Re: Playing at Widnes : Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:39 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

once we click into gear and begin adopting the attack moves that Royce says he is trying to teach them.

I hope they hurry up.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:27 pm  

McClennan wrote:

I remember when Simmons was appointed last year and I said that playing there would make it extremely difficult for him in his first season because each game is more or less at a neutral venue. Whilst I am concerned at the lack of defensive toughness we've shown in the early days we need to consider this when assessing how the team is doing. The squad is still good enough to compete for trophies, however it will be a harder season for us because of our temporary relocation.

Over the 2009 and 2010 seasons we were actually better away from home than at home, so we can't blame it on that.

The fact is that the squad is no longer good enough. The first choice seventeen might just be, but the depth is not there.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 3:58 pm  

my stobart experience:
parking: got there an hr before k.o hoping to park on the college carpark... not a chance. ended up in a side street. seen some parking on asda(did anybody park on there? and did you get a ticket??) even saw some parking on the police station carpark!

the stadium: we sat in the 1st row in the north stand and got drenched! shades of twickers... it brought a whole new meaning to 'grass roots rugby' !! in between the camera man,the microphone man,the linesman,the ball boys and the stewards we saw some of the game until the action went near the tryline and then it a case of waiting for the crowd reaction. safe to say i will not be sitting there again!

the atmosphere: was totally dead in the north stand.. the fans from the scaff need to sit in the north stand every game to get the atmosphere going or we will get out sung by every away teams fans that visit

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:09 pm  

Lord Tony Smith wrote:

Where was your fans last night?

"Is there a fire drill?"

Enjoy It while It lasts. Next season we'll p1ss all over you attendances.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:13 pm  

chris_joynt's_barber wrote:

my stobart experience:
parking: got there an hr before k.o hoping to park on the college carpark... not a chance. ended up in a side street. seen some parking on asda(did anybody park on there? and did you get a ticket??) even saw some parking on the police station carpark!

the stadium: we sat in the 1st row in the north stand and got drenched! shades of twickers... it brought a whole new meaning to 'grass roots rugby' !! in between the camera man,the microphone man,the linesman,the ball boys and the stewards we saw some of the game until the action went near the tryline and then it a case of waiting for the crowd reaction. safe to say i will not be sitting there again!

the atmosphere: was totally dead in the north stand.. the fans from the scaff need to sit in the north stand every game to get the atmosphere going or we will get out sung by every away teams fans that visit

Parked on Asda with no issues.

The fans from the scaff can't/won't sit in the North stand because many will have 'standing' season tickets. Unfortunately in any large groups of singing fans will be separated throughout the East stand due to the seating too. How this will compare in the new gaff concerns me & is another reason I'd have preferred a Halliwell Jones style seating/standing layout.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 4:50 pm  

Don Brennan wrote:

Enjoy It while It lasts. Next season we'll p1ss all over you attendances.

Believe that when I see it. What do you reckon your attendance will be on Friday? 6-7k?

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 5:43 pm  

Lord Tony Smith wrote:

Believe that when I see it. What do you reckon your attendance will be on Friday? 6-7k?

On Friday? probably at lot less than that.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 6:57 pm  

Something interesting to bare in mind when Wigan were forced to move a home playoff game to the Stobart in september 2008 the attendance was just 6806. This was against Bradford.

Saints attendance therefore holds up well. Especially when you consider Wigans far larger fan base.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:51 pm  

chris_joynt's_barber wrote:

my stobart experience:
parking: got there an hr before k.o hoping to park on the college carpark... not a chance. ended up in a side street. seen some parking on asda(did anybody park on there? and did you get a ticket??) even saw some parking on the police station carpark!

the stadium: we sat in the 1st row in the north stand and got drenched! shades of twickers... it brought a whole new meaning to 'grass roots rugby' !! in between the camera man,the microphone man,the linesman,the ball boys and the stewards we saw some of the game until the action went near the tryline and then it a case of waiting for the crowd reaction. safe to say i will not be sitting there again!

the atmosphere: was totally dead in the north stand.. the fans from the scaff need to sit in the north stand every game to get the atmosphere going or we will get out sung by every away teams fans that visit

You mean by the 20 harlequin fans?
My take is that the dire fans are always good value and also that we got off to a s*it start and the game had gone by 18 mins so the fans were a bit confused and depressed.
Lets see what we are like for the next game.

Strangely when I watched the game from 7 rows up in the North Stand, I thought we were very very poor, but when I watched the recording on sky, we looked pretty good against a side that defended really well and managed to score on each of the not many occasions they came down our end. Our forwards did OK and were definately not "owned" by dire.

It seemed we had a lot of territory and I would like to see the stats on metres and territory etc.
Where we went wrong was an awful attack and a brilliant dire defence.

Re: Playing at Widnes : Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:24 pm  

as a wire fan, i dont really think the hoodoo has broken, for one there isnt a hoodoo any more as KR was the hoodoo not any other stadium ( this in itself surprises me as we couldnt beat you home or away except for that one game the week before the CC where we beat you at wilderspool, so if the is a hoodoo it is against saints completely)

however i dont think moving to the new ground will make many big differences to at widnes, both have 4 seating stands and the crowd will not be as naturally vocal, it happened when we moved from the zoo to the HJ. singing fans become split up and theres nowt you can do about it. i think you will miss KR for at least 5-10 years, i dont think you would have beat cas in the last league game anywhere other than KR, the fans will to get the team to score ensured the win, end of.

i just hope that the new ground does retain the old saints/wire atmosphere with brilliant entertaining spectacles for the sport but with maybe a few more wire wins than KR provided lol.

good luck this year at your foster home and for many years to come at the new place (except against wire lol)