I was on site at the new Saints stadium site last Thursday.



It looks absolutely fantastic. I could barely concentrate speaking to some of the contractors for thinking how can't a club like Wigan Rugby League have something like this of our own. It just seems to me that Ian Lenegan doesn't even want to entertain the idea but it would be interesting to know what the possibilites are and what could be done hypothetically. The JJB/DW has never felt like home to me personally, in fact I hate it. It's simply a nice structure designed for Wigan Athletic that we can rent for nice facilities. However in my opinion we should have our own identity, our own facilites, our own taylor made Rugby stadium designed for Rugby League supporters that we can be proud of.



Another question would be to our supporters; Are you honestly happy with us playing at The DW?

not happy with us there. don't like the place...



but it appears we're there for the long run and so i'm getting used to it. sadly

The first thing that would have to be done is for the club to sell off Edge Hall Road in order to generate some funds, but I'm not sure where the rest of the money would come from.



Then you have to consider that the club will need a ground that is big enough. We've had about 24,000 against Saints and over 20,000 three times already this season, so it would need to be a ground roughly the size of the DW Stadium and that probably wouldn't make sense financially.

We are going to be here now for a long time to come, as buying our own stadium will not be worthwhile when we can just use this one.



Money/Location could well be sticky points aswel.



Furthermore, some people will never be happy if we stay at the DW or we have our own ground so IL cannot win either way.

I'd like to see the scenario what would happen when/if they go down this year. Like what'll happen when/if Whelan sells up?

I'm happy there. It is a superb facility that cost us relatively little.

Saints will be going onto that new stadium (and it does look nice) with a debt of somewhere between £2.5 and £5 million pounds. How long will it take them to recover that debt?



Where would the money come from to buy a new stadium?

Where could it be built?



The only other option would be is to buy the DW, but what would be the running costs?

Next time I see you I'll give you a bit of info, and you'll understand my reasoning.

It wouldn't need to be the size of the DW. Because it's a RL stadia it could have standing room at one end and down the side or maybe have seated areas behind standing areas like the dougie stand. 22,000 would be an ideal capacity in my opinion with perhaps an option to fill some corners in at some point in the future.



Oh, and Appley Bridge would be an ideal location.

In regards to money and location, don't be fobbed off in regards ''the council wouldn't approve it/we wouldn't get the funding''.



Large companies who want to operative in respective towns are more than often asked to ''give back'' and contribute towards to the community one way or another. This includes fire stations, schools, housing estates and in many circumstances, stadiums.

Ashton would be a superb location if we was to build our own ground





Home>Pub>Game>Pub>Home = Belting.

Personally I like the DW and have come to regard it as home, mainly because of the convenience of its location and its first class facilities.



For a long time it didn't feel like home, mainly because of the constant (though now, I realise, imaginary) threat that Latics were going to suddenly show us the door.



We have a long lease on the ground, and with Latics struggling to survive in the Premiership seemingly every season, it's become clear that DW Stadium could not sustain itself if only one club were using it. Moreover, if Latics do get relegated, I'd imagine the fixture clash issue - another sore point with many Wigan fans - will evaporate.



Also, as others have said, it's a pipe-dream that we could go off and build our own stadium. Even if we could afford it, why would Wigan Council allow it when we already have a perfectly good stadium in the heart of the borough?

For say a 22,000 stadium with 6,000 standing judging by the cost of a few new builds around the country that are ongoing you would be looking at £25-30m, where the hell are we going to get that from? The council certainly wouldnt entertain it either.



The best option is to buy a stake in the Stadium we have now, say £10m for 50% ownership, with all future corporate in RL games going to Wigan RL, as as far as i know all corporate currently goes to Welco. Olny if Latics go bust then we can look to buy the rest for cheap and turf them out when required.

You'd get a lot of people opposed to that idea, and I would be one of them! Having the ground so far out of town would also be quite unpopular, especially since Appley Bridge isn't in Wigan.

It would probably have to be on land around Poolstock, Ince or Standish Lower Ground if it was available.