: Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:56 am  

[Gareth] wrote:

looks like i didnt miss much then. thanks for all the reports, glad they werent deleted!

It may look like that mate, however a lot of the usefulness came out of the subtle points.

IL said that no announcements were being made at the start of the evening, which is good as it lets us all cut to the chase. He also laid down the ground rules, which a lot of people ignored.

It seems as though a lot of people like to whinge because it makes them the better fan, makes them feel wise! And there were a few issues which have grown from this forum, which everyone wanted to ask repetitively.

However in between this mindless whinging IL tried to convey and explain in an open and honest fashion how his tenure had gone so far. I got the impression the job was bigger than he anticipated, and he didn't have the staff, infrastructure in place until recently. Some of which goes a long way to accounting for my own frustration with the growing list of minor cock ups.

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:57 am  

best question of the night had to be the one asking lenegan to evaluate himself

oh and lenegan also commented that we may have the scholarship scheme with an aussie club set up in the next 18 months- he was hinting at st.george and cronulla mainly

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:01 am  

Steinlager wrote:

It may look like that mate, however a lot of the usefulness came out of the subtle points.

IL said that no announcements were being made at the start of the evening, which is good as it lets us all cut to the chase. He also laid down the ground rules, which a lot of people ignored.

It seems as though a lot of people like to whinge because it makes them the better fan, makes them feel wise! And there were a few issues which have grown from this forum, which everyone wanted to ask repetitively.

However in between this mindless whinging IL tried to convey and explain in an open and honest fashion how his tenure had gone so far. I got the impression the job was bigger than he anticipated, and he didn't have the staff, infrastructure in place until recently. Some of which goes a long way to accounting for my own frustration with the growing list of minor cock ups.

from reading the reports, i get the impression that announcements where made about when the announcements would be made (if that makes sense) i.e. shirt launch

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:01 am  

Newton-Le-willows-Warrior wrote:

best question of the night had to be the one asking lenegan to evaluate himself

oh and lenegan also commented that we may have the scholarship scheme with an aussie club set up in the next 18 months- he was hinting at st.george and cronulla mainly

The Trent Barratt connection..

[DaveO]

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:02 am  

jonh wrote:

While i appreciate his need to be carefull i am starting to get very concerned with IL's attitude towards paying players, it seems we have missed out on or are destined to miss out on all the "top" players that are on the market.

Ryles to Les Cats given IL said he wanted a prop being the obvious one.

If we are still suffering from over inflated contracts for players still at the club fair enough we can't bid and the statement we have only £20K left on the cap makes this sound likely.

I am more concerned about not paying transfer fees of £75K (assuming we could fit the player in question under the cap once signed).

When IL took over there was lots of talk about us exchanging one multi-millionaire for another with the assumption we'd be still splashing the cash. It doesn't seem to be working out quite like that and I doubt IL would have forked out the transfer fee for Fielden had he been in charge at the time given the comments about not paying £75K for a player.

DW is a bit of a hate figure on here but he was prepared to dig into his own pocket to fund transfer fees which of course don't count on the salary cap. The player in question might not be worth £75K in one sense but if he completes the squad to the coaches satisfaction then how do you put a price on that?

Dave

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:06 am  

[Gareth] wrote:

from reading the reports, i get the impression that announcements where made about when the announcements would be made (if that makes sense) i.e. shirt launch

They were, but the night wasn't about announcements. We have scheduled press releases, and media presence for that it's only sensible.

The people there wanting announcements where the ones wanting answers to the problems theyve read on here, which arent really problems. The announcements would have satisfied them.

Last night wasn't about that, but we were reassured as to things being put in place, and given excellent explanations of why things have taken so long, and how things are already being corrected for next year.

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:07 am  

Steinlager wrote:

and how things are already being corrected for next year.

...Like MH said, they're about to start on next years kit already!

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:09 am  

JTB wrote:

Bill McCracken...

Is that Bill McCracken from Standish? He was the highlight of the evening.

Overall is was good, they advised the fans on what they could do at this time.

I was pleased to Roberts there, although he looked very jet lagged which isnt surprised based on him landing yesterday morning.

I'll agree with whats posted above, some of the Wigan fans are just plain embarrasing and thick. The same questions about the usage of the JJB kept getting asked time and time again, you could clearly see IL pulling his face each time the question was asked. Fans need to get through there thick heads that we lease the stadium, we are second fiddle in terms of usage of it, thats a fact, as annoying as it may be, its fact.

IL clearly showed fans that in the 2009 squad we have 19 UK players of which 15 of them are from Wigan. And yet 4 or 5 people asked the same question 'why do we have a team full of overseas' we clearly dont. Once again fans showing that they do not know anything about our club.

I was surprised that we didnt get a preview of the kit, this would have made a number of people happy. But as MH mentioned, it will be shown to us a week on friday, i presume a few days after the sponsors are mentioned.

Pemps was blamed for ruining a multi-million sponsorship with pirtek after showing the sponsor on the kit he designed

It was interesting to see that within 12-18 months we should have an agreement with an NRL club to send players over on loan and vice-versa with players from thr NRL coming over her for a year. IL mentioned that St George would be an ideal club to get a partnership with.

Noble spoke excellently, he made it clear of what the players are up against, and what we need to do to break the top 2 positions. They work on a rule of '1 less & 1 more' which based on last season means, we concede 1 less try per game and score 1 more try per game we would finish in the top 3 without doubt. He is happy with the side, although we are a little short within the half backs which will see Tomkins play some good game time in 2009. IL mentioned that he is still looking for that 'enforcer' prop forward, but what they do not want to do is risk letting players such as O'Barrell and Prescott leave to get this player.

They confirmed that they had looked at signed Todd Carney, but the transfer fee they wanted was far to much. He also confirmed that we have put a bid in for Greg Bird, but he doesnt expect it to be excepted. We aqre currently £20,000 under the cap for 2009, the departure of Barrett had free'd up money, but they have invested most of this into the young lads such as Tomkins, Mossop etc.

One thing that did annoy me, is that IL admitted that the game against Saints could not be played if GF was his fault. Wigan did not request to the stadium management in enough time that they needed to use the stadium on GF.

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:12 am  

Some important questions were raised, particulary liked the grapple tackle Q. I'd not be surprised if the sheep at the RFL changed Sl rules to fall in line with the NRL which would throw a curveball in the competition, Saints would struggle without momentum.

Some bad q's also, Cringeworthy, like Phelps. What type of an answer was she expecting?

At least Phil McCraken was game for a laugh and the poor bloke ruined by IL on the first question when struggling to identify his gender

: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:13 am  

Oh and i laughed when IL shot Looby down about Phelps