I'm saying it's a better crunchie hole than the rest doesn't mean it's a class venue it needs thousands spending on it.Fine, but you called the stadium out as being crap, but also agreed it was one of the best in the league?
what do you think of the old wids facilities ?
we may be there next season if you. Have your way x
errrr were in my response did I blame the club??I haven’t been to the London ground, but I don’t think any of the others are better grounds than ours, Salford is about as good.
The seats do need cleaning and some painting but that is down to the council, so I don’t know how you can blame the club for that.
Perhaps you could contact the council Johnny and ask them if they’re going to spend some of your council tax to do it up .
One thing I don't get about the stadium, is after the success of the Elton John and Bryan Adams concerts, why has nothing been done since?
Those events must have swelled the coffers big time.
I think, if in the right hands, that stadium could become a gold mine.
At the stadium tonight I took the opportunity to take some pics on my pone from the seating areas, outside the Executive Boxes. Considering we last played there 8 days ago, the amount of empty cups/plastics/cans that were still in the seated area was shocking. Inside the boxes was fine, but this is unacceptable from HBC Stadium Management. It's not WV responsibility.compared to other Championship grounds it stands up well doesn't mean it's not an absolute hole of a stadium 🤷@johnny65 How does it compare with other grounds in the Championship?
Paulie xx
@frankg Quite well. Although that is a low bar. It is a 30 year old stadium, The newest seating is 15 years old, it costs a fortune to maintain and is not really viable for WVRLFC to own, due to running costs.
One would think that the only way the council would sell it would be to developers. Who would then flatten it and put houses/apartments on the site.
What is the fortune it costs to maintain, genuine question?
Two stands are sat unused. Albeit they are doing steel treatment at one end now, which I guess all stadiums have to do over their lifespan.
There is next to no pitch maintenance, just someone going round every now and again brushing the 3G. Yes you have to pay to renew the pitch every 7-10 years, but that's more than covered by the community usage over time.
Nothing ever gets done in the concourses, they still look the same as they always have done. The seats likewise (barring when they were changed to black).
The south stand is in use by the council on a daily basis for office staff and other events - that they would otherwise have to pay rent for elsewhere.
It's operated in an over-zealous and over-complicated manner at times, more than evident at the Widnes FC game on Saturday.
@frankg Quite well. Although that is a low bar. It is a 30 year old stadium, The newest seating is 15 years old, it costs a fortune to maintain and is not really viable for WVRLFC to own, due to running costs.
One would think that the only way the council would sell it would be to developers. Who would then flatten it and put houses/apartments on the site.
What is the fortune it costs to maintain, genuine question?
Two stands are sat unused. Albeit they are doing steel treatment at one end now, which I guess all stadiums have to do over their lifespan.
There is next to no pitch maintenance, just someone going round every now and again brushing the 3G. Yes you have to pay to renew the pitch every 7-10 years, but that's more than covered by the community usage over time.
Nothing ever gets done in the concourses, they still look the same as they always have done. The seats likewise (barring when they were changed to black).
The south stand is in use by the council on a daily basis for office staff and other events - that they would otherwise have to pay rent for elsewhere.
It's operated in an over-zealous and over-complicated manner at times, more than evident at the Widnes FC game on Saturday.
If you look closely towards the North Stand, you can see individual seats 'barrier taped' off. These will grow in numbers, and won't fix themselves. Your Media Section has a massive slab of concrete as a step down, in the centre. It looks dodgy to me. Lest we forget, it's nearly 30 years old, and it just needs 'tarting up' and jet washing. The seats are filthy, the closer you get to the West end of the South Stand. That is not down to WVRLFC.
I think the Council and club should utilise the stadium for Music concerts and what about a UFC fight for the local lad Luke Riley. This may attract new sponsors and improve finances and help to ignite our club and Town.
There is a family of 3 who sit near me each week in the north stand. Long term supporters who travel from Wales to watch using their season tickets. They now bring wet wipes with them to clean their seats at a home game.
@hans-moleman I did the row I sit on before the first game, they were a disgrace for a seat the Club are suppose to monetise for £35 a pop. I won't be doing it again. The stadium management is rank rotten.
Paulie xx
In my opinion the people running the stadium have not come from a commercial environment and are not savvy in that regard. Running out of hot food before half time has even started is one thing but is just the tip of the ice-berg in terms of maximising commercial revenue through events as well as use as a community hub.
The area im not familiar with and maybe someone could explain is if you have a team of maintenance and cleaners within council departments, why cant they give the shutters a lick of paint, pull the weeds up and jet wash the seats a couple of times per season. Not keeping on top of routine maintenance in my experience makes for a bigger more expensive job to put right eventually in the long run.
Also for me the club needs to be firm on this. We pay rent and try to sell tickets and boxes. As part of that agreement we should expect a bare minimum of clean seats for customers paying £24 - £35 to sit on. I dont think the club would be wrong to insist on this as part of the package. From the outside looking in correct me if im wrong but it never gets sorted. Awful Coors straight from the can, no pies and minging seats! Again it is a moan (not aimed at the club) but please correct me if im wrong.
Local Government is in decline, and not best placed to look after a successful Sports Stadium.
Currently, it doesn't have a pot to **** in!
Maybe selling it to a commercial organisation who could do things better is the answer?
It may not have been so when the stadium was re-developed in the 90's, but the landscape is a whole lot different these days so perhaps a radical re-think is required.
If the council wasn't using the stadium for office space, I think they would have offloaded it by now, it's probably a bit of a millstone.
Selling the ground to a commercial enterprise to maximise its revenue sounds good. But obvs as soon as someone tidies the place, improves the facilities/food and drink options, adds more entertainment etc. then the clubs rent will go up and tickets won't cost £24 anymore will they?
They're not going to do it for nothing.
I've been saying it for years. The stadium will be the death of WVRLFC. We can't make money from it, other than ticket sales. We probably can't reduce prices due to the cost of matchday rental. It costs us for the Club offices and shop, then there is the North Stand gym and analysis area that isn't free. The Club are hamstrung, but what is the alternative?
Paulie xx
If the council wasn't using the stadium for office space, I think they would have offloaded it by now, it's probably a bit of a millstone.
Selling the ground to a commercial enterprise to maximise its revenue sounds good. But obvs as soon as someone tidies the place, improves the facilities/food and drink options, adds more entertainment etc. then the clubs rent will go up and tickets won't cost £24 anymore will they?
They're not going to do it for nothing.
The problem is now, no sane commercial enterprise is going to pay to buy the stadium to take on a loss leader. You'd probably struggle to get people to take it off their hands for free to keep it in its current guise. Whether the Council could lease it someone else, but retain ownership (and protect it from being sold) to run it is maybe another avenue, though as you say that impacts their existing usage.
Realistically, the only chance is if someone wanting to lose a load of money wants to buy the club and the stadium, but the chances of that now are extremely slim to none. Perhaps in hindsight, the council should have sold to SOC back in the day.
There have been many comments on here bemoaning the fact that we do not own the ground and thereby have the financial benefits apparently arising from that.
I have often thought that selling a few pints and pies before a game adds little in commercial value. Maybe letting the facilities out for community use or concerts could generate some income. Probably, the greatest commercial value is ability to raise funds using the ground as collateral, but that in itself can lead to financial problems.
If the ground is a loss-maker for the Council, maybe they are looking to sell; and maybe there is a rich Widnes supporting benefactor out there willing to buy the ground and facilities to retain its use for rugby league (and that other game super league) for another 150 years.