Don't call me shirley

Gary some times you make sense and seem like an honest fan enjoying somew great success and rightly so!

However your lot as the Chelski's an all have fans who only know the success leading to Barrow becoming the sorest losers in the league... not helped by the Chairman throwing a paddy after every loss / draw at however is nearerst too him!

Take the good with the bad and you'll be happier... as a Vikings fan trust me, getting worked up about every point dropped doesn't help yourselves or other fans opinons on the Raiders!

I think the sore loser has worn off now. After last season, expectation in Barrow is very high (and rightly so). We have a right to be cheesed off when our team doesn't perform and this often boils over into sounding like sore losers which Im sure isn't intended. I think we have shown a great deal of humility and grace in the defeat, sorry ass whooping we got from Fev. There were a few people blaming the ref etc but it was simply the fact Fev were well up for it and we weren't allowed to play. Ref's usually cop alot of the blame when anybody gets beaten until a voice of reason posts a sensible opinion. I have been pretty vocal in my opinion of Mcormack as demonstrated by my signature and as of yet I am still to be convinced I am wrong.

If people read some posts on the totalrl forum we have you will see that most of our supporters are desperate to have a proper youth policy and see locals rise through the ranks, however as we have seen what can only be described as utter tripe for a number of years we can be forgiven for enjoying what we were served last season and forgetting about the other issues. I have continually posted that Widnes' infastructure is what every team in the Championship (and a number of SL teams) should strive to achieve and as mentioned above I will become worried if there is no mention of a Scholarship/youth set up by the end of this season. I am led to believe that plans are afoot to address this issue along with all the other stuff. We have to remember that we are new to this success and that Rome wasn't built in a day. As much as we would love it in Barrow, SL in 2012 is a pipe dream & I believe we are behind a number of teams for a license. 2015 is a realistic target and is achievable providing the club continues to grow at the rate it has since Des Johnston came on board.

On the subject of Des, I like the fella. He wears his heart on his sleeve, has the clubs best interests at heart and puts his money where his mouth is, which nobody can knock him for. I would say he is just one of those characters who prefers to voice his opinions and compared to what we have had in the past he is a breath of fresh air - if anybody can sort the club out and get us into SL oneday, I believe he is the fella to do it.

I think 2012 would be early and no disrespect but if Barrow got in with current facilities and no youth structure you'd have to question the RFL's motives even more so.

However now you have good support built by on field success and then Dez took the extra revenue and potential to sort stadium out and set up a youth structure that would then likely be the main one in Cumbria and get some top youngsters in and you could pretty much be a cert in that case for 2015 and then Dez would also get the respect of all other fans etc.

Short of getting Hunslet at home, that's the best draw we could have hoped for.

Certainly not counting our chickens (I saw us lose at York earlier in the season so perfectly conceivable that we could lose at Hunslet), but a Leigh-Widnes weekend in Blackpool would be a bloody belter.

If that's the case then you should have the Wembley of the North up at Barra in no time .

Seriously though, we all knock Des but I'm certain that if most clubs had him as chairman then the fans would be made up. There's certainly no ambiguity as to where his loyalties lie.

IMO he seems like a person who is used to getting his own way all the time and can't really deal with setbacks in a measured way. He just needs to work on keeping his dummy in his mouth.

I am sure fans of all clubs left in the competition would like to see Leigh seeded to guarantee yet another Final for us.