He also says in the interview that he wanted to get back on the pitch ASAP and that with NRL being back and still no definite date for Superleague to return, plus the club getting a fee and releasing him from his contract (bear in mind that the club could potentially use that money to Top up the cut wages for the staff at the club?) who can blame him, really?
In my opinion the club should have wished him well and whilst I admire McM being forthright he had once again portrayed himself as petulant to non-Saints in the game. I got a text of a WIGAN fan friend the other day saying “Your chairman is at it again” referencing last seasons CCfinal fallout.
There was no need to bag Thommo.
Can't stop the spirits when they need you.
This life is more than just a read through.
Sorry, but you cannot blame Thompson. Who knows when and if the season will even continue and finish? He knew he was off in November, by which point we could still be in the middle of the season. As much as I hate to lose him, I won't lose sleep over it. Exceptional times at present.
I think during such unprecedented times of crisis, there's a basic expectation that people make a few small sacrifices. I don't think Thompson refused to accept a temporary pay cut out of greed, but he has used the situation to engineer an early release. That doesn't sit entirely comfortably.
We must of course look after our own interests, but if we all do it to detriment of others and act on a purely selfish basis, then we'll be in a sorry societal state.
But, like you, I'm not going to hold anything against him. It's annoying we'll lose him for the bulk of this season, but we knew he was going later this year anyway and this season is a dog's breakfast now anyway. I'd be delighted to welcome him back here if/when he decides to come back from Oz.
Bullshit, bull-shit, bull....shit.
Thompson knew exactly what he was doing. The reasons above are sophistry at its best and those who put feeling over fact tend to fall for it.
I’ve aready made the point that though Thompson’s position is defendable ethically it was morally questionable. At a local level there are kids who work at Saints furloughed and on a national level there have been sacrifices made by many: from NHS workers to charity raisers. Thompson meanwhile decided to leverage exceptional circumstances to move early.
Id be disgusted if the chairman issued some cliches, lily livered, yellow nonsense about ‘good luck for the future.’ As AD said Wigan species cant take the moral highground with anyone and id be defending the chairman rather than apologising for him.
I agree. McManus just said what happened. Despite what some think, he made no criticism of Thompson.
And as club chairman, you simply cannot have one of your best players leave mid season with no explanation. It would make us seem like we accept being a second option, which the club must never be.
I also agree, I've already posted that I would like to be proved wrong of my criticism of Thompson if Saints cleared the air and wished him well other than the brief nuanced statement first made, perhaps they will make a further statement with the expected announcement of Graham, however I've yet to see any chorus of good luck messages anywhere from his former team mates. At the moment the silence from the club captain and his team mates appears to be deafenjng
Seems it wasn't something that the chance came along a couple of months ago , I believe from a team mate earlier in his career that his dad had moved his ' yacht' was moved over to Aus 6 months earlier , the team mate? my nephew who is playing I'm Superleague now .
roy litherland it's happened i told you it would
Having just answered a questionnaire from Saint's asking what I'd like to do about my season ticket, refund/credit/donate and answering the latter it certainly all leaves a bad bad taste in the mouth and I for one feel he's let the fans and club down.
Why? The players will begin training for the season restart soon and that means the club will be paying the players in full. It has already been stated that Graham is not going to be on a lot of money and will no doubt be on less than Thompson was. We recieved a fee for Thompson and we're getting Graham on a cheaper deal... I don't think the club has come out to badly from the Thompson situation at all.
If Thompson would have stayed and put on furlough you still would have recieved this email from Saints. It didn't all hinge on him taking a pay cut, if it did then the clubs business model is catastrophic but we all know that simply isn't the case.
I guess we did get a fee for him, which may help financially in the short term, I don't know.
Thompson could have took the pay cut & requested an early release but he is under no obligation to do so. He's gone down the opposite route & got what he wanted.
With Graham coming back, seems like the best outcome Saints could have in the circumstances.
https://t.co/8Fncwrgmae
Potential longer term Replacement