Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:42 am  

Thursday nights arent all that big a problem for me personally and I will still be going but im not very happy about how this has come about.

Our future with the stadium is now at crisis point. We are being bossed about and told where to play by a 3rd division football club. Ian Lenagan, who were all told is an astute business man, is seemingly being walked over by this young lad who is now the Latics Chairman and who spends more time in Ibiza than Lenagan does in Oxford.

The joint stadium project has failed.

It is too big for both clubs and is only ever anywhere near full to capacity twice a year. Both clubs now have more games than ever and last year we had to play two competitive home games away from Wigan: One in London and one at Leigh.

Clubs like Warrington, leigh and St Helens have their own stadiums. They will have full control and get extra corporate revenue they can invest in the club.

I will still be there on Thursday but most season ticket holders I go with are very annoyed about how this has happened. The way the club kept this quiet and underhand and have only given us 7 days notice is ridiculous. I suspect more season ticket holders wont renew next year.

We need a new stadium. I hear Tesco is currently in financial difficulty? Maybe if the Wigan store is sold we can get a purpose built stadium in its place and we'll once again know what it is like to experience atmosphere at a rugby match!

We live in hope.

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:11 am  

Cherry_Warrior wrote:

Moggy off to your own board you tedious little turd.

The use of the word 'turd' in an insult always makes me smile

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:27 am  

Our own stadium is a pipe dream that won't happen any time soon, but situations like this can't happen again and the club need to start communicating with the fans much better. The fixtures are released 4 months before the season starts and any potential clashes should be spotted and rectified straight away. The fact this Salford game has only been sorted 8 days before the match is nothing short of farcical. Although it seems like Easter Monday is sorted, the club haven't even yet acknowledged it publicly as far as I'm aware.

Lenegan has got a real struggle on his hands right now IMO. Attendances have been on the slide fairly readily for 3 or 4 years now and more and more slight annoyances keep creeping in that are putting some fans off. Admittedly, some of these, such as Thursday games and fixture clashes, IL and the club have no control over but there are other aspects that they do. Although not by very much, ticket prices have gone up, the replica shirts were released the day before Xmas eve with limited sizes and stuck on sponsors, many disagreed with the London "home" game, there's no longer any free car parking onsite. Stuff like this seems pretty minor but I get the impression that a lot of fans are getting pretty fed up and tbh the club don't really seem to be actively trying to buck the trend of the drop in attendances.

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:13 am  

WARRIORCRAIG wrote:

Our own stadium is a pipe dream that won't happen any time soon, but situations like this can't happen again and the club need to start communicating with the fans much better. The fixtures are released 4 months before the season starts and any potential clashes should be spotted and rectified straight away. The fact this Salford game has only been sorted 8 days before the match is nothing short of farcical. Although it seems like Easter Monday is sorted, the club haven't even yet acknowledged it publicly as far as I'm aware.

Lenegan has got a real struggle on his hands right now IMO. Attendances have been on the slide fairly readily for 3 or 4 years now and more and more slight annoyances keep creeping in that are putting some fans off. Admittedly, some of these, such as Thursday games and fixture clashes, IL and the club have no control over but there are other aspects that they do. Although not by very much, ticket prices have gone up, the replica shirts were released the day before Xmas eve with limited sizes and stuck on sponsors, many disagreed with the London "home" game, there's no longer any free car parking onsite. Stuff like this seems pretty minor but I get the impression that a lot of fans are getting pretty fed up and tbh the club don't really seem to be actively trying to buck the trend of the drop in attendances.

This, plus if we get the same crap on the pitch as we did for 3/4 of last season, attendance's will go through the floor. I certainly pick and choose which games I go to.

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:51 am  

Possibly time for a Liverpool-style protest. Perhaps some big flags placed where Sky TV have to show them venting the frustration at being treated like plebs by our chairman.

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:16 am  

Maybe we could get a stadium built as part of a PFI? Then rent the stadium on a long term lease with an option to buy at certain points of the lease for a certain amount.

For me I love watching games on a Friday night but I really enjoy going to home and away games on a Sunday afternoon, there's less panic/traffic in getting to the stadium, your not getting home too late etc. it also gives the chance for away fans to come to he game.

To increase attendances we need free parking and home games on a Sunday afternoon as it used to be many moons ago.

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:40 am  

post wrote:

Maybe we could get a stadium built as part of a PFI? Then rent the stadium on a long term lease with an option to buy at certain points of the lease for a certain amount.

For me I love watching games on a Friday night but I really enjoy going to home and away games on a Sunday afternoon, there's less panic/traffic in getting to the stadium, your not getting home too late etc. it also gives the chance for away fans to come to he game.

To increase attendances we need free parking and home games on a Sunday afternoon as it used to be many moons ago.

Totally agree, from where I now live it's a 2 hour drive each way to home games on a good day, getting home about midnight. Can't do that every other week now, so back to Sunday would suit me fine! It ain't going to happen though!

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:20 pm  

Moving our games back to Sunday must happen in my opinion. If the Latics aren't happy with the pitch being used 24 hours before their games and they clearly call the shots then this has to happen. We can set our fixtures in stone and will face very very few issues as 99%+ of Latics games fall on Saturdays or in midweek.

There will be times when we're on Sky on a Friday night and they will need to be managed accordingly (Sky tend to call the shots full stop anyway regardless of which sport we're talking and I'm sure could sway any decision Latics are prepared to make) but we can't keep having instance like this. It's damaging the club massively IMO.

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:07 pm  

If we were to somehow magically have our own stadium, some consideration should be given to sections of rail seating imo, it'd allow for standing during Wigan fixtures but could be used as standard seating for internationals which would provide additional revenue for the club.

[DaveO]

Re: Lenagan, get us OUR stadium back! : Fri Feb 19, 2016 1:23 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Moving our games back to Sunday must happen in my opinion. If the Latics aren't happy with the pitch being used 24 hours before their games and they clearly call the shots then this has to happen. We can set our fixtures in stone and will face very very few issues as 99%+ of Latics games fall on Saturdays or in midweek.

There will be times when we're on Sky on a Friday night and they will need to be managed accordingly (Sky tend to call the shots full stop anyway regardless of which sport we're talking and I'm sure could sway any decision Latics are prepared to make) but we can't keep having instance like this. It's damaging the club massively IMO.

Wasn't the reason (or at least "a" reason) the club switched to Friday was to avoid the constant switching from Sunday when we were on Sky? Moving back to Sunday's would just annoy another set of fans when games are switched to Friday for Sky and annoy others as Sunday's mean you can't go away or do other things for the entire weekend.

As I mentioned in the Salford thread we aren't the only RL to share with a soccer club and Hull and Hudds do not seem to have this problem. Salford share with Sale RU.

I think it's a legitimate question to ask how come Wigan are seemingly the only side kicked out of their ground for home games by the other user?

If the excuse is the pitch then it needs sorting out once and for all but I do think that is an excuse and the reality is more to do with bad planning given soccer and RL fixtures are known well in advance.

If this situation can be sorted out so we aren't messed about like this (and it should be) I see no great advantage to owning a ground. It's only an asset if you realise the asset (i.e. sell it) and you have to pay 100% of the upkeep. An amicable and workable ground share has got to be more sensible but at the moment we don't have that.