Widnes fans donate more than £500,000 to club in three years
Widnes fan group VIQI has pledged a further £120,000 to the club for 2022, to take fan contributions since March 2019 up to £581,000.
With Championship and League 1 clubs facing an uncertain future due to the dramatic cuts in central funding, it will come as a boost to the Vikings who have had a disappointing 2021 campaign.
The monies pledged have already helped to support the retention of captain Jack Owens and Danny Craven for next season.
Fans famously rallied to save the club from liquidation back in March 2019, raising more than £130,000 to enable a rescue package to be put together.
A total of £84,000 will be donated to the club in 2021.
A VIQI statement: “For clarity, it is imperative that we as a VIQI Board act in the best interests of our club and members to ensure that we can honour commitments made to the club with regard to funding.
“Should we fail to meet our target donations, this could be detrimental for our club, so this is always done with careful consideration.
“This is by no means an easy task but with careful management and planning this has already allowed us to confirm next season’s funding amount of £120,000.
“The significant increase in funding committed to the club of £120,000 for next season is attributed to the perceived impacts brought about by potential league restructuring and the need to finish as high up the table as possible.
“This increased amount is therefore seen as essential to support the club in attracting and retaining the best players possible for the season 2022.
“The fact we have the ability to increase donations is testament to our loyal members donations and the manner in which the scheme is managed and operated.
“As loyal custodians of your donations we believe we have a duty to apply a safe and cautious approach when handing over members hard-earned donations.
“We are always conscious of the events of February 2019 and with this in mind we never act recklessly. The generosity that we all witnessed at that time was truly awe-inspiring and would probably never be matched again.”
VIQI was founded 20 years ago to raise funds to support the acquisition of players, helping the club to sign almost 40 first team players and invest in the club’s youth system during that time.
Around 1,000 members contribute monthly to the scheme, though they have revealed a drop in memberships this season that they say can be “directly linked to the team’s on-field performance”.
Widnes are currently 8th in the Championship, winning eight of their 20 games, and round off their season with a trip to Swinton on Sunday.