The problem Ball in Hand is how the hell to you grow the club while ever it is at BV in its present state. We may have 1000 season ticket holders and maybe 2,500 fans. You may attract another 500 if we won a few games and you may get another 500 in if we could afford to spend thousands on community programmes, dance classes, school liaison schemes etc. You are simply not going to get new people attending games at BV. Add to that away fans will choose which games to attend, on a budget BV will be at the bottom of the list. So how you expect the club to survive with a few of you turning up once a fortnight I simply cannot work out. Add to that there is zero interest in the club from local residents in BV area. A move to NM would base the club within a local population who are interested in the game, plus away fans could enjoy modern facilities in comfort and safety. All this means added income, growth and better players.

All I can say Belly is where is your evidence that the club will grow at NM ? My evidence is simple . Look at what has happened to Salford since the move to the AJ Bell. It's not working even with a money bags chairman ' We should look to gradually improve BV over ten year period starting with the Western Terrace if and when funds become available .

Great call to renovate Belle Vue. Just one thing though, we don't own it!

That's a bit rich, where is your evidence that 80% of the season ticket holders agree with you?

What about the upturn in fortunes experienced by Warrington, Hull FC and even Wigan after they moved to new stadiums, Salford is actually the anomaly not the rule.

We need to move, I don't think Newmarket is the right place either but we cannot stay at Belle Vue, it's killing us!

If I had the choice I'd move us to Denby Dale Rd near the new service station.

You have a chance of growing the club at NW, you have the 100% certainty that the club will fold if it has to stay at BV. The Salford move has been poorly managed, am I correct in thinking that when Sale play there it is sold out ? Good management is all thats required to grow the club at NM. Alan Sugar couldn`t get growth out of BV and the surrounding hole that is Agbrigg.

We need nm big time ,if trinity want to challenge for trophy's etc the move would attacked better players,coaches,new start at Newmarket

In a perfect world, I'd love to be watching Wakey at a redeveloped BV...in reality I look forward to watching Wakey in a new stadium at NM.

Citing Salford as an example of how "moving out of town" can cripple attendances...they are an absolute basket case...self-obsessed owner, money bags superstar team, self-publicist coaches...still can't be successful over a season...

Nothing to do with the stadium...no one cares for RL in Salford-cum-Manchester.

Your view is understandable, if disappointing. It won't stop me trying and it won't stop me posting what I can, when I can. Sorry if that upsets you, but you can choose to ignore it if you feel that way.

A public update will be issued very shortly.

It's about the location for me. Yes the club need to move forward and generate new interest. I'm not a believer that that will be the answer to all our prayers. It will be the start of a massive amount of work required to generate interest , more investment and build relationships with the people of wake and business. It's not and never will be a matter of build it and they will come. I understand the urgency and attraction of a new stadium but I don't see the location a bonus. I also don't expect the surrounding s play any part in attracting a better class of player or coach .

Any new stadium is a large facility which requires a high level of funding going forward. 13 or so home matches just will not generate sufficient cash to operate it long term, so one of the main considerations is how to maximise income to sustain it, and hopefully support the business within it, in our case the club.
With due respect to the people of Agbrigg and Belle Vue, they are not the best places to either live, or get to.
We ended up with Newmarket as this was the only place offering us the deal to build a stadium - it remains so. However, bearing in mind my earlier post, it does also offer a tremendous location to attract businesses from across the region and beyond as an excellent location for corporate days and events. This would help tremendously for the overall scheme. It's not the only consideration, but do not dismiss this issue when considering locations.

A major difference here though is that a huge percentage of Salford's home support lived in close proximity (walking distance) to the Willows so a move for them has put the ground much further away and the transport for getting in and out has been an issue for them as well as their lunatic owner.

A huge percentage of our home support do not live within walking distance of BelleVue and already drive/use public transport to games anyway. So a new stadium elsewhere for us does not have the same impact (providing the public transport and parking are suitable)

As the saying goes - Beggars can't be choosers. If you have little or no other options NM is the best and, like TRB says, the only available option. My only other concern would be moving in the direction of your local rivals (Fev and Cas) instead of moving away from them where there would be more scope for a newer audience and a bigger catchment area. The Pugney's site would have been the best IMO (along with Thornes Park). South of the city, nearer to Horbury and easier for the fans from Ossett to get to and geographically moving towards the un-tapped Barnsley area.

NM is further away from Fev than BV,unless someones moved Fev

Far and away the best option was the one near J39 but unfortunately our council didn't want anything to do with that once YCCC had declined the offer of what would have been a superb development. So that ship sailed a long time ago I'm afraid. Thornes Park was never a viable proposition in my opinion.

Tbf nm is perfect location, especially for business opertunities the m62 corridor, al and m1 are litterly on the doorstep imop its a no brainer . Newmarket absolute must

When that ship sailed a long time ago it certainly was not because of Wakefield Council, even after YCCC had no option but to pull out because of legal implications the then leader of Wakefield Council Colin Croxall did his upmost to bring about a new stadium for Wakefield Trinity on Denby Dale Rd, only to be thwarted by a certain individual who shall remain nameless.

Is that the person with the large construction business that was not going to be awarded the building contract for that venture and that has a vested interest in a certain already establish county cricket RL & RU venue?

Well he was certainly 50% of the problem, but even so Councillor Croxall still tried his best to bring about a solution which were still available at the time, but his other option put personal finances first unfortunately


It was Colin's ambition to see them both playing on DD Road, and being a supporter of those clubs myself I can fully appreciate the disappointment he felt when it did not happen.

Busy week - much happening!

Sounds interesting/intriguing. Do you reckon there will be anything to report on Wednesday evening, or am I just reading too much into the smile!

Way too early. But after months of not a lot, this one has seen some movement of sorts. We keep going!

Couple of tweets today mentioning positive news re new ground. Castle Grove Park mentioned......intriguing.

Excuse my ignorance! But where is castle grove park?

I know it now ! Good old google maps. Can't see local residents being happy with that.

Opposite sandal cricket ground mate