Its only a few years ago that the Bulls were riding the wave of success, Trophies and Finals galore, Large Crowds, Fantastic Highly paid players, Season Ticket Holders in abundance and a fantastic youth system (still in evidence today).

So what happened, The fantastic players retired or moved on for more money and were never replaced sufficiently. Performances and success quickly evaporated and so did the fans not to mention sponsors. There is still a core of fans, as at most clubs, who will attend and support come what may but it must be said that most people will only support an attractive proposition who entertain and more importantly win. Its human nature.

Will Warrington suffer the same consequences? Im sure the current powers that be will probably argue not, just like the powers that be at Bradford during their glory days probably did. Warrington are currently on the crest of a wave but what would happen if form is lost when the ageing squad breaks up, what happens when Tony Smith leaves and we lose the ability to win and perform. What happens if Moran decides to withdraw his investment and support.

My worry is that everything is geared towards attracting 'new' season ticket holders, the value offered to people willing to commit to a ST is fantastic to be fair. But what about the ordinary longstanding fan who cant commit to a ST? Well I can tell you that If you dont commit to a ST then watching Warrington becomes very expensive.

When Warrington suffer a dip in form, which they will at some point ala Bradford, all these 'new' ST holders, glory hunters if you like, will slowly start drifting away. Maybe then the club will realise that punishing the ordinary fan was a very foolish approach.

There is a saying that you should respect everyone on your way up as your sure to encounter them on your way back down. Warrington Wolves should sit up and take notice before its too late.

The truth of the matter though, is that the current custodians of Warrington Wolves probably wont be around when the proverbial hits the fan and it will be left to someone else to clear up their mess.

C_F.
An excellent post, and one that applies to ALL clubs.

It doesn't do the game any good at all too see any team(s) in this predicament. Reading the article it looks as though the bank have reduced their overdraft and it it has happened at Bradford you can bet they are not the only RL clubs affected.

It is a good post. In fact. RLFans should check the IP address immediately because this just doesnt make sense.

Unfortunately ,this is the truth that is hitting all professional pay to enter sport...people only have so much money to spend & with prices on the rise everywhere you turn, something has to get pushed to the back of the queue in terms of affordability.
It would be a great pity though to see a ground that holds the attendance record become a housing estate.

Nevermind RL clubs, most commercial entities are experiencing a tightening of the purse strings by the banks and rightly so in some cases.

Credit, in the past, was far too easy to come by and alot of commercial entities, not to mention private individuals, have been allowed to live/exist way beyond there means.

The RFL are not helping this game with there misguided policies of expansionism, abysmal playoff system and franchise farce. But on the other hand the custodians of some clubs have acted irresponsibly for short term gain and continue to do so.

Try raising your concerns with the commercial director at your club and all you will get his short sighted rhetoric nonsense.

Failure to listen to the genuine longstanding fans is a recipe for disaster. All they can see is the 'new' money. Which will disappear as quickly as it arrived when things start going wrong on the pitch.

some genuinely interesting points but why single us out we have been there done that and got the moranovic!

And that my friend, is the same short sighted perspective that many clubs have not just warrington.

Unless Moran is able to avoid inevitable death that we all face then Id be a bit concerned about your long term startegy. And who's to say that Moran will keep his interest in Warrington long term. The fella may decide to move on to other interests or godforbid he may suffer some kind of financial catastrophe.

In any case, as we already know, money/investment doesnt guarantee success on the pitch.

Jeebus, talk about ifs and buts. An awful lot of speculative comments in the OP, and assumptions that the poop will hit the fan:

"The truth of the matter though, is that the current custodians of Warrington Wolves probably wont be around when the proverbial hits the fan and it will be left to someone else to clear up their mess."

Credit where its due and show a little faith in the running of our club. I've yet to see anything negative about the running of WWRLFC since Mr Moran took over, only a steady rise in fortunes at every level throughout the club. Talk about glass half empty. It's terrible what's happened at Bradford but that's down to mismanagement - are you saying that Warrington is currently being mismanaged? The same can be said for ANY sporting team/venture across the world re: a wealthy investor/backer/chairman eventually stepping down - it happens, it always has, nothing will change. So try and not be alarmist about the future of the Wire - so long as Mr Moran is plotting the course I'd like to believe the ship will sail smoothly.

How did Bradford pass the financial tests to get their licence renewed ?

Colin_Fishwick is Baba Vanga reincarnated, that is the only explanation behind these predictions.

There is no way, at all, that you can knowingly predict the future fortunes of any club, let alone ours. To say there will be a mess left behind by the current custodians, that we will suffer a 'dip in form ala Bradford' and that fans will start drifting away, is complete and utter lunacy. How do you know that we don't have the next golden generation coming through our academy? What if Myler, the Evans brothers, O'Brien, Ratchford etc. become the next superstars of English RL, will we then be set for the fall from grace?

Saying Warrington should respect people on their way up, again, is completely and utterly baffling. Who are you saying should be doing the respecting? The club? The players? The fans? The coach? Our fans get involved in 'banter' like any other sporting fan, but to say we need to show respect is mad, as we already show more than enough respect. We've never broke the salary cap, we pay our transfer fees fairly and our club wins and loses gracefully. We are one of the biggest clubs in RL, we have a developing fan base and we've recently developed our stadium to cater for our fans. Like any RL club, you shouldn't take anything for granted, but saying a plummet in form and fortunes will happen is so completely wrong and negative, I can't believe I've just replied with all this.

