Simple Question... : Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:02 pm  

Just out of interest - if money wasnt an issue, as Saints fans would you want to own one of the houses that are to be built on the site of your old ground? Maybe you would clamour to pick the plot situated over the centre spot, for instance, or your usual vantage point, or even where the last try was scored?

Or, do you see the development as sacrilege, and therefore wouldn't want to even be given one of the houses, or to occupy one on principle?

No real reason for the question - just wanted to compare your feelings with those of a few obstinate Wiganers who wouldn't set foot in the new Tesco that was built on the site of the old Central Park.

Re: Simple Question... : Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:22 pm  

Great memories there. I would certainly consider living at number 9 Cunnigham Grange.

Re: Simple Question... : Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:27 pm  

ROBINSON wrote:

Just out of interest - if money wasnt an issue, as Saints fans would you want to own one of the houses that are to be built on the site of your old ground? Maybe you would clamour to pick the plot situated over the centre spot, for instance, or your usual vantage point, or even where the last try was scored?

Or, do you see the development as sacrilege, and therefore wouldn't want to even be given one of the houses, or to occupy one on principle?

No real reason for the question - just wanted to compare your feelings with those of a few obstinate Wiganers who wouldn't set foot in the new Tesco that was built on the site of the old Central Park.

As I don't own my own house, and if the one's being built there were of suitable good design & excellent build quality, I wouldn't say no. The fact that the properties are located on the site of the old bird wouldn't be a deciding factor in such a purchase personally.

I don't see it as sacrilege, merely progress, we recognised that despite the incredible memories and experiences we enjoyed on the terraces of KR that the stadium was sadly no longer suitable and that it was a massive drain on the club's resources.

Question in return; do you think those same Wiganers would have felt the same way about the CP site had it been houses, rather than yet another supermarket that was built there?

Re: Simple Question... : Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:30 pm  

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?

Re: Simple Question... : Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:44 pm  

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.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:05 am  

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

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:09 am  

Buying a house there wouldnt bother me one bit.
No problems with houses being built on the ground.

Suspect that the issue at Wigan is that at Saints we left Knowsley road on our terms, whereas Wigan were essentially forced to sell up to stay operating, and had to move into a stadium that wasnt theirs and whose primary design and build purpose was for Soccer.

Im sure if the DW had been planned and built from the outset as just Wigan Warriors home ground, for example with red and white seats and all the stands named after Wigan greats, and with the inside of the stadium being full of reminders of Wigan rugbys past, then there would not have been as much resistance to change.
As it is i suspect many Wiganers dont feel that the DW is their home, instead its more like a Hotel that they stay at every so often.

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:08 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.

I suppose the same applies to number 75, but 75 has a better ring about it

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:26 am  

Wouldn't be a problem. I would buy one for rent, put 19,500 in the available space and claim only 14,200 when the council came to check!

Re: Simple Question... : Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:02 am  

Tony Stark wrote:

Question in return; do you think those same Wiganers would have felt the same way about the CP site had it been houses, rather than yet another supermarket that was built there?

I wouldn't know, to be honest. Times are probably different now - at the time, Central Park was one of the first famous old grounds to be ditched in favour of a new one. Most Wiganers didn't want to leave CP and didn't particularly want a new ground, in favour of staying at CP, which was a great place once, but like Knowsley Road, got old and expensive to look after.

And yes, before anyone jumps in, we all know the folklore surrounding the circumstances of the sale, but that's not for this thread - OK? EDIT - Chairmaker, this thread was going well until you posted your red vee tinted view on it.

I get the impression, though, that now that a few clubs have got their new grounds, leaving old stadia is less of a problem for fans, and most even want new grounds - Wakey and Cas are cases in point. That doesn't mean to say, though, that people aren't sad when the site is redeveloped to an extent where you would never know the old ground had ever been there.