Trinity owner has big plans

[Martyn Sadler]

My interview with new Wakefield Trinity owner Matthew Ellis.

[iffleyox]

If this is more than talk then things are really looking up for Trin. What RL in England really needs is about 10 more of him if he does what he says, but very good news for Wakefield.

[Eddie]

Good luck to him and them. If Wakey and Toulouse, or anyone else for that matter can step up, there’s a strong argument for a 14 team SL. 

[Coco]

I am also a big fan of Ellis. He is making a lot of noise.  It's great news for Wakefield and Super League.  I hope he does a Beaumont.  

[iffleyox]

38 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Good luck to him and them. If Wakey and Toulouse, or anyone else for that matter can step up, there’s a strong argument for a 14 team SL. 

Grade A next year is certainly a big statement of intent 

[Chrispmartha]

31 minutes ago, Coco said:

 I hope he does a Beaumont.  

Threaten to start his own league because a refereeing decision went against his club?

[Eddie]

3 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Threaten to start his own league because a refereeing decision went against his club?

Creates a buzz around the club, gets them promoted, wins the cup and reaches the SL play offs

Edited November 7, 2023 by Eddie

[PREPOSTEROUS]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Creates a buzz around the club, gets them promoted, wins the cup and reaches the SL play offs

That'll be nice as a starter for 10.

There is always a nervousness with things like this. We've been here before with owners promising much and left us fighting for existence, this guy sounds different and hopefully will pull through with his aspirations. 

[M j M]

7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Creates a buzz around the club, gets them promoted, wins the cup and reaches the SL play offs

Do you mean walk out and not pay the players?

I hope and expect the new Wakey owner will be more serious than Beaumont.

[Coco]

I am amazed with some of the negativity towards Beaumont.  It's absolutely brilliant what he has done for Leigh and Super League.  I am hoping Ellis does the same for Wakefield and they win the Challenge Cup.  Beaumont has shown the way.  The amount of national press Leigh has received is all because of Beaumont and the team he has assembled.

[Chrispmartha]

13 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Creates a buzz around the club, gets them promoted, wins the cup and reaches the SL play offs

There’s more than one way to skin a (wild) cat

[Chrispmartha]

2 minutes ago, Coco said:

I am amazed with some of the negativity towards Beaumont.  It's absolutely brilliant what he has done for Leigh and Super League.  I am hoping Ellis does the same for Wakefield and they win the Challenge Cup.  Beaumont has shown the way.  The amount of national press Leigh has received is all because of Beaumont and the team he has assembled.

Im only half Joking, DB has done a great job at Leigh last season I’d argue that he hasn’t done anything of real note to SL though

[Agbrigg]

6 minutes ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

That'll be nice as a starter for 10.

There is always a nervousness with things like this. We've been here before with owners promising much and left us fighting for existence, this guy sounds different and hopefully will pull through with his aspirations. 

I am sure he is the real deal. After all he has only legally owned the club 2 weeks and already the transformation has been massive. Great times ahead at Trinity

[Chrispmartha]

Just now, Agbrigg said:

I am sure he is the real deal. After all he has only legally owned the club 2 weeks and already the transformation has been massive. Great times ahead at Trinity

Agreed he seems to be just what Wakefied needed.

[PREPOSTEROUS]

1 minute ago, Agbrigg said:

I am sure he is the real deal. After all he has only legally owned the club 2 weeks and already the transformation has been massive. Great times ahead at Trinity

Hard to shake 25 years of disappointment! At least you've seen Trinity when we were good! 

[graveyard johnny]

 Wakefield as a city has so much potential with its RL history and a massive area to pull fans from - the days are gone of course of the residents of Agbrigg swarming out of their homes and walking round to watch the match and thronging the ground as that particular  area surrounding belle vue is a very different place as is the city itself to what it was then - but there is still plenty of surrounding areas such as Ossett Horbury Stanley Wrenthorpe Thornes Crigglestone etc etc to pull fans from 

[RoyBoy295]

15 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Im only half Joking, DB has done a great job at Leigh last season I’d argue that he hasn’t done anything of real note to SL though

What team has done anything of real note to SL?

[Agbrigg]

14 minutes ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

Hard to shake 25 years of disappointment! At least you've seen Trinity when we were good! 

Yes I have and that is what keeps me going. The last few years under Carter left me nearly packing it in, it was so depressing. However Matt Ellis is great news and hopefully we will get to the good times all those years ago

[Chrispmartha]

6 minutes ago, RoyBoy295 said:

What team has done anything of real note to SL?

Saints winning the WCC in Australia?

