Club statement

[pedro]

Why is everyone talking about “our salary advantage”

The key point wire can pay him £500,000 a year as marque, and he will have a cap value of £150,000 (top of my head figures)

We could pay him the same for a cap value of £75,000

But at the end of the day wire have beaten our bid, the only advantage we had was we could fit another £75k signing alongside

Wire have decided he’s worth more than we are prepared to pay, or Williams has looked at the packs he’ll be behind and decided wires pack looks better, and who can blame him

It's not the £75k, it is the fact that he will only cost £75k on our cap and hence we could sign him right away without having to ship out any players as we have the room. Wire will need to make room on their cap by releasing a player(s) to a value of £150k before he can sign for them (assuming that they are paying up to the cap level now).

Having cap space available is different to having funds.

We apparently have enough space at the DW to admit all season ticket holders so without knowing the exact previous figures (can't find them) and only judging off what the crowd is when the stadium is empty we are between 2000-4000 ticket holders Down?

That's alot of income loss.

but probably still more than Wire but they can afford it....

[southportcdm]

It does look like season ticket sales are well down as expected although don't forget some season ticket holders may not yet feel safe enough to apply for match tickets for the HKR game. With the crowd restrictions likely to be extended for at least another month we'll lose out on some of the bigger crowds that may have been tempted by games against wire and saints. I'd also suggest that if IL and the rest of the club's management looks at the general dismay displayed by fans on this message board over the past few days, they should be more worried about the numberof season ticket holders next season. Many fans have lost the habit of atteneding games regularly and I can guess that some will wait to see what kind of start we make to the season before buying tickets for selected games. What percentage of our season ticket holders are so 'dyed in the wool' that they'll buy when the squad is looking so flimsy? I am a pessimist by nature so I hope I'm wrong but it's all looking a bit depressing.

[josie andrews]

It does look like season ticket sales are well down as expected although don't forget some season ticket holders may not yet feel safe enough to apply for match tickets for the HKR game. With the crowd restrictions likely to be extended for at least another month we'll lose out on some of the bigger crowds that may have been tempted by games against wire and saints. I'd also suggest that if IL and the rest of the club's management looks at the general dismay displayed by fans on this message board over the past few days, they should be more worried about the numberof season ticket holders next season. Many fans have lost the habit of atteneding games regularly and I can guess that some will wait to see what kind of start we make to the season before buying tickets for selected games. What percentage of our season ticket holders are so 'dyed in the wool' that they'll buy when the squad is looking so flimsy? I am a pessimist by nature so I hope I'm wrong but it's all looking a bit depressing.

A lot of fans got out of the habit of going to games (without a pandemic) because we play 6 - 8 weeks normally every season for the pitch to be dug up & relaid every bloody year. I know loads who have stop buying season tickets because of this & pick & choose their games.

Then we have (in a normal season) the Thursday night games which aren’t any good for families with kids, school nights, especially when we have to travel to to the darkest parts of Yorkshire!

Also the RFL tinkering with the rules every season is another that’s put people off our once great game! We have a simple game ruined by the idiots that run the game & if the NRL say sh*t the people at RFL scramble to jump on the bloody shovel!

To think that for near enough 10 years I used to make the round trip from Aberdeen just to watch Wigan play Rugby League at Central Park, & that was when the motorway stopped at Carlisle & it was dual carriageway all the way! I’m losing interest after 60 years following this club.

I’ve even been watching the Euros & I’m not interested in soccer

[keptinthedarkfans]

Not that I'm disputing any information but has this been announced yet?

No not yet. Wire have to unload before he can put pen to paper says in next few days. Hope it's widdop as reported . In my mind that weakens wire for me not a good swap imo

you think Widdop is better than Williams?

Yes i think he is .

[Caboosegg]

It does look like season ticket sales are well down as expected although don't forget some season ticket holders may not yet feel safe enough to apply for match tickets for the HKR game. With the crowd restrictions likely to be extended for at least another month we'll lose out on some of the bigger crowds that may have been tempted by games against wire and saints. I'd also suggest that if IL and the rest of the club's management looks at the general dismay displayed by fans on this message board over the past few days, they should be more worried about the numberof season ticket holders next season. Many fans have lost the habit of atteneding games regularly and I can guess that some will wait to see what kind of start we make to the season before buying tickets for selected games. What percentage of our season ticket holders are so 'dyed in the wool' that they'll buy when the squad is looking so flimsy? I am a pessimist by nature so I hope I'm wrong but it's all looking a bit depressing.

That's a catch 22 though, the club has to spend accordingly so reduced numbers means a reduction in cost.

I don't blame people who don't want to attend for x y z, but at the same time I don't expect to see the same level of spending from the club if the income is reduced.

I suppose those that drop of due to lack of investment have to accept they are part of the reason though.

Someone will probably say we'll the owners need to spend to get people to come back but we know that isn't true, big names will only bring back people who are aware of who the big names are and I imagine those people already still turn up.

