You must be the most negative poster on here,if that's the quality of specci that £100 season tickets bring let's put 'em up to £200 a year!!!Glover out!!

Newmarket is slap bang in the middle of the two places, so purely on location its perfect. However Cas fans will see it as Wakefield, whereas a stadium in Normanton would perhaps be perceived as neutral.

I'm shocked nobody has mention Andrew Glover in all this. I can't see him wanting to merger his recently purchased business with another. Also, let's say both clubs average gates of 8,000, I can't see a new club attracting 16,000 each week so that would be more fans lost to the game.

There hasn't been a genuine merger, with both clubs as equal partners, in British rugby league yet, and if Wakefield and Castleford were to merge, there wouldn't be one either. One of the two clubs would end up swallowing the identity of the other. It's no coincidence that there are still independent clubs in Gateshead and Sheffield in the lower leagues, in spite of the "mergers" with Hull and Huddersfield.

The only thing that might work is a completely new club, with the existing clubs operating as feeder clubs in the lower leagues. That way, you might just convince enough people to follow a new club playing in the elite competition, made up of the best young players from both existing teams, but to expect fans from either club to abandon their history and create a brand new fan culture from the existing set ups is illusory, IMO. And whilst the small, rational part of my brain says that this would be a sensible step in many ways, every other part of my body says "sod that".

Having thought about the possibility of a ground share, I would be OK with going to watch CT at NM (if it gets built first) but only for a season. Similar to Saints at Widnes last year. It there were signs of the stadium at GH going up I think most CT fans would be OK with it - but only for that one season.
On a more realistic note - I can't help thinking about the possibility of Cas playing at our nearer neighbours Fev Rovers. They are putting in 2 more seating stands this year but will still only get 2,000 tops watching them. It would be nearer than NM and rent would be presumably cheaper.

On top of that I have a nagging feeling that Probiz recent "partnership" with Fev and our commercial manager joining them as CEO isn't merely a coincidence. Are the chess pieces been lined up for what we are all dreading the most?

The problem with that view is that the funding Cas need to build at GH isn't likely to be unlocked until FPP is granted for the complicated developments proposed for WR; that will take longer than a year in my view, so it could mean an extended stay at NM.

As for the Fev proposal - will their stadium be SL compliant, even after the works you've described? I can see the RFL refusing it either way, to force us together and increase the possibility of a merger; I'm certain that's what they want.

Looking at timescales for the above B2K. Newmarket (if passed) won't be ready until the start of the 2014 at the earliest. If rumours are correct about the new plans for Wheldon Road CT could be looking at 2 years later. 4 seasons from now - 2016 would be a realistic timescale IMO. That would mean 2 more full seasons at WR and 2 years "on the road" depending on (and this is the main problem) when the bulldozers come in to demolish WR.

Regarding Fev's stadium been SL compliant. That is the reason for the ground impovements. If Fev build what they say they are going to they will have more seating than Cas and Wakey put together for next year. They would tick all the boxes. The only thing that the RFL could do to stop their promotion to SL would be to change the rules again.

The thing with this argument is that AC and Inter are strong enough individual clubs for merger to not be a threat, sadly cas and ourselves are not in that situation.
A groundshare on a permanent basis would mean the loss of two historic clubs on the negative side, although there are some positives to be gained, though probably not enough for many.

Just my 2 p worth, If CT need to wait until fpp is granted to move then why would anyone bulldoze WR before fpp is granted ??

WR is not that bad that we need to go on the road until fpp and the cash is released ??

I may be wrong but can't see how, anyone wish to elaborate

An entirely reasonable expectation - the 'rules' are only there as a proxy to get the RFL what they want, which in this case, would be a strong RL side from the WMD taking up just one spot in SL. If they see a chance to make that happen, I think they'll take a punt.

The next few months are probably being viewed as the biggest opportunity ever to present itself to RL in this area for a number of years; the problems will come when trying to line up the expectations of all the stakeholders - I would imagine that WTW, CT & FR will want something very different to each other and the RFL, whilst the fans of all clubs will be completely divided - some will want to plough their own furrow, some will want to merge and others will want to oppose any change and potentially, be lost to the game forever.

Personally, I'm attracted to the idea of a WY super-club, with a fantastic youth and community set-up that could make proper links with all the schools and amateur clubs in the district and funnel all the young local talent into an enviable academy system; with a feeder club playing in the Championship and a slick and well-oiled PR machine in place, that organisation could become a dominant force in English RL within 10 years.

