[DaveO]

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 12:36 am  

The Ghost of '99 wrote:

Like most people I'm open to a change in the structure (although Hetherington is very wed to the current one, a replacement which still included P&R would be fine). But the money side is pathetic. The money given to Championship clubs is a drop in the ocean for SL clubs. People like Lenagan shouldn't be trying to grab a bit of that back, they should actually try and grow their own clubs and their own revenues. Wigan are the most egregious example of a loss-making club with declining attendances and falling revenues that the bile coming from their chairman lecturing the RFL and other clubs about how to run the game properly is embarrassing.

He's not suggested removing the funding from Championship clubs. He is saying the current structure (S8's) is detrimental to SL clubs revenues. Other chairmen agree with him and so do I. I am no Lenagan apologist by the way and am regularly slagged off for questioning his approach on various issues and I don't think moving away from the S8's is going to magically change Wigan's financial fortunes on it's own. It is a step in the right direction though and not just for Wigan.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 1:12 am  

Agreed. You're trying to sell corporate boxes and with almost no notice you might change from playing Wigan and Sts home to Featherstone and Batley. Even if you're guaranteed a place in the Super 8s you won't know your fixtures until the final games are played, affecting how many home games you have, and who they are against.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:25 am  

Who has appointed Leneghan as the 'leader of the pack'?. Why are the clubs allowing one individual to dictate the future of the sport. A chairman that has seen his club go backwards during his ownership tenure. Just seems odd.
The RFL needs step up and appoint a CEO and start giving the sport some direction top to bottom.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:02 am  

wire-quin wrote:

Who has appointed Leneghan as the 'leader of the pack'?. Why are the clubs allowing one individual to dictate the future of the sport. A chairman that has seen his club go backwards during his ownership tenure. Just seems odd.
The RFL needs step up and appoint a CEO and start giving the sport some direction top to bottom.

Do you really think IL has taken Wigan backwards . The first team has been going through a rough spell in the last 18 months for varrious reasons but overall the club is in better shape than most .

Wigan run a full range of age grade teams thru to under 19's . Field a reserve team (which most dont and should be mandatory IMO). Wigan have had several u19 and reserve games cancelled recently because other clubs cant raise a team that is a sad situation. Sevelal Superleague teams recently have had to loan in championship players just to make up their first team squad.

Wigans academy structure is second to none in the UK and the envy of most if not all

Run 2 womens teams

About to spend £5m on a training facility adjacent to the DW which if i am correct will involve and include comunity access.

Wigan loose money some years and make a profit others (Rogues is the man to confirm / rubish this) but all in all we are in a reasonably healthy state compared to most.

As NK says below Wigan also do a massive amount of unheralded work in several communities (not just Wigan Bourgh). Not being a native i know about some but only a small proportion of what actually goes on.
That mostly is down to the stability IL gives the club

Regards EW

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:10 am  

wire-quin wrote:

Who has appointed Leneghan as the 'leader of the pack'?. Why are the clubs allowing one individual to dictate the future of the sport. A chairman that has seen his club go backwards during his ownership tenure. Just seems odd.
The RFL needs step up and appoint a CEO and start giving the sport some direction top to bottom.

Backwards? You on about Wigan?!

We were in a mess when Lenagan purchased the club, with a lob sided playing group where some were paid fortunes and others peanuts, we had loads of overseas has beens, hardly any youth development, the crowds were about on a par with their current levels (but in his time we’ve averaged a couple of thousand more at times) and we hadn’t won anything for 6 or 7 seasons and hadn’t won a Grand Final for nearly ten years.

Since then we’ve built a club based on home grown talent, seen lads like Sam Tomkins, Williams, Farrell, Charnley, Gildart etc come through the system and as we’ve lost players replaced them from within, all whilst still challenging for honours. We’ve won 3 Grand Finals, appeared in two more, won 3 leaders shields, won two challenge cups, appeared in one other final and won a World Club Challenge. We make some losses but who doesn’t in this current climate (that he’s trying to change) and much of those losses have been due to investment in training and education facilities around the borough that the clubs involved in.

Not bad for a club gone backwards under its owner.

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:12 am  

he's going to lose travelling Leeds fans next year on our form !

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 7:30 am  

Homer Simpson wrote:

he's going to lose travelling Leeds fans next year on our form !

Lost them last night . But fair play that was more down to Football and playing a top Superleague fixture on a Thursday night (mental)

Not having a dig at Leeds fans

Regards EW

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 8:41 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

Is that the lower league clubs who are fielding 14 and 15 men in games, at a time when they’re getting a bigger slice of the games income then clubs at that level have ever been given?! Is it any wonder he along with at least 9 other club owners/chairmen are unhappy.

The game in this country isn’t big enough to spread it’s income around a whole mass of clubs. If the new plans push a few clubs with park field facilities and sub 1,000 average attendances in to the amateur ranks then so be it. It’s time for clubs with ambition to be rewarded and for the game to make some tough calls before we’re all watching a semi pro sport at the top level.

Wow, I read your board regularly and always agree with your posts and find your posts thought out and very knowledgeable. BUT I have to disagree totally here. The reason teams have fielded less have been because of mainly visa issues going to Canada. Clubs can't afford to sign a heap of players just in case they don't pass visa applications. The majority of clubs in the lower levels have fantastic history within the game and people seem keen to just let them just disappear without a trace. Do Lenegan and his cronies think these fans that part with their money putting it into the game are suddenly going to just start supporting another team and spend their hard earned elsewhere? No it will just alienate more rugby league fans into oblivion never to be seen again. As a Bradford fan seeingthe effort championship and league one clubs put into trying to make ends meet is highly commendable. The championship and League one have never been stronger than they are at present and greedy SL chairmen (most of them) are happy to see them all struggle further. Disgusting attitude for mine! Especially considering the money sky give all clubs covers the standard cap. If clubs want to spend over that by having marquee players thats their own prerogative and should be backed by the people allowing them to spend over, not come at a cost to other clubs. I don't like Hetherington but totally agree with his stance here, the middle 8s give championship clubs something meaningful to aim for. All that will happen with one up one down is a return of a lot of meaningless games between clubs that are too good to go down but not good enough to test the top of tree

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 8:47 am  

Edinburgh Warrior wrote:

Lost them last night . But fair play that was more down to Football and playing a top Superleague fixture on a Thursday night (mental)

Not having a dig at Leeds fans

Regards EW

Yes, kept chanting, but some dead rubber round ball game kept the odd one and a few even ones away. The M62 roadworks again did not help either !

Re: Lenighan blames West Yorkshire mafia : Fri Jun 29, 2018 8:50 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

I'm with Nicky on this. The points made about fixture list uncertainty etc are completely valid, however much you might like them not to be.

If the sport starts letting Championship clubs make decisions on the best way forward at the top end, the only outcome will be a semi pro sport down the track. Again, like it or not but not all clubs, even within SL, are equal. Whilst quite a few fans seemingly found the demise of the Bulls funny, its been a huge commercial negative for the sport as a whole. What we need is to find ways to grow the revenues to the sport at the top end.

This is the big point. Its lazy of Lenegan and his gang to actually use their business acumen and marketing power to attract more sponsorship etc, in their eyes its just easier to take a bigger piece of the sky money pie. Actually chase the money or put people in charge of the game who are actually good enough to do a job not just milk the game for their own agendas