Why do you assume that Halton Council will be charging a temporary Superleague club the same rate as their permanent Championship tenants? On what basis do you form your assumption?


You don't know how much that rent is, though, do you? And Saints still have to provide their own stewards (along with pay for the ones supplied by Widnes) plus policing plus wages for those who serve behind the bar and clean up after us, maintain the pitch, etc. That's aside from their regular overheads, like Saints staff, the shop and the office at Alexandra Park, the training facility, etc. They may also be subsidising the Arriva and Hattons bus services they have arranged. I don't know the details of those arrangements but we have paid £40 for the full season (including any CC and play off games), which is lower than the cost would be if we travelled on the regular bus service. Also, Saints will be well aware that the fans don't like to travel further than their local pub to watch the team play so they would be fools to base their pricing upon more than about one thousand walk ups on top of the season ticket holders.

I don't think Saints are being greedy. I think they are being utterly realistic. However, I do agree that the turnout is an indictment on the Saints fanbase but the turnout doesn't surprise me having discussed at some length with members of that very fanbase their attitudes towards the temporary move to Widnes towards the end of last season.

1) You need to look up the dictionary definition of the word squatter.

2) We are not at the Halton stadium this season because the club focused on the holy grail of Superleague success, at least not in the way that you mean, we are there largely because of complications in the application and construction processes involved in getting into the new stadium. Unfortunately with such large construction project delays are inevitable, Saints were largely proactive in finding an alternative venue to play at under the circumstances.

The undeniable fact is that the Halton involves more travel to get to than Knowsley Road and therefore makes it even more difficult for some fans to attend every friday night. Through consultation with the community the club has known that this has been an ongoing issue for large numbers of fans wanting to attend games for years.

3) We were far from ignoring the need for modern stadia, we've been trying for many many years to get out of Knowsley Road and into a new ground (our OWN, dedicated RUGBY stadium which suits our own needs and offers facilities for the community as well being a more welcoming place for home and away fans to visit) with several past attempts blighted by lack of funds, poor board level management & planning amongst a few of the reasons we failed. The current board deserves praise for finally getting the move underway despite the additional difficulties that arose with the economy and in the face of opposition from some other parties. Arrogance has played no part in us not moving until now.

People are reading a little too much into this attendance, not that there isn't anything that can be done about it. It just feels like a lot with agendas and vendettas are getting their say in with no real justification.

First off, the pricing is awful. It's extortionate. In the current climate people cannot afford to throw money away every week.

Secondly, it's a little further than most fans are used to and they will take time to adjust. Like Max says, there is usually a large amount who walk to games for nearly all clubs, this will be effectively zero to saints fans this year. None drivers will be put out, and drivers will have to spend more to get to games. It's going to put off many people no matter what the club.

The economic climate will mean that many fans will have to pick and choose which games to attend and with the greatest respect to quins, they're not the draw a local rival is.

Thirdly, Saints have started very poorly by their standards, there isnt the buzz about the team that there usually is. Not a great excuse to be honest, but always going to be a factor.

Bottom line is, everyone knew this season attendances would suffer for one reason or another. It doesn't prove saints fans are fickle or lightweight, it just reflects on the choices the club have made and the current climate. I suspect when the new ground is finally built you will see the crowds back in even greater numbers than before, although to be fair, the costing needs to be looked at because we're all suffering at the moment and asking for so much money when they're already making an effort to get there is unfair. For the good of the sport let's hope it's sorted soon.

What he said,with knobs on.
Would only be worried if it carries on into next season (it wont,my guess is that saints will post their highest ever average next season) my guess would be 12k+,playing saturday/sunday may have helped with the lack of walk ups/far less kids in attendance,(fwiw i am informed that saints have budgeted for an average of around 7k for this season).alll in all no great drama.....except on the field,early day yet though

The pricing is a little worrying. If they are charging that for Widnes, how much will it be at a brand new stadium??

This is true but hey, lets be fair Saints have had it very good for over ten years and there is a lot of light hearted paybacks beings let loose.

Spectating position ?

ita a well known colloqiualism

Just to correct your spin

2010 attendance v Quins - @10000 2009 attendance - @9000

It was pitiful last weekend. However, that will all change once our new stadium is up and running. People will be crawling out of the woodwork to see what it is like. I just hope we have a team of the quality to grace the place!

Time for the annual post i suppose......

Whilst a choice few fans from other teams are doing their best to massage their own egos and the collective ego of "their fans", which is usually fun, its turned into one of the most bitty and boring threads possible.

The genuinely agreeable and entertaining fans from other teams have sloped off due to the horrendous degradation of the thread.

Feed the trolls, encourage them back, for this thread has been terrible.

I thank you!

Anytime , always willing to help