Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:39 am  

Cruncher wrote:

I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make here.

If you're saying that Wigan as a town is dying and we'd all better prepare for a bleak future ... okay, that's a POV, but it's not likely to happen in our lifetime (if it happens at all).

If you're saying that it's our club's inevitable future to be playing second-fiddle to Warrington, I'd argue that we've been hearing that for quite a while now. Warrington certainly have a wealthier owner than Wigan, but they have had for quite a few seasons and it still hasn't translated into a superior haul of silverware. On that score, excellence of management would seem to be a more important issue.

It seems to me that we have two causes for real uncertainty at present.

The stadium is one, but that's nobody's fault who's involved at Wigan now. Whether it was the right thing to let Whelan cement us to the football, or the wrong thing, or whether we had no choice in the matter for whatever reason, it's over and done with. Whelan's priority was always going to be Latics, but he'd probably have been able to run us successfully with his small change if it hadn't been for the salary cap. At least we currently have committed and level-headed owners who seem to be biding their time while the Latics/stadium debacle drags on, and if nothing else, are remaining calm and relaxed about the whole thing, which in its turn, is making me feel a lot more relaxed than I would be otherwise. (From what I'm hearing, though I'm no expert on this, now that the Spaniards have been outed as cowboys, things are looking quite a bit rosier for us on that front).

The bigger cause for concern for me is the second one, and that's the general state of the British game. Who knows who'll be left when Covid is finally over, but even without that, nothing I see and hear at the top of the game fills me with hope. While the NRL seems to go from strength to strength, despite the scourge of Covid, our game is once again welcoming the likes of Leigh back, and producing Twitter pundits who seem to think it unfair and boring that clubs like Wigan, Saints and Wire are dominating all competitions. What's the eventual outcome of that going to be? More stringent measures designed to make it harder for the top teams to win? Heaven forbid that the onus should be placed on the lesser clubs to try and get their own act together.

I have never itimated that the Warriiors is playing-second fiddle to Warrington Wolves, only that compared with a few years ago, the town of Wigan is not attracting investment on the same scale as Warrington for the reasons I have stated about the roads around Warrington being far better both in and around Warrington than what they are in and around Wigan.

A situation which as result of having a joint stadium has seen Wigan no longer staging big games like for example, in the next World Cup. Games which not only bring money into the towns economy, but also show that Wigan is still the most well known town for the game of Rugby League.

Where Rugby League is concerned, the Warriors are as far as I am concerned, always been superior to the Wolves and long may it remain so!

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:51 am  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

I have never itimated that the Warriiors is playing-second fiddle to Warrington Wolves, only that compared with a few years ago, the town of Wigan is not attracting investment on the same scale as Warrington for the reasons I have stated about the roads around Warrington being far better both in and around Warrington than what they are in and around Wigan.

A situation which as result of having a joint stadium has seen Wigan no longer staging big games like for example, in the next World Cup. Games which not only bring money into the towns economy, but also show that Wigan is still the most well known town for the game of Rugby League.

Where Rugby League is concerned, the Warriors are as far as I am concerned, always been superior to the Wolves and long may it remain so!

Wigan is still the brand name to look out for. I agree with that.

Also, I don't dispute that it's frustrating about our lack of semi-finals, internationals etc. I suspect there are a couple of reasons for that. The first was Whelan's ridiculous insistence that his pitch remain sacrosanct - this was the same pitch that turned to crap the moment footballers started slide-tackling all over it. Whether the new owners, whoever they end up being, can afford to continue with that folly remains to be seen. The second is surely the inability of many once-attractive fixtures to bring in huge crowds. For whatever reason, Cup semis are minor events these days, and it's less embarrassing to host them at small venues. The DW would look empty. I'm less sure that would be an issue for Test matches between GB and Australia, but these days those fixtures seem rarer than rocking-horse doodah.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 7:31 pm  

So how much longer can this whole process carry on for before the soccer club runs out of cash?

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 7:39 pm  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

So how much longer can this whole process carry on for before the soccer club runs out of cash?

The administrators have released another statement today which tells everyone absolutely nothing.
The one remotely informative bit of it is they haven't granted exclusivity to anyone so there's no favoured bid yet.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 7:40 pm  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

So how much longer can this whole process carry on for before the soccer club runs out of cash?

Alan Nixon from the Sun is all over it and he’s called plenty right on it so far and he says there’s money to get through another months wages but it needs sorting very soon. He is pretty adamant it won’t come to liquidation. The admins have said today there are numerous interested parties but a lot of it you guess is hot air. It isn’t interest the club needs now, it’s action. No official bids are in with different parties being at different stages of the process.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 7:55 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

from the Sun

Well that says all it needs to say

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:09 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Well that says all it needs to say

Well aye in most cases I’d agree but he’s constantly providing updates on the situation via his Twitter feed and he’s been on money throughout.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:01 pm  

Has he?

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:27 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Has he?

From what I’ve seen he has been yeah

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:35 pm  

Ruddy Duck wrote:

I have never itimated that the Warriiors is playing-second fiddle to Warrington Wolves, only that compared with a few years ago, the town of Wigan is not attracting investment on the same scale as Warrington for the reasons I have stated about the roads around Warrington being far better both in and around Warrington than what they are in and around Wigan.

A situation which as result of having a joint stadium has seen Wigan no longer staging big games like for example, in the next World Cup. Games which not only bring money into the towns economy, but also show that Wigan is still the most well known town for the game of Rugby League.

Where Rugby League is concerned, the Warriors are as far as I am concerned, always been superior to the Wolves and long may it remain so!

I commute into Warrington daily and work all over Warrington at all times of the day and night. The roads (Winwick Road, Sankey Way, Cromwell Avenue, Manchester Road, Chester Road, Wilderspool Causeway) are just as bad as Wigan’s. To suggest that as a link to the level of investment in Warrington RL shows your distinct lack of knowledge of the area.

I’m not sure the bit about internationals is entirely accurate given we have had Ashes and Tri Nations games at the stadium which have been full houses in the not too distant past but I can understand why you’d make that point as we, for some baffling reason, haven’t been given any World Cup games. Though that may be down to the stadium being unavailable (speculation of course).

Your last sentence is bang on the money. The reason we have the resources and financial might we do (clearly not on Warringtons level with finances) is because of how well run we are and the model we have chosen in promoting and developing youth in the first instance rather than generally spending big on NRL imports. Warrington would do well to heed that lesson IMO.