That's seems to be the case, Paddy. It will be ing disastrous for next season though, and there goes our stay in Super League for good.

People said that in 2007 when you went bust. Don't sweat it - the RFL aren't interested in results. It's security and the size of the Chairmans wallet that counts.

If this is all we continue to offer in Super League, I'm not sure we deserve to stay here. I've been arguing for years that Widnes deserve another shot at Super League and it's starting to look like I may have been wrong.

I think SOC has shown the licence system up for the utter farce it is. Only under the current system could Denis Betts get, and keep, a job as a Super League coach, after an abysmal season in the Championship too?

Let's roll forward to August. Crap season in the bin. SOC announces 7 gobsmacking signings for 2013 along with Wayne Bennett as coach. Now who's downbeat?

It's all fixable very quickly and memories will become short in the face of a Man City style shopping spree. And please - don't throw the salary cap at me - it's a sham.

I live in hope!

We all knew this season was going to be tough. But the team has massively underperformed. Its hard to see where any win will come from. The Saints cup game gave me some hope with a bit of grit and determination shown. Unfortunately the collapse and embarressment of the 62-0 drubbing a few days later brought me back down to earth with a bump! With all the time preparing and training for the Castleford game I thought we'd at least run them close. But again another lacklustre performance. I really hope there is a master plan to recruit quality and have a half decent team in place for next season...

Aint gonna happen Rich.The club don't do big signings to get bums on seats.They seem to prefer mediocre signings and still expect bums on seats.I think the term is having your cake and eating it.Oh sure there will be talk of Benji Marshall,Rob Burrow,Rangi Chase,Jon Thurston etc.Who we end up with though,because those players turned us down,will be Matty Smith or Danny Orr.

I've been saying this for a while now... but for the first time I actually doubt our chairman's willingness to go anywhere near a strategy like this.

The only problem is you are extremely unlikely to get big signings / big coaches during mid season (arguably Noble). As you know we did go for these people in the off season which proved unsuccessful and then seemingly left us a bit short when going for other options.

I agree with Rich to an extent that I do think a few good moves on coaching / playing front and things could quickly change. Unfortunately this season is being a real struggle thus far for numerous reasons some in and some out of Betts' control.

For those of us who felt Widnes should never have been kicked out of SL seeing you back was great. People were worried early on last year when you got belted by Leigh & Fev and the end of last season was poor.
Recruitment has been dreadful and the season a disaster.

All this is due to very poor recruitment and if the recruits have been poor then it's the fault of the recruiters. Not sure from out side who was responsible for player recruitment but if next season is not to be a repeat of this or worse, then those who recruited for this year have to be replaced.

We all remember the great recruitment job Nobby did at Crusaders and most of us expected the same from you. Yours has been absolutely awful!
Nobby may well end up at Bradford now which will put Potter's job on the line.
You should now be putting feelers out for Potter. He would attract a far higher quality of player than you can attract at present and he is also a very good coach.

It's no use sacking Betts etc unless you have a better quality replacement ready to walk in. That is where your priority should be now, attracting a quality replacement coach. Once you have him you can then sack whoever you like!

Yeah, I've been thinking along the lines of getting Potter, should Nobby take over at Bradford. He might not be the best coach around, but I reckon he can organise a team, particularly in defence. He did a great job a Les Catalans. The Saints job is all but impossible to stay in, unless the coach is winning trophies every year. Under the circumstances he is doing a great job with Bradford at the moment.


I disagree with this one. I honestly think that it matters very little who takes over from Denis Betts, in the interim. The tea lady probably wouldn't be much worse. As it happens, we have a decent replacement in Paul Cullen, who could take over as caretaker coach until the end of the season, if need be. This will give any coach who wants to apply for the job time to apply and the club time to assess. Wait until the end of the season, and most coaches will probably be tied up again.

I am sorry Pepe, but you are wrong!
Paul Cullen was a terrible coach at Warrington.
He had a fantastic squad, and a super supportive chairman, but the team was useless!
The change in fortune with the same team under Tony Smith, is proof of this!
I pointed out in a previous post the simmilarities between Widnes now and Wire under Cullen.
It is not a coincidence, the common denominator is Paul Cullen!
Widnes need a great coach, not an egotistical useless one!

I only want Cullen as a caretaker coach, I just want it known, over a period of months or weeks, that the job is on offer. I'm only asking that he replace Betts for a short period. If you think that would be disastrous, you haven't got a clue. Betts makes Cullen look like Wayne Bennett.

I feel for you lads its not nice getting a thumping and I keep thinking its bad enough watching Wakey.You could take Agar off our hands but it wouldnt do you any good with the quality of players we have we should be doing better than we are.To me the only coach who would do you any good with the players you have at the moment is our old coach John Kear who performed miracles with what we had last year.

Seems some may need a plate.

You'll need more than a plate if you think you can get away with digging up old threads just to wind people up.