Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:58 am  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

Yes, the public meeting announcement was before Christmas though IIRC, saying they'd be done in Feb. Add that to the McManus one this month. That's two in 7 months, they aren't exactly overloading the news feeds with announcements. When was the third one and what was it?

Plus the one from Tony Colquitt on Radio Manchester when he referred to a 60 week build and gave a stadium opening date in 58 weeks at the end of May 2011.

IMO the media / PR side of the project has been handled very poorly by Saints and it's quite understandable why the fans are upset about it.

As Sadfish says another six months delay after ten years of waiting is hardly a disaster, but at least have the decency to put out a statement, even if there is no news.
A simple "We are waiting for A,B, C or D" would suffice.

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:43 pm  

If Saints didn't have to move out of Knowsley Road then I can't see what the issue would be however they do.

Has any thought been given to taking out a 12 month lease from Taylor Wimpey for next season? Can't see that they will have an appetite to develop the land immediately and may be thankful of a bit of cash in return.

I know the H&S Certificate argument but I would guess the move to Widnes will cost you about 2,000 per game on average so over the course of a season that could easliy equate to £500,000 in revenue. (could be more if Widnes keep revenue from corporate and food/bar concessions). That should easily cover the necessary works.

There must also be a fee for using Widnes' ground to be considered. Is Knowsley Road used for academy or training purposes? Ipresume it is used for administration and alternative office accommodation will need to be sourced for that.

Staying at Knowlsey Road for an extra year would seem to make sense.

(I appreciate that this would involve cancelling the organised "leaving Knowsley Road" celebrations but lets be fair Saints seem to be quite good at cancelling any events planned in connection with the new stadium).

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:32 pm  

Paul Youane wrote:

If Saints didn't have to move out of Knowsley Road then I can't see what the issue would be however they do.

Has any thought been given to taking out a 12 month lease from Taylor Wimpey for next season? Can't see that they will have an appetite to develop the land immediately and may be thankful of a bit of cash in return.

I know the H&S Certificate argument but I would guess the move to Widnes will cost you about 2,000 per game on average so over the course of a season that could easliy equate to £500,000 in revenue. (could be more if Widnes keep revenue from corporate and food/bar concessions). That should easily cover the necessary works.

There must also be a fee for using Widnes' ground to be considered. Is Knowsley Road used for academy or training purposes? Ipresume it is used for administration and alternative office accommodation will need to be sourced for that.

Staying at Knowlsey Road for an extra year would seem to make sense.

(I appreciate that this would involve cancelling the organised "leaving Knowsley Road" celebrations but lets be fair Saints seem to be quite good at cancelling any events planned in connection with the new stadium).

Heard they have a big appetite.

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:18 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Plus the one from Tony Colquitt on Radio Manchester when he referred to a 60 week build and gave a stadium opening date in 58 weeks at the end of May 2011.

Three it is then.

IMO the media / PR side of the project has been handled very poorly by Saints and it's quite understandable why the fans are upset about it.

True enough, I think the problem is that they tend to come in batches of a couple at a time promising everything is sorted, nothing is, and then there is silence from the club.

As Sadfish says another six months delay after ten years of waiting is hardly a disaster, but at least have the decency to put out a statement, even if there is no news.
A simple "We are waiting for A,B, C or D" would suffice.

I'm not sure it would. Everyone knows that there is little the club can do about this, it's out of their hands, yet they are the ones certain people wish to blame.

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:33 pm  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

Three it is then.

Everyone knows that there is little the club can do about this, it's out of their hands, yet they are the ones certain people wish to blame.

Thanks Billinge_Lump! Three it is!

It is not a matter of blame, in my career if I got things wrong whatever it was I stood up and accepted responsibility, if it was one of my staff I still took the flak, but with Big Mac it always seems to be "silence is golden" until the next big announcement and promise. St Helens are a major worldwide known club but have never been run as they should be, Knowsley Road should have been looked after and not allowed to slip in the sad state of deterioration it is in now, it is in a disgraceful condition.

