There will be twice as much atmosphere on Sunday at Cas with half the attendance. But then people want to get rid of old grounds in favour of identikit grounds like we have at Wigan, Widnes and Hull. I prefer Cas, Bradford and Leeds any day.

Personally I'd go back to Central Park tomorrow. I prefer to stand. Sitting down at games isn't good for generating atmosphere. Although having said that, to be honest I go to the game to watch the Rugby - not to make noise.

To be fair to the club, they did produce a questionnaire at the end of last season (I can't remember if it was on the official site or e-mail) and it was from the replies that they went with the family & singing sections.
If people didn't respond and now complain it's unfair to blame the club.

If the questionnaire wasn't publicised enough then the club needs to look at its communications.

I agree that the atmosphere will be much better at Castleford, although I'm not sure it's because its standing. The atmosphere is usually created by the interaction between the opposing fans in the stadium. When we played Wakefield there were very few away fans so there was very little atmosphere. At Castleford we will take a large number therefore generating a better atmosphere, I suspect the atmosphere at Cas would be different if London were playing.

I agree with other posters though about certain sections of the crowd I sit in the West stand and normally enjoy the game from there, but I remember one game being dragged back into my seat when I stood up applauding a try, needless to say they won't do it again. As for the half time entertainment it is an "It's a Knockout" throwback quite embarassing really, we need modern stuff if we are to attract younger fans.

Go to a well know website and check out a certain Russ Abbot hit single, "Atmosphere", sure to get the place bouncing!!!!!

I should add, that my tongue is very firmly in my cheek...

E.g. Friday.

IL using half-time to market that Animalates thing was poor.

Half time wasn't the best
But there was some singing and crowd interaction, it's a start

It's not only your place, it's often dead at the HJ, especially when there aren't many away fans or when it's not going our way on the pitch.

Hopefully, Thursday should be like the good old days.

All seater stadiums knackered up atmosphere.

Hell, even United with massive crowds is devoid of 'atmosphere'.

After today it will be more devoid.

I fist posted this on Mike's other Wigan message board.

I have my theory what has killed the atmosphere. I have thought this for a while.

It is I don't think the fans can identify with half the Wigan players on the pitch. Many are too new for this.

I also think it reflects a disappointment they don't get a chance to cheer on their heroes who (last season) won the double because quite a few left but this is not new. Joel T went after the great CC try season. The Madge GF winning side didn't last that long either.

I really do think the fans have a bit of an identity crisis over the team.

Compare to how it was in the past when players like Shaun Edwards had long careers but so did plenty of others.

I really don't think the constant turnover of players helps fans identify with the team.

Who are our current legends? Well for me its Lockers and no one else. That has never been the case in past years.

I also think this turnover of players means instead of going to games optimistic in that the fans should be watching a Champion team kick on from where they left off the expectation is the team will have actually gone backwards and so people are nervous, not optimistic. So at the first setback everyone is deflated.

Instead of basking in the glory of 2013 the fact the team is so different means the double winning side is already history so its back to square one.

I don't think you are that far off tbf.

I think Wigan fans have waited a long time for another top team to come along. The arrival of Madge signalled a new dawn and we had a team that was doing the business on the field and wetting our tastebuds for success again. Since that GF win i personally think we've slowly started slipping - btw i know we won the double last year but it was hardly an vintage/enjoyable season for many months. When you then factor in the constant stream of players moving away and some uninspiring signings it may have generated a level of apathy with the fans.

I know that i don't enjoy many of the games anymore. Take the last two home games where our performances, imo, have been seriously poor defensively. I don't want to pay to see performances like that knowing that only a few seasons ago we were smashing and hurting people in defence and it was a joy to watch.

It's annoying that we've seen a side that had it all with a mixture of top players and excellent youth slowly being picked apart until we get to the stage where we are shipping in soft tries.

It's not good enough for Wigan and the level of apathy is rising. Wigan need to realise that it's not all about the future but it's about the here and now as well. The fans have tasted the success and they want what Leeds had with a prolonged period cheering on a settled a winning side.

I didn't think of it like that, but your right.
Looking back to the season after the GF win against saints, I turned up that season looking for more of the same and really optimistic.
The last couple I have turned up wondering who's going to play where and how we will fit together.

Funny you should say that post GF win was the season i'd be the most excited about in a long time. It also helped that we'd signed Hoffman, Lima and Finch going into the year.

Sadly the Gleeson saga got us off to a shaky start and moving Joel to cover him weakened us in both the backrow and centre spots.

It was embarrassing, there were a lot of people saying "WTF is this?".

The whole match day experience is flat for me. There's no build up to kick-off, no anticipation. It's only a small thing, but why have they stopped announcing the team right before kick off, like 2 mins before it?

The cheerleaders sprinting and cartwheeling towards the East Stand was a start

I think there's definitely an identity crisis going on. We've lost 3 fan favourites in Sam, Pat and Hansen who were all massive players for us, two of which were two of our longest serving players. We are the champions but we've not even had an opportunity to celebrate it with not even having a homecoming. Our 'Champion' title doesn't feel real and feels so long ago. It was a also a completely different team. Not only that but it seems as though there's no cohesion of people who want to sing. Some will sit in the South as it's cheaper and you can choose where you sit, but from what I can gather the drum has been banned. The rest are dotted all over the stadium in reserved seats surrounded by others who don't want to chant or sing.