They have obviously been in a financial mess for a fair while so why did they feel it fit to sign up Elliott Whitehead on a new long term deal when they probably knew full well that they wouldn't be able to honour the deal ?

Its the Bulls fans you feel sorry for, you have to ask the question like Padders pointed out above, how did they pass the RFL's financial test of stability ?

Colin,

Very interesting post. Couple of questions:-

1 - In what way is the club being mismanaged (if indeed you are asserting that it is, certainly, that is the impression you give)

2 - In what way are the club failing to respect 'older' supporters? I've been watching Warrington since 1988. I've had a season ticket since 1997. Apart from one incident regarding a shirt that got lost in the post in 2005 and the time it takes to get served in Wolfware, I haven't got a critical thing to say about how I'm treated. What's your beef?

Your wider point is excellent. All commercial entities need to understand that world is a different place and they have 2 choices. Adapt or die.

Ian,

As a season ticket holder you may not understand the point im trying to make here but if youve got any spare time just pretend that you havent got a season ticket and have a look at how much it costs to buy a ticket to a wolves home game. Even better pretend you have a young family and see how much it costs for your family of 4 to go to a game.

The wolves are heavily reliant on supporters new or old purchasing season tickets, everything is geared towards season ticket holders. If and when Warrington have a dip in form and the 'new' fan base walk away (which they will) then the current regimes business policy of relying on Season Ticket sales will come crashing down around them.

I dont care who the benefactor is, if you have no fans or indeed alienate fans just cos they cant commit to a season ticket then its only a matter of time before it goes titties up.

Im not scare mongering or predicting doom, I just dont like the clubs policy when it comes to ticket pricing and their over reliance on people commiting to Season Tickets.

The rot set in at Odsal as soon as Bradfords 'new' fan base walked away, whose to say it wont happen to Warrington. If and when it does im sure the fans that the club have managed to alienate wont be coming to their rescue.

The club have a responsibility to look after their fanbase irrespective of their ability to be willing or able to commit to season tickets. The current policy is if you havent got a season ticket then we arent interested. If you dont believe me have a go yourself.

Did it?

The comparisons between Warrington and Bradford are a bit shaky. Bradford went from being one of the worst supported teams in the top flight to the best in almost no time at all as they came from never beens to major winners. The vast majority of supporters had no history of witnessing dross
Warringtons attendances have barely changed since the first season in the HJ. Suggesting we both rely on glory hunters is wrong.

For various reasons I don't have a season ticket this year for the first in many. I haven't seen any evidence of this at all?

I also don't get how everything being geared to getting new fans in means longtime fans somehow miss out? We get the same deal as a new fan would, what exactly are we missing out on?

Other than the discount in Wolfware, bugger all. I've been a ST holder for many years
but I've mates who for various reasons aren't and as far as I (and they) see it there's no 'split' in clubs affections. We all part with what money we can each afford to in these tough times.

You obviously didnt attend games at Wilderspool.

On a very good day circa 7k and as an average circa 4k.

Average attendances at the HJ are now probably circa 11k. It would be interesting to see what attendances would be within a couple of years if Warrington started to struggle.

It really isn't Rogues. It's a dreadful post and full of nonsense.

Sorry Colin, there is just so much rubbish being spouted by you on this thread I just don't have time to reply in detail. Safe to say the following though:

- in no way can what has happened at Bradford be compared to what is happening at Warrington. Cannot see a single similarity;
- there is nothing wrong with a "policy" of charging people decent prices to receive a quality product? The alternative is to let people in cheap (ironically as Bradford have done!) and watch income fall!

what was our average attendances when we weren't very good between 2004 and 2009?

good response seb, but what you've failed to appreciate here, is that we're going to move into an archaic ground with ridiculous upkeep costs, and we're going to get drawn into an expensive drawn out legal battle after inducing iestyn harris to break his contract with leeds, and then have to pay them compo.

Iestyn Harris absolutely crippled them and they've never recovered from it. Colin, you obviously know absolutely nothing about the running of Warrington Wolves. Suggest you have a word with someone from the club who is involved in finance and find out what percentage of our income comes in from non rugby related activities.

I think Colin is complaining because the accumulated cost of attending every game without a season ticket is more than the price of a season ticket. He wouldn't have a point if the club demanded that you pay the price of your season ticket up front. As it is, they offer DD schemes to spread the cost, so he really definitely has no point at all. On the back of that crazy point he has gone on a lovely 3 page long fishing trip.

Sports clubs of all types turn up at Warrington's door to be tought how to run a sports club successfully.

According to Seb and Cat Warrington are invincible and totally immune to financial downturns.

Get real lads, Warrington almost went bust not so many years ago.

Like I say it would be very interesting to see what happened if Warrington started playing poorly and attendances started to drop. Not that I want to see that happen of course.

And being honest, who on here would have predicted back in their glory years that Bradford would be on the verge of going out of business in 2012.

I certainly wouldnt.