The General 'Toronto Wolfpack' Discussion Thread

[Dave T]

12 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

That is simple buisness sense on behalf of the Airport, even if it is just the the teams alone excluding the fans and the clubs each take say 30 player's and staff for the scheduled 11 games that is 330 guests they are wanting/hoping to entice which they may not have done.

FWIW as a traveller, my experience of Airport Hotels is they are miles away from the 'Downtown City' therefore away from the attractions on offer, as a visiting fan I would never consider using a airport hotel, how far is the airport from the city, is it as I describe?

PS got further down the thread and saw K'man's input, guess my question has been answered, at last K'man we agree on something

According to Google its 15 to 20 minutes drive from the hotel to the stadium. Seems like a reasonable location for the players who will have access to transport. 

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, TIWIT said:

Just as I suspected. All the usuals are coming out to have another go at TWP for being 'cheap'.

None of this would be an issue at all if the other teams in SL weren't so damn cheap and paid their own way like is done in proper professional sports.

Have you got a complex, why are the usuals having a go, if I am spending a lot of money to visit somewhere, I want to be in the middle of it, not alienated an expensive cab ride away.

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

Have you got a complex, why are the usuals having a go, if I am spending a lot of money to visit somewhere, I want to be in the middle of it, not alienated an expensive cab ride away.

I normally enjoy TIWIT's posts but it is becoming tiresome. Only one person here mentioned cheap, but this is branded as 'the usual suspects', so this fake news then gets thrown up as another example of people hating TWP. 

If you in fact read their first post about the hotel deal it came with a portion of chips on their shoulder. 

This fake narrative is becoming really annoying. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Through my years of travelling i have come to realise that the biggest tip I can give someone is this: location of hotel is much more important than price of hotel. 

What I mean by that is, let's say the hotel at the airport is cheaper than the one in the city centre. Fair enough, so you're saving money right? Wrong. Two reasons the city centre Hotel is better. 1: the more expensive hotel will tend to be a better quality hotel. 2: if you're out by the airport you have to spend a fortune on public transport every time you want to go into the city centre where all the amenities are so the cost of transport over the week you're in a place cancels out the cheapness of the hotel. 

It clearly makes more sense to stay in the more expensive, more comfortable hotel and not have the hassle of travelling for half hour, and spending a fortune, every time you want to go into the city, which on a week long holiday will be quite a few times. 

I was really stung by this a few times when I first started travelling. I will always remember the slum I stayed in in Cologne. I was interrailing and trying to save every penny. I booked a hotel about 3-4 miles from the train station and decided I would walk to it the day I arrived, ditch my bags and go back into the city. This was after a number of weeks of travelling so I was dead on my feet. When I got to it I realised it was not the hotel that had been advertised. It was basically just a lean to attached to the side of someone's rundown semi. The place was truly putrid. I ended up laying my already worn, filthy clothes on the bed to sleep on and using my bag as a pillow cos I didn't want to touch anything. The shower had one setting, burning hot and the carpet was made of dust. Anyway, by the time I'd walked there I was so knackered and demoralised that I didn't bother going back into the city so despite being in cologne I never got to see it (thankfully I've been back since, gorgeous city). In the morning, I had planned on walking back for the train at 7am but couldn't be bothered so called for a taxi. The taxi ride to the station was £40. So while I got a hotel for £25 I ended up effectively spending £65 for an absolute hole. When I went back I got a 4* hotel right next to the train station for £50 a night. Lesson learnt.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

33 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I normally enjoy TIWIT's posts but it is becoming tiresome. Only one person here mentioned cheap, but this is branded as 'the usual suspects', so this fake news then gets thrown up as another example of people hating TWP. 

If you in fact read their first post about the hotel deal it came with a portion of chips on their shoulder. 

This fake narrative is becoming really annoying. 

I completely agree. I don't normally wade into these things cos I know I'll get attacked but I am getting truly fed up with it. 

When Toronto first came about I was so excited, I was watching all the videos on the website, listening to podcasts, essentially following everything to do with the team but I just couldn't care less anymore and it's to do with the attitude of people around the club, constantly playing the victims, acting like they are the second coming of christ, putting down other clubs at every opportunity. The arrogance and cockiness of some people around that club is really starting the grate on me. 

[fairfolly]

Goose,

              You really should just ignore them. They have probably never seen a game of Rugby League. Wherever Toronto finish up is entirely down to the club.Rank bad management yet everybody else is to blame. Ignore them.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

According to Google its 15 to 20 minutes drive from the hotel to the stadium. Seems like a reasonable location for the players who will have access to transport. 

How fast do you drive Dave ? Think you might have picked the wrong Holiday Inn (airport - want Pearson not the city). 

[Kayakman]

Now, now everyone calm down and cut Tiwit some slack.   Everyone knows a number of things have been done against Toronto but thist is RL and that is the way it is...soldier on I say.  That being said there is nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.  Toronto fans don't complain near as much as others clubs about the reffing and many other issues.  I was raised in farming and many of the Clubs/their fans remind me of the numerous old stubborn farmers I encountered as a kid...all good folks indeed but STUBBORN and SET IN THEIR WAYS...RL is like that.

