Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:03 am  

Ski wrote:

I think there is a massive difference between the way in which both sets of fans view the post ground development.

For Wigan fans, I could envisage that at the time they didn't want to go. I know we mocked you at the time about it being sold to a Tesco. But I could understand how you could have felt that your history had essentially been sold to the highest bidder.

Fast forward ten years, and we were begging to leave Knowsley Road for the future of the club. We accepted that, while sad to leave a spot of history behind, we needed to do it to move forward.

May I put it to you that had you left Central Park ten years later, with it being a "lame leg" to the club, as it were, you would not have the same displeasure towards it?

That's probably a better way of putting it than I could manage in my previous post, to be honest.

I do think the difference here is that Saints fans want a new place, whereas a lot of Wiganers didn't.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:04 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Number 27 would be a good buy as there would be no (O) one next to it.

On a more serious note, what Robinson says is correct, there are still quite a few Wigan fans who won't go to the new stadium because of what went on under the Robinson regime and the Whelan battle.

No relation - just to be sure, like.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:05 am  

paw81 wrote:

You can check the plans of the estate thats Knowsley Road on the St H Council website. There was a plan for some sort of monument to mark the location of the stadium on the new estate but when consulted, local residents to Knowsley Rd wern't really bothered about it so don't know if its still going ahead

I would imagine that Knowlsey Road residents are actually delighted that they no longer have to put up with matchday (or night) hustle and bustle, so they were the wrong people to ask.

I'm sure that if the fans themselves were polled - not local residents - then the result would have been different.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:18 am  

ROBINSON wrote:

No relation - just to be sure, like.

Sorry, I should have said Jack Robinson in reference to the Whelan battle. and as you say we could probably write a book about that episode in Wigan history.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:08 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Number 27 would be a good buy as there would be no (O) one next to it.

On a more serious note, what Robinson says is correct, there are still quite a few Wigan fans who won't go to the new stadium because of what went on under the Robinson regime and the Whelan battle.

75 Cunningham Grange would do for me.

I wouldn't have a problem owning a house there at all. As has been said previously we knew we had to move to keep up with the times. Wigan had to move even though most people didn't want to due to circumstances beyond their control.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:31 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

I do think the difference here is that Saints fans want a new place, whereas a lot of Wiganers didn't.

The biggest difference is outlined by the Chair Maker in a post previously. Saints fans can say it's their new ground but Wigan fans, unfortunately, haven't been allowed that luxury.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:41 pm  

TheOtherOne wrote:

The biggest difference is outlined by the Chair Maker in a post previously. Saints fans can say it's their new ground but Wigan fans, unfortunately, haven't been allowed that luxury.

That's a bit of a myth, to be honest.

The DW stadium is only used for first team games, and nothing else. The club don't train there, and don't base their staff there. It is, however, a first class, top notch stadium that any RL team would be delighted to play at.

Wigan RL do own their own stadium - it's in Orrell. All the training is done there, their staff are based there, and all the other teams play their games there. It's ideal for what it's for, it's been recently rebuilt, so presumably doesnt cost a bomb to run and won't attract the same running costs as a SL standard stadium.

Plus, the rent on the DW is cheap. Chances are it costs a hell of a lot less to own Edge Hall Road and rent the DW on matchdays than it does to own a brand new ground, used for everything.

I don't see what's right or wrong about owning or renting. If it works, then it works.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:48 pm  

TheOtherOne wrote:

The biggest difference is outlined by the Chair Maker in a post previously. Saints fans can say it's their new ground but Wigan fans, unfortunately, haven't been allowed that luxury.

I'm not sure that is the biggest difference tbh, I'd suggest that the biggest difference is that for the most part Saints' fans want to move as well as need to, whereas at the time Wigan fans didn't want to move and arguably didn't need to.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:50 pm  

Tony Stark wrote:

I'm not sure that is the biggest difference tbh, I'd suggest that the biggest difference is that for the most part Saints' fans want to move as well as need to, whereas at the time Wigan fans didn't want to move and arguably didn't need to.

Of that, there is no doubt. Times have changed a lot over the last 10 or so years. When the DW was built, a new stadium being built was a rarity - people were used to rubbish, old stadiums and no-one saw the need to move. It's different now.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:12 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

That's a bit of a myth, to be honest.

The DW stadium is only used for first team games, and nothing else. The club don't train there, and don't base their staff there. It is, however, a first class, top notch stadium that any RL team would be delighted to play at.

Wigan RL do own their own stadium - it's in Orrell. All the training is done there, their staff are based there, and all the other teams play their games there. It's ideal for what it's for, it's been recently rebuilt, so presumably doesnt cost a bomb to run and won't attract the same running costs as a SL standard stadium.

Plus, the rent on the DW is cheap. Chances are it costs a hell of a lot less to own Edge Hall Road and rent the DW on matchdays than it does to own a brand new ground, used for everything.

I don't see what's right or wrong about owning or renting. If it works, then it works.

Some Wigan teams do use the facilities at the DW.