[Kirmonds pouch]

41 minutes ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

That'll be nice as a starter for 10.

There is always a nervousness with things like this. We've been here before with owners promising much and left us fighting for existence, this guy sounds different and hopefully will pull through with his aspirations. 

Unlike previous takeovers of which there have been a few, this time we were not saved from receivership with ten minutes to go. This time due diligence was taken out by the previous BOD, so this time there shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully.

Maybe he will get bored or lose patience sooner than hoped, who knows, but if he doesn't then this time we can be certain he at least has the cash should he want, to stick with it.

Be interesting to know whether he now owns the ground outright, and has paid WMDC off. That would be a clever move for him, giving him an increasing asset against which he could borrow money, probably from his own business and write off against tax etc.

Edited November 7, 2023 by Kirmonds pouch

[iffleyox]

24 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

 Wakefield as a city has so much potential with its RL history and a massive area to pull fans from - the days are gone of course of the residents of Agbrigg swarming out of their homes and walking round to watch the match and thronging the ground as that particular  area surrounding belle vue is a very different place as is the city itself to what it was then - but there is still plenty of surrounding areas such as Ossett Horbury Stanley Wrenthorpe Thornes Crigglestone etc etc to pull fans from 

I do know what you mean, but I'd argue you can't just write off areas. Maybe a great crowd of people coming from immediately around the ground is a big ask but at the same time - and Leicestershire have done some great work here with cricket (and yes I know cricket isn't rugby league) - I don't think any club can ignore its own doorstep. Welcome everybody, and if people aren't coming, find out why - and what, if anything, is a barrier.

I'm a southern public schoolboy with an Oxford degree - there are people who think I shouldn't be anywhere near RL (to be fair on both sides of the code 'fence'), I'm passionate that any postcode in England might have RL fans in it, they just don't know it yet... I chose RL, I wasn't remotely born to it.

Edited November 7, 2023 by iffleyox

[M j M]

38 minutes ago, Coco said:

I am amazed with some of the negativity towards Beaumont.  It's absolutely brilliant what he has done for Leigh and Super League.  I am hoping Ellis does the same for Wakefield and they win the Challenge Cup.  Beaumont has shown the way.  The amount of national press Leigh has received is all because of Beaumont and the team he has assembled.

This is a thread for Wakey not another one about Leigh but it's one year of good(ish) stuff after years of negativity. He needs a fair amount more on the credit side of the ledger for me at least to offset the stuff he's done in the past.

[Kirmonds pouch]

4 minutes ago, iffleyox said:

I do know what you mean, but I'd argue you can't just write off areas. Maybe a great horde of people coming from immediately around the ground is a big ask but at the same time - and Leicestershire have done some great work here with cricket (and yes I know cricket isn't rugby league) - I don't think any club can ignore its own doorstep. Welcome everybody, and if people aren't coming, find out why - and what, if anything, is a barrier.

I'm a southern public schoolboy with an Oxford degree - there are people who think I shouldn't be anywhere near RL (to be fair on both sides of the code 'fence'), I'm passionate that any postcode in England might have RL fans in it, they just don't know it yet... I chose RL, I wasn't remotely born to it.

He's wrong anyway. Agbrigg is not just Asian, but also Polish, and still a good number of what I'll call Old English. There are a fair few Asian fans, mostly casual but they do show an interest, so that's one stereotype gone. However the new bypass (Fox way) will soon contain nearly 2,000 new homes that were not there ten years ago, bringing a whole new mixed demographic. Nearly all are in walking distance, and most will be the sort more likely to be attracted by an A grade stadium, rather than a B or C. That's where the rich pickings are, but nobody is likely to pick a losing team to start supporting, so we need to win our way back to SL. On second thoughts I started watching Trin as a losing team, but that's another story! 

[iffleyox]

3 minutes ago, Kirmonds pouch said:

 On second thoughts I started watching Trin as a losing team, but that's another story! 

You and me both 

[Kirmonds pouch]

6 minutes ago, M j M said:

This is a thread for Wakey not another one about Leigh but it's one year of good(ish) stuff after years of negativity. He needs a fair amount more on the credit side of the ledger for me at least to offset the stuff he's done in the past.

Whatever his good and bad points, he's done what he said he would. The real difference between Ellis and Beamont is not ego but cash. Ellis could buy Deggsy over ten times, and in RL that's a massive difference in spending power, which is what Ellis was alluding too earlier in the week. At Championship level that's a huge advantage, it will get heavily diluted in SL, but we ain't there yet. All the same a lot of hard work to do before we cross that particular bridge.