Stadium is looking shabby | Page 7 | Vital Football

Stadium is looking shabby

Reckon they could have done 15000 at springy enough room at both ends and the main stand to think the popular side was the problem with it backing on to St Andrews drive would have loved to see what they could have done with it plus we wouldn't have to share with the joeys
 
Jonnysking said:
Springfield Park will always be home for us oldies, but I wonder what percentage of our fanbase never went to Springfield Park and class The DW as our home as it is all they have known.
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Sadly I can't class SP as home as I only went to 3 poss 4 games there as I was new to the area in 87 & wanted to watch a local football game.....didn't go regularly as I could still get a lift up to Ibrox to watch Rangers but once my son was born n he got into football we've never looked back. So yes JS your right a fair few of us have only really known DW as home....
 
They would never have been allowed to fully develop Springfield into a stadium fit for Ch and PL football.
Too many people would have objected about the impact on residential properties nearby. And really who could blame them, I love Latics but don't think i would like a massive stand directly across the road from my house on St Andrews Drive.
There are also access issues and lack of car parking
Had some great times there but we needed to move on to progress.
 
The DW will never look and feel like home until we’re allowed to make it look and feel like home. That will never be allowed to happen until Wigan Warriors move out. It really is as simple as that.

Money can’t buy you pride in what you own. The money we get from Wigan Warriors IMO is no compensation for the DW looking like a soulless shell of an arena.
 
Kenny Morris said:
They would never have been allowed to fully develop Springfield into a stadium fit for Ch and PL football.
Too many people would have objected about the impact on residential properties nearby. And really who could blame them, I love Latics but don't think i would like a massive stand directly across the road from my house on St Andrews Drive.
There are also access issues and lack of car parking
Had some great times there but we needed to move on to progress.
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Plenty PL and Championship football has been played here, and there isn't a car park in sight.
I know permission would have been difficult to obtain, but there was plenty room to have developed Spingfield Park if the will had been there.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a...rk-rangers-f-c-football-stadium-14683310.html
 
The younger generation of Latics fans, have known the DW Stadium as 'Home'.

As an 'oldie', going to Springfield Park for a Night Match was great,
you could see the Four Floodlight Pylons for miles, they were like giant
Lighthouses drawing you to them.

Walking down the 'Sewage Pad and over the Canal Bridge' in all weathers
never put us off, even if you was ankle deep in 'slutch' and frozen,
we resembled the Soldiers on the retreat from Russia.

Walking round the Ground talking to friends and familiar faces,
getting a hot drink and a pie, to be beat off the 'Siberian' winds from the
'Shevvy End', and when the players came down the tunnel onto the pitch
the hair on the back of my neck always stood on end at Night Matches,
it was a 'unique' experience for me and i have never forgotten that.

It may seem like sentimental 'claptrap' to some,
but it's Golden Memories for me!
 
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Don't forget the smell as well...nice smells. Things smelled like they should back then not this sanitised bollocks of today. You walked past a pub and it smelled like beer...Springy smelled of hot dogs and bovril and pipe tobacco and I miss it all. Progress eh.
 
walgarthjohn said:
Let’s see our crowds first. Before we start calling
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I would confidently predict it will be in excess of 5500 - they could fit all them into Robin Park - let them hire the DW at market rates as one offs when they play Saints and the rest at Robin Park.
Anyway sure they will get huge crowds for the RL World Cup - oh wait on.....😂
 
Hampton said:
I'm sure it does and what a surprise that would be.
They have no right however to pay jack all to use it as the have since they cuckoo'd in.
If anyone had a spare 200k they could offset the rugby income for 2 years with it and let em play at Robin Park......
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I have no issue with them having to pay "the going rate" to use the stadium, however the terms of the lease granted for the building of the stadium and the agreement made by DW grant them the right to use the stadium for many years to come and their is nowt we can do about it.
 
hindleymonwafc said:
Don't forget the smell as well...nice smells. Things smelled like they should back then not this sanitised bollocks of today. You walked past a pub and it smelled like beer...Springy smelled of hot dogs and bovril and pipe tobacco and I miss it all. Progress eh.
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Don’t forget the smell of piss from the metal troughs in those bogs.
 
Some great memories of Springfield but that's all they are memories and nostalgia.
Even if we had stayed there and developed the ground, it would still have been similar to the DW and very likely as not still had RL played there.
Leaving it as it was and/or making minor improvements was not an option as in reality it was not fit for purpose as a stadium in Ch and PL or even L1 & L2
 
TRUE BELIEVER said:
I have no issue with them having to pay "the going rate" to use the stadium, however the terms of the lease granted for the building of the stadium and the agreement made by DW grant them the right to use the stadium for many years to come and their is nowt we can do about it.
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Yep both clubs are locked in and taking emotion out of it a town of Wigan’s size realistically only needs one stadium for shared use.

