherto done, and I think that there are some very important issues to be addressed.