Mrs Barista wrote:Widnes chairman said only last month "We now understand what we need to do to get a licence. We are determined to have all the boxes ticked next time." He added: "We recognise there were financial shortfalls in the previous administration, so we needed to satisfy the financial security of the club. We also recognised that our policies around youth development needed to be improve and we needed to be bringing more young players through our system." So from his discussions with the RFL on Widnes' chances next time, it sounds like youth development is still on the criteria list.
The point on youth development was assessed on the basis not only of the number of homegrown players in the squad but the club's policy and practices. The license reviews were very detailed last time, using qualitative inputs rather than a simple numbers checklist.
I'd be surprised if they abandon a review of homegrown player development practices and simply count the number of academy players "promoted" to the first team squad instead. But you never know with the RFL.
There's so much up for interpretation that they should because it's the only fair way to do it.
