shut up you fool.

You can't use Warrington as a good example of what can be achieved through franchising, Catalans and Hull KR are good examples of what can be achieved through franchising.

The story for us is partly the stadium and partly (the larger part) about the benefactor.

There's a difference between having a wealthy benefactor and a good benefactor. In lots of sports there are examples of guys with money who have taken a sports club backwards. Out of all the sports I follow, IMO Simon Moran is the best model of a sporting benefactor because

1 - he is low profile and keeps out of the limelight (ie he hasn't bought the sports club to boost his own image)
2 - by him buying a majority share the season after we moved into the new stadium he guaranteed that the stadium profits could go back into the club rather than in the pockets of Greenalls or another major shareholder, this made the revenue streams a lot better for us
3 - he had the resources and the willingness to invest, at the time when we had just moved into the new stadium to capture some excitement around the town with a big push, bringing on board international players to prove we were serious
4 - he didn't bail out after the first few seasons of underachievement
5 - he's a promoter, which means he's good at networking and bringing people on board, his networking ability is why we got Andrew Johns here and I'm sure its been why we've made several other major signings like Morley, Monaghan etc

Too many benefactors in sport are a negative influence and clubs just have to weigh up the positives of the cash they put in against the negatives of their meddling. For us Simon Moran has been a very positive influence even over and above the cash he has put in, so I would say yes he is an example of the impact a really good sporting benefactor can have on a club. In many decades to come when people are looking at the history of Warrington RL I have no doubt that Simon Moran will be remembered in the same terms as Brian Bevan for contribution to Warrington RLFC.

lets not forget Saddened that at the time we were building our new stadium that 3 of the past 5 Man of Steel awards had gone to Warrington youth products....so I don't think we would have been kicked out of SL on youth production grounds

good post..and I agree..Simon Moran is the archetypal sugar daddy...god bless him!

You are Simon Moran i claim my free season ticket

No but seriously a good post

Excellent that Sally. Just wish I'd done it.

Pre HJ days, Warrington was up the creek without a paddle. Decrepid ground, falling attendances, in debt etc, until Warrington borough council bought the ground.

Tescos had been trying to " get in" to Warrington for years, and every application was knocked back. 1 day, Tesco turned around and said to WBC," let us build a store on the old Tetley Walker site". WBC refused on hygiene grounds saying, " the land was too contaminated to build a food store." Sometime later Tesco came back and said, " Let us build that store and we will build you a new stadium". Suddenly the ground was not so contaminated.

It's very easy to feel sympathy for Wakefield, as we could very easily have been in that very same situation.

Yes i was there when we were in the doldrums... Not everyone is like you though gloryhunting when Saints were sweeping the board....

He also likes to actually watch the game rather than some management at clubs (RL, RU and Wendy) who simple spend all afternoon/night in the hospitality suites.

WBC was also very clever in that they drew up a completely watertight contract with Tescos, who have an excellent in house legal team which has on a number of occasions found loopholes allowing them to back out of similar projects once the store has been built.

How much did the stadium cost to build? Although the deal saved us, Tesco still got the better end of the deal. That store could probably pay our yearly salary cap within a week.

ims, it was between £11-13 million.
A rough estimate for a new stadium used to be roughly £1m per 1000 seats, unless it was bent and corrupt like Wembley, which worked out at something like £10m per 1000 seats.

The land was not 'too contaminated' - all land (within reason) can be remediated and made safe - the key issue was it was not in the town centre - obviously the benefits of the stadium were a major factor in the council permitting the application (although it still got called in by the SoS for the inquiry).



I seem to remember it cost Tesco about £10mill to build - they handed over a shell to us and we were responsibile for fitting it out (offices, carpets, changing rooms, etc.). Presume the fit out could have easily cost another million or so.

Do you own your stadium or is it rented off Warrington council
Just wondering if that swayed the decision as it would be a nice financial asset for the council. Rather than just allowing tesco to give it to the club

6. He's a lifelong fan. At one of his rare public speaking appearances, Squadbuilder a few years back, I remember someone asking him (was it Padders or Wires 71?) if he'd still be there if the club lost its Super League place. He just smiled and said "I would. Would you?".