1,000 for home games and one midweek fixture against Swinton saw only 400 spectators. Leigh rallied briefly in 1931–32, encouraged by the return of Abe Johnson, but it didn't last. In the 1932–33 season, things were so bad that the players played for free in several games. The club had major financial problems and a young inexperienced team. Financial support from an outside source was received which enabled the club to continue. Things went from bad to worse in the 1936–37 season when Leigh won only five games all season and finished third from bottom in the league. Gate receipts crashed to an all-time low, with the final home game of the season against Broughton Rangers attracting a crowd of around 250 spectators. From the start of the next season, a new pay structure was agreed with the players, with each receiving £1 each per game. Leigh lost their best players and any new signings were juniors or free transfers from other clubs. The Rugby League Management Committee visited the club in March and two of its members were co-opted on to the Leigh board until the end of the season and the A-team was scrapped to cut costs. The 1937–38 season opened with some encouraging signs as Leigh beat Rochdale Hornets in the Lancashire Cup, their first win in any competition for 21 games. They took the touring Australians to within two points on the opening match of their tour. These were desperate times though and when Dewsbury visited Mather Lane for a mid-week game in November 1937, only 200 spectators were there to see Leigh suffer a record home defeat of 64–6. This prompted the Leigh directors to resign en masse and the Rugby League Management Committee stepped in to prevent the club from folding by guaranteeing their fixtures until the end of the season. The following February, a members club was formed, though the RFL stayed in control until June and Leigh won only one of their last 15 games, again finishing 3rd from bottom. The club found itself without a ground in August 1940 when Callender's Cable and Construction Company bought the Mather Lane site from the owners, Messrs. George Shaw & Company Ltd of the Leigh Brewery. The new owners needed the ground to store steel drums and cases and they advised Leigh that they were unable to let them have a lease on the