What annoys me is how Pollard tried to take our ground when we were at our lowest ebb. It would massively have affected the value, saleability and future prospects of the club. Not only that you can guarantee they would have made it more of a rugby shrine than we have ever done to our home. They pay extremely generous rent levels yet encouraged supporters to effectively boycott buying refreshments in the ground as they never got a cut. They don’t spend a penny on up keep either to my knowledge. In terms of a business deal it’s as good as you can get yet it didn’t stop him trying to shaft our club and threaten its existence. I think we need to be thankful to that whistleblower.

Yes there are are separate businesses owning the ground and Latics but they fall under the same ownership umbrella. Thankfully we now appear to have more interested and commercially savvy owners and I suspect that generous deal the egg chasers currently enjoy will be renegotiated when the terms allow for it. I understand why the clubs share the ground and don’t object to that, but I also think we should make our ground more personalised. We nearly lost it and the club and it’s time we started to appreciate what we have and to show it some love and affection.
 
springy-park said:
The younger generation of Latics fans, have known the DW Stadium as 'Home'.

As an 'oldie', going to Springfield Park for a Night Match was great,
you could see the Four Floodlight Pylons for miles, they were like giant
Lighthouses drawing you to them.

Walking down the 'Sewage Pad and over the Canal Bridge' in all weathers
never put us off, even if you was ankle deep in 'slutch' and frozen,
we resembled the Soldiers on the retreat from Russia.

Walking round the Ground talking to friends and familiar faces,
getting a hot drink and a pie, to be beat off the 'Siberian' winds from the
'Shevvy End', and when the players came down the tunnel onto the pitch
the hair on the back of my neck always stood on end at Night Matches,
it was a 'unique' experience for me and i have never forgotten that.

It may seem like sentimental 'claptrap' to some,
but it's Golden Memories for me!
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Pack it in …me bottom lips going here !

Walking from Newtown, through Worsley Hall, Laithwaite Park …past St Eddie’s and on to the sewage pad or Gant Pad ….alongside the Robin Park playing fields where I played all my school sport for 7 years …..
Blood and sand !, I’m about to turn out on a day sesh with mi lovely wife and I’ll be teary eyed in a minute
 
It's been a shame we have not been able to establish the DW Stadium
as our 'Home' ground, due 'ground-sharing'.

We need to outwardly show that Wigan Athletic play at the DW Stadium,
and create that 'homely' atmosphere for the Latics fans,
so, we can really bond with the Stadium.
 
Loved Springfield for many years but we had unfortunately to move on and I am proud we have a modern big ground for if we can get back to the Prem. it certainly needs more Latics colours badges photos etc Hope our new owners realise this. They are cleaning it up but need to take that next step. If our owner is making an appearance at next week’s friendly perhaps he will realise this and act accordingly 🙏👍
 
Mighty Bongsmon said:
I'm not sure how it works with Phoenix 2021 but Latics have never previously owned the stadium - a stadium company does & (as far as I'm aware) Wigan RL pay the same % of their gate receipts in rent as Latics do
Whilst the stadium company has always previously been 85% owned by the same company that owns 100% of Latics, It's therefore in the stadium company's interest to get as many Wigan RL fans through the turnstiles as possible - one way of doing that is to make it feel as much like their home to them as it does to Latics fans (which it is at the end of the day).
You make them feel unwanted & unwelcome & less of them will turn up which means that the stadium company (owned by the same people that own Latics) makes less money which means less can be invested in to Latics by the owners of that holding company

Other than that, it's not a bad idea ;)
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Funny that because every single job that has been advertised for employment at the stadium has been Wigan Athletic recruiting. Not Phoenix, Wigan Athletic. Even ticket sellers working on Cuckoo match days are employed by Wigan Athletic.
 
hindleymonwafc said:
Don't forget the smell as well...nice smells. Things smelled like they should back then not this sanitised bollocks of today. You walked past a pub and it smelled like beer...Springy smelled of hot dogs and bovril and pipe tobacco and I miss it all. Progress eh.
Click to expand...
You deffo don't get an ale smell when walking past today's pubs, not surprising when a lot of them survive by selling stuff like Fosters and John Smiths smooth as sh-t, not a patch on the Walkers, Tetleys even Greenalls that I grew up with.
One of the things that I liked about going to away matches was the different ales on offer as soon as you got a few miles away from Wigan, now unless you'r lucky enough to find a real ale pub it's all phoney continental lager at inflated prices and John Smiths which has spread like a rash.
Sorry to go off thread.
 
LaticssinceCL said:
You deffo don't get an ale smell when walking past today's pubs, not surprising when a lot of them survive by selling stuff like Fosters and John Smiths smooth as sh-t, not a patch on the Walkers, Tetleys even Greenalls that I grew up with.
One of the things that I liked about going to away matches was the different ales on offer as soon as you got a few miles away from Wigan, now unless you'r lucky enough to find a real ale pub it's all phoney continental lager at inflated prices and John Smiths which has spread like a rash.
Sorry to go off thread.
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any mon who could sup greenhalls as my respect
 
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