Re: Wakefield : Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:56 am  

Boss Hog wrote:

Maybe I`m in a minority on here but I have a lot of empathy for the plight that Wakefield and Castleford found themselves in with their promised new stadiums.

The new grounds were linked to planning permission associated with major building projects that Wakefield council gave their blessing to on condition that the projects included new stadiums for Cas and Wakefield.

I doubt that our Halliwell Jones stadium would ever been built without the deal brokered by the late Peter Deacon with Warrington Council and Tesco.

Whilst we had our own problems with a certain Councillor Hughes who opposed the stadium build and wrote a poison pen letter to John Prescott and thus initiated an independent enquiry into the stadium planning permission. With the exception of Hughes, the rest of the Warrington Council could not have been more supportive of the stadium proposals.

For various reasons the support by Wakefield Council was amateurish and the projects were allowed to proceed without the new grounds being built. (Something very fishy IMHO).

Since then the three clubs(Featherstone too) that are in Wakefield Metropolitan council have been awarded grants for ground improvements funded by the original building companies and also Wakefield Council.

I agree with a lot of your points, but to be fair the previous projects fell through because the money fell through. I'm sure Wakefield Council didn't cover themselves in glory at every step but it is the job of the clubs as commercial entities to ensure other businesses make good on their agreements.

All in all it shows the importance of one club per council area. Wakefield Council have tried to play fair by Featherstone, Castleford and Wakefield RL, but ultimately three clubs is too much for one Council to support.

I agree with your sympathy for those clubs and the comparison with our plight.

Re: Wakefield : Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:57 am  

Captain Hook wrote:

Is this another personality split?

Definitely the same person.

Re: Wakefield : Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:05 pm  

just_browny wrote:

Erm, you're a bit behind the curve here chief
In fact one new stand is very nearly finished. So to be fair they are actually finally making progress on this score.

FFS

Yep - definately behind the 8 ball here!

Re: Wakefield : Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:37 pm  

just_browny wrote: Erm, you're a bit behind the curve here chief: They canned the new stadium and are redeveloping Belle Vue. https://www.totalrl.com/wakefield-trini ... -panthers/ In fact one new stand is very nearly finished. So to be fair they are actually finally making progress on this score. You do know this “progress” is because they were informed by the RFL that Belle Vue was having its capacity reduced for safety reasons, and that capacity would have taken it below SL standards therefore without the “progress” they’d have been out irrespective of what happened on the pitch - all too much for the owner who is now stepping down

just_browny wrote: Erm, you're a bit behind the curve here chief: They canned the new stadium and are redeveloping Belle Vue. https://www.totalrl.com/wakefield-trini ... -panthers/ In fact one new stand is very nearly finished. So to be fair they are actually finally making progress on this score. You do know this “progress” is because they were informed by the RFL that Belle Vue was having its capacity reduced for safety reasons, and that capacity would have taken it below SL standards therefore without the “progress” they’d have been out irrespective of what happened on the pitch - all too much for the owner who is now stepping down

Re: Wakefield : Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:37 am  

It might be worth remembering that in the early 2000s we were in a similar plight. Without council involvement together with SM we would have been where they currently are. One new ground continued investment from SM and latterly the other SM and hey presto. We have an awful lot to thank these two individuals for

Re: Wakefield : Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:57 am  

ColD wrote:

You do know this “progress” is because they were informed by the RFL that Belle Vue was having its capacity reduced for safety reasons, and that capacity would have taken it below SL standards therefore without the “progress” they’d have been out irrespective of what happened on the pitch - all too much for the owner who is now stepping down

It would still be progress (no quotation marks) if a stand-shaped meteorite had landed on the side of the Belle Vue pitch*. It doesn't matter why or what drove it; the fact is that it is being built and finally looking worthy of Super League.


*I assume this was how Odsal was first constructed.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Wakefield : Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:27 am  

RoyalWire wrote:

It might be worth remembering that in the early 2000s we were in a similar plight. Without council involvement together with SM we would have been where they currently are. One new ground continued investment from SM and latterly the other SM and hey presto. We have an awful lot to thank these two individuals for

Errr, not to besmirch the wonderful and benevolent sm but didn't he come on board as a majority shareholder after the stadium had been built and funded by tesco?

Unless there's another version of this that I don't know.

Duckie?

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Wakefield : Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:29 am  

RoyalWire wrote:

It might be worth remembering that in the early 2000s we were in a similar plight. Without council involvement together with SM we would have been where they currently are. One new ground continued investment from SM and latterly the other SM and hey presto. We have an awful lot to thank these two individuals for

Also, Wakefield lied through their teeth when they were promoted in 1999 about new stadia being on the horizon, this in turn led to them building kingsway house, and the fella in charge did a runner and they remained unpaid for, and wakey lurched from on and off field crisis to crisis.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Wakefield : Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:29 am  

Now cas on the other hand...

Re: Wakefield : Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:44 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

Also, Wakefield lied through their teeth when they were promoted in 1999 about new stadia being on the horizon, this in turn led to them building kingsway house, and the fella in charge did a runner and they remained unpaid for, and wakey lurched from on and off field crisis to crisis.

I don't remember the chronoogy this far back and know we obviously never were promoted, but did we ever use the Burtonwood plan to bullpoop our preserved status in SL? I feel like we must have been under some pressure in the mid-late 1990s.