Rugby Papers

[cheadleviking]

Absolutely agree, he was one of our best players in our last season in SL.  IMO.

I`m sure he`ll do a great job for us.

sounding negative here but in that season been one of the best wouldnt have been hard now would it? Not like the competition was high, it has to be the worst performing season of recent years, or is this purely due to over achieving previous years???

[geoffw]

If its true it is good news some pace we badly need . He is a try scorer and we have few of those. Not so sure about his defence though.

[BEANO]

Either there are no quality players left to sign, or we have accepted that our performance this season will have little influence on our licence application.

Speakman and Viane to replace Kohe-Love and  Nanyn. Hardly likely to worry the opposition.

[King Viking]

You've answered your own question Beano.

There are no quality players left to sign.

FWIW, Speakman and Viane wouldnt be a bad centre pairing considering what we had last week...

[reg warner]

In the League Express, Martin Sadler thinks Celtic & Salford will get the two SL licences.

In his article in the yesterday's LE Martyn Sadler says that Wakefield look the most vunerable club in SL because their ground is not up to standard and they don't  as yet have planning permission.  He seems to miss the point that a grant of planning permission really means nothing.  Having the finance in place to build a stadium is obvioulsy the crucial point.

Mr Sadler thinks that Celtic Crusaders will probably get a licence because the new TV deal wiith Sky is a 3 year deal as opposed to the usual 5 years.  He thinks that this means that th RFL believes it can signficantly increase "the audience" leading up to a new contract.  Seems a bit tortuous to me.  He doesn't give the reason for the 3 year deal which would appear to be the starting point for his theory.  Certainly if Cardiff City were to be promoted to the Premiership there would presumably be a significant increase in the take up of Sky dishes. Could the same be said for CC in the SL?

He thinks Salford will get a licence because BBC Sport is to be relocated to Salford and without Salford in SL and in a brand new stadium it won't be possible to "win over those sceptical sports commentators from the BBC."  Again this seems a bit tortuous to me eg don't the BBC Executives have cars that can transport them the short distance to say Wigan?  Obviously not.

If Mr Sadler that the RFL have already made up their minds as to who will be granted licences particularly having regard to his views for the reasons for the 3 year TV deal and its implications for CC should he not be questioning the transparency of the whole of the licensing process?

[iksmudge]

Reg - none of this has anything to do with tradition or gates - it has everything to do with money and TV earnings.  CC offer Sky the opportunity to talk about expansion of interset (financial not fans) in the game, Salford offer a representation for Manchester's "only" SL club.  This is probably why people keep talking up Salford and CC - even on here!
Widnes's history throughout SL should demonstrate that tradition and a loyal fan base have no effect on peoples decisions whatsoever - it has everything to do with money. Not that I like it one bit.
The best we can do is go out there and buy a season tickt and keep attending as much as possible (even though I said I wasn't due to the stupid e-ticketing plan - I have now pursuaded all 7 of family and friends to buy season tickets).
We have to look at Widnes in a business context - as soon as we all do that the better will we manage our expectations.

[al-n]

Reg - none of this has anything to do with tradition or gates - it has everything to do with money and TV earnings.  CC offer Sky the opportunity to talk about expansion of interset (financial not fans) in the game, Salford offer a representation for Manchester's "only" SL club.  This is probably why people keep talking up Salford and CC - even on here!
Widnes's history throughout SL should demonstrate that tradition and a loyal fan base have no effect on peoples decisions whatsoever - it has everything to do with money. Not that I like it one bit.
The best we can do is go out there and buy a season tickt and keep attending as much as possible (even though I said I wasn't due to the stupid e-ticketing plan - I have now pursuaded all 7 of family and friends to buy season tickets).
We have to look at Widnes in a business context - as soon as we all do that the better will we manage our expectations.

Well said that man........and well done with the ticket sales.

[vikings 4 ever]

Reg - none of this has anything to do with tradition or gates - it has everything to do with money and TV earnings.  CC offer Sky the opportunity to talk about expansion of interset (financial not fans) in the game, Salford offer a representation for Manchester's "only" SL club.  This is probably why people keep talking up Salford and CC - even on here!
Widnes's history throughout SL should demonstrate that tradition and a loyal fan base have no effect on peoples decisions whatsoever - it has everything to do with money. Not that I like it one bit.
The best we can do is go out there and buy a season tickt and keep attending as much as possible (even though I said I wasn't due to the stupid e-ticketing plan - I have now pursuaded all 7 of family and friends to buy season tickets).
We have to look at Widnes in a business context - as soon as we all do that the better will we manage our expectations.

I'm not sure Sky are that bothered to be honest. The number of Sky dishes and Sky Sports subscriptions are very much related to Premier League football. If Salford get a franchise, how many extra subscriptions do you think Sky will get from the Salford area? Considering it is a football mad area and no-one is interested in Salford RL then its going be near zero. I'm sure Sky and the RFL would love Celtic as they have no premier league team and also the RFL are keep to expand the international game, but IMO Salford being in super league is worth nothing to Sky. Also if you are going to take location as a primary consideration, then surely some of the 7 Yorkshire clubs must be worried. Why would Sky need 2 clubs from Hull?

Based on what SO'C said at the fans forum, if we get decent crowds next year and Salford and Celtic don't then there's no way they will get a franchise ahead of us.

[rufustanner]

In his article in the yesterday's LE Martyn Sadler says that Wakefield look the most vunerable club in SL because their ground is not up to standard and they don't  as yet have planning permission.  He seems to miss the point that a grant of planning permission really means nothing.  Having the finance in place to build a stadium is obvioulsy the crucial point.

Mr Sadler thinks that Celtic Crusaders will probably get a licence because the new TV deal wiith Sky is a 3 year deal as opposed to the usual 5 years.  He thinks that this means that th RFL believes it can signficantly increase "the audience" leading up to a new contract.  Seems a bit tortuous to me.  He doesn't give the reason for the 3 year deal which would appear to be the starting point for his theory.  Certainly if Cardiff City were to be promoted to the Premiership there would presumably be a significant increase in the take up of Sky dishes. Could the same be said for CC in the SL?

He thinks Salford will get a licence because BBC Sport is to be relocated to Salford and without Salford in SL and in a brand new stadium it won't be possible to "win over those sceptical sports commentators from the BBC."  Again this seems a bit tortuous to me eg don't the BBC Executives have cars that can transport them the short distance to say Wigan?  Obviously not.

If Mr Sadler that the RFL have already made up their minds as to who will be granted licences particularly having regard to his views for the reasons for the 3 year TV deal and its implications for CC should he not be questioning the transparency of the whole of the licensing process?

Is this true though?
The only published criteria is for the 2012 application, nothing has been disclosed about 2009. The only reason I can see for this is they can pick who they want as opposed to who they should.