Simply put. Not enough promotion in the town itself to entice younger fans. The club needs to attract young fans that will then stick with the club. Something tangible and sustainable that means they keep coming back.

I'm an exception to the rule, the game that started me going as an every-week regular was against Whitehaven in 1998 which was the first win after an 11 game losing streak. For some reason that day I got hooked. But in the main, something needs to be done within the community to generate PR.

During the early 2000's there was a partnership with McDonald's that saw the kids get free or discounted food and a trading card scheme with Greater Manchester Police. There was even a framed Leigh shirt up in McDonald's for a few years. The continuing decline of Leigh as a shopping hub other than crappy pound shops over the last 5 years pretty much correlates with the decline in the attendances.

Now I'm not advocating their food as being good for the kids but think back to 2001/2002. There were a hell of a lot more youngsters at the games then, many of which I still see at games now that have stuck with the club in their late teens and early twenties. Take my brother-in-law, he's a Wigan fan but used to go to Leigh games the same weekend if he could because it was a good atmosphere, affordable and generally and exciting place to be. He still goes with me now when he isn't drooling over the pies.

Some people would call me a "lapsed or ex-fan" because I don't go to every game. But its not always because I don't want to, sometimes I can't. As a young(er) lad I didn't have the problems that adulthood bring; I could and did go every week home and away.

I went shopping in Warrington yesterday for the first time in years. I used to go a lot when I was younger as my then girlfriend(s) lived there and I went to school in the borough. Back then you wouldn't see ANYTHING to do with the rugby team apart from that funny 3 eyed fish poster that one time. Now they are successful there are posters everywhere and the kids that used to wear United/Liverpool/Everton shirts now have Wire tops on. Obviously success has a lot to do with it but its the reverse of the state of our town.

A lot of lapsed fans won't ever come back, they've moved on and probably only a sudden surge in success will bring them back ala Hull KR in 2006. There just isn't a buzz about the club anymore. I went to East vs Miners and Miners vs Thatto Heath last week and there was twice the buzz and excitement about the games among a much smaller crowd. We used to have that.

The club needs to get in amongst the folk of Leigh and make it worth their time to come and support the club. Start with a pre-season friendly that, if you attend, you get a discount off a ticket for the first NRC game of the season, something like that so we hit the ground running for next year. If Andy Burnham can prance around the town trying to garner some support, why can't the players or coaching staff? And £16 is too much by the way, as is £7 for a kid. 2001 saw an under-16 season ticket for a tenner. Now I'm not saying go to them extremes, but don't price people out.

God, once I started typing then I couldn't stop!

.....and just when all the local small football clubs where rubbing their hands at the prospect of mass exudus of Utd fans supporting their local clubs.....bugger they start another club instead



Still think we can get support from SL fans as well as trying to get the town and surrounding areas supporting us.

I think you're all on to something important, here. For me, small clubs in the shaow of their big neigbours HAVE to become a focal point of the community, and have to work with the community to foster and be the flagship for civic pride. It's a challenge, perhaps greater than marketing a standard straight-up business brand. But I really do think there's an opportunity there.

I used to tinker around the fringes of the music industry, and that's very much gone that way... sure X-factor manufactured crap sell in the thousand, but there's a real demand for the authentic.. for real musicans, playing live shows in local venues of a couple of hundred.

To me, Leigh should be in every school with Leigh stuff. In every club, at every age group, with Leigh stuff. Should make a huge deal of the history of the club, and its growth along with the industry and culture of the town. We should have the town crest on the shirt, and in 50-foot graphics at LSV. Buy the Leigh Arms and turn it into a club sports bar, showing every SL and Championship and NRL game, and showing Fred Parky's entire back catalogue on other times, and selling Johnny Woods Ale and Dessie Special Brew made under branded licence by a local microbrewery. And, as Starbug has said, work with the Championship clubs to build a collaborative business brand with each non-SL club becoming an outlet.

I support Leigh because I grew up with it, because my mum supported Leigh, and her dad before her. That personal heritage is bound up with the club. In our godless, rootless world it is absolutely who I am and where I come from. I bet there's thousands of Leyth folk, of all ages, who are crying out for something to believe in.

An absolute joy to read wembley 71 !!!!







Marketing ideas for the ales ..."jonny woods ale , its got a kick that's guaranteed to hit the spot...every time!"

And how about a nice pint of "drummonds Yed" with a strap line of "you won't know what's hit you, or where you've been "

I love the town crest idea for lsv it needs some character and identity.

I think starbug should start going to Old Trafford again!

You would have to pay me to watch the rubbish served up in the premier league

I watched a sunday league match last week , now that was ' entertaining '