I have been sitting back watching the whole mystery fans forum saga unfolding in utter amazement. It honestly makes the "tub-thumping" incident during the KC dark days seem like a shining example of fan engagement.
Everything about it from start to finish has been an utter shambles. They even asked the fans who attended not to then reveal details on social media - I dont think they would have announced anything if they could have gotten away with it; they thought telling 120 people was the definition of good engagement. Then theres the actual content of the forum, it would terrify me if I were a Wigan fan. For George Burgess, if you accept the version of events that Wigan put out in the above (which there are usually reliable posters from Wigan who dont), they either didn't know how to manage Burgess's injury, or worse actively chose not to - indefensible!
They have less than an average salary available to them next year (and theyre already using 1 marquee signing) with Iain Thornley sort of confirmed and a halfback. Even if that halfback is another marquee, how is there squad that close to the cap??
"If I look at other Super League squads at the moment, there are a few, and I will mention Saints, that they’re beginning to have some of the issues that we’ve had for a number of years where you start to win trophies, players want more money, younger players get spoken about in NRL circles".
They Wigan won't have a problem with the NRL pinching this bunch of players???
I liked the bit about if Jai Field doesn't work out. How many games has he played for them ? They are already writing him off, which would be no surprise as he doesn't have a position. I wonder if his injury will flare up again & lead to an agreement to terminate his contract. It's the Wigan way
Given the budget that they have available, they just aren't going to be able to get a decent half back. Also, the bit about Amir Burrough (sp) is horrible, he's leaving, why are we playing him ? That says a lot about their outlook on players, how motivated would you be to play for them when you have another club lined up ? They clearly think this is ok too ! How can you let this stuff get into the public domain ?
They are the gift that keeps on giving
Those forum minutes are hilarious.
Radlinski looks way out of his depth. The bit about the rent going up but don't put it on social media as it could affect negotiations, yet they actively post it on their website hahaha.
Wigan is turning blue with the seats.
Hardaker wants out, and Radlinski spoke to everyone at Cas before he spoke to Hardaker. Why didn't he just go to the source in the 1st place?
They have £73k left on their cap, why would you tell everyone that? For negotiation purposes if you're on less than that the player will demand that. If they're on more, they simple won't want to move there.
Hilarious.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
I was suprised how fragile Jai Field appeared when he had to make tough impact in defense and attack, bit similar when we had Quinlan. It like Sully mentioned the other week some of the young players are not ready but Lam is still playing them because they havn't got a lot of squad depth.
I agree 're Field, he looked reluctant, reminded me of Richardson to be honest, not ideal for your full back.
Their young forwards are like clones, same size, same lack of skills, same dumb attitude. They do have Singleton as pack leader though so They are fine. Burgess must have seen them up close and decided he didn't fancy it so took his ball home
So Zak is 100% not going anywhere.
At all.
Ever.
I don't think Lenagan could even remember the names of those two young Aussie props the pies have signed.
He praises Maguire (and the fans still idolise him) the goes on to say:
Radlinski does make one good point - though as it's about the actual on-field playing of the game, I'd hope he would have a good understanding. It's in response to a question about crowds dwindling in relation to rule changes in the game:entertaining rugby is a tradition of Wigan. It’s very important to us. And in selecting Shaun Edwards and then Adrian Lam, our prime intention was to move away from the somewhat dull winning rugby that we’d had previously
The problem I have with all that is, with Maguire they took slowing the opposition down to a whole new level - and as that was successful, other teams followed; it became apparent it was a pretty simple way for a team with limited ability to nullify skilful/fast teams. I actually think the RFL & Sky are happy with this because it keeps games between teams mismatched in terms of ability close for longer.I’m actually on the laws committee. And I’ve actually said to them, I want to come off it because the reason I want to come off it is because they meet twice a year. And you get an agenda the week before. I can’t drive changes only meeting twice a year. There are a lot of inconsistences in the game at the minute, particularly around the ruck, particularly around the officiating. I spoke to Dave Rotherham who is the on-field officer and I said, there’s no point me being on it if we’re meeting twice a year, in order to make things better, you have to meet once a month at least. So, I’ve agreed to sit on the next one which is in to meet two weeks’ time but then I’ve also said in order for me to remain or to stay on it, I need to be able to have an impact. At the minute you raise issues and the comments like “well, you can’t get them all right” or “I sympathise with you”. There’s no point me being on it if I’m getting comments like that. So, it’s something that needs to get better. I’m not doing my job and Ian is not doing his job if we sit here complaining about officiating, but I do think we need when the season’s over we need a radical change in how the game’s run at the minute because I have head coaches who don’t know the rules and are phoning me up saying what’s happening here, this is not what the rules set out. So, a lot of inconsistences.
Very much so the RFL failed in encouraging the lesser teams to raise the standard to then the top 3 or 4. But as you say they are quite happy in dumbing down the game so that they can say Superleague is competitive. I,m not sure if SKY are happy with that now with the critical comments lately of sub standard rugby league on show.
No mention of the spreadsheets their no1 fan and all round know all keeps
The Goons have just clocked up another ZERO point 40 min scoreline , Hull 0 Wigan 0 at half time. Must be on some kind of superleague record by now.
And Wire held 19-19 after 80 mins by the mighty Salford. They always seem to struggle against Salford.
I wonder if ISA is available for the goons against Catalan next week, him and Maloney could kick off a bit of biff.
I know he left scumsville last year, but I see that thug Genkul Benneh Floower has retired.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out, tosser.