Yes he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stay at a sub standard stadium in Wakefield and get small crowds or move to an average one nearby by and get even smaller season ticket take up. I see he's trying to shame the main players involved in this and I wish him all the luck in this.

After the press release in early September I can say I'm surprised the council and Yorkcourt have failed to front up yet again.

Really, you're surprised??? I'm really surprised that you're surprised....

Ah the missing t!

Makes sense now

A new stadium may be a must but the location will be just as important.
A new stadium will bring its own problems and getting people to turn up is just one of them. Do you honestly thing a new stadium will instantly lead to a massive increase in season tickets.
M Cs done a fantastic job of turning the club round the next step needs to be a consistent performing squad with excellent home form.
New market ain't going to solve the clubs problems and my personal view is its in a totally wrong location.

In an ideal world if we had the money, or a Council that would be happy to really work with us all the way. We could potentially get somewhere closer to the City . But in our position, we had to try to get what we could at the time. Even then look how it's all turned out. All you have to do is look at Wire, they've practically doubled their crowds in the new stadium. Just shows what can be done with a new stadium and a bit of success on the pitch, built up over several years.

MC has done an excellent job with the cards he's dealt and if we can follow last season up with something better, it won't hurt the crowds going into 2018 at all, depending where we play. People may actually start to believe again.

Although it almost seems a bit silly talking about Newmarket, personally I think it would have placed us in a far better position than we currently stand, which is one of an uncertain future. If things had worked out, apart from a new stadium to play in, it would have provided valuable hospitality. as well as all the other sports facilities that were meant to be built with it. indoor training pitch, outdoor training pitch, gym, classrooms etc. No going up to Feth anymore.

No it may not have brought 1000's of extra Wakey fans through the gate, although I think novelty would have brought a fair few extra through in the first season and then the rest would be up to the team to perform. Same goes for away fans, they'd be well up to see the new ground, plus the added bonus that it would have been very easy to get to from all over the M62 corridor.

People have moaned about where it was going to be from the start but imo the advantages far outweigh any disadvantages. Ateotd for some it would be further to travel, for others it would be closer and you can't please everyone.

I dont think the ground is in the wrong location at all.

The RFL said they wanted stadia that was easily accessible for away fans as well as home fans. As previously said it is at the side of the M62, which is where most away fans come from.

That said, I live near Thornes Park so a move to Newmarket would increase my journey time, but as a true and loyal fan it wouldnt stop me going

Most modern stadium's are next to a major road network.
Keep what away fans happy. The introduction of the Thursday night and Saturday games have put a reduction of the number of away fans reduction.
If the motorway locations the only thing going for Newmarket it's a sad state of affairs.

Thornes Park, now there's an idea

Back on topic.
You can only begin to imagine how MC must feel about the ground.
6 years have passed since NM appeared to have been given the green light, 6 years ???

The job must be hard enough, without the ground issue and whilst the fans get impatient from time to time, who knows what it must be like when you are trying to make any kind of future plans for the club.

What makes this more annoying is to see the industrial development going on all around Wakefield and apart from the big white box, NM is just as it was and Wakefield are in just the same position as they were when 15,000 people signed the petition.

What has MC said now exactly? If he is again emphasizing the embarrassing state of the ground, I'm guessing this is out of frustration that things still aren't moving forward with YC and the council - as expected I suppose it stinks

He knows also that the problem is because of decisions made by previous incumbents, namely that there was a quick buck to be made by flogging the club's only asset to themselves on the assumption that a profit would be made when we shuffle off to Thornes Park. That decision started the ball rolling that has led to reliance on people who can't be trusted.

MC has done his utmost to put everything about the club on the up. Unfortunately, there is one matter he can't control, the ground situation, and that will ultimately undo everything.

We've been through why that isn't true, how long is this myth going to carry on.

I'll try one more time!

Ted borrowed against the ground to raise the money required to pass the franchise for 2007/2008 - remember them.
He did this because it was the only way to raise capital and hardly uncommon in business - HE DIDN'T FLOG IT for heavens sake he used it as security. He was especially confident to do this as Deputy Council Leader Denise Jefferies had stood up in front of a packed meeting and told everybody Thornes was a goer.

It's easy to blame in hindsight and for me Ted made a poor choice and should have bluffed it but as I say that's easy for me to say.

Finally even if Ted didn't sell the ground I suspect it would have been swallowed up by the receiver in 2010 and used to pay debts so it makes little difference.

The clubs demise goes a lot further back than just the Ted regime and it's not the first time we've gone bust is it - we have been an unstable club since the early 1980's.

Part of me wished we'd moved to Dewsbury this season and got the baseball bats out for the false promisers and look again for new site/developer/partner in Wakefield. The longer no news on Belle Vue development the less likely it will happen.

Sorry to be pedantic but Ted did not borrow using the ground as security HE DID FLOG IT.

He sold the ground to THE TILLION PARTNERSHIP which incorporated companies that Ted and his family owned in the Isle of Man. The purchase was secured by a loan from the Bank of Ireland and when the Tillion Partnership went bust and failed to repay the loan the Bank of Ireland became the proud owners of Belle Vue as they had the first charge on the title. The BoI of course then sold it on to the 88m Group.

So Ted did flog the ground to himself and I'm sure the reason for the sale is as outlined in your post.

As you say the clubs problems go beyond Ted and he banked it all on Thornes Park and then Newmarket based on promises made by the Council and the Developer which still remain unfullfilled.

The true and loyal fans are not the ones we want to attract though. I live in Sandal and having been working on Newmarket Lane this week and it's a bit of a trek ! That said, of course I'd go, but getting others with less commitment than me may be a challenge!