Anyone else feel sick?

[Rickp]

Yet another conspiricy theory and yet another thread that that spouts plums

Yep!

[Glynn]

how come people keep going on about freebies? were does it say there was freebies?

[Wirralviking]

Whilst I agree that Gateshead are not the most attractive team to launch our new campaign, It is our new campaign and it dosent appear to be launched at all.  Look at the official website, here we are with 1 day to go and there is the standard 1"x 3.5" next match window announcing the game like any other and nothing else. Nothing in the news section which at least allows for photos and the opportunity to make clear the season starts here and we are joint 2nd favourites to win the trophy.

OK it can be argued that such publicity would be preaching to the converted, but I remember the printable posters that we could run off a few years ago that were great.  Going back 50 years every shop in the town (pretty well) had a flyer and teamsheet at a time when the Club probably could count on the full back page of the Weekly News and some inside coverage too.

As I have said before the Club do many great things but seem to have a couple of blind spots that tend to baffle us fans: 1. is the absence of any sort of programme, which seems driven by a view that the only programme they would want to produce is the equivalent of the Storm, which I think most of us accept is not viable with current crowds (on the basis that the Club want it to pay for itself), 2. is lower end marketing, posters, flyers etc. They may have taken advice to find that such things make little difference, in which case I apologise, as I dont claim to be a marketing expert.

If it is too pricey to pay for a page of advertising in the Weekly News/World, could we not have bombarded them with press releases about the coming season?

I am not raising these things to have a go at the Club, I raise them in response to the Club's own exhortations about getting bums on seats this season to boost our licence application.

[King Viking]

Tickets were sold for £8. All Wrexham season ticket holders were offered two tickets, but they had to pay £8 each for them.

At the end of the day, Widnes offered a game for free, and we only got 5k through the doors.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to realise Crusaders wont get 10k every week, but if they can get 5-6k, then it will be good progress for them.

As for the 3 Aussies argument, you would be hard pressed to find any SL side that only has 3 Aussies/Kiwis/etc. Leeds have Webb, Donald, Delaney, Eastwood, Leuluai and Lauitiiti who are all in their starting 17, and the Rhinos supposedly have the best academy in the country!

[King Viking]

I wonder if all these conspiracy theories would magically stop if Widnes get in to SL

Webb suffered a number of injury problems last season, and playing him in those conditions wouldnt have helped his fitness. Peacock's not getting any younger, and Leeds have a big game coming up in a few weeks. It's up to Leeds who they play.

I was at the game and so was fortunate enough not to hear the SKY commentary, but I didnt notice the referee being overly biased to either side. He missed a few forward passes of Leeds.

Leeds started last season very slowly, but to suggest that they "took it easy" on Crusaders is an insult to their professionalism. I seem to remember Widnes and a fair few other teams regularly fielding 6/7/8 overseas players during our days in SL, and we are supposedly a rugby league stranglehold. Maybe if people didnt have such a vendetta against Crusaders they'd be able to get on with it and make a success of it.

[RB]

Crusaders did very well to get 10,000 last night in Wrexham.
Well done to them.
It is sobering that after one match they now have a higher record crowd in SL than ourselves.

Cardiff in the 1980's got a crowd on their first night of 10,000 this dwindled to under 1000 by the end of the season when they moved to Bridgend and oblivion.
I still beliieve the same will happen to Crusaders but I'm a miserable old git. In a way I hope they prove me wrong.

[vikinggriff]

all credit to them but

there in the top division playing the best and biggest supported team
they had the full help and backing of the rfl to market the game

they also do not have the representatives of certain fans groups and the former people running the club constantly trying to stir up bad feeling about there club like soc and his team have to try and overcome with widnes

[John]

In the same way Webster, Koe Love and Gannon are G.B. Im sure there passports are the only things that say they are G.B. Hence them going home every close season

But the Wrexham Auusie are not in those categories and neither would ours be in SL presuming the current 3 would not be in our SL side - so we would be down to 3.

[John]

Tickets were sold for £8. All Wrexham season ticket holders were offered two tickets, but they had to pay £8 each for them.

