Just out of interest - if money wasnt an issue, as Saints fans would you want to own one of the houses that are to be built on the site of your old ground? Maybe you would clamour to pick the plot situated over the centre spot, for instance, or your usual vantage point, or even where the last try was scored?

Or, do you see the development as sacrilege, and therefore wouldn't want to even be given one of the houses, or to occupy one on principle?

No real reason for the question - just wanted to compare your feelings with those of a few obstinate Wiganers who wouldn't set foot in the new Tesco that was built on the site of the old Central Park.

Great memories there. I would certainly consider living at number 9 Cunnigham Grange.

As I don't own my own house, and if the one's being built there were of suitable good design & excellent build quality, I wouldn't say no. The fact that the properties are located on the site of the old bird wouldn't be a deciding factor in such a purchase personally.

I don't see it as sacrilege, merely progress, we recognised that despite the incredible memories and experiences we enjoyed on the terraces of KR that the stadium was sadly no longer suitable and that it was a massive drain on the club's resources.

Question in return; do you think those same Wiganers would have felt the same way about the CP site had it been houses, rather than yet another supermarket that was built there?

I think there is a massive difference between the way in which both sets of fans view the post ground development.

For Wigan fans, I could envisage that at the time they didn't want to go. I know we mocked you at the time about it being sold to a Tesco. But I could understand how you could have felt that your history had essentially been sold to the highest bidder.

Fast forward ten years, and we were begging to leave Knowsley Road for the future of the club. We accepted that, while sad to leave a spot of history behind, we needed to do it to move forward.

May I put it to you that had you left Central Park ten years later, with it being a "lame leg" to the club, as it were, you would not have the same displeasure towards it?

Number 27 would be a good buy as there would be no (O) one next to it.



On a more serious note, what Robinson says is correct, there are still quite a few Wigan fans who won't go to the new stadium because of what went on under the Robinson regime and the Whelan battle.

You can check the plans of the estate thats Knowsley Road on the St H Council website. There was a plan for some sort of monument to mark the location of the stadium on the new estate but when consulted, local residents to Knowsley Rd wern't really bothered about it so don't know if its still going ahead

Buying a house there wouldnt bother me one bit.
No problems with houses being built on the ground.

Suspect that the issue at Wigan is that at Saints we left Knowsley road on our terms, whereas Wigan were essentially forced to sell up to stay operating, and had to move into a stadium that wasnt theirs and whose primary design and build purpose was for Soccer.

Im sure if the DW had been planned and built from the outset as just Wigan Warriors home ground, for example with red and white seats and all the stands named after Wigan greats, and with the inside of the stadium being full of reminders of Wigan rugbys past, then there would not have been as much resistance to change.
As it is i suspect many Wiganers dont feel that the DW is their home, instead its more like a Hotel that they stay at every so often.

I suppose the same applies to number 75, but 75 has a better ring about it

Wouldn't be a problem. I would buy one for rent, put 19,500 in the available space and claim only 14,200 when the council came to check!

I wouldn't know, to be honest. Times are probably different now - at the time, Central Park was one of the first famous old grounds to be ditched in favour of a new one. Most Wiganers didn't want to leave CP and didn't particularly want a new ground, in favour of staying at CP, which was a great place once, but like Knowsley Road, got old and expensive to look after.

And yes, before anyone jumps in, we all know the folklore surrounding the circumstances of the sale, but that's not for this thread - OK? EDIT - Chairmaker, this thread was going well until you posted your red vee tinted view on it.

I get the impression, though, that now that a few clubs have got their new grounds, leaving old stadia is less of a problem for fans, and most even want new grounds - Wakey and Cas are cases in point. That doesn't mean to say, though, that people aren't sad when the site is redeveloped to an extent where you would never know the old ground had ever been there.

That's probably a better way of putting it than I could manage in my previous post, to be honest.

I do think the difference here is that Saints fans want a new place, whereas a lot of Wiganers didn't.

No relation - just to be sure, like.

I would imagine that Knowlsey Road residents are actually delighted that they no longer have to put up with matchday (or night) hustle and bustle, so they were the wrong people to ask.

I'm sure that if the fans themselves were polled - not local residents - then the result would have been different.

Sorry, I should have said Jack Robinson in reference to the Whelan battle. and as you say we could probably write a book about that episode in Wigan history.

75 Cunningham Grange would do for me.





I wouldn't have a problem owning a house there at all. As has been said previously we knew we had to move to keep up with the times. Wigan had to move even though most people didn't want to due to circumstances beyond their control.

The biggest difference is outlined by the Chair Maker in a post previously. Saints fans can say it's their new ground but Wigan fans, unfortunately, haven't been allowed that luxury.

That's a bit of a myth, to be honest.

The DW stadium is only used for first team games, and nothing else. The club don't train there, and don't base their staff there. It is, however, a first class, top notch stadium that any RL team would be delighted to play at.

Wigan RL do own their own stadium - it's in Orrell. All the training is done there, their staff are based there, and all the other teams play their games there. It's ideal for what it's for, it's been recently rebuilt, so presumably doesnt cost a bomb to run and won't attract the same running costs as a SL standard stadium.

Plus, the rent on the DW is cheap. Chances are it costs a hell of a lot less to own Edge Hall Road and rent the DW on matchdays than it does to own a brand new ground, used for everything.

I don't see what's right or wrong about owning or renting. If it works, then it works.

I'm not sure that is the biggest difference tbh, I'd suggest that the biggest difference is that for the most part Saints' fans want to move as well as need to, whereas [uat the time[/u Wigan fans didn't want to move and arguably didn't need to.

Of that, there is no doubt. Times have changed a lot over the last 10 or so years. When the DW was built, a new stadium being built was a rarity - people were used to rubbish, old stadiums and no-one saw the need to move. It's different now.

Some Wigan teams do use the facilities at the DW.

Yet 75-0 wins you nothing whereas 29-0 gets you a challenge cup

.
On a serious point i believe Wigan fans would of been happier to move from Central park if it had been through choice, i dont think anyone from saints had too much of a problem moving and owning a property on there would probably be a good thing to have for you guys

29-0? youre a great wigan fan arnt ya?!

You of all people should have got that one.
It's one of Andy Gregorys jokes.
"I can never remember how many" etc

I cant believe you fell for that one but anyway here goes. Sometimes over the years i forget what we scored but il never forget what you scored

...how many what ? Beers ?