Wigan JJB Ground Closure

[perseus]

Row over policing costs:

http://www.sportinglife.com/footbal...NAME=soccer/05/03/05/SOCCER_Wigan_Ground.html

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

Dave Whelan said: "What is this - a police state? I thought we were fighting a war in Iraq trying to establish democracy. Why is it those same principles do not apply to Wigan?"

 

[John Boy]

Doesn't load for me. Could someone please copy and paste?

 

[Starry]

This is from a different link but -

Wigan in fear of ground closure

Wigan's JJB Stadium has a 25,000 capacity

Greater Manchester Police is set to close Wigan's JJB Stadium on Monday over £300,000 in unpaid policing costs.

Latics owner Dave Whelan is in dispute over what he feels are unfair bills and revealed that the police plan to withdraw the club's safety certificate.

This would effectively prevent the promotion chasers hosting matches.

"Our policing bill for the recent home game against Leeds was £43,995. Preston's was £7,700. How can that be right?" said Whelan.


If next Saturday's game against Millwall is going to be the last at this stadium, it would be very sad
Latics owner Dave Whelan

Key to the problem is Wigan's belief they are being charged for policing outside the stadium, something Whelan does not think they should be responsible for.

"I would like to let the matter go to court," he said.

"If I am wrong, I will pay. If Chief Superintendent Peter Mason is wrong, he loses faith.

"I can't see what is wrong with that. Unfortunately, the offer has been rejected completely."

Whelan has contacted local Labour MPs, including party chairman Ian McCartney, in a bid to establish the reason behind GMP's policing arrangements but has so far received no response.

So now, 10 years after he took over and with his home-town club on the verge of achieving Premiership status for the first time in their history, Wigan are facing a logistical and administrative disaster.

Important home games against West Ham and Sunderland will either have to be called off or moved to other venues, raising the possibility of Wigan being fined by the Football League for failing to fulfil their fixtures.

"Everyone can see what is happening in this town," said Whelan.

"We are closer to the Premiership than we have ever been. Promotion would be absolutely fantastic and we certainly shouldn't have to be spending time worrying about issues like this.

"If next Saturday's game against Millwall is going to be the last at this stadium, it would be very sad and a damning indictment on the state of football in this country."

 

[John Boy]

Thanks Starry

 

[perseus]

This could be important regarding Falmer, being much cheaper and easier to Police than Toad's Hole and Sheepcote.

This is the same if the taxpayer or the club pays the bill for policing outside the ground.

This is a planning consideration as the Police are asked to comment on major planning applications.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

if they dont use i9t we can just get someone with a big crane to pick it up and plonk it on flamer over night. so we can then persuade everyone that this inquiry was all a dream and infact we have a stadium.....or we could just not

 

[Biscuit]

if they dont use i9t we can just get someone with a big crane to pick it up and plonk it on flamer over night. so we can then persuade everyone that this inquiry was all a dream and infact we have a stadium.....or we could just not

*swats with newspaper*

Matt, pure genious.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

i cant spell falmer

 

[Biscuit]

i cant spell falmer

the education system is failing.. but in your case you just need to show up..

 

[Jameson]

Excellent news. The police and stewards at the JJB are a bunch of c***s so I think they should sack the f***ing lot of them.

 

[BensGrandad]

I have extracted figures of home attendances for all clubs in The Championship. I have multiplied this by the AVERAGE ticket price, because the actual income is not yet available it shows quite interesting reading.

CLUB Total Home Ave Seat Cash Received
attendance Price

West Ham Utd 466668 £29.50 £13,766,706.00
Leicester City 384996 £32.00 £12,319,872.00
Sunderland 491790 £23.00 £11,311,170.00
Leeds Utd 524558 £20.50 £10,753,439.00
Ipswich 451929 £23.00 £10,394,367.00
Derby County 417505 £19.50 £8,141,347.50
Wolverhampton 481307 £16.00 £7,700,912.00
Nottm Forest 393133 £17.00 £6,683,261.00
QPR 265029 £24.50 £6,493,210.50
Sheff Utd 335552 £16.00 £5,368,832.00
Reading 300934 £17.50 £5,266,345.00
Stoke Cty 274926 £19.00 £5,223,594.00
Coventry 269069 £18.00 £4,843,242.00
Cardiff 206415 £22.00 £4,541,130.00
PNE 238491 £18.00 £4,292,838.00
Millwall 201922 £19.50 £3,937,479.00
Watford 218900 £14.50 £3,174,050.00
Gillingham 148493 £20.00 £2,969,860.00
Wigan Ath 174176 £17.00 £2,960,992.00
Plymouth 291026 £10.00 £2,910,260.00
Brighton and Hove 115090 £22.00 £2,531,980.00
Burnley 194522 £10.00 £1,945,220.00
Rotherham 112405 £16.00 £1,798,480.00
Crewe Alex 119193 £15.00 £1,787,895.00

As I have stated this is not 100% accurate in cash received as it is based on an average price of a home ticket as the actual break down of how many seats are available at each price is difficult to obtain plus a lot of the larger clubs i.e West Ham, Leicester, Wolves Coventry Sunderland etc operate a 3 tier pricing system depending on the opponents.

It is interesting to see how low Wigan are in the figures.


why does this change in appearance as to when I typed it it was then in straight columns

 

[Yorkie]

Before we get too pleased at reading this dilemma we still havent got permission to finish the season at Withdean yet so could be in the same boat as Wigan

 

[rool]

I've been following this today and think it's out of order. I hope Wigan win through with this one.

 

[BensGrandad]

It can be seen from my figures (although rather jumbled) that although Wigan are in a very good position for automatic promotion to the Premiership they have 6th smallest home gates in the division so far this season. That is with a succeful team and a new stadium granted they are in a football saturated area.

 

[On the Left Wing]

Wonder how many more they'll get in the Premiership?

They really lose out being so close to Manure, City, Everton and the Pool

 

[BensGrandad]

I may shoot myself in the foot here but they also have a Chairman with a lot of money who will obviously need to bankroll them if they reach the Premiership.

 

[clapham_gull]

I'm sure I heard on the radio that the police charge Wigan £45 an hour for each policeman on duty. I'm quite intrigued by the fact that football clubs have to pay so much towards policing in the country.

I was speaking once to a solicitor friend (who doesn't follow football) and couldn't believe that football clubs have to pay anything at all. She couldn't come up with another example. Do rugby clubs have to pay for policing ?

Does anybody know what the situation is in other European countries.

 

[Screaming J]

Whelan's real argument (and I don't have the figures to hand but they have been quoted locally) is that Wigan - in the Championship - are charged far more for policing than other clubs in G Manchester (who have to use GM Police) who are in the Premiership. Most notably Wigan's nearest neighbours, Bolton, who have a ground in a very similar setting.

Having said that he is a tight-arsed git. Wigan is full of stories about how he tries to get away with not paying for anything, including one I was told about some work done to his house. Allegedly the builders went back and dismantled it; because he hadn't brassed up.

The only slight mitigating factor in GM Police's defence I can think of is that it probably costs more to police visits from Leeds, Stoke, Millwall & Cardiff than quite a few premiership clubs.

 

[Hydro Driven]