Its all well and good saying that but times have changed, the days of it being a rugby league town are long gone as most people dont do what I used to do before I had a family,i.e football Saturday,sunday rugby most can't do that now and sadly football seems to be sport ruling the roost.

I certainly dont buy the "blame wane" syndrome doing the rounds, he was told to win trophies,he did on a regular basis, tough economic times as well as the march of football surely have taken their toll of attendances.

As suspected the Australian folly was just that a folly its all well and good trying to take but when the risk comes at perhaps alienating your home fanbase surely its been proven the risk far outweighs the rewards hope lessons have been learned.

That makes for depressing reading.

My wife and I where season ticket holders and then started a family so now we choose to spend our money on holidays/dance lessons/gymnastic lessons/music lessons etc... for our daughter so we cannot afford to attend games anymore as it would mean missing out on other things.

Luckily we are not in the IFL is a tight a**e bridage

It doesn't make great reading. We as supporters need to act now before we become the next Bradford Bulls.

There's still time!

What can we do as supporters?

For those that can, buy a season ticket again. Looks like we will have an exciting team next season, surely this will see an increase in attendances.

For those that can't commit to a season ticket (myself included due to business commitments) - get to as many home games as possibly can.

Encourage family members/friends to attend again.

Visit the fanzone prematch (and possibly postmatch) instead of the South Stand Bar. Purchase food and drinks in the arena rather than inside the DW.

Visit the club shop at the arena, purchase merchandise.

Purchase a golden gamble ticket (if you don't already).

Sign up to Wigan Lotto (if you don't already).

I'm not saying everybody should do everything on this list but if nobody does anything then it won't be long before we have no club.


And god only help us if the sport doesn't get a good SKY deal next time.

The extra fans would only stem the cash burn and if I'm honest I'd be amazed if the club could actually do that in one season.
I've been worried for years about the apparent lack of growth in younger supporters and although the new free scheme next year for under 8's is great we desperately need further initiatives across all ages.
I'm a ST holder but if I had to go to the north stand to get my ticket for the south stand if I was a potential occasional paying supporter personally I wouldn't be arrised in doing that.

We should be eternally grateful for IL because without him God knows where we would be. He ain't perfect but then again who is? Even the guy from Nazareth had his flaws.

And before any of that
Stop talking the club down at every opportunity
Stop/reduce looking to find negatives and blow them into massive negatives in even the tinest of issues
Stop/reduce running down our game at every opportunity
Stop running down our referees constantly
Stop moaning about ticket prices when they are exceptionally good value (the post the other week about season tickets being too expensive was one of the most ridiculous posts I've ever seen).
Stop accusing chairman of pocketing money with no evidence just because you want a new mythical chairman who will pump millions of pounds of money from God knows where because you want short term immediate fixes.

Start promoting our players, were losing George William's in 6/7 weeks and I don't think I've seen 10% of positive compared to the 90% criticism he gets whilst EVERY time a coach/player from another club is interviewed they was lyrical about him. Sam Burgess was praising him a couple of weeks ago on the Marty John's Podcsst.

Start telling everyone about the game, encourage people to attend

Start posting More when we win and less when we lose, rather than the other way round! There was a point (think it was last year) where we'd won 3/4 games in a row and it was like a morgue! One loss and there was 20 x times the traffic!

If we carry on like we have over the last 3/4 years doing more of the first lot and none of the 2nd lot people wont turn up and will tune out.
And before anyone says anything, Yes, it really does influence other peoples way of thinking.
Keep telling people that somethings rubbish, not good enough, players are crap, coach is crap blah blah and people will listen and stop coming.

Because if we don't the club will need more money from less people and that wont happen or the club really will have to cut their cloth etc.

So basically just sit there and applaud things that don't deserve it? Great idea!

I'll be at more games next season as they've invested in quality players, but that's not always been the case. When was the last true big name we signed prior to Burgess or Hastings? Hoffman in 2012? Trent perhaps? I'm sure 2012 saw an upturn in attendance after we signed the 3 players from the Storm. Wigan have always had quality home grown talent & star names - big names are just as much a part of our DNA & history as what our successful academy is imo. Don't expect everyone to be happy when that stops.

