I'm going to bet on StainsFan.

We do play in 2 weeks. what did you expect. Any excuse for an arguement. Even something that is not really a threat to either club causes a nice oppertunity to have go with the semi only 2 weeks away.

Once we are in the new stadium there isn't any reason why we should not get a Grade A.

I'm amazed that Leeds can get a Grade A when the "away end" hasn't even a roof. Each of the other Grade A clubs
play under fully covered stadia. The criteria in this respect is crackers.

(a) They did. See the summing up in League Express this week of what the RFL said last time around.
(b) It most definitely has materialised. Unless that stadium with grass growing on its pitch is the stadium for another team.
(c) The two above suggest you were just guessing.

True.
Although a substantial ongoing support of the Lenagan family is mentioned in the accounts to see wigan through 2010/11 season.
it also says that additional loans from the family are necessary so the chances are he will re-structure the debt owed to his family.

However, this does not solve/disguise the ongoing trading losses of wigan even with your high support levels; whereas we can grow to reach profitability which = sustainability.

How can wigan trade their way out of continuing losses when you are going full pelt and having to borrow more and more from its owner?

How the fook have we managed that?



Don't forget though that Red Hall is full of pen pushers who will love dotting those 'i's and crossing those 't's and so we might only be 957 under the bar but Doggammit, no way will we get that Grade A!

I'm embarrassed at the pettiness of some of my fellow Saints fans.

As far as i'm concerned Saints have done well to get a B grade.
It shows that we are doing a lot of things right.

Saints themselves have said the time to truly judge them is once they are settled into the new stadium.

Therefore lets look forward to the next 3 year license period when hopefully we will have done enough to earn ourselves an A grade.

My own personal opinion why we never got an A is that its related to the following.

1. Community programme perhaps historically not as strong as other clubs. I think Saints have started to take this onboard, as ive noticed that in the programmes this year, they have a page or two devoted to their efforts to promote the club around Merseyside.

2. Low level of season ticket Sales. I believe we sold more season tickets this year at Widnes than in previous years. Now considering we only have about 5-6k season ticket holders now, then we may have dipped below the 5k level in recent seasons.

3. sub 9k gates at Widnes. While gates have been better than many fans were predicting. They are still about 20% lower than at KR. IMO it may be a tough ask in the depths of a recession getting the lost fans back. Many i fear will have found other interests to spend their dwindling leisure money on.

4. No stadium of our own, being forced to rent short term a ground out of our town.

You need to read it again then. You get graded on current facilities not on something that might be finished in the future. If you think that your new ground has materialised you need to go and consider how long it has taken Halifax to finish their main stand. Just because you start building something doesn't mean you are going to finish it - you can't play a game on it for a number of months yet unless you don't want any fans in attendance.

Lenegan was always going having to restructure the club's finances after the way Mo and Whelan ran it, hence the £2m loan you mentioned earlier (which was actually a loan from Whelan). We were due to turn a profit last year according to Lenegan at a fans forum and are now on the way to being sustainable going forward.

I do not have the detail of St Helens financial so can't comment, you clearly don't know Wigan's so it's best not to speculate.

This year's attendance don't count as the bid was done earlier in the season. It will have been the ground as the main issue, so it looks a forgone conclusion it will be an A grade for the club next time.

You are talking rubbish. We were awarded a Grade B last time as well, and we only had planning permission back then! The only tangible thing that has changed to the negative since last time is our attendance figures. We were averaging 11,500 for I think the final three years of our time at KR. We've fallen below the required 9000 for this season. Of course, you will note that I have inserted the word 'tangible'. Because very few fans will know the true state of the club's finances. So that could be a factor.

According to League Express when it set out the criteria this week it does count but at the lower figure of a 9000 average (the previous two seasons being 10,000 average).