Ah apologies if we're getting carried away over the fact that we have beaten Saints and Wigan away and Leeds at home (the big 3), we have put 82 points on Quins, we sit top of the table, unbeaten in 6 aiming to pass a club record, having scored the most points, Lee Briers has signed a contract extension, our new world class winger is settling in just nicley scoring tries, whilst our other signing has scored the most points. Have I missed anything?

Again apologies if some of us are getting carried away, but I couldn't quite frankly care.

Yours,

LTS

Yeah After all we are Wank@y @y Warrington..

Big turnovers happen more in the long run. 2006 to 2010 is more of a short run time scale.

Think about it like this you have your core support. They are the ones who follow 'through thick and thin'. Everybody claims to be part of the core! And you have the floaters, ones who will watch but are not chained to the club.

The size of the floater group fluctuates, every year you have rejoiners (former fans who previously lost interest and now returned, or maybe moved away with work etc and now living back local) and you have deserters (fans who lose interest or move away). Then you have new fans, kids or partners of existing fans who get introduced, and yes you have fans who die or become too old/infirm to come.

Your total fan base will be made up of core + floaters. In the short run the core will stay pretty much constant and what will affect your gates is the size of the floaters, if rejoiners + new fans > deserters + deaths then gates rise, if its the opposite, gates fall. This will be determined largely by how the team is doing on the field, if they sign big name players / win trophies etc. In practice deaths will be quite a small number and new fans will probably always be bigger than deaths so in the long run you expect gates to rise over time.

In the long run gates will be determined by the size of the core as over time floaters can become core. But things like getting a new stadium makes a difference here. There's probably a natural level of gates for a club in any era, and the gates will fluctuate around that in good and bad years. In the 1980s our natural level was probably about 4500. In the 1990s it was probably about 5500. In the early 2000s at Wilderspool probably 6500 and in the HJ probably around 10000. From that you can see how significant first the Langer signing and then the move to the HJ was in boosting our natural level, which meant that the core has risen.

When you look at Wigan though, the figures are pretty constant from the late 1980s onwards. This suggests to me that virtually their whole fan base is core. Their gates aren't affected much by whether the team is good or not very good, so that implies that the number of new fans/rejoiners or deserters/deaths is not very high.

On the other hand look at Bradford. Before SL era they got similar gates to us. In the late 90s, first half of 2000s, they were getting about 15000. Almost immediately after Noble and all their best players left their gates started to tumble, 11000,10000,9000. I reckon Bradford's glory days put say 4000 onto their core support, who they still have, but they carried about 6000 floaters who were on the Bradford bandwagon, and they've disappeared. What happened to those teenage girls they used to have with Robbiez Angel on their backs and so on. They probably have 5 kids and other things on their mind than RL now.

Big difference between Wigan and Bradford there. They both had gates of around 15000 in their glory era - but why did Bradford's tumble away when they stopped winning things, while Wigan maintained their gates? Because Wigan had a high proportion of core fans, Bradford just carried lots of floaters. This is what will determine our long term future....are we building a new generation of core fans like Wigan did, or are they temporary supporters like Bradford...?

That is a really good summary.

Hopefully with some success over the next 10 years, our current floaters will become regulars and we will get new floaters to try and drag in!

Your story of Warrington's support is very similar to that of Saints. We also dropped to around 4500 core supporters in the 80s, rising slightly in the 90s and we hit the dizzy heights of between 7000 and 8000 core supporters (rather than average gate) during the noughties. As people adjust to our season in Widnes, and make plans accordingly, there will probably be a regular turnout of between 7000 and 8000 supporters at the Stobart Stadium because those are the people who will follow Saints no matter what they are like or where they are playing. It has taken 15 years of significant success to achieve that growth. And I can confidently say that Saints fans are hoping the new stadium will have the same kind of impact upon our core support that the HJ had upon yours.

Saints are now just about a well known club. We have a rep on the BBC, we are recognised down under as a 'big club'. It's taken us 15 years to get there. I think it will take a similar time for Warrington to establish itself. Whether either of us or indeed anyone else will ever have the impact Wigan had is another matter though because, as you suggest, a lot is about timing. There was still sufficient national interest in rugby league when Wigan were dominant for their name and players to become embedded in the memories of those interested in sport generally. These days we have virtually no national exposure and therefore the heros of today remain virtual unknowns. As such, it will be much harder for a newly successful club to establish a brand in the way Wigan did.

