I agree
Stilt walkers, men in wolf costumes etc, aren't reasons we haven't won the championship. However, our CEO seems to be putting suchlike [ifront and centre [/i of his job, instead of getting a top notch coaching staff and assistants, and addressing where the club are going wrong.

Little 8 year old Kayne/Jaxon/Tyla Charlee will soon get bored of his team not winning trophies, while his second generation St Helens supporting schoolmates, are off to another GF.

I'll leave you to work that one out.

The match day experience should have more than just the rugby league, but we should also do the naffness test. If we want to be a global superstar brand like the biggest sporting brands in the world we should ask, if someone suggested this at Real Madrid, Dallas Cowboys etc, would they be laughed off the park. Would Dallas Cowboys have people running races against a man in a green gimp suit etc. We do seem a bit Benny Hill.

Also remember in the early days of Super League, Bradford were seen as the leaders of match day marketing and looking to the future, trying to attract a new generation with Bullmania and all that. I remember going to Odsal or Valley Parade and thinking how much things had changed in a few years....they'd gone from an ageing audience of flat cappers to having families, loads of teenagers, especially girls. But how long did they stay, after the team went in to decline? You would have expected them to have a huge bulge of fans in their 30s now, probably with kids who they had started bringing to Odsal. Where did they all go?

Now I expect Bradford actually has a big latent support base in the town, of people who are familiar with rugby league from their teenage days but haven't been for a while. If they got some good investment in, and got back into Super League and landed a couple of major signings, I wouldn't be surprised if RL became big again there. But the excitement ultimately comes from the team and its performances and the drama of competing for trophies.

It has been like this since Gatcliffe left. When Roger Draper was here, everything was about the matchday/customer experience, and 'modernising' the badge and brand. This focus on the off-field stuff has continued with KF but while we've been focusing on this our eye has come off the ball for recruitment of players and coaches - which has been poor since around the point Gatcliffe left.

The irony here is, I think the club's 'brand' was stronger under Gatcliffe, who was more understated and didn't make all these performative gestures with the badge and talking to the media. When Gatcliffe took over, I think our club brand was associated with middling mediocrity, usually having some financial crisis, and being supported by grumpy men from the Fletcher Street End and pondlife corner. Then during the Gatcliffe era, the brand became much more of us being a big time club, with modern facilities, well-known in Australia due to signings of top NRL players, with a more diverse fan base.

Over the past few years, I think our brand has become tarnished with being a bit of a joke, with this Always Our Year stuff, and the number of times we've tried to wind up other clubs or made public boasts about what we are going to do and then failed to deliver. I don't look at our current badge and compare it to the old badge and think "we have a stronger brand now", I think it has gone in the opposite direction. Not the fault of the badge itself but I do think some of the efforts to build a brand have been counterproductive and I prefer the approach of Gatcliffe who had a more humble, quiet persona but ran the club well.

Except there are generations who didn’t see us win anything. Just like the majority of teams. If someone only supports a team in the hope that they will win a trophy they are either in for constant disappointment or should consider a regular switch of allegiance.

I haven't actually seen us be officially crowned champions . I was four in 1955 & in 1985/6 i had to work on final day ,although i recorded it to watch the following day. However , our lack of silverware in Championship terms has been made up for in CC wins & watching the roller coaster that is the Wire, & i have no urge to start watching Saints or Wigan.

And so that’s my point about fan entertainment and trying to get new fans to attend, when it all went tits up for Bradford the fans went to, I’ve been to Bradford in the 20000 plus crowd days and after it all went down hill, yes they still had fans but nothing like there glory days. Fan entertainment only works if your team is winning more than it loses. Bradford have proven that.

Exactly 9A, karetaker you surprise me by giving a thumbs up. This seems to be the opposite of your normal stance (unless it was about not supporting Saints/Wigan).

So there are generations who didn't see us win anything (I consider myself one of them, from my first season ticket in 83, a Lancs Cup, a Regal Trophy and a Prem until 2009 is hardly being greedy) makes it OK, does it.? A simple shrug of the shoulders, and accept our fate in life. St Helens were similar in the same period, until the birth of SL, where they refused to accept second best, and grew a ruthless streak.
I'll repeat myself. We (I imagine) are spending upto full salary cap. We have 2 marquee players, and a host of International standard players, and we've gone out at the first round of the playoffs, two years running. For our outlay for the last 15 years, we should have lat least 1 GF win. Top sides DO NOT accept mediocrity. They act. Our club, and some of its supporters seem to accept this.

Procastinatus on Winwick Roadius should be the club motto

Do you not feel you are now going round in circles with this, it doesn’t matter how many time and different ways we say this we have to accept some people are just happy with the way it is /sighs.

It looks like I'll never convert the [ihappy with my lot[/i brigade.

Another season of

"Hendo" putting the cones out
"Briersy" growing his beard longer, and
"Pricey" saying "I know what kind of footy team we've got, here"

Once more into mediocrity, dear friends, once more
Or close the turnstiles up, with our Happy Clappers

Fitzies our Leader

The show must go on

MWGA

I think the match day experience is great for newcomers and family members who aren't overall there for the rugby. However the team. Playing entertaining rugby is what will keep the punters coming back. I doubt that a special light show is going to bring in more fans in the long term but an. Entertaining rugby side and a great crowd atmosphere will.

I also think if we we’re going to have this “controversial”social media strategy we’re going to have to start backing it up on the pitch. We just end up inviting ridicule when we get beat because the club have been “giving it all that” beforehand.

I don’t actually mind our marketing/match day approach. I’m happy that we’re trying something different. However it’s secondary to what’s happening on the pitch.

I'm still non the wiser
I'll have to go to Bletchley Park to decode