At the end of the day, Widnes offered a game for free, and we only got 5k through the doors.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to realise Crusaders wont get 10k every week, but if they can get 5-6k, then it will be good progress for them.

As for the 3 Aussies argument, you would be hard pressed to find any SL side that only has 3 Aussies/Kiwis/etc. Leeds have Webb, Donald, Delaney, Eastwood, Leuluai and Lauitiiti who are all in their starting 17, and the Rhinos supposedly have the best academy in the country!

That's 6  not 11 plus 4 to come as for Wrexham. Teams that have been in SL from the beginning will get that because of the 3 year rule

[carlos]

Although the irony of a >10k crowd being achieved through relatively close proximity to the M62 corridor is not lost on mem, I am still baffled by the size of this crowd, cannot recall but did we (an acknowledged hotbed of RL) get this number for our first home gaime against Saints when in SL? As for the advertising/marketing, I know timing is key but three close neighbours have asked me today when out shopping in Widnes who we are playing next and when.

[local viking]

I don't hold any grudges against Celtic, mine are all with the underhanded way in which they reached their position.

I would love to see an expansion team of rl in the heart of Wales do really well, provided they play with the same number of overseas players as everyone else and have worked their way there in an open and honest manner. Which Celtic Crusaders did not do.

It would seem that decisions to ensure Crusaders promotion and licence were suspect, with the probable turning of blind eyes at rfl level, and that leaves an unpleasant taste which lingers long after the event.

Crusader fans are different from our lot, they get behind their club and I have yet to read negative rubbish written about their club by any Crusader fan, Widnes need to be more positive and pro-active in their support, by spreading discontent with who is running what coach on the official site, and other silly stuff, is sending out messages to potential supporters that it isnt worth the candle, we are cutting our own throats with the words we use.

Yes, we desperately need more promotion of games in the town, and I think its something the club will address this season, but we also need to get kids interested at school level and thats where the community work will pay off in the long term.

[cumbriachemic]

1O,334 FULL HOUSE AT THE RACECOURSE. How the hell can they do this when Widnes will struglle to get 3,000 this season?

I wondered about that. My thoughts is that Wrexam are in the conference, so any sport playing at the top fight is bound to draw attention from a sucess hungry public. Alsothey were chanting 'Wales' quite a lot and I dare say there will be a healthy rivalry (maybe not so healthy...come home to a real fire, buy a cottage in Wales ect). Also with now being in North Wales you are going to attract a lot healthier away support.

So what would your choice be as a father wanting to take his kids to a sporting event on a weekend? Wrexam V Dullard Utd  with a very small attendance or Crusaders V a top team with bags of atmosphere. The paying public want entertainment....app ::)arently

[Peter]

I wondered about that. My thoughts is that Wrexam are in the conference, so any sport playing at the top fight is bound to draw attention from a sucess hungry public. Alsothey were chanting 'Wales' quite a lot and I dare say there will be a healthy rivalry (maybe not so healthy...come home to a real fire, buy a cottage in Wales ect). Also with now being in North Wales you are going to attract a lot healthier away support.

So what would your choice be as a father wanting to take his kids to a sporting event on a weekend? Wrexam V Dullard Utd  with a very small attendance or Crusaders V a top team with bags of atmosphere. The paying public want entertainment....app ::)arently

There is a lack of good weekend sport in that area, although when I worked in that area many used to travel to watch Liverpool, Everton and Widnes [me and a few others]. They will always get a few of the locals looking for sporting events, but would they have got them through the gates without being in SL and without Australians?

[Sunny]

I wondered about that. My thoughts is that Wrexam are in the conference, so any sport playing at the top fight is bound to draw attention from a sucess hungry public. Alsothey were chanting 'Wales' quite a lot and I dare say there will be a healthy rivalry (maybe not so healthy...come home to a real fire, buy a cottage in Wales ect). Also with now being in North Wales you are going to attract a lot healthier away support.

So what would your choice be as a father wanting to take his kids to a sporting event on a weekend? Wrexam V Dullard Utd  with a very small attendance or Crusaders V a top team with bags of atmosphere. The paying public want entertainment....app ::)arently

It would have made more sense if they were chanting AUSTRALIA 

[reg warner]

I wonder how many they'll take to Wigan next week.