Excellent post.

Excellent post Andy!

Very well put Andy , and a very enlightening post , as for Neil , Maurice , or even Nozzy , or whatever he wants to call himself

a very strong view on the Leigh Fans , you sound like the Prime Minister or Health Minister reffering to Booze , Cigs , and Broadband

, folk to choose to spend their cash how they want , whether it be at the LSV or a Pub , is up to them .

We should carry on the work we have just started but ramp it up with the extra money we get each season - a budget for properly marketing our club to its populace should be set aside each season as a must.
The target MUST be families and youngsters and the aim of the club short term should be to ensure every youngster aged 6 to 11 years old who goes to school within 8 miles of the LSV will have seen Leigh Centurions represented at school or in the area (be it players or others from the club) and as a bare minimum know the club exists and they are currently champions and doing exceptionally well.
Along with the brilliant work started (but by no means even remotely completed)in the community of Leigh and with the partner local and junior sports clubs lets continue to build on that.

As harsh as it sounds I don't believe RL is the sport people choose to watch on spec as its profile is virtually non existent and in effect the door was slammed shut by many people by poor governance and leadership effectively making the results of many games of no value or consequence.
Just going back to being a competition may start to get a few back but the majority lost are long gone as they have found other things to spend there leisure money on, equally the fans who follow Saints & the Pies et al will only come back to glory so spend no time enticing them as results only work to that fickle bunch so if we do well they will return in anyhow (especially
if the club they currently follow have poor results).

Our club has lots of work to do if we want to get a good average next season and in all fairness last year that work was started, but its just that - a start and lets not forget all our competitors (be it RL clubs, Football clubs or pubs & bars) want them just as much as we do and have already made a start on getting people in, we are going in the right direction but the next 5 years will see a lot of work needed off the field if all our hopes are to become reality.

My view is we have easily been the best Championship team and next season our squad will be full time and even stronger.

We must take this chance next season with both hands if we want to get in the top league' with the extra funding that will bring.

Re the Leigh and District public it is up to them to respond. I am hopefull that they will.

We will soon find out.

Great post Jenky.

Excellent post

Like you say it is the youngsters who must be targeted. That's how most of us started watching Leigh via the free tickets in school. What you also have to realise is that not all children want to attend the games with their parents. They want to attend with their mates but if the games are on Sunday afternoons and they have nobody to give them a lift then they can't get to the game if they aren't in walking distance. Saturday afternoons or teatime KO's should be reconsidered so kids can get to the game on public transport because Sunday's are a complete waste of time.

Stupid question, how do you work that out given that the license for 2015-2017 (inclusive) would have been announced in May 2014 based on the previous 3 years performance and the financial situation at each club (plus bits). BTW what a big mistake that would have been to give to Fev looking in hindsight now and the mess we are have been in the last six months? I could be cynical and suggest that they changed the league format to keep Fev out of SL, but would have to put that big chip back on my shoulder before I did.



PS in terms of attendance at the GF last weekend, how many do you think were Leigh fans out of the 9000-ish gate. And this is not a question about our fan base is bigger than yours, etc. it is a genuine question. The reason I ask is that if you assume that a 3rd of the gate was Leigh fans (3000) at a final when you had swept all before you how do you think you can average 3000 next year when you will not win as well as you have this, you only need to look at Fev gates this year (down on last because we started to lose some games).

IMO Fax/Leigh/Fev gates will be up next year because of Bradford, but I doubt will be much different in the initial 12s to the gates this year, teams making the middle 8 will be up in the 3/4 games they have at home, which makes finishing in the top 4 really important along with the money for finishing in the top 4.

Enjoy the off season, will be a long few months before the start of next season.

Nailed it.

If you're claiming that you cant afford £14 a week for the entertainment Leigh are offering at the moment, you either don't want to be there in the first place OR if you do want to be there, it's time to enroll in college and get a better job.

Cmon Jim , your last statement really surprises me , its not that simple to just enrol at College , and then qualify for a better job , some families cannot support their Children to do this , my 2 eldest went to College , Danni went to UNI , Charlie Jnr went to College , my youngest Kell is now at College and has 2 jobs , my point being not everyone can do this , to some families £14 a week is a lot of money .

You obviously don't live in the real world either.

