Being a Widnes season ticket holder, On the field seems to be the least of the problems. Whilst the board are very stringent with money, I feel like many of the fans would be content with that if the board had any connections with its fans. No communication, no updates, nothing.
I think what is necessary, as sections of the Widnes fans is 'Betts Out' and sections aren't, the board need to update us and tell us whether they have faith in Betts. Me, personally, i don't think even Ivan Cleary or Wayne Bennett can do anything with this squad, How is Betts able to pull off top 8 with half the squad thats never been able to pull off a pct over .500 since coming back into super league and half the squad consisted of the academy.
Any Hull fan who was there Thursday would of told you the state of the atmosphere in that crowd. Even before the game it looked like we were deflated. Widnes fans are so divided at the moment. A record low super league crowd for the Halton Stadium was at Salford, 4,007 i believe. So... as the kids were on half term on Thursday, why didn't they do something like kids get in free if an adult buys a ticket. Screw the money, lets face it, the mean age of the widnes crowd is above retirement age anyway and this would have been a great way of getting families there who couldnt afford to take the kids out during half term, we live in a working class town and this is a working class game, maybe something they should of thought about. What we didnt need was another record low crowd. Many will say that its a thursday night and maybe wigan or wire would have brought more away fans. But Hull turned up well IMO, i have seen alot worse.
I think 2 unlucky seasons with injuries, divided fans, probably lowest average age squad and no communication from board to fans are all the problems with Widnes.
Also half-back pairing Mellor and Gilmore has been a talking point of the fans. I believe squads should have one conservative half back and one half back with flair. Brown and Mellor complemented eachother perfectly, when we needed to calm things down, Mellor took over, when we needed to ramp things up, Brown was the main guy. However Mellor and Gilmore don't seem to work well together because they have similar assets of skill. GIlmore gets much of the criticism because he is the 'replacement' of Brown and the pressure on the kid is unfair.
The one thing that will solve the crisis, Championship rugby, i like the championship and thoroughly enjoyed it when i was a kid before we got back. The 'transition' that is happening that includes implementing 7/8/9 academy players per round will only be better in the championship, give them some confidence, i know they can do well, they just need time before playing against senior players and especially in 'must-win' games when the pressure is at its maximum, they just dont have experience to go the distance. This is what turns away fans, when must-win games, i.e Hull KR last week are lost. And fans just look at the scoreline (31-12) and think wow if we cant beat KR then how do we beat FC. Well 12-10 up with 15 to go and all 4 subs injured and you expect academy players to go and win away in that muvch of a tense game. No chance.
