ON October 24, Wakefield Trinity was officially sold to new owners.
The company that owns Trinity, Spirit of 1873 Limited, will now become a fully owned subsidiary of Silkstone Finance Limited, a company that was formed in 1992 and which, in 2022, reported a turnover of more than £92 million and a profit after tax of just short of £20.5 million.
Its main line of business is the supply of kitchens.
The new managing director of Trinity will be Matthew Ellis, a director of Silkstone and the son of the original founders of that company.
Last week I met Matthew to talk to him about his plans for Trinity. Here is how the conversation went.
When did you first have the idea of buying Wakefield Trinity?
“To get involved with the club had been on my mind for five years. In those five years, the success of our kitchen business has grown. But it was only six months ago that I started to understand how much financial investment it would take.
“I now have the time to do it, whereas in the past I’ve not had the time available.”
Why did you wait until the end of the season to complete your takeover of the club?
“I always wanted to take the club over at the end of the season. That was the plan all along. I saw the end of the season as a time we could rebuild. When you go into something your first impressions are important. In mid-season you struggle to make an impact. I did put £250,000 into the club to try and keep us in Super League by signing David Fifita, Luke Gale and Josh Griffin. They were not all my signings, but they were signings the club made with the money I put in.
“But then the new stand was difficult because the date of its opening kept being pushed back. That obviously had an impact on the financial forecasts. The club was then in a position of having predicted that it would generate £150,000-£200,000 from the new stand. For example, we would probably have sold out for the Castleford game. So I was working with a forecast that was moving every day, but unfortunately it was moving in the wrong direction.
“At the same time, in my business life I was opening up the two biggest kitchen showrooms in the country. That has been a phenomenal project and we’ve also built another factory in the last six months. So it’s been kitchens and rugby until midnight every day.”
What is your reaction to Wakefield’s grading score of 12.52, which makes you a Grade B club but ranks you eleventh overall?
“Obviously we are going to work to try to get grade A status next year. We don’t think we are a million miles away and we certainly expect to score more on the owner-investment criterion, for example.
“On the finance side we will be able to put more money in to get more points for owner investment and the new stand will score us more points under the facilities heading. So our score will be going up next year. And as we drop into the Championship, I see that as an opportunity to score more from the performance side as well, with the points that would come from winning the Championship and the 1895 Cup too.
“The aim is to get the highest possible score with IMG, but I don’t want to rely on IMG to be part of Super League. I want what we are doing on the field that dictates where we should play. The top Super League clubs don’t need to worry about IMG, because they can take care of themselves. And that’s where we need to be and it’s definitely possible.
“If we are looking positive on IMG, then when we are talking about players for the 2025 season, we can reduce the uncertainty and we can talk to players with confidence about our Super League status.”
A significant number of points can be generated from a club’s digital operation. Are you in a strong position to improve that?
“When it comes to the digital element of the gradings, I’m coming from a £100 million turnover of an online business where I have my own digital and analytics people. And some of them have been at the club this week. We will certainly see some developments in that regard.”
What other changes will you make to the marketing of the club?
“When I sell kitchens, my thought process is to put myself into the mind of the customer to be sure I know what they are looking for, in terms of quality and price and so on.
“In my new role, we’ll see when the season tickets are released next week that we’ll be coming up with some new ideas. The club historically has just said it’s £250 for a season ticket and here’s your concession price and so on.
“But we are going to put something in place that hopefully will attract new people to the club. There will be different price points for different areas of the ground and we are going to try to emulate the atmosphere at Hull KR by creating a fan zone.
“I have costed up a campaign to blanket-cover Wakefield with a flyer promoting the club, adding a QR code to attract some new people.
“We are looking to sell season tickets for hospitality and they will be on a monthly payment basis.”
What was your general impression of the club?
“At one time we were the best team in the country, but people like me who were born in the 80s haven’t seen that. But we aim to get us back to Super League first and foremost, get us back into the top six and into contention for trophies.
“You walk round the club and history is all around you, but it’s history from 60 years ago. The club could put Wakefield back on the map, like it used to do. Last week I visited Gary Hetherington and he gave me a guided tour of Headingley. And while doing that he made it clear that he would love to see the old rivalry revived between Leeds and Wakefield from the 60s and 70s. That of course is what I want.
“Gary wants what is best for the game. It’s been tough for Wakefield, when the club has thought that finishing second bottom was a good season. Next season we have Featherstone and they will be a major rival for us. We are not looking beyond next year, despite the fact that we have an ambition for our future. But if we are complacent, we will get found out.”
Was it you who moved to appoint Daryl Powell (above) as your new coach?
“Daryl Powell was my appointment. After seeing what he did at Castleford, I thought that was what we needed at Wakefield. After an eight-year stretch, you could see how he had improved the club, so that a bad season for him there might have seen them in fifth or sixth place. From what he took over, that was phenomenal.
“This is perfect for him now, in terms of us needing a rebuild.
“From day one, Daryl felt like the perfect fit.
“The good thing is that he has experience of working with most of the backroom staff who are coming in.
“I think we are probably six or seven players short of what we want for next season and we are looking to do a dual-registration agreement.”
Do you know yet what your parachute payment will be, following relegation, and how much are you expecting to invest in the club next year?
“We haven’t yet been informed what our parachute payment will be. But it will be lower than previous payments.
“The good thing for Wakefield is that we have committed to next season as a season of rebuild. I would like to invest heavily next season.
“I would like to see our attendances next season really surprise everyone. In football, some of the big clubs may be relegated, but they prove how big they are by retaining their support and that’s what we want to aim for next year. Wakefield is a big club going down into the Championship, so let’s prove it by maintaining and even improving our support. Let’s enjoy going to some new grounds we haven’t visited for many years.
“I’m going to invest between £1.3 and £1.7 million. My family and I are happy to do that because we see it as the start of the rebuild towards what we want to achieve in the future.”
