Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 11:57 am  

Egg Chasing wrote:

All true, but I don't think any of that will translate into Bob who watches down the local bothering to go the game in person. He'll still watch in the local, he might just have 2 or 3 more people to watch with.

We need to tackle this two-fold, the clubs need to attract new and old support back into stadiums. You will always have a Bob who watches it in the pub, that won't change.

Mike in Essex watches it in his local alone on Channel 4 but now the sport is given a higher profile with big crowds and exciting games his three mates get into it and start following the game. Wigan in the 90s winning at Wembley every year, I used to wear Wigan top on holiday abroad and many people from all over UK would make conversation - Southerners, Geordies, Welsh. The profile of the sport was much higher then due to 'free to air' TV.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 12:00 pm  

MattyB wrote:

That's what I put. Better talent on the field (with good marketing of course) should bring definitely in bigger crowds as the success mounts. The sport needs a big kick up the booty to get a good buzz about it again. Obviously attracts bigger and better blue chip companies rather than 'Frank's Chippy' (and similar) badges on the back of shirts, gives the sport more credibility overall.

Get four, five teams of this nature and its progression back to where the sport was at its strongest overall (early 00's in my opinion) when we had a strong Saints, Leeds, Bradford, Wigan with Wire promising things. Back then we had Saints, Wire and Bradford filling the North Stand, we would regularly get 16k against Leeds. We need to get back to it as a sport.

Absolutely. We got 17,365 against Bradford on a Wednesday night live on Sky. Be lucky to get 7k now (if we count the actual people that turn up rather than tickets sold)

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 12:01 pm  

Taane Milne offered to super league clubs. Only 27, think he’d be a decent signing at centre.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 12:04 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Absolutely. We got 17,365 against Bradford on a Wednesday night live on Sky. Be lucky to get 7k now (if we count the actual people that turn up rather than tickets sold)

Yep. Watch the 'Renouf to Radlinski' game on YouTube and that North Stand was full to the brim for them. I was actually in Rhodes that night in my Wigan top watching on big screen and running around like a lunatic at the end

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 12:11 pm  

MattyB wrote:

Yep. Watch the 'Renouf to Radlinski' game on YouTube and that North Stand was full to the brim for them. I was actually in Rhodes that night in my Wigan top watching on big screen and running around like a lunatic at the end

The demise of Bradford has obviously attributed to their lack of following nowadays, but our following has dropped massively also which is a concern when we are still in the hunt for trophies.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 2:56 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

The demise of Bradford has obviously attributed to their lack of following nowadays, but our following has dropped massively also which is a concern when we are still in the hunt for trophies.

i think they are 2 very different things and the lack of away following isnt just for Wigan. Take a look at how many away fans are at a Wigan home game - not many other than Saints / Wire. Outside of that, not really worth opening the North stand. In regards to Wigan, this time of year has been a bit of a mare as we are always away from May - June, so this year especially with semi / final plus a run of away matches certainly plays on fans pockets and the want to go to every game. Some will go irrelevant, but others may need to pick and choose between a game or other expenditure

Bradford's demise is really down to p*** poor management over a number of years, so not really a surprise that their fans have dropped off. I would reckon they've got a hardcore who will stay with them through thick and thin, but then the rest will go to the odd game, and if they get promoted they will start to bring some of them back

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 3:01 pm  

The pieman wrote:

i think they are 2 very different things and the lack of away following isnt just for Wigan. Take a look at how many away fans are at a Wigan home game - not many other than Saints / Wire. Outside of that, not really worth opening the North stand. In regards to Wigan, this time of year has been a bit of a mare as we are always away from May - June, so this year especially with semi / final plus a run of away matches certainly plays on fans pockets and the want to go to every game. Some will go irrelevant, but others may need to pick and choose between a game or other expenditure

I meant our home following. We wouldn't get 12-13k at home on a Wednesday night.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 3:13 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

I meant our home following. We wouldn't get 12-13k at home on a Wednesday night.

fair point (i'd missed your earlier post as it was on the previous page ), but would we get that at the minute if we played regularly on Friday night or Sunday afternoon?

There been a drop off of fans over the last couple of years (style of play / pandemic), that the club needs to address. The challenge is how do they get them back? It could be quite hard to get fans back if they have gotten out of the routine of going to a game and filled Friday night with something else. There has also been previous posts on here / Warriors fans forum about pricing. i think a ST at Wigan is fantastic value, but for others it may be they cant afford that (certainly in the current climate) and they need to pick / choose games. Thursday nights dont help for consistency, despite your example being a Wednesday night

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 6:44 pm  

The pieman wrote:

fair point (i'd missed your earlier post as it was on the previous page ), but would we get that at the minute if we played regularly on Friday night or Sunday afternoon?

There been a drop off of fans over the last couple of years (style of play / pandemic), that the club needs to address. The challenge is how do they get them back? It could be quite hard to get fans back if they have gotten out of the routine of going to a game and filled Friday night with something else. There has also been previous posts on here / Warriors fans forum about pricing. i think a ST at Wigan is fantastic value, but for others it may be they cant afford that (certainly in the current climate) and they need to pick / choose games. Thursday nights dont help for consistency, despite your example being a Wednesday night

I fear with the cost of living crisis that season tickets are going to be further down the shopping list this year quite how they address it I'm not sure,it could be an argument is made for putting prices up and hope people swallow the higher price or could it be they drop prices and hope that fans stay when pricing returns to normal.

I agree that at present a season ticket is good value but as I say looking g at those energy prices even we will be getting the abacus out come renewal time

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu May 26, 2022 7:57 pm  

CJamesy wrote:

Taane Milne offered to super league clubs. Only 27, think he’d be a decent signing at centre.

I’d definitely take him. He’s a good player and a handy age!