I'm more inclined to side with IET to be honest - spending 1 or even 2 more seasons at Widnes wouldn't have harmed Myler's long term future in the slightest. IMO dumping Widnes for another NL1 club after Widnes had spent so much time, effort and money developing the lad was extremely poor. Do people just not have any loyalty these days? I read on the TIW site the other day about what are the chances of Widnes keeping hold of good youngsters whilst we are not in SL. Somebody asked the question, what would you be advising your son if you where in that position (insinuating that everyone would encourage their son to move on) I'm sorry but with me being a Widnes fan, I think I would be advising my son to repay a little loyalty and see how things pan out before you make your choice. Of course I wouldn't expect an outstanding talent to stay in the Championship year after year in the hope that Widnes may eventually get in to SL, but another season at least wouldn't have done him any harm, (especially considering he didn't even move up a division).

At the end of the day, what Myler did was good for Myler and Myler only and I can't quite see where the defending of him comes from. He jumped ship at his 1st opportunity and showed that he couldn't give a poop about what he was leaving behind. Sorry but as much as I admire him as a player, I think his attitude towards the club stunk. People talk quite harshly about some of the other players that left but for some reason Myler seems to be beyond criticism. Players like Jordan James or Ollie Wilkes a) probably had no emotional tie with the club b) are in the prime of their careers so can't afford to hold back and c) possibly have far more financial responsibilities than a young lad and when they left it was pretty much expected. IMO a comparison in soccer was Wayne Rooney - the main differences being Everton were well compensated financially and Rooney left for what many people call the biggest club in the world - Myler left for Salford and Widnes got nothing.

Rant over.

Disagree completely all Widnes had to do at to keep Myler and probably be in super league now was to win a game aganst Castleford, the likes of Doran, TKL, Wilkes, James they had the opportunity to do something about it. Myler was if i'm right in saying 17 at the time he'd made his debut 2 or 3 weeks earlier against Batley and in 15 minutes showed his class, yet he wasn't in a position whereby he could determine his future by what he did on the pitch, that was in the hands of others who simply did not perform. He showed what a prodigous talent he is and is showing that now. Staying at Widnes would have done more harm than good for him and i for one can not slate him or his family for ushering him to move on. At the end of the day he's going to have a fantastic career, wherever it takes him, whilst we're going to be languishing atleast for the next couple of years possibly much longer, so i don't see why there should be any bitterness from any Widnes fans towards the guy. Everytime i've seen him play i've been impressed and it would have been great to see him doing it for widnes, but we didn't deserve it, so we'll have to bring through some other top youngsters in the next couple of years and if we can't get in to super league and they're clearly good enough then they will have to move on.

That's all we had to do to keep him sorry we let him down..

Richie Myler is out for one person.. Richie Myler.. which is fine because at least you know where you stand with him.
I don't think anyone at Salfud expects the kid to hang round there for very much longer once one of the bigger clubs come a knocking.. He won't be visiting Wembley or Old Trafford whilst at Salfud.

I think if some of the people at Widnes RLFC had known he would have deserted the club at the very first chance then they probably wouldn't have spent so much time and effort on nurturing his precocious talent for so long. Someone else could have had the privilege of doing that.

As V4E said... If he had moved to a SL club then probably fine.. otherwise it would have been decent of him to have repaid the club a little by hanging around until he got the offer to play SL.. or at least waited until he knew what the state the club would emerge in after the debacle.
People wouldn't feel so sore about the thing if he had moved to Salfud once the announcements were made on the 22/07.. As it stands.. it was a pretty selfish move to make and that is why some people don't remember him too fondly.

Just to jump in and go slightly off topic IET.

The club do put alot of time and expense into junior rugby which is also matched by the dedication of the players, staff and families involved.

Clubs will always feel at a loss when they lose top juniors early but on the flip side there are always going to be a number of young players who havent made it going the same way out of the doors of clubs academies with very little in the way of future help from clubs and feeling equally aggrieved.

Whats the alternative IET ? Bearing in mind the Salford offer was good considering his age, full time with a place in the 1st team squad.

Lets say he hangs around, repays Widnes's faith in him as those expect of him, the club gets taken over and he gets a part time playing deal.

Then what ? He's an ambitious kid who wants to make it and realistically that aint what you want to be offered.

There are so many permetations that it must have been a minefield for the kid and his family and that is why I dont feel any kind of negativity towards the lad and even Salford now they are enjoying some success.

As ive already said in the previous post it works both ways.

Myler looked after #1 and took his path.

Widnes look after themselves and let kids go season after season. Kids who where signed on promises and had hopes built up for both themselves and their families. It's the fickle nature of academy rugby and the transition to first team squads.

I understand what your saying WLB and you are right about kids in the Academy but they are given a lot of chances to succeed. How long have we had an academy and it was not that long ago that it was receiving world class accreditation?
Those that leave simply do not cut the mustard but you can't say that they haven't been given the chance.
In the case of Myler it was obvious that he would do well when you look at all the plaudits he received whilst playing in the excellent junior academy side we had that year.
The alternative as I see it was to hold on for the week or two more and see what happened at the club.. Salfud were like a salivering dog outside the butchers window. They would have waited.
Both interested parties I believe made serious offers to Myler and assurances were made that he would be the clubs 1st choice s/half for the following season.

Ripped the Rhinos to bits mate, fantastic player

The lad was simply looking after number 1 - however, it begs the question of wether it is worth nurturing young talent at NL1 level only to see it depart at the first sign of a large wad of folding from an SL club.

Wire please

He certainly will be at Solly for a good 18 months and if they get their ground built I would estimate a lot longer. Few clubs have any cash presently anyway so I would guess hes there for a bit.