Emotionally however, I'd want it to be called Trinity; it would seem appropriate, given that three clubs would be coming together as one entity. I don't have any inside info by the way - just thinking aloud.

I think its due to the belief that the RFL want everyone in nice shiney stadiums, be them new or upgraded like hull kr, by the start of the next franchise period. Not including odsal obviously as the own that so it doesn't count. The latest rumour on your board hints that GH won't be ready til midway through that period so you would need to move somewhere for a year or two to keep your licence.

West Riding Trinity Tigers

As Bren2k said I think we owe it to our kids to build a super club, a club local youth can feel proud to represent and genuinely compete at the highest level.

Will there be a direct rail link between NM and Xscape if so I see no reason why the merged team should not play at NM


ps @ Theboyem I try not to read the other Cas-forum as its more tedious that trying to explain to a Wigan fan no one is remotely jealous of them

I don't see why Wakefield would want a m****r? In fact nobody wants one!

I want to see Wakefield averaging 10k plus crowds, being in the top 8 every season and challenging for trophies, the blueprint is there for all to see. Why would Wakefield want a merger?

I get the distinct impression, someone has reached into the back of the filing cabinet up at Red Hall, and pulled out a file marked "Calder"....

Why? Because Cas' stadium plans have gone down the swanny?

there won't be a merger. no punters want it.

as many people said in the run up to the announcement last year, if wakey got pushed out and newmarket didn't happen, we'd still rather support them than a merged entity. things are looking more positive now, the newmarket proposal looks good and likley to get built.

same applies with cas, they're on the rocks at the moment with funding, but i can't see any of their fans clammering for a merger, either now or in the future.

For me and this is only an opinion

Neither Cas nor Wakefield can become a Super club, at best we can become as good as Hull KR/ FC

I Want more than that I want to be better than Saints, Wigan, Leeds and to do this we have to be able to tap into the whole 300000 population of the district not just the bit we currently divide into 2

You are right neither club Has to do it we can both hope the other dies a long slow death and hope then to attract the fans of that club. That would take 30 - 50 years if ever

I would rather attack now rather than wait by for something to happen

"To make a cake is easy, to make a Super Cake many eggs will need to be broken" Not everyone will be happy but the end result could be better than our wildest dreams

Well your opinion is rubbish



Wakefield can become a big club once again. New Stadium + Good Coach + Better Youth Set Up + Good BOD + More Supporters + Better Players = Success. Fortunately our sport has a Salary Cap which enables clubs to be competitive.

Look at the NRL and then imagine Super League being the same

Kind of.

Wakefield Trinity do not need to merge we are a big enough
Club in a big enough City to support a SL club in our own right. Our club has not been run to its full potential for 40 yrs and still has been competing. We are now heading in the right direction and NM will enable us to reach our potential.

Not in the sightliest bit interested in a merge team, every year we seem to go over the same ground and it's surprising it's been brought up now especially when we could be a coupe of months from realizing our goals of a new stadium that would secure our future for years to come. What the other lot do I care not.

If by merger they mean they want to watch their rugby at NM in 2014, wear red, white & blue & support a team called Wakefield Trinity, then yes I'm all for it!

Calder would never hold any substance as it's not a geographical point of reference for anyone. If some southerner asks you on holiday where you're from you don't reply "I'm from Calder/the area around the River Calder"- it's a big place & I'd say Halifax have as much a right to use the name as the new entity.

The only logical solution is to go with the name of the metropolitan district. Wakefield.
And as it encompasses an area once supported three RL teams a Trinity sounds fitting.
There you go the perfect name for any merged team in our area "Wakefield Trinity".

Or we could just stick to our own plans & effectively ignore RW & co as they demise in whirl of lies, spin & skulduggery. There will never be any substance in CT playing at NM. RW has effectively backed himself into a corner & IMO would rather "take the ship down" with his own mismanagement rather than concede the fact that a true community stadium based at NM would have been the perfect solution for both clubs all along.

Congratulations, you're just as hilariously deluded on your 5th account as you were on the last 4 you abandoned due to being a joke

You have to admit that, ther would be a certain irony if Cas were to come and play in the stadium that Mr Wright objected to

He didn't reject, HTH.