He may be a decent bloke but is no good as a coach otherwise wire wouldn't have moved him on

You related to Cullen. Joking aside i do not know him personally but i do know a few who do and they think he is a knob.

So, its 10:30 on Monday now and still no stronghold text saying Betts and Cullen have gone and a new age of hope and glory has dawned.

Denis Betts was a fine Rugby League player but isnt a good enough coach. Steve O'Connor has to bite the bullet now and sack him and Paul Cullen. Brian Noble as other people have said should be appointed and at least there would be some improvements that will give the Widnes fans something to cling on to. I wanted Noble on a short term contract at Saints until the end of the season when Nathan Brown comes in. He is a dam fine coach is Noble.

Betts is [ipossible[/i a good number 2 man, but get in someone with a lot more experience and drive about themself and the game. Then Widnes can hopefully see out the first year with glimmers of what is possible and passion (like the CC game) then move on to the second year of the franchise and have a really honest hit-up at the league.

Widnes are in a mess. That is obvious from the results.
Whether the squad is good enough or not is not the point.
All players were either recruited or retained by Betts and Cullen. They are the people in charge of the squad and the current state of the results is their responsibility.
They need to be replaced. Whether others need to go would be a decision for the new men who will run the place.
A complete clear out may be the best thing.
Noble is a clear favourite amongst fans on here which is understandable after his time with Crusaders. Six weeks prior to the season he'd only 8 players but still managed to get them to 8th in the league.
However, it may be too late to get Nobby. He's involved in the Caisley move to take over the Bulls.
Widnes are now in such a mess it may well be a difficult to sign a top quality coach as it was to sign top quality players.
I just wish you the very best of luck as you are going to need it.

Whitehaven ?

Heard from a good source a few players do not understand him and his tactics.They don't enjoy his coaching.

Wouldn't even bring in Noble, we need an Aussie like Nathan Brown or Michael Maguire to set the club right top from bottom.

It's nearly impossible to defend DB at the moment but in my opinion I can see why the board haven't sacked him just yet. If we park the away games for a moment as I genuinely think there is more weight being given to Home games.
I think after the early games against Wakey and Salford a target was set of beating London. But before we even get there we put in one decent performance against Leeds and then a fantastic result against Wigan. To top it all off we win the London game and DB buys himself more time. No complaints!
Then we have an atrocious game against Bradford and he is probably issued a final warning again. What happens next... we very very nearly beat Saints. Everyone's happy (well nearly everyone)
What is this followed by? The performance on Friday night. I am almost certain looking at the games coming up that DB would have met with PC and SOC and a frank conversation about the expectations concerning this upcoming game and indeed the Cats home game would have been had. If we are honest this is the first away game in which we should be expected to be able to compete and possibly win.
Hudds, Hull FC, Catalans, Warrington and Saints all have the capacity to paste us and it was no major surprise they did. Unfortunately in this game a beating turns into a mullering very easily especially when confidence is low. The manner of the defeat is galling but along with Leeds and Wigan I would have said we could get mullered at these grounds. Hull KR I have kept away. I know we got murdered up there but to be honest the conditions were shocking and we lost Ben Cross and Paddy Ah Van in that match.

So is it any surprise he is still at the club? Not really. I actually think that it's a good thing we have a Chairman that shows some patience. We all laughed at Des Johnston up there and things are not too far down a dark alley that we can't find our way out to where we want to be. Keeping him for this long is reasonable concerning the results, keeping him beyond the next three games if we don't perform would be a time to start scratching your head. Until the end of the season and I agree it's bonkers.

I do think it is likely that if we lose and lose badly at Cas then DB may be moved out.
Maybe we'll get a win and it will galvanise the team and we begin to perform better. t's certainly a good opportunity to put two good performances together back to back.

Before our next mullering against the Wire.

Surprise victory over Catalan providing they through to the next round of the cup? Week off to prepare?

The recruitment for this season was very poor - although you didn't have much time to build a decent squad.

For the rest of this season I'd look for more loan signings - Liam Hood has just gone to Dewsbury and would have been a useful player to have around. I'm sure there are a number of quality players in the U20s who'd do a better job than some of those you've had playing this year. I'd also be looking at the top Championship teams and see if they have any players who fancy the challenge for the rest of the season to earn a SL contract.

What you can't do is just let this season go down the tubes the way it is, or you'll find recruitment for next season even harder.

If we loan any more players then I will cancel the stronghold. Seriously...

We have been and are obsessed with loan and dual reg to the detriment of our own young players.

I can almost hear Paul Cullen in the back of my head saying " Ah, but they only have a young training age compared with Joe Mellor (or any other Wigan player) ".

I dont want to have to watch loaned Wigan youngsters year after year.

And you are right recruitment was a up although that is not the clubs fault if you listen to them.

We came close to signing Tim Sheens & Darren Lockyer (apparently) so that might have been able attract a better calibre of players to Widnes, instead of the likes of Cross & Isa. We offered Darrell Griffin more money than anyone else but choose to sign for Leeds (could you blame him?) instead. Still that doesn't account for the mess we find ourselves in at the minute.

They wont be getting sacked. SOC has stated he will not settle for the abuse Betts is getting. If he hasn't been sacked by now, hes here to stay, until the end of the season at least.