Quote Big Steve="Big Steve"I think it gave us the shock we needed to make some positive decisions in better recruitment and overall direction of the club and it fired up the fanbase which was tending more towards apathy. I think we would have continued to stumble along for quite a number of years if we hadn't had that dip.
The big difference between Wigan and Man U is that Man U have no soul left at the club. Liverpool and Arsenal still have it, they know what the club stands for and it's place in the community, what it means to the fans. Wigan RL live and breath it everyday from top to bottom thanks to Radders, Peet, Lenegan and now Mike Danson.
The partial buyout by Jim Ratcliffe at Man U has made things even worse, cutting contributions to player welfare charity is another sign of the petty, short term vision that shows he has no understanding what binds a club to its fanbase. They are on a downward spiral with no sign of any plan to get them out of it and judging by the decisions made to date haven't got the management that understands how to do it.'"
they had a UTD fan on Sky Sports news yesterday , i think he was from one of the fanzines and he echoed what you are saying about decision to cut costs have been at the expense of the clubs standing in the community, when the ownership changed I thought the only change would be mores sports science based with ideas taken from the Ineos cycling team. It now seems more about boosting share holder benefits
