I was on site at the new Saints stadium site last Thursday.

It looks absolutely fantastic. I could barely concentrate speaking to some of the contractors for thinking how can't a club like Wigan Rugby League have something like this of our own. It just seems to me that Ian Lenegan doesn't even want to entertain the idea but it would be interesting to know what the possibilites are and what could be done hypothetically. The JJB/DW has never felt like home to me personally, in fact I hate it. It's simply a nice structure designed for Wigan Athletic that we can rent for nice facilities. However in my opinion we should have our own identity, our own facilites, our own taylor made Rugby stadium designed for Rugby League supporters that we can be proud of.

Another question would be to our supporters; Are you honestly happy with us playing at The DW?

not happy with us there. don't like the place...

but it appears we're there for the long run and so i'm getting used to it. sadly

The first thing that would have to be done is for the club to sell off Edge Hall Road in order to generate some funds, but I'm not sure where the rest of the money would come from.

Then you have to consider that the club will need a ground that is big enough. We've had about 24,000 against Saints and over 20,000 three times already this season, so it would need to be a ground roughly the size of the DW Stadium and that probably wouldn't make sense financially.

We are going to be here now for a long time to come, as buying our own stadium will not be worthwhile when we can just use this one.

Money/Location could well be sticky points aswel.

Furthermore, some people will never be happy if we stay at the DW or we have our own ground so IL cannot win either way.

I'd like to see the scenario what would happen when/if they go down this year. Like what'll happen when/if Whelan sells up?

I'm happy there. It is a superb facility that cost us relatively little.
Saints will be going onto that new stadium (and it does look nice) with a debt of somewhere between £2.5 and £5 million pounds. How long will it take them to recover that debt?

Where would the money come from to buy a new stadium?
Where could it be built?

The only other option would be is to buy the DW, but what would be the running costs?
Next time I see you I'll give you a bit of info, and you'll understand my reasoning.

It wouldn't need to be the size of the DW. Because it's a RL stadia it could have standing room at one end and down the side or maybe have seated areas behind standing areas like the dougie stand. 22,000 would be an ideal capacity in my opinion with perhaps an option to fill some corners in at some point in the future.

Oh, and Appley Bridge would be an ideal location.

In regards to money and location, don't be fobbed off in regards ''the council wouldn't approve it/we wouldn't get the funding''.

Large companies who want to operative in respective towns are more than often asked to ''give back'' and contribute towards to the community one way or another. This includes fire stations, schools, housing estates and in many circumstances, stadiums.

Ashton would be a superb location if we was to build our own ground



Home>Pub>Game>Pub>Home = Belting.

Personally I like the DW and have come to regard it as home, mainly because of the convenience of its location and its first class facilities.

For a long time it didn't feel like home, mainly because of the constant (though now, I realise, imaginary) threat that Latics were going to suddenly show us the door.

We have a long lease on the ground, and with Latics struggling to survive in the Premiership seemingly every season, it's become clear that DW Stadium could not sustain itself if only one club were using it. Moreover, if Latics do get relegated, I'd imagine the fixture clash issue - another sore point with many Wigan fans - will evaporate.

Also, as others have said, it's a pipe-dream that we could go off and build our own stadium. Even if we could afford it, why would Wigan Council allow it when we already have a perfectly good stadium in the heart of the borough?

For say a 22,000 stadium with 6,000 standing judging by the cost of a few new builds around the country that are ongoing you would be looking at £25-30m, where the hell are we going to get that from? The council certainly wouldnt entertain it either.

The best option is to buy a stake in the Stadium we have now, say £10m for 50% ownership, with all future corporate in RL games going to Wigan RL, as as far as i know all corporate currently goes to Welco. Olny if Latics go bust then we can look to buy the rest for cheap and turf them out when required.

You'd get a lot of people opposed to that idea, and I would be one of them! Having the ground so far out of town would also be quite unpopular, especially since Appley Bridge isn't in Wigan.
It would probably have to be on land around Poolstock, Ince or Standish Lower Ground if it was available.