Anyway there is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the announcement or we could be up to Four!

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:58 pm  

jaybs wrote:

Thanks Billinge_Lump! Three it is!

It is not a matter of blame, in my career if I got things wrong whatever it was I stood up and accepted responsibility, if it was one of my staff I still took the flak, but with Big Mac it always seems to be "silence is golden" until the next big announcement and promise. St Helens are a major worldwide known club but have never been run as they should be, Knowsley Road should have been looked after and not allowed to slip in the sad state of deterioration it is in now, it is in a disgraceful condition.

Anyway there is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the announcement or we could be up to Four!

Three in eight months it is, information overload!!! By the way, would you take the blame for an outside contractor not providing what they had said they would? You seem to be expecting the club too. And McManus can hardly be blamed for the previous 30 years of lack of investment.

I've no experience of the building industry, but I wouldn't think that an announcement along the lines of 'Well I was told everything would be signed sealed and delivered, but someone is f*cking around and trying to maximise their profits so it isn't' would be best received by either the developers or contractors.

The club have dealt with this poorly, adding the caveat of 'We hope that...' would have stopped a lot of these complaints, instead of attempting to be overly positive about it being finalised, I just don't think the club are the ones to be blamed for the delays.

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 7:37 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Plus the one from Tony Colquitt on Radio Manchester when he referred to a 60 week build and gave a stadium opening date in 58 weeks at the end of May 2011.

IMO the media / PR side of the project has been handled very poorly by Saints and it's quite understandable why the fans are upset about it.

As Sadfish says another six months delay after ten years of waiting is hardly a disaster, but at least have the decency to put out a statement, even if there is no news.
A simple "We are waiting for A,B, C or D" would suffice.

Mr Rogues, can you please enlighten us as to when (or if) Wigan RLFC will make any announcement in relation to developing their [u]own [/u]ground, is it still Edge Hall Lane or the Mecca Drome??

[Sadfish]

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:39 pm  

Paul Youane wrote:

If Saints didn't have to move out of Knowsley Road then I can't see what the issue would be however they do.

Has any thought been given to taking out a 12 month lease from Taylor Wimpey for next season? Can't see that they will have an appetite to develop the land immediately and may be thankful of a bit of cash in return.

I know the H&S Certificate argument but I would guess the move to Widnes will cost you about 2,000 per game on average so over the course of a season that could easliy equate to £500,000 in revenue. (could be more if Widnes keep revenue from corporate and food/bar concessions). That should easily cover the necessary works.

There must also be a fee for using Widnes' ground to be considered. Is Knowsley Road used for academy or training purposes? Ipresume it is used for administration and alternative office accommodation will need to be sourced for that.

Staying at Knowlsey Road for an extra year would seem to make sense.

(I appreciate that this would involve cancelling the organised "leaving Knowsley Road" celebrations but lets be fair Saints seem to be quite good at cancelling any events planned in connection with the new stadium).

Probably MUCH cheaper to rent widnes than plough even more money into KR.

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:48 pm  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

Three in eight months it is, information overload!!!

Exactly. No information except wrong information.

Re: Stadium Site pictures : Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:52 pm  

Sadfish wrote:

Probably MUCH cheaper to rent widnes than plough even more money into KR.

Possibly; I do worry about what will happen to Saints' attendances at Widnes though if they are not under-pinned by healthy season ticket sales. I hope they have got their estimates about reduced revenue right.

If the new stadium is complete by August (I think that's the latest estimate) will season tickets be sold with dual-seat allocation ie pick your seat at Widnes plus where you will sit in the new stadium (could make it a treble and throw Everton in as well apparently)? In fact this could be a good ploy to sell more tickets as there will be a rush to get the best seats in the new ground to keep for years to come.

I reckon the biggest threat could be if no definate news on the new stadium has been released come the time for season ticket sales as the un-certainty of where all fixtures are to be played is bound to effect sales.