WIND the clock back to 2018 and Widnes Vikings were a Super League club.
Just two years before that, the Cheshire club had qualified for the Super 8s play-offs before a catastrophic decline saw their exit from the top flight at the end of the 2018 Super League season.
Administration followed soon after with the Vikings hit with a 12-point deduction for the 2019 Championship season, but the club remarkably remained in the second tier.
However, since then, Widnes have never qualified for the second tier play-offs.
For new Head of Operations at the DCBL Stadium, Chris Hamilton, the aim is clear: instruct a path back to Super League.
“The ambitions are quite clear – get back into Super League,” Hamilton told League Express. “Obviously, it is not in the too distant past when the club has been in Super League.
“That is not a throwaway line, I don’t want anyone thinking it is easy. It is easy to say it but we are very much aware of where the team has been playing in the past few seasons.
“Since 2019, when the club was in administration, it has not made the play-offs. Without wanting to sound arrogant in any way, that is not good enough for this club and that is one of the reasons why I have been brought in to help change things so the club does perform better on and off the pitch.”
Hamilton does believe that the latest recommendations by new stakeholders IMG to ‘re-imagine’ rugby league will help Widnes achieve that top flight goal eventually.
“Ultimately, all this is linked to the changes coming in the game in terms of IMG and how it will work with them. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out that, in quite a few areas of the IMG recommendation, Widnes will be set fair.
“There is still plenty of work to do, grading wise we are hopeful and optimistic about a good grading albeit we know we have to improve the playing results to tick that performance element of the box.
“I’m certainly not putting ourselves under pressure by saying that in two years time we want to be in Super League because there is a bit of a rebuild.
“I’m always honest with things like this, it will always be the same message. Of course we are ambitious and that is only right for a club like this but we are also realistic about the last few years and where we are now.
“We need to build sustainably and organically which again are key elements of what IMG and the RFL want to see.”
Hamilton went on to hail the club’s fans for their continued support.
“We think in terms of fanbase and things like that, even though we haven’t made the play-offs, the fans have really stood by the club.
“We know that if we can get to that next level in the Championship there is a a latent support here wanting to support the club and get behind what it does.
“I’ve seen that in the short period of time I have been here just in terms of initiatives we have done where the fans come out in numbers and back it and that is really reassuring.
“We do think there is great potential to eventually tick that box. It’s not that long ago since Widnes were in Super League, it does seem a lifetime ago but that is, in fairness, where people perceive the club to be now on the playing field, and that’s something everyone at the club wants to improve and make better.”
The new Head of Operations also gave a financial update, stressing that the Vikings are now much more stable off the field as the club looks to bring in new initiatives to produce homegrown players.
“Definitely, it has improved (financially). It’s been very much a learning curve for the board. They were just basically fans that saved the club.
“Again, even though I wasn’t at the club then, I just remember how much support the club got from fans and sponsors etc when it was in danger of folding.
“With that in mind, both the way the club is run now and the fans, there is a more realistic expectation and understanding that the club has to be built on a completely secure financial footing and then we go from there.
“There are things afoot as a club to get back to that situation where we are providing opportunities for local lads to play for their hometown team.”
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