Difference being they don't really need excuses to ignore a champ club!

Widnes fans cry more than my 6 week old Baby daughter. And Des wont be happy that Barrow are being ignored.

You have a 6 week old daughter Neil? I never knew, you should have mentioned it on some of your comments mate.

Every single SL club relies on one or a few. A major backer is the only route to a [icompetitive[/i stint in SL.

I think he loves her nearly as much as his first love.........FAX !!!!

I cant remember mentioning her more than a couple of times on here but hey of course I am proud as punch heres hoping that I will be taking her to Super League games as she grows up.

I may be wrong here, but don't the SL teams pull £1 million a season from the RFL/sky? (perhaps someone can confirm this?)



If that is the case and the salary cap is £1.6 million in SL like last year, then surely you only need to find £600k to be up to the max?



I would imagine you were near top of the salary cap last season (either 300k or 400k I can't quite remember) in the Championship, with only £100k funding by the RFL. So you found either £2-300k to operate with much poorer gates than you would in SL. Even the most conservative of estimates would double your gate numbers from what? 2500 in the championship, to approx 5000 average in SL, just because of the proximity, travelling support would easily get you over that figure.



13 home games in SL excluding cup @ again a very conservative average of £10 (probably more) per person x the extra 2500 fans each week = £325,000 if my maths is right.

Not to mention the the extra sponsorship and merchandise sales.



So you can't be that far off being competitive, surely????

Iv'e read somewere SL clubs need a turnover of about 3 million to compete, and

The HKR chairman is on record for saying you need to average 10 thousand gates to break even.

JESUS! DIDNT MEAN TO START WORLD WAR 3!





ALL THIS SPECUALATION IS FANTASTIC.



JUST THINK IF BIG NIGE AND HIS PALS READ ALL THIS, THEN THINK,



"THIER RIGHT YOU KNOW THEM BLUE AND WHITES! THERE ISNT THAT MUCH BETWEEN FAX AND WIDNES' BIDS.......



...SO WHAT WE'LL DO IS, WHICHEVER TEAM BETWEEN FAX AND WIDNES HAVE SCORED MORE TRIES BY FEBRUARY 28TH WE SHALL ELECT AS THE CHOSEN FRANCHISE...SEE YA WAKEY"



CRYSTAL BALL I TELL YA

You'd think so wouldn't you? Why have Wakefield gone bust? Why did Celtic go bust? Why do Harlequins need propping up? There must be some other "miscellaneous" expenditure occuring at these clubs.

You keep saying theres not much between the bids, but there is.



Widnes have maintained u18's and u21's every year since we were relegated from SL at the end of 2006. Halifax decided to ditch their u21's right when they should have been concentrating on youth development and also haven't (recently) had an u18's team.



In regards to attendances, admittedly,ours weren't as high last year as they have been in recent years, but we have averaged over 3,000 every year whilst being in this division and hit over 4,500 average in 2008. Halifax on the other hand have averaged around the 2,000 mark every year and wouldn't even have hit the 2,500 minimum standard to apply for SL if you hadn't cough cough 'achieved' 4795 for your last home game. Not including the last game you averaged 2,250 i.e less than you averaged in 2009 and similar to what you achieved in 2008.



We have a rich backer who is prepared to invest in the club - you do not.



So basically you haven't get the youth coming through, you don't have the crowds and you haven't even got someone who would be able to invest in the club whilst he brought it upto scratch. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Fax have got a bad bid, but if we put Catalans, Quins and Crusaders to one side, you are competing against Wakey, Cas and Salford. The RFL have got a bit of a soft spot for Salford and if you pressume Widnes are having Wakey's spot, then it becomes a straight fight between Halifax and Castleford. I'd give you go just to shake things up in SL and teach the likes of Cas and Wakey that they got away with sub standard facilities and false promises for too long and its time someone else had a go, but will the RFL see it that way?



In terms of finances in SL, Widnes were achieving between 6,500-7,000 average crowds in SL and as far as I can remember we made a loss of £200,000-£300,000 in the 2004 & 2005 seasons. I know all clubs are different and we no way maximised the merchandise and business sponsorships back then, but it does give you a ball park figure of what you are up against. Steve O'Connor has said himself he would like to see us average 10,000, your marketing guy has said the same and Hull KR have also recently said they need 10,000. Basically, if you don't average 10,000 in SL you need a backer to compete, if you can average 10,000 then you can probably spend the maximum on the salary cap and not have to worry about external investment. At the moment however there are still 9 out of the 14 SL clubs who don't average 10,000 so I can't see having a sugar daddy as being a negative for a club.

Go down to the Shay in the championship till 2015 and watch winning rugby and potentially more trophies to come and generally look forward to Sunday's



or go up next year, get battered out of site every week, and scrape through the 3 years and have to have a benefit game and get fans from every club down to have the club again.



its clear to me what i'd prefer.



i don't think were ready yet, although the fact we have a chance is a nice thing to have.



lets not run before we can walk though ey, we have been doing some good things on and off the pitch over the last 2 seasons.



lets keep the progress going for another 3 years whilst winning on the pitch, hopefully pick up some more floaters and then make a bid and the club should be ready.



we have turned the corner were on the way back.



Good things come to those who wait!!!! is the best quote i can use in this situation