kieron cunningham

FearTheVee and Saint Simon, how defensive you are at times, can you ever be open minded? I am no Wigan supporter but you have to admire how first class there marketing is, remember Wigan and Warrington are both smaller towns and compete with St Helens, in fact Wigan fare much better,

It is not disloyal to be constructive with comments, the much promised model of the ground for public viewing, is that going to be blamed on Langtree?

Big Mac are you like to call him seems to me be more Small Time with what he puts into the club. I accept that we have problems at Quins RL but our chairman puts his Money were his mouth is! we are doing everything we can do marketing, but a lot of it is not really working, but at least attempts are being made to increase attendances!

re marketing
there is no point going all out marketing saints until we move.IF there are a potential 5k new fans out there who would come to saints as a result of aggresive marketing,i would bet only 25% of them would come back to knowsley road.the others would never return.now if we had a shiny new stadium,at least 75% would come back.the marketing strarts when we move,not when we are playing in a run down stadium.

Quins tried to rip me off to watch a Rugby Union game along with the game i love. You're in no position to talk. The sooner the Quins (London) is eliminated from SL the better i'm afraid.

Our marketing is no worse than Wire. Our attendance are only just worse and was better last season (might be wrong) with a new stadium we will add 2k on our average imo. Our club is running along nicel thanks, shame same cant be said about yours lol

I haven't even commented on the ground or crowds





Never said it was, just wondering what you were talking about re: Millward and Long?



He puts less money in because the club loses less. If we lost as much money as Quins, he'd put more in. McManus has put a LOT of money into the club over the years, to good effect.

I believe McManus was appointed Chairman in 2002 - our average attendance was 8,802 in 2001 and was 11,195 in 2009 - would you say that was an increase? I make it 27% up since Mac was chairman. We're at 11,515 so far in 2010 and they'll go up again with a move to a new stadium. What is the London/Quins equivalent, given you make efforts to increase attendances and we don't?

Royce Simmons is apparantly in the country signing his contract today. Has anyone seen him?

Did he 'role' into town ?

You are so confident over the increase in attendances at the new ground? a lot of people I know especially in the Eccleston and Windle are say they will not travel to the new ground perhaps a few chosen matches. With regards Millward and Long there is a strong opinion in the Town that they should have never been allowed to leave, forums like this are fine but they do not fully represent opinion even on the Quins site there are those loyal that will never have anything said about some actions of the club and coach, sadly I don't agree to that attitude, I don't criticise for the sake of it.

Big Mac puts so much into the club, what is the evidence? what had it been spent on? I have never seen any proof except the debt at first, perhaps you can produce some evidence and examples?

I want to see all Rugby League Clubs succeed I will never be parochial and think only the club I support does everything right and no one else can.

We know he's put lots money into the club (I'm a shareholder and get the accounts), you're the one saying he hasn't. Why don't you tell us how little he has invested?

Seems a very strange argument to follow without any knowledge of the facts, don't you think?

If you can find 5 Saints fans who think it was wrong to let longy go after what he's acheived and what Kyle has acheived this year i'd be amazed. The same with Millward.
Our club isn't perfect, but attendances are rising, a new stadium is being built and we are joint 2nd in the league and in the Cup Semi finals, not too shabby!

if what I hear about Millward is true, then the club were right to sack him. Either way, we have not exactly struggled to replace him in recent times. Long was past it a couple of years ago, his form for Hull over the year (and recent injury) prove that. Only a moron would have kept Sean Long at Saints in 2010 and risked losing Kyle Eastmond....you are not a moron are you?

it is a well known matter of public fact that Eamonn McManus and other directors have supplied large sums of money to service the debts of the business - find a copy of the company accounts for all the evidence you need.

Because a few people in Eccleston and Windle dont fancy moving grounds, it is not an excuse not to go ahead with the new stadium project. Crowds will increase IMO, not loads but there will be an increase. In addition the club will be able to offer corporate hospitality at a level which they cannot do now. In addition, the club will be to take advantage of the stadium on a year round basis, which they cant now.

Those people's opinions would be wrong though. Long's form and injuries this year have been the perfect answer to the question of whether or not we should have kept him.



That the club is still here perhaps? Get a copy of the accounts and have a look.



Who's on the defensive now?

Do you mean that Warrington and Wigan are both smaller towns than St Helens? If so you need to recheck you figures bud.

He's been wrong on attendances, finances and populations - I wouldn't hold out much hope that he is working from figures.

Oh so confident, I said towns! not metropolitan boroughs, I still stand by that that Friday's attendance was poor! many St Helens fans are becoming choosy.

Saint Simon you are a shareholder, than give the correct figures, they are not confidential are they? and tell me what Big Mac's money has been spent on.

Others claim that those people in Eccleston and Windle who like to walk to the ground are not important, I hope seriously that is True when the move does come, but in my opinion I don't feel it will show the increase that Warrington saw. Knowsley Road was a good ground and position, but sadly very little was spent on it over the years, some people may say parking was a problem, the training pitch should have been turned into a car park years ago.

I still say some replies are being defensive for the sake of it, but I am allowed my opinions it is a public forum and not only to back the board, oh yes I would praise them if they deserve it, such as if Maninga had been appointed as manager, or some form of tribute had been shown to Van Vollenhoven as with Cunningham, it would have been good to mark the past.

That's what happens when you give the public an option.

That about sums it up, how many people especially younger supporters know their local club history? I was not old enough to see Tom play, but I know the club's history and I have read books and watched video of Vollenhoven. The method of voting could have lead to repeat voting, that would be done more by younger supporters than older who would have supported Tom. My suggestion when the idea was first muted was for the statue to be two or three players to reflect the history of the club as well as present.

Do you not accept Billinge Lump that if the same type of voting for say such a TV show from the 60's and the present that it would be the latter that would always win, it says a lot that the vote was so close and the loyalty and knowledge of the older supporters.

I know where you're coming from, but to play devil's advocate . . . .

Vollenhoven played 417 times for Saints, KC has played 504 so far (according to Saints Heritage Society)
Vollenhoven played for 11 seasons, KC has played for 17
Vollenhoven was South African, KC in a St Helens lad
Vollenhoven is all time top try scorer, KC is all time top try scoring forward
Vollenhoven won the league championship 2 times, KC has won it 5 times
Vollenhoven won the challenge cup 2 times, KC has won it 7 times

Now I'm not suggesting Vollenhoven shouldn't have got the statue (he was my vote) but it's not as clear cut as you might at first think.

Great to see jaybs perserverence.

Stop being so defensive.

Well if they cannot be bothered with the extra what, 2 miles, then oh dear me, god help them. Some fans of any given team live 20s even 100s of miles away and make the effort. That's a pitiful viewpoint and one that will matter zilch in terms of Saints long term future.

What the feck are you all doing talking about such random stuff on this thread? It's in the papers today that our new coach is in the country to sign his contract and everyone is talking about attendances, lying directors, geography....

Some of us are easily distracted by others' tery.....obviously me as I bit



But no, I agree. It doesn't on paper look like the best of ideas, but if it turns out to be true, we can only assume that Eamon knows what he is doing....

''Royce [Simmons is our kicking and catching coach, and we did a lot of work on defusing bombs during the week.''

Now it makes sense.

Well I live 220 miles from my two chosen clubs, West Ham who I have supported since I was 6 and the London Club starting with the first match at Fulham, when my older brother took me as I had not got my driving licence, but not all local club fans are committed or there would be more than just under 8,000 on a sunny Friday evening for a Salford Red game.