Last updated 11:44, Friday, 25 July 2008

BARELY had the news sunk in on Tuesday that Celtic Crusaders and Salford had been handed three-year Super League licences when calls started for Whitehaven and Workington Town to merge to push for a top-flight club in West Cumbria.

Try time: Ade Adebisi dives over in one of the bright spots for Haven

But the truth is, there has not been a worse time in the last decade to consider a merger.

I was all for a combined club eight years ago, when last seriously mooted, but it’s an idea that’s past its sell-by date. It will not happen. Nor should it. I’m utterly convinced of that.

There is simply no reason for it. Many who advocate the clubs uniting say it will lead to a Super League outfit in Cumbria.

But there is no evidence to support this notion any more. The main problem is that there is no guarantee that West Cumbria Warriors, or whatever the new side was branded, would win a place in the top-echelon.

The odds are that, after a failed bid, it would leave the area with one National League club rather than two, based at a new super stadium at Derwent Park or a radically revamped Recreation Ground.

The proud rugby league names of Workington and Whitehaven – or at least one of them – would be lost. And more importantly a large swathe of Cumbrian fans would be disenfranchised.

At least in 2000, when the clubs last discussed a merger, there was a glimmer of hope that the new outfit could aspire to Super League through fielding a successful team.

But that’s no longer good enough. Entry to Super League is not now about results on the pitch.

Would the RFL prefer a new top-flight club in sun-soaked cosmopolitan Toulouse, which would bring an obvious touch of Gallic glamour, or West Cumbria? Much as it hurts, I think I know the answer.

In three years’ time, when clubs next bid it will prove even more difficult for an outsider to secure a top-flight licence.

Of course, that won’t stop plenty trying. Widnes will move heaven and earth to go up, Leigh will have bedded down in a new stadium and Halifax will be in a new-look Shay.

The RFL this week invited the French Federation to nominate a club for National League entry next year or in 2010. That club would then be in pole position for a top-flight bid.

All the clubs who tried and failed this time will have learned from the experience. A couple perhaps used it as a dry run for a more realistic bid in 2011.

Others may yet emerge from the pile, including Haven. Chairman Gordon Grace this week stated that the club fully intends to be in a position to bid next time. It might be a long shot but I wish the club all the luck in the world.

It felt like I was awaiting a school exam result at 10am on Tuesday before the names of clubs awarded Super League licences popped up on my computer screen.

When they emerged, I felt like I had failed the exam. Not my first failure, but that’s a different story.

On all available evidence, Widnes would surely have ticked more boxes than Celtic. But Crusaders open up the Wales market. It’s all about expansion.

Haven fans who travelled to Saturday’s game against Celtic tell me the talk in Bridgend pubs pre-match was all about rugby. Unfortunately, it was of the union variety

In 2011 the competition for licences will again be fierce and controversy will rage, no doubt.

The only certainty is that Town and Haven will still be battling on their own terms.

The only way I would support a merged club is if it was given a cast-iron guarantee of a Super League future.

And Celtic Crusaders have a better chance of beating St Helens in the 2009 Grand Final at Old Trafford than that happening.