Let's look at the on the field product - we've gone from watching guys like Renouf, Lam and Dallas to Sammut, Sarginson and Marshall. No disrespect to Sarge, as I like the guy, but I know who I'd rather pay to see. Also in regards to performance, I do buy into the blame Wane theory. The success he brought in was great, but my god a massive proportion of the season wasn't fun. We'd turn up one week then watch Cas put 40 on us the week after. How many times have fans come home disheartened after another lackluster performance?

Let's look at price, - i'm now paying more to watch Wigan Vs Saints than I was 20 years ago, but back then it was Long Vs Lam, Rads Vs Wellens, Faz Vs Scully, Newton vs KFC etc. Please don't sit there and tell me we are even close to that. Paying more for a lesser product - where else does that happen?

Let's look at gate revenues - we used to have games Vs Bradford compared to next season Vs Toronto. What's that crowd going to look like? Add in Hudsnand Catalans too. How much do we lose during those fixtures? What about the impact of Thursday night games? How much does that shave off an attendance? Why would I cheer about those things, or should I ignore it and gloss over it? Should I big those games up to my friends 'come and watch us play Toronto - there'll be a great atmosphere'.

Let's looks at refs - imo we're absolutely at the bottom of the barrel with PR hungry guys like Hicks ruining games on a weekly basis. It was bad 15 years ago and the clubs kept their own counsel and went via the proper channels - how did that work out? The biggest tool of the lot of them, Ganson, got the top job. Imagine if in 15 years Hicks is the top guy! That's why I'm 100% behind McManus in what he's done - it quite simply isn't right how that final was officiated.

Let's talk about Sky - the product is amateurish both in production and talent. Most people won't watch it, but the RU coverage on BT is second to none imo. Great production at the matches and a weekly TV show that's entertaining and insightful. They've got a partnership that works for both of them. People who want to watch RU will buy BT and in turn they get appreciated by them via quality content.

I'm majorly excited to see Wigan next year, but that's because they've rectified some is the issues/gripes many people had. I'm not however going to sit here and say we're currently in some kind of golden age of RL in the UK.

On the subject of the Sly sports cash - what's happened to the concept of taking the league as a whole away from the RFL when it comes to the overall finances/sponsorship/telly/whatever? I thought IL was one of the leaders on that with Hetherington et al the nay sayers, but well, meh. Much as i consider Sly to be more of a problem than an overall solution, the Premier League wendyball model hasn't done them any harm has it?
Seems to have gone all a bit quiet... ??

if the crowds dont come and the sky money doesnt improve, there is only 1 solution.
cut the wages to the players
all other businesses work this work.
for sport to survive fans have to accept that the owners should not be expected to lose money, but that clubs have to break even. football hasnt learnt this yet (isnt the average EFL wage bill > 100% of income ???) and if RL doesnt learn it, clubs will go under when people like IL and McManus get bored of being sugar daddies.

McManus isn't the sugardaddy. They have a silent backer that puts up most the money.

Jukesays I agree with a lot of what you say, we should make more of an effort as fans to talk up the club and look for the positives.

However, that needs to come from the top too (the club). For me personally - and many others - they have totally neglected and took for granted the fanbase and are now seeing the returns of that. I applaud them for investing in the squad, and for raising the age of free entry for kids and investing in a money-making facility.

But they have totally failed to ENGAGE with fans in a positive meaningful way for the last 4-5 years. It's a head-scratcher because in the early years of IL's tenure it was an area where they succeeded really well. I hope the financial headaches act as a wake up call for the future.

Quite simply, we have lost 5,000 fans on average in 6 years.

5,000 x £20 x 14 home games = £1.4m a season.

Mike coleman is the money behind saints, a hedge fund manager based in singapore and geneva although he is st.helens born and bred. Saints are basically owned by one of his companys called crowther holdings who are registered in the caymen islands, i believe he owns between 65 snd 85% of the shares and has pumped around 20 million in since the move to the new stadium.

You can't have a silent backer as all investors have to pass the test to see if you are basically fit and proper