Chairman: We meet Super League criteria

May 1 2008 by Dave Bettley, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

VIKINGS’ chairman Steve O’Connor says Vikings are “desperate” to earn a place in an expanded Super League for next season.

He said: “I am confident we have delivered the best Super League application we could have.

“I am sure there will be one or two clubs that will be disappointed but we desperately hope that isn’t Widnes.

“We’d be extremely disappointed. However, we would have to brush ourselves off and prepare ourselves for 2011.”

Chairman O’Connor believes Widnes would add value to Super League because they have a strong travelling support and play at a stadium fit to host matches at the highest level.

“I get the sense the clubs with Widnes’s heritage and with a genuine financial stability, they are the kind of clubs they want to see in Super League,” added the chairman.

“We have only had positive discussion with the Rugby League.

“We expect we are going to have two or three more audit procedures in the build-up to June, before they go away to make recommendations and decisions.”

O’Connor stressed he is more comfortable being in charge of a team vying for a licence from inside the game’s heartland rather than outside.

Meanwhile, head coach Steve McCormack believes the club’s on-field performances are also key to its ambitions.

“We are in the game to win,” he said. “If you don’t have a successful team, people won’t come to watch.

“The whole club is dictated by what we do on the field.”