True.Paul Cullen mentioned in commentary at Leeds last week that it had taken him over 3 hours to drive there from Warrington. It's been the same in both directions all season.

How are we going to cope with more 'spreading the game'?

If they set up new franchises in Oxford, Northampton, Edinburgh etc then would the tight fisted northerners be willing to travel?

Was alright for us earlier in the season if I remember rightly? Biggest delay is getting away from headingley. Missed the kick off in the 2006 playoffs though. We were losing already and arrived just in time to see Henry Fa'afili touching down in the opposite corner, lovely.

The stats seem to suggest you are getting it right overall, a nice steady increase. You just need to push on, on the field, to cement support.

I agree. We've already doubled our average attendance over the last decade which is very impressive, but nothing attracts new fans more than a winning team. People bandwagon jump finals, so the more of them we get to the more newcomers we'll attract.

Of course as Bradford have found out since the trophies tried up, this also happens in reverse as well, so attracting people when times are good is one thing, but keeping them when times are bad is another.

Warrington is a fairly big town by "Rugby League Land" standards - obviously places like Leeds are bigger, but plenty of Super League clubs play in smaller towns than we do. Of course the fact that Warrington is still in large part Scouse/Manc overspill means football still takes precedence over RL for many. My dad for example has lived in Warrington for over thirty years now but has never stepped foot in an RL ground in his life. The same goes for my mum for that matter.

Some will just never be interested, but the only way the club can really attract more floating fans now in my view is with final appearances and ultimately silverware. Hopefully we'll be seeing some of that this August and October.

Wigan are offering reduced tickets on Groupon for their fixture against Bradford - should we do the same?

What's Groupon?

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a "Big One" type game each season - preferably in the middle of summer to give it a good chance of being a nice weather day - like Wigan have done a few times. Pick a fixture against a top side and reduce the costs to get people in. I realise Wigan have far more seats to fill than we do, and our games against Wigan and Saints are always likely to sell out anyway, but last night would have been a good opportunity because a cross Pennine Friday night televised fixture is never likely to draw a full house, but Leeds are still and attractive opponent. I know the weather ended up being dreadful, but you can't really guarantee anything there, and school half term would have helped attract parents with bored kids wanting something to do.

I wasn't too happy with our prices for the Bradford cup match either. A game not included in season tickets (I assume anyway, correct me if I'm wrong?) televised on terrestrial TV is never gonna be a full house or anywhere close, so charging full price was a bit cheeky although I accept Bradford's financial issues might have played a part in them wanting to maximise gate revenue. I don't see that as Warrington fans' problem though and I did feel a bit ripped off.

I used to go to most matches but only go now when I can get a deal on tickets or it is a headline match. I can't be the only one in this situation due to the sheer expense of supporting the team, makes you wonder how many there are.

I think one influence that could affect gates throughout sport is the growing creep towards 24/7 working in which not everyone will be able to get to their game of choice so sports clubs haven't got a 100% support base to draw on every week.The other point then is that if work stops people at times from going then it can also hit season ticket sales as opposed to fans paying on the door.We must also take into account that the population has more choice than it did years ago when "the match" was the working man's entertainment for the week...when i was young i never heard of working men playing golf .When i first watched the Wire all games were played Saturday afternoon & it was a couple of years before Sunday games started when admission was by programme only because the club weren't allowed to charge actual gate money.

And this is the most valid point of all...this financial mess is hitting everybody & sacrifices have to be made .

Big change for me is I mainly used to go and meet mates there; now the wife and three kids like to go and this equals ££s. Hard to justify the expense especially when the game is televised.

I find the same thing, but for different reasons. The expense of driving home and then back to the NE for a game is continually rising. I have to pick my matches these days and had to save up for Manchester.

Similar to you Teesside, plus as you'll know the actual time for travelling is a bind too, sometimes i don't actually have the 7 hours (combined) to dedicate.

To have a "big one" like Wigan have, it has to be a big team, and alot of our big games are now shifted to a Friday night and its a push with people working and travelling etc...

Maybe if the clubs got together with sky and put some of these big games on a Sat or even Sun the clubs could then offer more to get folk down,entertainment wise too, the main area outside the ground could have things on pre match

Mine tends to be an overnight stay, but not everyone is fortunate to be able to do that.
I think that the general consensus seems to be that the club is actually doing rather well to have a small increase in crowds in what are hard financial times.