Close but no Goldfish Andy - not the first either

I would suggest getting your ducks in line before quoting facts may help, Wigan has a population of 98000 Wigan Borough has 320000. So Wigan get 14% !

I stand by my comments also, and suggest you read again to understand them, the clubs strategy of targeting families and making ST's affordable is first class, decisions not to attend are in 95% of cases not financial but choice - the 5% should be helped.

Here's my simple response.

Was it 2300 average this season just past? If so before the middle 8 I think we will average around 2600 based on internal (home support) growth with the added Bradford factor.

Come middle 8 time we will average 3000 plus based on the competitive nature of the fixtures and the added away support from the 4 SL clubs dropping down. Their 400 plus will be like liquid gold compared to Sheffield/Workington/Hunslet and Dewsbury for example. No disrespect meant to any of those fine clubs but the their travelling support is not particularly goodie numbers. Also, they are not necessarily the 4 clubs I expect to miss out out on the top 4.

Then in SL we will start of with a hardcore 2800 (maybe 3000) based on continued success. Then with the added travelling supporters of Wigan, Leeds, Wire, Saints etc.. Plus the big game supporters we should see averages of around 4800/5000 some gates lower and some much higher.

Beyond that will be determined by continued success and stability but hopefully LCRLFC will be back in the blood for many who have been on the ride and will be here to stay just like me 45 years ago

That's just about what I said on page one of this thread

looks like Leyther Forever knows .

He actually does

We should be getting around 3,000 next season, we were heading that way towards the end of this season. With less games against smaller teams, the added attraction of seeing us play bottom SL teams and the fact that games are meaningful again with a chance to win promotion we should see a fair increase in attendance.

Neil, you are obviously far too clever for me, however I note it took you nearly 24 hours to line up your proverbial ducks.

What percentage do Leeds get then from their imeadiate catchment area just out of intrest?

If you are so confident in what your stating why not do it in your own name instead of pretending to be someone else? I thought it was only me who allegedly uses multiple user names on here



The clubs stratergy is great we've both helped implement it and hopefully the club will reap rewards if adopted as part of a long term sustainable plan but that's the bit if. In the meantime don't attempt to patronise people or mimick them for either being less fortunate than you or simply having a different view point as It doesn't reflect well on you as a person or the club mate.

Andy

Ey up! That's a new one Charlie



FYI plenty of people on here know exactly who I am (which is nobody, just a fan) including Leyther Matt, TV Boy and yes, Maurice!

Regards,

Sam

Nozzy my friend , I wasn't referring to you in my post , please forgive me , I also call Nostradamus Lad , Nozzy , and that is who my post was on about .

Anything below 3000 is a failure. If the rumour is true and we do play bradford at home week 1, anything below 6k is a failure!

Bradford is not a rumour, its a request put forward by the club, wether the RFL give it us is another question

Hope we don't play Bradford game 1 as we can guarantee a good gate for our first home fixture of a new season regardless of opposition.
Would much prefer us to build up slowly and get momentum - this season's form counts for nothing come match day 1 and lets not forget as Champions we are there to be knocked down.
In saying that Bradford are expected to demolish every team next season so would rather us not play the rank favourites game 1.
Personally I don't remember Bradford fans ever travelling in great numbers so I'm not too sure the away support would better a Fev or a Fax but it would beat an Hunslet or a Swinton so we should be up on that plus the locals will be more interested in Leigh v Bradford so the intrigue factor will help.

Would think most teams would like Bradford at home early on in the season before they get used to Championship Rugby, try to catch them a bit arrogant and off guard. Not sure many would want to go to Odsal in February though.

I'm not sure, fully rested and with a SL mentality day 1 could be the worse time to play them before the championship mentality kicks in - they won't be playing at the quality of stadia they are used to or on quality pitches they are used to and in front of crowds they are used to with media coverage they are used to - that fall from grace will affect players (and fans) in the head as much as on the pitch.

The negative side being if they take Leigh to the cleaners its damages our campaign on day one as people we'd like to get back won't believe we are up to the challenge, of course the alternate to that is we could flog them and expectations go into over drive......

I'll be happy with Hunslet at home for the first game with little pressure or expectation's in front of a good gate as no-one has seen the team play for months