It would have been if we’d made the final! Thats the figure Steve Gill quoted as Cas making in 2014 ( getting confused in my anger last night!).

There was though an uplift in attendances during our run in the other games that seasons that put money in the coffers and it raised the clubs profile, something which for clubs like ours is priceless. Cup runs make it a lot easier to balance the books moving forward.

Rofl....

You know what its like on here.

The World has ended

till next week


...and then it'll be about to end !


I'm going to Ikea now, that is truly going to be life ending experience

Are you saying that financially, we're better off out of the cup ?
We certainly wont have made a fortune on our share last nights gate, which was pitiful, but, there's some brass to be made if we could get as far as Wembley.

No I was answering a direct statement about getting to a semi final in 2016

By my count only one person the whole thread thinks we are even close to thinking of losing Chester.

I do think he's tried to change things slightly this year and it has affected play but I remember McDermott doing that at Leeds and having a bad run but once they got used to it the won GF after GF.

I liked the idea of a big pack and wearing teams out but it isn't quite working for us yet. Clearly Big Dave is the jewel in the crown. Huby and England are doing well but are not monsters. Keegan and PP are monsters but can't keep hold of the ball so are nullifying their talent. Even Arona is missing tackles he didn't used to miss.
The coach needs to find out why and get them back to their best. Less about big battering rams and more about quite big skilful forwards.
The other thing that seems to have changed is accuracy of passing. We have two excellent hookers who give good service but Randell is more accurate than Wood who puts the ball too high sometimes. The half backs seem to be all over the place. The pass is again nullifying the pace out wide.
When it's fast and accurate like for one of Grix tries last week we are unplayable but we are way off our best.
I have no problem with effort. It's all about execution.

last nights attendance was shocking, the love for the cup has gone

I don't think there is a cup or trophy that is good looking as the challenge cup and it should be every bodies dream to win it

2K turning out very poor

Well there we have it. Unless we win the thing there is no financial incentives it seems. The circa £1m the club gets from just being in SL means the league is more vital to the club.

Unfortunately the crowds will only come back when the tickets are cheap or free. Last seasons improved performances and this seasons crowds have shown that they do not necessarily corolate to an increase in the gate.

Well it wasn’t wakeys dream to win it- the coach made that clear in his pre match interview.
Neither is it unprecedented to get poor attendance- the earlier rounds of the challenge cup has had poor turn outs for many years- in fact since they moved the final to August- worse thing they did.
Wakey have to ensure SL survival- that’s worth much more to them financially than the cup. If they were to drop down they wouldn’t find it easy to come back. Hudds in the other hand are in s different position back to back wins were more important than the type of game.

He's a Hull fan (he's from Stanley but both his parents are from Hull).

Even fewer at Widnes, just over 1800, which bearing in mind they were playing Leeds, with their "huge support" is just disgraceful.
All those Leeds "fans" that turn up for the big games should be ashamed of their efforts.

It's a real shame that the Challenge Cup is so low down the shaft these days.
Leaving the SL clubs to come into the comp just before the quarter finals has taken away all of the "magic" of the cup but, there is a serious problem with attendances and I'm not sure what the remedy is.

What, we made almost £0.5m!!

We indicated straight after the Hull KR game that we were going to make changes. We used the cup to rest players which suggests what the underlying thinking was.
The problem now is what do we do with Caton Brown whose scoring percentage must be quite phenomenal.
It is a shame that BJB cannot play full back. He can catch the high ball and is obviously quick but not sure he has the positional or passing game required for this position.

Leeds fans turned up in respectable numbers (not massive but certainly not poor), Widnes fans just didn't bother. Most season ticket holders can't be bothered to fork out the extra cash, whereas more away fans will stump up the cash (as they do for all away games). I wish the RFL would create a standard £10 entrance fee for Challenge Cup games. Get 5000 fans in for £50,000 on the balance sheet rather than 1800 x £17 for £30K. Reduce ticket costs, increase the attendance figures and create break even revenue. Of course bringing the final back to late May and having a cup game every month in Feb, Mar and Apr wouldn't hurt the competition. The RFL have to put some strategic actions into reigniting interest in the Challenge Cup, but this is the RFL we are talking about.

Win that and you are two games from Wembley. You arent quite good enough to mount a serious top 4 challenge but you certainly are good enough to win a couple of one offs. I know survival is paramount for you guys, but you look safely in the top 8 to me. Chester saying it isnt a priority is just deflecting from a poor result imo.

That said anyone who wants him out now needs to give their head a bang.

The 'Magic of the Challenge Cup disappeared 10 years ago when Leeds and Saints got drawn together in a First Round tie and all people were bothered about was that one of them wouldn't be going to Wembley.
The next season, the Cup was 'seeded, absolute rubbish, this on top of moving the Final to August.