MATT ELLIS wants this Saturday’s Grand Final to be just the start as he tries to turn Wakefield Trinity into a “powerhouse”.
Wakefield are in the decider for the very first time, with Warrington Wolves standing in their way of a first league title since 1968.
That was the last major silverware the club tasted, but under Ellis’ ownership the plan is for finals to become a regular occurrence.
“It’s the biggest thing that’s happened here for 60 years,” he said of going to Old Trafford.
“I want to build (the club) so it’s strong. By the time I leave here, I want it to be one of the powerhouses.
“You don’t just win one and that’s it. (Director of rugby) Ste Mills has a long-term plan to keep it going.
“We want to win the Challenge Cup. I’d like to do what they did in the 60s again, winning multiple titles.”
In that decade, Wakefield enjoyed their only two league championships as well as three of their five Challenge Cup wins.
Those sides, all coached by Ken Traill, had legendary captains in Derek Turner and Harold Poynton and one of the all-time British greats in Neil Fox.
And Ellis says those legendary figures – and the supporters who have followed them ever since those heady days – are at the forefront of his mind this week.
“When you come into the club, that’s what drives you on,” he said.
“I remember in my first year, Ken Rollin’s funeral with 500 people in the cathedral. He was one of the legends of the 60s here.
“The old guard have kept this alive. It’s great on both fronts, to give the older fans another taste of it, and (allow) the younger end to experience it for the first time.”
With progress on the field comes more ambition off the field to keep pace.
Ellis said: “We’ve done the obvious stuff like the club shop in the Ridings moving here so you get gameday revenue, redoing all the floors of hospitality, the players’ rehab room.
“Now it’s into stadium rebuilds and a training facility which we’ve still got to do. It’s a 4G (training pitch) we need for winter and we’re in talks for a facility (West Yorkshire Sports and Social Club in Sandal) a couple of miles from here with the council so hopefully early next year we can get a hold of that and start to do something.
“Stadium-wise it’s bad timing because the cost of revamping a stadium is the worst it’s ever been. This (Neil Fox) stand cost nearly as much as Warrington’s stadium.
“But if we can get this done (winning the Grand Final) we’ve got to do something, because next year we hopefully sell out every game. If we do that, I’ll be adding two or three thousand (to the capacity) on here definitely.
“The north (stand) is the obvious and easiest one, but then the west is the one we really want to develop. It will probably be the north we increase.”