Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:12 pm  

Cruncher wrote:

I would be more interested in knowing what happened to the three State of Origin players we were going to sign that he mentioned to the Wigan Supporters group on his first meeting with them.

Seem to remember that made headlines in the local press. But it was still the last we heard of it.

Was that the one at Wigan Cricket Club?

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:13 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Was that the one at Wigan Cricket Club?

Could have been. It's a while back now and memory fails.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:35 pm  

He already had the funding for the stadium.

We signed Jules O'Neill, Adrian Lam, Matty Johns, Craig Smith and Jamie Ainscough in his time (more im sure)

All played origin

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:53 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

He already had the funding for the stadium.

We signed Jules O'Neill, Adrian Lam, Matty Johns, Craig Smith and Jamie Ainscough in his time (more im sure)

All played origin

I wouldn't pretend that things were bad from the start, but I don't think running Wigan RL was as easy as he'd expected (especially under the cap). As I said before, bringing Mo back seemed like good idea at the time, but he was past it.

We also had some bad luck around then. Greg's illness and the bewilderingly poor coach that Ian Millward turned out to be, etc. But having lived through the 1979/80 disaster, I never thought I'd live to see the day when Wigan RL were facing relegation again. As Ray French said, someone at the club had taken their eye off the ball big time.

All that said, it would be churlish of me not to admit that it was clearly DW who tempted Brian Noble to Wigan despite being in the middle of his Bradford success, and Nobby was the one who steadied the ship.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 5:20 pm  

100% Warrior wrote:

It sounds ridiculous but he isn’t a millionaire by accident. As the old saying goes “look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”

Many many years ago i was a court bailiff, and the bugger$ who had it (money) were always a nightmare.... They got a very hard time from me.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:03 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

He already had the funding for the stadium.

We signed Jules O'Neill, Adrian Lam, Matty Johns, Craig Smith and Jamie Ainscough in his time (more im sure)

All played origin

Phil Bailey, Bryan Fletcher, Dallas, Renouf

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Wed Dec 09, 2020 8:19 am  

Pie_Eyter wrote:

I can confirm stuff like this to be true. When i was at college i worked at JJB Warehouse. On his visits he used to have lights switched off etc. The best one though, my sister worked in the office and he made the bosses give her a final written warning because she had her phone on charge behind her desk using his electricity for free

Exactly right about him as he had no time for ordinary people. Passed me in the Riverside Club one night and looked at me as if I was a piece of dirt!

In the seventies, a friend of mine was a postman on the Wigan Road, Standish delivery where Whelan was living at the time.

At Christmas, he always got tips of many of the professional and business people who also lived on his delivery, but never got a penny off Scrooge Whelan!

Never the nice smiling person that Sky were so keen to show sat in the directors box at Latics games.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Wed Dec 09, 2020 5:51 pm  

i would say ruthless about DW as i worked at Rathbones when he took over that.

It was the first time i had come across someone who would say something one day and then do the complete opposite the next, and not appear to give a f*** about the impact on the people his decisions affected. The decisions werent changing the type of loo roll in the toilets either, but livelihoods. i have never trusted him ever since.

i have also been told a tale about how he acquired Wigan RL, which if true shows the guy in his true colours and it aint pretty

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Wed Dec 09, 2020 5:55 pm  

Did he hold someone ransom? Come on......spill

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Wed Dec 09, 2020 6:39 pm  

Edit - I made a sarcastic comment about some of the Whelan myths but it feels in bad taste after reading the story about the baker later in the thread.