Away following is impossible to determine really.
You brought a very good following last Friday but I'm not sure if the North Stand was full. Whatever you bring Wigan can fit them into the DW. That's whether its 5, 6 or 7k.
Wigan's two closest big games are yourselves and Saints. Wigan's ticket allocation for Wire is 3100 plus the few seats at the West Stand end of the main stand. Saints sent less for KR.
Wigan have 10.5k season ticket holders so not all season ticket holders can get a ticket and they never go on general sale.

As far as long term new fans go it'll be a while before you know how things are. Your team was very good on Fri and won well. How long they can keep it going I don't know. Most of your forwards are 30+ and will need replacing in the next two years. Although your U20s are now good they can't fill all those positions for some years. The odd player might but not 6-8 that you'll need.

You will need to market the club better too. I do think to maximise crowds eventually you'll need to move to Friday night. There is far more atmosphere at night games and by Saturday morning you have the weekend in front of you.
A brand slogan maybe needed. Leeds started it years ago with "Friday night is Rhinos night"

You have a good chance of turning Sally's floating fans to core fans as long as you win things. With Moran running things then the top players will come as he's spending top money. So success should never be too far away. The plan for your ground IMO should have been to close in all four corners and go for 18-20k capacity.
Friday night games with a successful team and the place would be buzzing. Sunday afternoons lack the same atmosphere.

It was sold out - it wasn't full because it was unreserved seating which means they have to reduce the capacity of the stand.

Two challenge cups and the brightest teenager in the game.

take a look at yourselves, three quarters of your posts on here are all about Wigan - totally obsessed. Wigan are still in a period of flux, having picked up our first silverware in recent memory only last year, after several years in the wilderness, almost having dropped out of SL entirely. Its not like you ended our eight in a row run last Friday.

Yes, fair enough we are the champions and you were well deserved of your win last week, but the way you are all going on, you'd think the league leaders title, GF and CC were all done and dusted.

Enjoy it while you can, long way to go yet, nowts won in March!

Yes, we do believe we are the best fans in Super League, Most of your fans have only appeared out the woodwork the past few years, where were they in 2002 when you nearly got relegated? Our fans will turn out in force no matter what, and yes we get quite a few people that leave early but that happens at every club, the majority applaud the team at the end no matter what the result is. So yes, I do believe we have got the best fans in the league.

nearly relegated! where were you when you did get religated?/ lancs cup final 1980? eh eh pie boy, come on!

your the only club with a new stadium that has an early leavers gate!


are you aware of what the word deluded means?

Er, NO! The vast majority were well out of the stadium by the time the hooter went on Friday.

No pooh, Sherlock
Take a look at the title of the thread, hope that helps. If you want to argue, there's a similar one on your own site
Tell you what, Nikos, when don't you get the drumsticks from your Avatar, and start hitting yourself over the head with them. You might knock some sense into there...on second thoughts, you're from Wigan...forget I commented

Waiting around for 10 years to be born

However on the day I was born we did you beat you lot in The Challenge Cup final so it was worth the wait.

Are you just assuming we are the only club whose fans leave early, Oh it does not happen at Warrington and Hull at all does it? Does it?

Probably does, but not like there's an Olympic medal up for grabs like at wigan

Hated, adored but never ignored

Of course you're never ignored, as YOU'RE ALWAYS ON BL00DY HERE. Now go away

, as the place is begining to smell of soggy pastry.

...and occasionally laughed at...

The only thing that's ignored in Wigan, is Salary Cap levels

And still the thread about the champions on the wire board goes on

We've played you in the last 7 days and dismantled your team. Hardly a massive shock that people would want to talk about that, is it?

...Well, you carry on calling yourselves that until early October, after that.....

yeah, let the thread carry on, just like the crying over disciplinary on the pie-site, oh, and thanks for the 2 points on Friday, they'll come in very nicely, come September.

i see igot the boy bit right then, it was obvious when you mentioned nearly relegated, which by the way we never have been! yes people do leave early at other games but it's called the wigan walk for a reason.... you do it so well! win lose or draw. did you ever meet your dad, did he find his way back from the big smoke or had he left your mum after the one night stand in maxines?

If you want to stoop that level, he decided to start shagging your dad.

Christ I love Warrington fans