Watch us play or watch us fold, warns O’Connor

Nov 8 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

STEVE O’CONNOR is urging Widnes Vikings fans to follow his lead by backing the club or risk losing it altogether.

O’Connor last week rescued the ailing club by ploughing in £250,000 to secure their immediate future, along with a five-figure sum paid to secure the rights to the Widnes Vikings.

In partnership with Halton Borough Council, he has put together a business plan which takes the club out of administration and returns it to a sound financial footing, and capable of launching a successful franchise bid for a place in the coveted Super League.

But the businessman has thrown down a gauntlet to the town’s rugby league fans – because although the club will soon meet most of the entry criteria, without them turning out in force to support the team on the field their bid for Super League status could collapse.

“The final piece in the jigsaw is in the hands of the people of Halton,” said O’Connor.

“At the moment there seems to be more people expressing opinions about what should and shouldn’t happen than there are season ticket holders.

“The stadium has a capacity of 13,800, yet the average home game attracts only 3,300 people. This just isn’t good enough. We are now up against the wall – we need to be very clear – you use it or you lose it.

“The fans that have been coming along to matches have been marvellous. However, we need to get thousands more involved and in return we need to give them plenty to shout about with a winning team on the pitch.”

Although he is a committed life-long Liverpool FC supporter, O’Connor witnessed the glory days of his home-town rugby league team in the late 1980s, when Doug Laughton’s side twice won the league championship and ended the decade as World Club Champions.

So the new owner, who recently sold his family haulage firm O’Connor Group to Stobart Group in a multi-million-pound deal, knows as well as anyone how quickly fortunes in the sport can change.

Which is why he is looking at the recent descent into administration as something he can help make a turning point in the Vikings’ history.

“I hope that if any good at all can come out of the club being forced into administration, it is that it is a wake-up call for the whole town not to take things for granted,” he added. “Transforming Widnes Vikings means we all have to be pulling in the same direction and supporters have a key role to play to bring back the glory days.

“Successful sports teams rely heavily on support from their fans. They can really lift a team and be the difference between success and failure.

“Rejuvenating the fortunes of the team requires the people of Halton to get behind the boys and cheer them on. We want to fill the stadium on match days and create a unique atmosphere.

“The fans are an absolutely vital ingredient for success and I hope they will catch the mood of what I want to achieve here.”