i hope we have a back up plan in case stanley falls through. Ted richardson mentioned playing at Barnsley or Doncaster at the petition meeting the other week. I would hate to see trinity move out of wakey but personally think it will be innevitible

wherever we play. i will be there

Where would you suggest we play?

I don't think we would gain any fans by moving out of Wakey and not only that it would become more expensive to go to games.

Only decent ground i can think of is Doncaster. Closest one with decent capacity for us but don't think it would benefit us. May be wrong though

Doncaster is a fair trek can't see a move there getting us anymore fans but losing us plenty.

My thoughts exactly.

Can it get worse than 4008 for a playoff tie?

Dont think people of Wakefield deserve a super league side after that attendance. Would suit me would cut 30 miles off the drive.

Il start a petition for a move.

I think it would be much worse if we moved to Donny.

I agree about the people of Wakey not deserving a SL team and I think we can only hope that the new stadium will bring more fans in but I am not sure it will.

p.s on 80k a year you can afford the petrol!

Agree that Belle Vue is holding us back but cannot see an alternative. If Stanley was to go to plan we could be playing there for the 2012 Season which means another 2 seasons at Belle Vue at least.

We have to market and promote the Club, more days like Diversity but thats not easy with Belle Vue. Putting the admission up to £20 will in my opinion be disasterous. I know there are incentives on season tickets and you can buy tickets in advance but £20 to play in a dump (I love the place but it is a dump) will deter many from coming down.

This of course is easy for me to say as I don't have to balance the books.

Thats without bonus.

Can afford money not the time. Im top sales man for Virgin media

£20 in the current economic climate and given this seasons attendances seems like suicide to me.

Like digging your own grave.

100% agree. It seems barmy.

6100 at Saints with a decent following from Shudds.
11,000 @ Headingley with a very decent HKR following.
So ours against Catalan and with a 8pm Sat Night KO is not too shabby and was expected.

This subject is worthy of a thread in its own right, anyway here are a few of my thoughts.

At Present a core support of 4000 and I can't see how we can easily build on that at Belle Vue.

A move to Barnsley for instance I think our faithfull would go and we would still retain a core support of 2000.

I would also hope we could quickly build a further 1000 'locals' to add on to that.

I also think away supporters are now deliberately staying away from Belle Vue and there has been obvious evidence of that this season. I would estimate that a good ground, with modern safe facilities would give you
on average about 500 more away supporters.

So in effect stay at BV 4000 tops,

Move on and I would think 3500 minimum with much more potential to build.

I would then hope to return to Stanley in 2 or 3 seasons, build even further and at the meantime we have expanded the area of our fan base with our spell at Barnsley.

One final point, I would move at the end of next season at the latest, giving us the last of our three years of our franchise at Barnsley and this would certainly help our next franchise should Stanley be delayed.

Just an idea, all sensible comments appreciated.

Start a new thread, it may get lost in here.

I can see something in the argument. I reckon it would help if we were very clear that this was a temporary arrangement for one or two seasons maximum. Oakwell would strike me as the logical place as relatively close and not a rival SL clubs patch. The Doncaster suggestion is ridiculous to me, it is a long way away. Whether or not it would be viable, in terms of Barnsley wanting it, our club being able to agree terms, etc, is a different matter.

Worth thinking about.

I think Barnsley is an "untapped" area for us and £20 in a stadium with decent facilities may not look too bad. Also may attract more away fans as you have said.

One stumbling block I can see is the rent. What would it cost to rent Oakwell, of course that assumes Barnsley would be willing to rent it to us. Having to cover the rent may make the move unviable.

Well worth a thread on its own to see how many would be prepared to travel to Barnsley for home games - if it helped the club progress I would.

From what I know Barnsley have already asked us to go there when Thornes Park went belly up

As far as costs, Belle Vue is costing quite a bit just to keep going day to day. I know we have got to replace some floodlights again and the bill for that is significant. I would imgaine the cost of staying at Belle Vue would go a long way to match day rent.

This seasons crowds have confirmed to me that Belle Vue is Killing us off slowly, next season will be even worse. All in all I don't think a move to Barnsley would be a gamble. It would be a smart move and more importantly retain SL status for the next franchise period.

I would probably grumble about it but would still go.

I suppose anything is worth a try as I can't see us increasing our crowds while at Belle Vue.

by the comments on here i suggest the newmarket plans have gone to pot

No they havn't, far from it.

However Belle Vue is killing us. I would be quite happy to make that our last season there. I also think we would be in much better shape going into Stanley if we got out now.

Like the other posters have said £20 to go and stand on a terrace with no cover and the most basic of facilities will kill us. The finest marketing facilities in the world could never overcome such an obstacle.

Start winning the important matches ie cc semi final last year, last nights playoff to name just two and the crowds will increase at belle vue. Yes we need a new stadium but to attract new supporters you have to win something or at least reach a final, something we have failed to do for too many years. The die hards will always be there, but to get new fans you have to give them a reason to choose Wakey to spend their hard earned money on. IMO Oakwell would be out of the question due to the cost, I am sure it cost a fortune when we played Saints there on the one off occasion.

Far too expensive, reflected across at Saint as well, 20 pound is all well and good maximizing proits at Headingley but its too much. While the RFL set the prices for these games I raised an eye-brow when it was mentioned that this would be the standard price next year too or our gate, I would suggest a re-think.

20 quid for Rugby League is certainly pushing it, I would like for us to see us at half the price, extra bodies in the ground and making up the shortfall on the extra funds you would generate in the per head spend a la Huddersfield.

Although we would probably need more lightbulbs in the loos.

i think you are all reading too much into last nights attendance, yes 4000 wasnt great but at our game at saints there was only at most 4500 saints fans, it looks like the play offs is suffering the same problems the cup is and that only time people seem interested are at the semi stage, for what its worth i cant see us getting many more next friday against catalans, maybe 5000 if we are lucky, do think the pricing policy for these matches needs looking at though, it always seems when the big games come around us the fans have to dig very deep, which at this moment in time is very difficult finacially for a lot of us, yes the die hard fans will do there best to get to the match, but the average floaters wont.

I agree it was a rip off. Up the prices because they know not many Catalan fans usually visit, but then we lose a decent amount of flipping home fans. Also, the sooner we are out of Belle Vue the better, if we don't relocate ASAP we will lose our firm place in SL. Would our crowd get into the average marker in the lower leagues

hmmmm.

Quite right but you can only generate that extra income if you have the facilities to enable you to do so. Thats were Belle Vue falls short.