I can’t work out if people genuinely don’t get it or are just playing dumb, it seems very simple to me. Lets compare the two situations.
CCFC moved 35 miles to Northampton. It was a temporary move, said to be for a maximum of 5 years, as the clubs owners claimed they had no other option. Fans were assured the club would return to ‘the Coventry area’.
Wasps moved 28 miles to Wycombe. It was a temporary move, don’t believe any time scale was given. The clubs owners claimed they had no other option. Fans were assured the club would return to its ‘natural home’.
To me those two situations are very similar. Fans of either club could chose to continue attending, either because they agreed with what they were being told or because they just wanted to support the team. Equally fans could stay away as they did not agree with the temporary move.
I don’t recall much protest from Wasps fans, although if there was I may well have missed it. I do remember many CCFC fans arguing against going to Northampton, something that was reflected in the attendances. 8K+ CCFC fans protested by marching through the streets of Coventry on two occasions against the club playing away from it’s home city. The CT led a campaign against the club playing outside its home city. The local council repeatedly spoke out saying what a disgrace it was for the club to be away from its home city.
Wasps then moved 100 miles from their ‘natural home’ to Coventry. We know this was not their only option, we know there were other options on the table that would allow them to move back to London. Wasps themselves have admitted that the reason for choosing the move to Coventry over other options is purely financial.
The equivalent of this would be CCFC having played the full 5 years at Northampton and then moving to Manchester while there were alternative offers for them to move back to Coventry.
There are now people who would not attend games at Northampton as they did not agree with the move who will happily attend Wasps games at the Ricoh. There are people who marched against us playing in Northampton who will happily attend Wasps games at the Ricoh. The CT are happily supporting Wasps move to the city. The local council are the ones who facilitated Wasps move to the city.
Can people really not see the issue and the difference between the two situations? If SISU move us to Manchester as they can make more money that way will everyone happily accept it?