100% True, or just tell all the Yorkshire clubs to move to the Lancs it would be even better

No, Saints have no council money to fund the building of the stadium. The Council ultimately will be putting £6 million into the project, the NWDA £4 million, but that is for remediation works, such as cleansing the site (it was a chemical/glass works) and setting up things like the roundabout to the ground (which is now almost complete) and the footbridge, along with upgrading parking facilities in the nearby multistoreys for match days. Saints are financing the building of the Saints stadium through the sale of Knowsley Road and the investment of the directors. The stadium will be ours to use and abuse as we wish. Tesco is funding its own build and their money has absolutely nothing to do with us.

The stadium will be a financial killer for the directors for years to come. They will no doubt have loans to pay on the financing. But at least their money will be going into something that will, over time, be a money raiser and not a money drainer, as is the case with Knowsley Road.

I sense alot of Jealous Wigan fans reading this



A brand new stadium 100% owned by the club is credit to St Helens















If Dave Wheelan wants his pitch again there might be 3 clubs playing at Widnes next year

Lets be honest we wont ever be kicked out of the DW because we are the only club in there that is guaranteed to bring in money for years to come



Im happy for Saints to get the new ground, its great for rugby league in GB. I dont see why anyone even rival clubs would be against it, if they pay for it themselves they will have to earn it over years. If its helped by council funding then good luck to them they wont be the first or last to get that.

Not for 50 years he won't



Good news for saints this, but they will need to encourage fans to travel with free transport or at least make it easy for fans to get to Widnes. The main thing, next season for saints, is to hold on to as many regulars as possible because once people stop attending it's sometimes difficult getting them back. Good luck to them I'm sure is worth it.

the saints wire game is at goodison park, there looking at staging the saints wigan game at the reebok, and we will be playing at liegh for the smaler games

The Reebok is a strange choice as it's closer to Wigan and therefore doesn't seem to be any advantage to Saints.

True, but can get more of our fans in as theirs cannot be ar$ed. As they start to slide over the next few years Leighs place will be more than adequate for the Saints home support......

Not sure how much actual cash the Council put in but they, and NOT DW, own the land and lease it to the stadium holding company. Effectively the Council contributed the cost of the land to the development.

The Council also own 15% of the holding company with DW/Latics owning the remainder and the council receives an annual 'ground rent' from the Holding Company.

Also the planning permission for the stadium is multi-use so where DW to try and turf us out he'd find himself on the wrong end of a planning battle.

Anyway back on topic, good news for Saints albeit with short term pain for long term gain

It seems if true why are saints going to be playing at 4 differant grounds, for smaller games just open two stands at widnes (the ones down the side) playing at reebok against wont draw more than 17500 so would be better at widnes ground full not 10k empty seats.

Isn't Leigh a 15,000 capacity?

Why would we take smaller games to a larger ground with much worse transport links?

There have been a few occasions when announcements have been promised that have then not happened, so that may have contributed to that.

13350 widnes
12000 leigh
Thats the capacity of both clubs

So you've spent at least 2 pages arguing about if we'll own the ground or not, then when it appears that your wrong and we will own it, you decide that it doesn't matter!

On a scale of 1-10 how Bitter are you that our Stadium plans are actually coming to Fruition?!

That's all conjecture - it's not been confirmed by anyone

The leaflet given out yesterday just said we'd play all home games next season at Widnes

I'll be going to the saints wire game then, although it'll be strange the two teams i hate the most playing in my favourite ground in the world haha.
The reebok is a bit strange for us like.

Who gives a "monkeys" whether its owned or leased. Its what is on the park that matters not who owns the asset. By the way I have seen several games at widnes this year and it is a cracking set up there and streets ahead of knowsley road.

Have to say this is complete and utter rubbish.

I dont know where you have heard any of that from, presume its down the pub.

Whenever Saints have talked on the radio or have even written it on their website they have only ever said they will be playing at Widnes.

There is no truth at present that Saints will be playing any games at Goodison, for the simple reason that Saints have to work out whether it is financially viable.

Next year is going to be hard enough financially for Saints without moving hither and thither.

Think about the logistical nightmare of arranging were season ticket holders would sit on a week to week basis, if your moving from ground to ground.
Now add in the likely fact that such an action would probably further damage season ticket sales.
It would also upset fans who bought season tickets and then found out that certain matches would be played outside Widnes at venues that they could no longer get too, due to say work commitements, cost of getting there, lack of adequate transportation etc.
A good example of this was when Wigan were forced to move a playoff game to Widnes. It caused an almighty stink due to the disruption in fans normal matchday behaviours.

To put it accurately, the club are considering the small possibility of a game at Goodison should the right fixture fall at the end of May. That could be Warrington, Wigan or Leeds. Can't see it being anyone else.

The Reebok and Leigh rumours have no foundation whatsoever.

There is a small chance one game will be played at Everton, the rest will all be at Widnes.

Istn that what i have just said ????

A genuine question to the Saints fans - does anyone know if the financing is in the form of a directors loan or the equivalent of a mortgage agreement?

I think its great news for Saints about the new stadium - but surely no-one is naive enough to think that the stadium will be pure profit for the club from day one. You will own the ground as a paper asset in the short term and a significant asset in the long term, but surely the additional revenue created will initially be funding repayments for the construction work? If Director funding was so plentiful and generous, surely the stadium would have been built without the need to relocate from KR to accommodate a land sale?

I actually think that the Stobart move for a season may be a good move for Saints, coupled with the rebranding of 'Saints RL' to remove the geographical ties and with the incentive to existing season ticket holders, they may actually come away with more fans the following year notwithstanding the new stadium factor. Lets be honest, floating RL supporters in Widnes who have deserted the Chemics / Vikings in recent years may choose to follow SL rugby on their own patch and increase the catchment of the club in the long term, particularly if Widnes miss out on a franchise again.

I dont think KR is big enough to house the new ground so would have to relocate

Well if it's our game at Goodison, i think there'd be less of the 'you scouse b*stards'

The insunation from an earlier post was that the Saints directors had deep pockets and therefore were funding the stadium comfortably - rather than the standard directors loan approach repayable against future stadium revenue with a deposit paid by the land sale of the old stadium. By having to sell KR to fund the contruction work, it appears that Saints directors are not as super rich and benevolent as some would like us to believe. Simon Moran's unfortunately don't grow on trees for most RL clubs.

Simon Moran didnt pay for Wires ground it was paid for by Tesco as part of the planning permission for the new store.