Robert Elstone on the Anfield Magic Weekend

[Dave T]

7 hours ago, M j M said:

We need to be very clear - this is now an SL event, not an RFL one.

I don't often agree with Gledhill but Elstone was brought in on the basis of some high profile SL chairmen saying how badly the RFL was running things. Therefore there should be a bigger spotlight than normal when it turns out they make a mess of the first big event they get a chance to run which has been pretty popular and succesful in recent years.

Spot on. There have been excuses so far due to structural changes and sorting out resources etc. But I see nothing has changed on the day to day stuff. 

The website is worse, stats section worthless from  being great, Grand Final crowd at the low end of recent history, flacid season launch promo no different to previous years. Their Commercial guy is hoping we get 50k for Magic, down from 68k just a few years ago.

On the positive, the Man of Steel stuff is being done nicely, and the two recent sponsorship renewals are very welcome, although these are businesses brought onboard by the RFL team (but retention has been a problem). No new sponsors have been brought onboard by SLE yet but their focus may have been retain these major ones.

The jury is most definitely out, and you are right, they should be held to a much higher standard.

[themainbrace]

Apologies, I stand corrected.

[Northern Eel]

Mick Gledhill reporting 43,000 tickets sold. Just recalibrated my expectations to somewhere between 30k and 60k. 

[JonNgog]

Please. Can we stop reporting anything Mick Gledhill says.

[Cdd]

I’d expect 43k to be total number of tickets sold including weekend tickets....

So i reckon the weekend attendance will be around 50k

[bobbruce]

46 minutes ago, Cdd said:

I’d expect 43k to be total number of tickets sold including weekend tickets....

So i reckon the weekend attendance will be around 50k

So you’re taking Mick Gledhill seriously. 

[Nate90]

We don't half do some moaning in Rugby League. I'm in work all weekend and would love to go, Anfield is a fantastic stadium and has come along way in the last three years and Liverpool is such a vibrant city. Just enjoy the event for what it is.

[OriginalMrC]

1 hour ago, Nate90 said:

We don't half do some moaning in Rugby League. I'm in work all weekend and would love to go, Anfield is a fantastic stadium and has come along way in the last three years and Liverpool is such a vibrant city. Just enjoy the event for what it is.

Completely agree. There's been some amazing excuses from people about why they won't go. Small seats, nothing to do in Liverpool, Lack of accommodation, supposed difficulty of getting to Anfield, and supposedly a lack of pubs! The venue is not an issue here and lies in close proximity to many of the people who want to go. Newcastle was a great venue but so is Anfield. I will say however though that I don't think the promotion of the event has been good at all. Big failure from Elstone and Co. on that front 

[John Rhino]

On 23/05/2019 at 10:03, JohnM said:

Can you point us to where he said that, please?

I stated my source in the post. He was quoted in an interview in the i. The i is a newspaper (not my fault it has a silly name, sorry). 

I couldn't easily find it in the online version 

[Tommygilf]

Apparently one of the stands has ran out of Beer and cider amongst other things, sense that won't go down well! 

Not a major pop at Anfield (though it really shouldn't be happening), same happened at some bars in the etihad the first year they hosted.

[Rawschach]

It looks ok on TV 

Love Magic Weekend 

[Northern Eel]

44 minutes ago, Rawschach said:

It looks ok on TV 

Love Magic Weekend 

It’s even better there. Fabulous day. 

[philipw]

30,057 - not bad at all really, and certainly better than the pessimists were suggesting

[Dave T]

47 minutes ago, philipw said:

30,057 - not bad at all really, and certainly better than the pessimists were suggesting

Aye, those pessimists were really proved wrong with that 20%+ decline since Day One last year.

That showed them.

[Tommygilf]

20 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Aye, those pessimists were really proved wrong with that 20%+ decline since Day One last year.

That showed them.

Exactly, Saint's are probably going to have to brink close to 10k themselves if this is going to be a plus 60k weekend now. Salford won't bring too many, London won't, Hull KR and Leeds have both been in poor form but do generally travel well to these events. Cas also. I do hope between them there's a good showing. 

Depends a lot on how many have bought full weekend tickets too (something I doubt a lot of fans from Wigan or Warrington will have done, but many from Hull might have).