As far as the hotel goes I think its a great idea for the team to stay there since it is a nice newly renovated hotel (very nice indeed) and keeps the lads together and focused.   Some fans will want to stay with the team and thats good too....for myself I would rather stay downtown near the stadium and other amenities.  The place they were staying at before (built for Pan Am Games) is also a nice spot (good enough for Olympic Gold Medalists) and was not 'slumming it' in the least as some have said, that is simply incorrect.   I'm sure the Wolfpack and their families will be staying there again (by choice)....good place that.

Generally speaking I think the new arrangements with the Airport hotel for the team etc. is actually a pretty good plan since it is a short turnaround for the teams.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Through my years of travelling i have come to realise that the biggest tip I can give someone is this: location of hotel is much more important than price of hotel. 

What I mean by that is, let's say the hotel at the airport is cheaper than the one in the city centre. Fair enough, so you're saving money right? Wrong. Two reasons the city centre Hotel is better. 1: the more expensive hotel will tend to be a better quality hotel. 2: if you're out by the airport you have to spend a fortune on public transport every time you want to go into the city centre where all the amenities are so the cost of transport over the week you're in a place cancels out the cheapness of the hotel. 

It clearly makes more sense to stay in the more expensive, more comfortable hotel and not have the hassle of travelling for half hour, and spending a fortune, every time you want to go into the city, which on a week long holiday will be quite a few times. 

I was really stung by this a few times when I first started travelling. I will always remember the slum I stayed in in Cologne. I was interrailing and trying to save every penny. I booked a hotel about 3-4 miles from the train station and decided I would walk to it the day I arrived, ditch my bags and go back into the city. This was after a number of weeks of travelling so I was dead on my feet. When I got to it I realised it was not the hotel that had been advertised. It was basically just a lean to attached to the side of someone's rundown semi. The place was truly putrid. I ended up laying my already worn, filthy clothes on the bed to sleep on and using my bag as a pillow cos I didn't want to touch anything. The shower had one setting, burning hot and the carpet was made of dust. Anyway, by the time I'd walked there I was so knackered and demoralised that I didn't bother going back into the city so despite being in cologne I never got to see it (thankfully I've been back since, gorgeous city). In the morning, I had planned on walking back for the train at 7am but couldn't be bothered so called for a taxi. The taxi ride to the station was £40. So while I got a hotel for £25 I ended up effectively spending £65 for an absolute hole. When I went back I got a 4* hotel right next to the train station for £50 a night. Lesson learnt.

Pearson to downtown Toronto is approx CAD9 by express train or CAD3.75 by bus and subway each way. Airport Holiday Inn is 20min walk or 15mins shuttle bus to airport

[Michael1812]

32 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

How fast do you drive Dave ? Think you might have picked the wrong Holiday Inn (airport - want Pearson not the city). 

More like 20-25 mins drive. Basically two motorways for the whole journey. Nice drive, I do miss that route. It was pretty much the same route from my old house to my wafe’s patent’s housr. 

[Harry Stottle]

7 minutes ago, Michael1812 said:

More like 20-25 mins drive. Basically two motorways for the whole journey. Nice drive, I do miss that route. It was pretty much the same route from my old house to my wafe’s patent’s housr. 

Thats easy for you to say

[fairfolly]

Kayakman, not including you in my post. actually I quite enjoy reading your posts. You do not seem to take the game to seriously. That is what it is "just a game", but I do think Toronto have brought a lot of the problems on themselves. I assume they knew what the situation would be when they agreed to join S.L. I agree they should have received their share of the Sky Monies, but the rest, salary cap,dispensation etc. they knew about but ,to me, just turned a blind eye to the rules hoping nobody would bother. I do not know the ins and outs of why they have reached the salary cap with such a small squad,at least 16 of them are Championship level and no more. I would hazard a guess that the SBW signing was not the correct signing for the club. Yes, it brought them a lot of publicity,but publicity will not win them games.Hopefully they will find a way to strengthen the squad legally and manage to stay in S.L.

[Loup]

Heavens to Betsy.

Any visiting teams will be provided coaches or whatever to get to Lamport stadium. Whether they stay at an airport hotel or a downtown hotel, they will cover the same distance of airport to hotel to  Lamport to hotel to airport. Holiday Inn is a known brand so it should reduce the moaning from the "we didn't like the sausages at breakfast" brigade. Holiday Inn is a good global brand for Wolfpack to associate with.

If I were a visiting fan, I would head straight for downtown Toronto. Pay a bit more if needed, plenty of choice of cost v quality, and be in the middle of the city. It's walkable, there's public transit, there's loads to see and do. Lamport is 15 minutes by tram from the middle of the city and the service is every few minutes. This isn't Mars.

