To be honest, both clubs have Crap grounds. In this day and age they are lacking well behind and most of the Rugby league fan base agree. Both clubs have had long enough to sort them out but yet have done nothing except throw the money they have on players. Shocking so called Stadiums.

Wigan council didn't provide any money for the LSV , they provided the land ( the old Barla pitches and a corner plot of land used by dirt bikes , druggies and for dumping stolen cars ) and were fortunate that this was pre 2008 crash , was originally going to be the site for the ski centre ' Xanadu ' that ended up at Cas

The money came from several sports council funding grants and a developer

Just in time , I doubt we'd get it now

You're quite right Steve,however,I'm certainly not into skiing.After saying that, I do prefer my Sunday afternoons watching my beloved Leyth and on the piste.

Yeah, funnily enough as you say the crash happened at the right time for you guys, if it had to happen. But for Trinity and Wakefield, in general, it came exactly at the wrong time. WMDC was in the middle of plans to upgrade the Athletics Track and gym at Thornes Park & build something like the Leigh Sports Village. Sun Lane swimming pool was getting shut down at the time and was going to move to the park and a stadium and other facilities were going to be built. Then about a year into planning it, the recession came and that was that. If they'd only have started it 5 years earlier and we wouldn't be having this thread now. Talk about timing.

Exactly. I’m not having a go at Michael Carter here or the current Wakefield board, they’re doing their best with what is frankly a god-awful hand. And I’m not particularly having a go at Wakefield individually. All clubs were (and sadly mostly still are) guilty of squandering money on short term gains by buying players instead of investing. If they’d all invested instead then the sport would be in a far better position now and clubs like Wakefield and Cas wouldn’t be scrabbling around for a stadium, clubs like Wigan and Leeds wouldn’t have nearly gone bust etc.

It's the old mushroom syndrome steady mate, like all Wakey fans, were kept in the dark and fed the old brown stuff, I'm sure you've heard it all before from the in laws, when I said the club wanted to buy it back what I mean't was the trust wanted to buy it back for the community, it's been that long since it all started, it's so easy to lose track.

There are 2 sides to every story yet we only ever hear Carter’s

It’s no different this side of the common mate! I honestly think we’ll end up sharing a ground, somewhere up near the new nick at Normy. With a bit of serious ambition & a lot of good luck; the district could end up with first class facilities there - of which both clubs would benefit (& yes; I am a hopeless optimist)!

not heard about a new nick being announced, have you a link

New-ish. Already been there a couple of years.

Yeah, you're spot on as usual Lebron we've never heard anything from WMDC over the years



Seriously though apart from the odd RL piece about what's going on with the stadium, Carter hasn't been where information has generally come from at all, plus all this project was well underway by about 3/4 years when he took ownership of the club. Anyway apart from the fact there's plenty about the Newmarket project in the public domain and WMDC have said plenty themselves, so go look it up if you genuinely are interested which I doubt. Most of the information about it has come from the Wakefield Community Trust members some of whom are forum members on here. The leader of said trust is a Leeds fan who posts on here, who took over from Sir Rodders, he generally keeps everyone updated as much as can.

I bet you haven't paid much attention over the years to the ins and outs and who's said what anyway, so to come out with such a statement, shows you up for what you are.

For the latest most up to date word from Peter Box - leader of WMDC, he said in a radio interview the other day, the fault Newmarket isn't being built to original spec is the fault of the then Secretary of state, Eric Pickles. Nothing at all to do with his own planning department not doing its job properly and not hiring land lawyers who knew their way around a S106 agreement, to make sure it was airtight, so a shady developer can find holes in it.

Tbh when he said nick, the huge out of town police station didn't come to mind straight away. I was thinking of a Prison rather than a Cop shop.

Yeah, probably helped I'd mentioned that exact suggestion earlier so we were already on the same page.

Sorry shifty; yeah I meant the Police Station on Havertop Lane.

me too

I'm till looking for the post explaining where the £15m+ is coming from to build this mythical shared stadium. since none of CTRLFC, WTRLFC or WMDC have a pot to......

start reading again from page 1 and when you reach my post that explains about being conned by York court by taking land out of green to Brown from them to make millions then you will of got there.

