KELLY'S CORNER

Ambitions.....

"I think I've demonstrated my own ambitions by coming to Widnes in the first place. I could have easily stayed at Dewsbury for another couple of seasons, but I knew that Dewsbury would not be promoted.

"Widnes is an ambitious club and now that we have got to the level we are at we're not going to sit back. We want to get into play off situations in Super League just as we have achieved in the Northern Ford Premiership.

"Some people misinterpret this, but when the new season kicks off and all the clubs are in the same position with no points, I will be saying that I want to win Super League.

"Come August or September this may sound silly, but at the start I want to aim as high as possible. I want to achieve everything as a coach that I never achieved as a player and so I set myself the highest targets. I am a big believer in aiming high - then if you miss you have still done well."

Pre-season training

THE Vikings will bein their pre-season training next month in preparation for the Super League.

Neil Kelly said: "Pre-season will begin for the players who are currently signed up to the club.

This is to give the players, like Jason Demetriou for example, who played for us in the NFP last season, as much of a chance as possible to condition themselves for the Super League season.

"Stuart Spruce's experience and commitment is going to be invaluable to the other players and to myself during the pre-season. You can never have enough players with the right attitude at a club.

"He will be in the gym and working along side other players and I am sure that that they will look up to him and learn a great deal."

Coaching....

"There will be more of it but it will not all be physical, much of it will be geared towards technical improvements.

"Last year we were trying to kill three or four birds with one stone because we were only training three or four times a week. If we did physical training it was at the expense of video analysis and technical work and vice versa.

"Now, with the programme we are hoping to put into place, we will be able to cover all those aspects and still have quality time with players, both individually and collectively, to look at ways in which they can improve their overall game.

The fans....

"Our crowds in the Northern Ford Premiership were far and away better than anyone else's last season. When we were playing teams at the bottom of the table we were still pulling in considerable numbers.

"We hope that spectator numbers will increase considerably now that we are in Super League. We know that many supporters said they would not but season tickets unless Widnes were back in the top flight and now we are there.

"If people buy their season tickets now it will be a great help to the club as w try to put a full time squad together during a time of the year when the club has no significant income to speak of. The sooner people the pledge their support to the Vikings in that way, the better for us.

Staff structure....

"From this moment in time it seems to be the club's intention not to run an under 21s side. This seems to be the direction that all the super League clubs following.

"That will reduce the number of staff that we need next season. There will be an increase in staff, but I can't see that we will all be falling over each other at the club. We already have three coaches, a conditioner and psychologist."

Kelly also revealed that the Vikings may also consider freelancing other coaches from different sports as and when they need them, to work on particular aspects of fitness and motivation.

Keely added: "I think freelancing coaches is a good idea as players can get a bit bored with looking at the same old face every day. Sometimes having an expert from a different sport who is teaching you something that is still very relevant to your own sport, that can be refreshing."

Neil's Aussie adventure....

"My trip to Australia was part of a coaching initiative funded by Sports England through the Rugby League and it was interesting be able to look at the full time structure of Australian clubs.

"I stayed with the coach of the Sydney Roosters and attended the team's training sessions and went through their daily routine.

"Most of the time it was not a case of learning, but rather nice to see that other clubs were doing things in training that we were already doing and in some cases, we were doing extra things that they weren't.

"The biggest change for myself when we enter Super League with a squad of full time players will be more hands-on time with members of the team.

"In the NFP it was two or three nights training a week, but now given they are full time we can offer more individual and collective coaching. I am looking forward to more day to day contact with the players."