IL should fund it himself if he was serious about WRLFC. If not, kick him out and get another local business man in. Someone who is willing to splash the cash. What about that shammy fella who had a clothes shop on the market and then went big time when he rented a shop on Market Street. Or Fat Harry? Wasn't there a rumour he'd won the lottery?

But I can't walk to any of those locations.

It can be a soulless entity at times and never really feels like home in the way Central Park used to. But on occasions when the place is full it can and does generate a good atmosphere. There is nothing wrong with the Stadium in itself, its the sharing with the Latics that keeps this debate fueled.

At the end of the day we get a very good deal out of the arrangement. While it would be nice to have our own place, that is just wishful sentiment. From an objective business point of view it makes perfect sense to stay where we are.

( I would like a stadium with a standing terrace though...)

Hypothetically speaking, if Waitrose wanted to build a store in Wigan or Morrisons/Sainsburys wanted to re-locate to another area of the town the council would certainly expect something in return to be put back (or contributed) into the community.

And that's just focusing on the supermarket industry.

What are you not happy with particularly, the ground share? the location, the stadium itself?

Its a travesty that Central park was never developed, but the reality of the situation is that we were shafted big time and now rent a stadium. I still think we are far better off buying some of the stadium we currently rent, therefore at least we get an extra income stream from corporate and wont get turfed out everytime Latics feel like it.

I like the DW.
Not too difficult to get to from the M58.
Designated parking.
Good access.
Fantastic view from my season ticket seat.
Fans have made it home with all the flags and have done a fantastic job with that. It looks like Wigan's home ground to me.
OK that's thanks to the fans but they make or break a ground which ever club it is.
IL says it is simply not viable to build a stand alone stadium. Also if the two were competting for the small corporate market in Wigan they'd both probably go broke.
We have a very long lease on favourable terms.
Not seen the pics of Saints ground but I'm sure it looks good.
They will be paying it off for years and in the end will probably have to ground share with another sporting club.
Ground sharing doesn't bother me. HullFC do it as do Hudds and Leeds. It's a financial fact of life and it doesn't bother me one jot!

THIS.

Why dont we knock TESCO down and build it on Central Park?

No seriously I think our current stadium is now our home.

Anything else is just a pipedream.

a new stadium would be along the lines of a HJ, rather than a DW, so we could kiss goodbye to internationals and WCC in Wigan.

Im happy with the DW, good location, parking, top facilities, only downside is having to share it with a championship footy team

see nothing wrong with the DW in all honestly and i don't really support the tics, neither am i bothered that we share with them. i only caught the last couple of years at CP so there is no issue here if you may be thinking i;ve only ever supported wigan at the DW / JJB as it was back then.

a NEED for a stadium will come when we know we won't have one or the current one is no longer up to the standards set. at present we know we have a home for the future and it does meet the standards required so i see no issue.

just because saints get a new stadium - they HAD to move to a new stadium otherwsie they risked their SL licence i'd imagine? us wiganers are getting very jealous these days



wigan are in a superb position financially and structurally in my opinion with a great youth development programme along with coaching and back room staff etc, why deter from that by plowing a fortune into a new stadium and upsetting the rhythm when its not necessary?

In a perfect world it would be great but the pros out way the cons of (what I'm sure most of us want) having our own ground.

Saints already seem to be sinking finacially and yes their ground will be amazing but IMO they will struggle massaively, especially with the depleting crowds.

We are in profit for the first time in years why should we change that?

Who knows whats in store for latics finances 'should/if/WHEN' they go down and that along with us being profitable may well lead a very romantic road for us

It's Wigan Athletic's stadium designed for Football which we merely rent. It's not home, it's just a football stadium. It doesn't have character or any sort of identity that relates the the club and I think that's reflected on to match day atmosphere's other than big games. There's no matchday experience or freedom to walk along a terrace and interact with different people which is what Rugby League is about. As I walked around the new Saints stadium I already could sense their new identity and how proud they are of their own, modern home ground that people will see for miles and know that it belongs to St Helens RLFC.

That's my opinion anyway, each to their own. However, I think some of our supporters conentment of the DW will soon turn to jealousy in 10 years time.