I think that Betts being written off is very harsh

the guy oozes class and i think he will turn out to be a fantastic choice

he just needs his chance and, deservedly, now has that chance

He is having his chance right now and he is isn't convincing anyone. Given the option with pretty much every other coach we were linked with, Betts would have been bottom of the pile with no votes. I guarantee it!!!

what are you smoking?

i would defo give him a chance end of the day it is a squad which he inherited apart from the dual reg players. lets get behind him end of the day if you want a successful SL team back him and support the team.

We have no choice but to give him a chance. The die is now cast.

Hello Denis, How are you this evening?

He is tactically proficient I feel, and with a greater spending budget will be able to motivate the players highly

Now that the dust has settled and we're getting used to the decision,we did WANT an early announcement so that the coach could have his own choice of the players he would like in his squad.
We don't have any choice but to give him a chance to see if he measures up to the job,at least the uncertainty has gone and everyone knows where they stand.I hope he does well,won't be easy but here's hoping.

Well at the very least we're not going to be fighting a relegation battle. If there was a time to be taking a bit of a risk on a coach it's probably now.

Obviously there's the support to think of with regards to Stronghold membership, but we had our highest attendances in Super League fighting (and losing) a relegation battle. It might not be as simple as, "only if we're successful people will come".

If people don't come to your games when you're in SL just because you didn't get a big name Aussie coach who would undoubtably only used the club as a stepping stone to get a glamour job in SL or go to the NRL.

If I was a Widnes fan I'd be very proud that my club has appointed a young british coach. Denis inherited your current squad and was unable to bring many players in during the summer due to uncertainty as to where you'd be next year.

Denis did a good job in SL when he was Wigan coach with a young squad that had just lost its big names. Wigans Decline to near relegation came from Millwards time as coach not Denis'. Maybe I back him with blinkers on as I'm related but I hope he proves you all wrong and this time next season you'll be full of praise when he has the chance to get a squad of his own.

At last, a bit of perspective on the subject.

I think it's disgraceful the vitriol that has come out from some fans regarding Betts' appointment. People boycotting the Stronghold, claiming it's a Wigan Old Boys conspiracy, blah blah blah. I'm embarrassed to call them my fellow fans.

Yes we're in a sticky situation but if fans from other clubs can see that we should give him a chance to build a squad for Super League, then surely we can.

I've not even bothered to look on TiW since yesterday as I can imagine the blind hysteria going on there, Facebook has been the same with similarly ill informed cretins spouting all sorts of guff, some people should hang their heads in shame with the amount of crap being spouted.

Get behind the club ffs and give Denis a chance to prove what he can do with £1.6 million to spend, that is if the people of Widnes actually want SL rugby, which on recent comments I've read, I don't think many outside the current die hards are which is pathetic.

Fine, you're a better fan than me. I can live with that.

Nothing to do with being a better fan. It's about having perspective.

I was disappointed after the announcement as I expected a press conference to lead to a big name signing, but unlike some I've not spent the last 24 hours spitting my dummy out, typing furiously on the internet and tried to rationalise the decision.

Most of us felt disapointed with the decision but lets give him a extra special reception at the next match and let him know we will be behind him.

I did have a perspective. It was as follows.
We have recently been awarded a franchise to SL in 2012. In the euphoria immediately after the announcement club officials made noises about us being competitive in SL rather than just making up the numbers.
We have seen the team serve up some pretty rubbish displays this year which I lay the responsibility for at the feet of the coach. Defence, discipline, organisation and fitness are the things missing this year all of which a coach worth his salt should be able to help develop but it seems to elude Betts. The team is decent enough to put in a great performance against Fev and in two spells against Leigh so I'm not buying the team isn't good enough excuse. Looking at it when it was assembled I would argue it was fine and someone like Neil Kelly would have done wonders with these players.
I'm also not subscribing to the 'problems' of us finding out now that we are in SL next year. The same was true of Salford and Celtic and yet they finished 1st and 2nd respectively in 2008 winning the NR Cup also.

We have also heard that following SOC's claim that we will be spending to the full salary cap once we are in SL it actually requires us achieving membership figures of 7,000 fans. I was expecting there to be a number of big announcements made in phases to help drum up the numbers. This was the first big announcement and to me it will do nothing to push us up towards the 7,000 mark.

I'm gutted, I was excited about next year, but right now I feel pretty flat about it. The coach is the most important post to be filled in the club. Take a good coach and average players and you are in business. Take an average coach and good players and you will struggle.