Cllr Peter Box CBE Stated in a recent interview that good news is forthcoming regarding Wakefield’s Stadium planes . He also made reference to 2 million pounds they were given in 2009. Surely this could have gone towards improvements on the current ground .

Neither club were given £2m. It was an offer from the council to provide land worth that value so each club could borrow against it, this later turned to a council contribution to fund the community aspect of the new stadium. It had a time limit and has now been withdrawn.

Exactly - this discussion is being had largely by and between people who have no idea what is going on, or the convoluted history of both clubs attempts to secure a new ground.

For clarity - none of the parties involved have got the required millions to build a stadium, including WMDC; hence why both clubs have been hostages to the vagaries of developers, relying as we have on S106 agreements linked to large land acquisitions - both of which, it seems, have once again fallen by the wayside - Cas thanks to the retail sector being on its , and Wakey because the chosen developer is as bent as a nine bob note. WMDC have been downright obstructive with Wakey and despite the cries of unfair preference, I don't think they've done much more for Cas than broker some conversations with the developer.

So - there is no shared stadium just waiting to be built, any more than there are separate ones; WMDC have no money and never did - their original offer to both clubs was land against which they could secure a £2million loan - and that's it. So until the situation changes with developers, there'll be no progress - despite the best efforts of both clubs and some Community Trust type organisations made up mostly of fans, with the requisite professional backgrounds to add value.

The council holds considerably more than that in ‘unallocated reserves’ each year. If they wanted, the WMDC could do the right thing & correct the wrongs they have inflicted on the district tomorrow.

All three clubs have been left to stagnate by the council. Nobody is suggesting they owe either club a living but I for one feel the council should do more to appreciate all clubs in our region. They offer much needed exposure of the region nationally, do a great deal of positive work within communities & bring in a great many visitors, who add much needed custom to the local enconomies.

The fact of the matter is simple, there isn’t the political will to do anything meaningful.

Passing the book over a poor 106 is the easy thing to do. However, if they knew it was such a poor document, why did they sign it? If they were unaware of how poor it was, why would they sign it off without doing due research/seeking legal expertise? Neither scenario paints the council in anything other than incompetence at best & compliance at worst.

A new council, who put the city first, is the only hope going forward.

Of course every other council in the land would be using their reserves to subsidise PLCs, hardly their remit? Councillors may be thick but they're not stupid: without public pressure they know that voting through the building of a new stadium in the light of all the cutbacks elsewhere would be political suicide. And your last point pretty much sums up WMDC, they do usually put the 'city' first.....

A great many councils have funded community stadiums. Rather than being a donation to private companies, which nobody is demanding, the best examples of community stadiums are hubs for projects that improve the community in a range of ways- whether that be education, health & wellbeing or sport & leisure.

As for what the wmdc put first, it’s hardly the city. The eastern centric approach has seen a disproportionate amount of investment into the eastern wards, whilst the city centre has been left to waste away.

The best way the wmdc cam right the wrongs they’ve contributed to with the Newmarket debacle would be to take Michael Carter up on his proposal.
- The council take out a loan to fund the purchase of the BV site.
- MC/the club pay the interest on the loan, meaning a zero financial contribution to the taxpayer.
- The principle amount for the loan would be covered by WT’s rent, with the council having a new multi-million pound facilities on their books for no financial input.

Just to add, WMDC certainly doesn't think about their sporting facilities around the whole district, that's why we rank last in the whole Country in that area and I'm not talking about WMDC building a RL stadium here, it's the complete lack of Council owned sports facilities like MUGA pitches and swimming pools etc that people can use for a number of sports. Off the top of my head, they really only own, the Athletics track at Thornes Park and Sun Lane baths, many swimming pools out of the City have been shut down. That's probably also why Wakefield has one of the worst child obesity problems in the Country as well. WMDC need to give the kids and let's be honest adults too, a good reason to get out of their bedrooms/ living rooms and a chance to play sport with their mates or by themselves, that doesn't involve traveling miles to get to.

You forgot the Sharlston pit site as well/