UP Express train from Pearson terminal 1 to union station, right downtown, takes 25 minutes and costs about 6 quid. Clean, fast, regular service.

Before we go too far down the pro-Wolfpack, anti-Wolfpack loop of doom, I'd add this: every single thing the Wolfpack do gets picked apart by anyone who can come up with an imaginary niggle, what-if, yes-but, second-guess, armchair-quarterback comment and (frequently ill-informed) suggestion. Wolfpack fans in general didn't start out being confrontational, but the pushback from some has been three years of unrelenting negativity.

I am on tenterhooks waiting for someone to complain that they don't like the colour of the curtains at the Holiday Inn.

[Loup]

2 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I completely agree. I don't normally wade into these things cos I know I'll get attacked but I am getting truly fed up with it. 

When Toronto first came about I was so excited, I was watching all the videos on the website, listening to podcasts, essentially following everything to do with the team but I just couldn't care less anymore and it's to do with the attitude of people around the club, constantly playing the victims, acting like they are the second coming of christ, putting down other clubs at every opportunity. The arrogance and cockiness of some people around that club is really starting the grate on me. 

Please enlighten us with specific examples.

[Loup]

6 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Not sure it’s for fans, it’s a (cheap) replacement for the student halls of residence used by Championship/L1 clubs, non?

Keeps players away from temptation, I suppose.

a) Why do you say the Holiday Inn is "cheap"?

b) SL clubs are free to put themselves up at the "expensive" Four Seasons if they want to pay for it themselves.

 

[Man of Kent]

1 minute ago, Loup said:

a) Why do you say the Holiday Inn is "cheap"?

b) SL clubs are free to put themselves up at the "expensive" Four Seasons if they want to pay for it themselves.

 

An airport Holiday Inn is a cheap option for accommodation. Probably the cheapest Toronto could get away with. 

[LR23]

2 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

An airport Holiday Inn is a cheap option for accommodation. Probably the cheapest Toronto could get away with. 

I've no issue with that myself - with Toronto being stiffed out of funding they can count themselves lucky they are not being put up in tents.

[Loup]

Just now, Man of Kent said:

An airport Holiday Inn is a cheap option for accommodation. Probably the cheapest Toronto could get away with. 

With all due respect, this reply shows a complete lack of knowledge about Toronto and its range of visitor accommodation. Please don't try to tell those of us who live here about our hotels, airports, airport transit, travel times, or local transit. You won't win.

[Man of Kent]

1 minute ago, Loup said:

With all due respect, this reply shows a complete lack of knowledge about Toronto and its range of visitor accommodation. Please don't try to tell those of us who live here about our hotels, airports, airport transit, travel times, or local transit. You won't win.

Is this a luxury Holiday Inn, then? 

[Man of Kent]

2 minutes ago, LR23 said:

I've no issue with that myself - with Toronto being stiffed out of funding they can count themselves lucky they are not being put up in tents.

Stiffed or what they signed up to?

[Loup]

Just now, Man of Kent said:

Stiffed or what they signed up to?

Wolfpack didn't "sign up to" being stiffed out of central funding. They didn't even know until three days before the MPG that they'd be admitted to SL if they won.

Wolfpack "signed up to" paying travel and accommodation for away teams as long as they were in League 1 and Championship. The original understanding was that arrangement would end if they achieved SL - the corollary being that SL clubs would pay for their own. Of course the SL nabobs forced another year of paying for travel and accommodation on Wolfpack.

Caught both ways, MoK, by the SL clubs.

Visiting teams are getting a good, convenient, newly renovated hotel. Why does even this need to be picked apart?

[LR23]

6 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Stiffed or what they signed up to?

I wasn't intending to open that can of worms again. My point was that teams should have no complaints about a nice clean hotel that is easy to get to, especially when they are getting it free. These are rugby league players after all so doubt they will be clamouring for luxury digs.

[Man of Kent]

2 minutes ago, Loup said:

Wolfpack didn't "sign up to" being stiffed out of central funding. They didn't even know until three days before the MPG that they'd be admitted to SL if they won.

Wolfpack "signed up to" paying travel and accommodation for away teams as long as they were in League 1 and Championship. The original understanding was that arrangement would end if they achieved SL - the corollary being that SL clubs would pay for their own. Of course the SL nabobs forced another year of paying for travel and accommodation on Wolfpack.

Caught both ways, MoK, by the SL clubs.

Didn’t Toronto agree to forego central funding in return for having North American TV rights? 

[Man of Kent]

Just now, LR23 said:

I wasn't intending to open that can of worms again. My point was that teams should have no complaints about a nice clean hotel that is easy to get to, especially when they are getting it free. These are rugby league players after all so doubt they will be clamouring for luxury digs.

It’s acceptable but no more. Cheap and cheerful.

[Dave T]

2 hours ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

How fast do you drive Dave ? Think you might have picked the wrong Holiday Inn (airport - want Pearson not the city). 

Yeah, coming up as just over half an hour based on traffic now. Is that not right?