Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 9:24 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

Andy Currier.
If he’d have gone on to play netball, he’d have played better than he did at Wire.

Did you HAVE to mention him?

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 12:54 pm  

We had Bateman at the time and then the club offered him a derisory deal (about£20k/yr) because he was 'older'. Talk about being stupid.
Then the Aussies came in and gave him £70k per year and Warrington then decided they wanted him but it was too late by then.
So we ended up with Currier - who I thought was alright at Widnes - but wish he'd stayed there.

The sheer stupidity of the club - beyond words.
Not one of Brian Johnson's best moments. (Although I dont know what real say he had as opposed to Higham).

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 1:57 pm  

Probably Karl Fitzpatrick's fault.

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 2:35 pm  

I’ve not looked it up, but with either signed Currier from Featherstone or I watched him play shat for us up there.
Back in the day when I’d followed wire everywhere. I remember thinking to myself, instead of spending £50-60k on Currier, why not just have gave that to Bateman in his contract.?!
Hellooooooo!!!

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 2:36 pm  

fez1 wrote:

We had Bateman at the time and then the club offered him a derisory deal (about£20k/yr) because he was 'older'. Talk about being stupid.
Then the Aussies came in and gave him £70k per year and Warrington then decided they wanted him but it was too late by then.
So we ended up with Currier - who I thought was alright at Widnes - but wish he'd stayed there.

The sheer stupidity of the club - beyond words.
Not one of Brian Johnson's best moments. (Although I dont know what real say he had as opposed to Higham).

Brian Johnson was utterly dismissive towards Bateman when he arrived, if you read Bateman's autobiography. Makes you wonder if Johnson ever rated or wanted him.

There is a bizarre story of where Bateman came to talk to Johnno, who was surrounded by fans who he was signing autographs for, and he just handed Bateman a piece of paper and said "here's the offer, take it or leave it". Bateman took it and then regretted it soon after.

Allan Bateman was my favourite player growing up, it's bizarre how underrated and shoddily treated he was.

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 2:37 pm  

rubber duckie wrote:

I’ve not looked it up, but with either signed Currier from Featherstone or I watched him play shat for us up there.
Back in the day when I’d followed wire everywhere. I remember thinking to myself, instead of spending £50-60k on Currier, why not just have gave that to Bateman in his contract.?!
Hellooooooo!!!

Currier looked decent for Widnes, but who wouldn't in the team he was in? A pack that included Sorenson, Koloto; Davies, Tony Myler, Bobbie Goulding as playmakers at various times in front of him... Offiah on the wing. Alan Tait then Stuart Spruce - two of the best full-backs I've seen in the game - covering people's mistakes.

Darren Wright always struck me as the better of Widnes' two centres.

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 2:40 pm  

davids wrote:

Brian Johnson was utterly dismissive towards Bateman when he arrived, if you read Bateman's autobiography. Makes you wonder if Johnson ever rated or wanted him.

There is a bizarre story of where Bateman came to talk to Johnno, who was surrounded by fans who he was signing autographs for, and he just handed Bateman a piece of paper and said "here's the offer, take it or leave it". Bateman took it and then regretted it soon after.

Allan Bateman was my favourite player growing up, it's bizarre how underrated and shoddily treated he was.

Allan is still a Wire though. Sat along side him on a coach, on some trip we were on. Can’t remember what it was now.

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 2:46 pm  

rubber duckie wrote:

Allan is still a Wire though.

If he is, it will be because of the fans, not the club hierarchy at the time.

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 3:32 pm  

Although never a massive fan, Danny Nutley ended up getting in the Super League Dream Team and playing Origin after he left us. I was just going through the Heritage numbers list and there are plenty of examples of players getting worse after joining us, Charnley for example.

Re: Players who have played better since leaving Wire : Mon May 10, 2021 4:15 pm  

Wiremansam wrote:

Although never a massive fan, Danny Nutley ended up getting in the Super League Dream Team and playing Origin after he left us. I was just going through the Heritage numbers list and there are plenty of examples of players getting worse after joining us, Charnley for example.

I think you are being unduly harsh on Charnley, he was great for us when he first arrived. Something happened to him and/or our tactics changed significantly and that has resulted in his effectiveness falling off a cliff. There are many examples of players who stunk the place out from day 1, Charnley is not one of those.