Look in from the outside at Saints I see key positives and negatives.

Positive,

You dumped that waster Kyle Eastmond at and now they are shooting up the table from nowhere, coincidence or what?

Negative

Moving to Widnes seems to have alienated the fans, on TV tonight the Stobart looked empty, why show an empty stand on Sky?

Anyone agree?

doesnt look great showing that on Sky

strange match to show when Hudds and Leeds where playing.

Well, the theory goes that it wasn't intentional. Last season, the cameras were on the opposite side at Widnes so viewers would have seen the virtually full North Stand instead. But what they see now is the virtually empty (and more expensive) South Stand. The East Stand fills up every time we play there (behind the sticks).

However, the poor turnout from Saints fans is embarrassing to those of us who make the effort. We almost made it to 8000 last time, but we were back down to 7000 this time. No doubt those missing 800 thought it was better to watch it in the pub.

I'm a season ticket holder in the North stand and the south stand is an embarrassment but you cant force people ... alot of Saints fans simply dont want to go to Widnes ...

And when Saints fans make up their collective minds not to do something there is no persuading them otherwise, even if the club were to go bust as a result! The lack of turnout must be costing Saints big time.

thats true but I bet they factored lower crowds into the figures for this year. It's weird really , I have a great seat in a very good Rugby Stadium , parking is actually better than KR and it only really takes me about 15 minutes more to get to if that but I still dont really like it ..

Whoa just a minute!!!

There are some might big assumptions going on here which are a tad insulting. Did anyone really expect 10,000 per match? Are we really expecting those kids age 11- 16 who would usually walk to the game in groups from their homes to travel to widnes via bus on their own??

Are we expecting those pensionaires who would walk up to the game a short distance to do the same in Widnes.

I'm sorry but a 7k crowd is a 30%drop on last season. For me that is actually better than expected. I'm sure Saints where working on a drop in crowds. Without having to think about it, I know my family have gone from 4 season tickets to 2, because we just knew not everyone would manage to get to every game this year.

It's arrogance to assume everyone has exactly the same resources and abilities and time available as yourself. Lumping people into a group and calling them ludities, does not actually reflect accurately the reasons why people don't go. Add to this the current 1000's of people in the public services who are under threat or have already lost their jobs. In those circumstances, a season ticket and travel to Widnes is more of a luxury than previous years. Possibly an expense that can no longer be risked.

Walk ups can no longer happen in Widnes. You may at the last minute decide, I've got £20 in my pocket, I 'll pop down to the match at KR. If that happens now, then I may as well get Pizza and a film as I can't just walk down the road to the match.

With the south stand that's purely down to SKY. They filmed from the opposite side last year, you'll have to ask them for the reasons why they have purposely decided to change the side they film from to film the more expensive seats.
Quite frankly if I have a choice of a seat with exactly the same view but extra cost. There is no way I'm going to pay extra for exactly the same seat but on the opposite side.

Maybe the SKY team are and producers are trying to show what they want to show.

Your premise is incorrect. It's not a move. We are temporarily playing our home games there while a better stadium is being built.

So it is a move, just a temporary one.

I wonder how many free junior tickets we gave away over the last few years and stopped this year?

Saints should have opened up the South stand last night, rather than opening up the away end to home fans. It's ridiculous.

South stand was open but it costs the most.

For the less money you can get a better spec on the other side. It was wise to open the away end as some fans maybe willing to pay those prices but not south stand prices. Any business needs to maximise revenue. Better to get a more in the away end than turn down money as people are not prepared to pay for the south side.

Of course. The thrust of the argument above though is that playing at Widnes is a planned move that has had unforseen negative consequences i.e. fans turning against the club.

In reality, crowds have slightly reduced as could have been reasonable expected. It would take a great deal to alienate fans - something like a Wimbledon/Milton Keynes 'move'.

Sorry, I know it's open - what I meant was that rather than allowing home fans into the away end, they should have dropped the price of the South Stand.

They did, but in a batch of three. So people could buy three adult tickets for £20 a ticket for the South Stand IF they bought tickets for all three games. In addition, juniors cost £11 for the North, West and South Stands for those same games - which includes Cas on Easter Monday. However, people reluctant to spend £6 extra to sit in the South Stand are unlikely to spend £60 up front on three matches, regardless of the junior discount. The problem is, how would Saints justify a price reduction to the season ticket holders in the South Stand who paid or are paying the full whack for sitting there? Saints made the mistake of differentiating in price between the South and North Stands but that was a fundamental error they cannot change so I should think that the South Stand is going to look empty for the rest of the season.

Mind you, it was fuller against HKR than against Wakey, which suggests to me that it was actually the presence of us on the TV which kept people away.

However, I do agree that really they should just close the West Stand completely until Wigan visit, and perhaps Leeds if they start to win matches again. Other than that, it is clear we are not going to get enough away fans to justify opening up a whole stand.