Did Burgess result in a ST increase? Did Sam Ts return?

Did Dr Ks spending bring any fans to Salford?

I'm still of the opinion the only way to get crowds to return is to make match days an family event day with hours of build up around the ground, sadly due to limited saturday and Sunday games it's not going to happen.

[Charriots Offiah]

Why is everyone talking about “our salary advantage”

The key point wire can pay him £500,000 a year as marque, and he will have a cap value of £150,000 (top of my head figures)

We could pay him the same for a cap value of £75,000

But at the end of the day wire have beaten our bid, the only advantage we had was we could fit another £75k signing alongside

Wire have decided he’s worth more than we are prepared to pay, or Williams has looked at the packs he’ll be behind and decided wires pack looks better, and who can blame him

It's not the £75k, it is the fact that he will only cost £75k on our cap and hence we could sign him right away without having to ship out any players as we have the room. Wire will need to make room on their cap by releasing a player(s) to a value of £150k before he can sign for them (assuming that they are paying up to the cap level now).

Having cap space available is different to having funds.

We apparently have enough space at the DW to admit all season ticket holders so without knowing the exact previous figures (can't find them) and only judging off what the crowd is when the stadium is empty we are between 2000-4000 ticket holders Down?

That's alot of income loss.

I know, it applies to all teams.

[DaveO]

The capacity for the DW which is allowing all season ticket holders in is I believe 6250. I don't know if we have sold that many season tickets but pre-covid it was around 9000 season ticket holders I think.

So while it's obviously disappointing to see a drop in season ticket sales this can't be used as an excuse to skimp on recruitment because while a 3K drop is an obvious hit even in a normal season the club's income comes mainly from TV money and sponsorship.

The TV money has gone down but so it has for all clubs so we judge Wigan's recruitment against that of our rivals and by that measure it's currently rank! For it not to be more than one top signing is required, simple as that. (I am not holding my breath but I would be pleased to be proved wrong).

I am also fed up of seeing excuses trotted out as to why we aren't looking competitive in the recruitment market.

[fozzieskem]

It does look like season ticket sales are well down as expected although don't forget some season ticket holders may not yet feel safe enough to apply for match tickets for the HKR game. With the crowd restrictions likely to be extended for at least another month we'll lose out on some of the bigger crowds that may have been tempted by games against wire and saints. I'd also suggest that if IL and the rest of the club's management looks at the general dismay displayed by fans on this message board over the past few days, they should be more worried about the numberof season ticket holders next season. Many fans have lost the habit of atteneding games regularly and I can guess that some will wait to see what kind of start we make to the season before buying tickets for selected games. What percentage of our season ticket holders are so 'dyed in the wool' that they'll buy when the squad is looking so flimsy? I am a pessimist by nature so I hope I'm wrong but it's all looking a bit depressing.

A lot of fans got out of the habit of going to games (without a pandemic) because we play 6 - 8 weeks normally every season for the pitch to be dug up & relaid every bloody year. I know loads who have stop buying season tickets because of this & pick & choose their games.

Then we have (in a normal season) the Thursday night games which aren’t any good for families with kids, school nights, especially when we have to travel to to the darkest parts of Yorkshire!

Also the RFL tinkering with the rules every season is another that’s put people off our once great game! We have a simple game ruined by the idiots that run the game & if the NRL say sh*t the people at RFL scramble to jump on the bloody shovel!

To think that for near enough 10 years I used to make the round trip from Aberdeen just to watch Wigan play Rugby League at Central Park, & that was when the motorway stopped at Carlisle & it was dual carriageway all the way! I’m losing interest after 60 years following this club.

I’ve even been watching the Euros & I’m not interested in soccer

Bang on about the ludicrous two month break when something is obvious to us fans then why the hell isn’t it obvious to the club?

I thought all along there wouldn’t be a mad dash back to games,even if it was allowed the sport needs to be careful here or else there won’t be a sport left,stop tampering with rules for starters and let’s see how we go from there

[pedro]

No not yet. Wire have to unload before he can put pen to paper says in next few days. Hope it's widdop as reported . In my mind that weakens wire for me not a good swap imo

you think Widdop is better than Williams?

Yes i think he is .

[Charriots Offiah]

The capacity for the DW which is allowing all season ticket holders in is I believe 6250. I don't know if we have sold that many season tickets but pre-covid it was around 9000 season ticket holders I think.

So while it's obviously disappointing to see a drop in season ticket sales this can't be used as an excuse to skimp on recruitment because while a 3K drop is an obvious hit even in a normal season the club's income comes mainly from TV money and sponsorship.

The TV money has gone down but so it has for all clubs so we judge Wigan's recruitment against that of our rivals and by that measure it's currently rank! For it not to be more than one top signing is required, simple as that. (I am not holding my breath but I would be pleased to be proved wrong).

I am also fed up of seeing excuses trotted out as to why we aren't looking competitive in the recruitment market.

Don't forget, the players took a wage cut as well.