Quick question about our chairman.

When he first took over, I was very impressed by his engagement with the fans on a personal level. I remember being in Cardiff for the magic event and everyone was talking about him being very approachable and mingling with the fans.

I am just wondering if this is still the case. Can people please comment? This is not a witch hunt and I have a genuine reason for asking ( which I will share next week).

My theory with lenegan is he's an intelligent, thoughtful guy who took over the club with the best intentions of engaging like minded fans that shared his vision for returning the clubs credibility. Question 1 of the first fans forum a grown adult in a shirt covered in player signatures asks him how many Weetabix he has for breakfast. I get the impression he's tried several times to engage the fanbase, got very little from it and now runs the club from a management position.

www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... 383&type=1

www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... 383&type=1

Two questions of my own:

a) Why would we assume it was going to be a witch-hunt?

b) Why don't you share your reason with us now?

well, don't leave us in suspense.....

In principle the fans forums are a good idea. Unfortunately there isn't an entrance policy that includes an IQ test. The place if filled with amateur comedians and people hell bent on asking a question no matter how ridiculous.

At one of them IL stated a few ground rules before opening the floor to questions. He said they wouldn't take questions questioning players ability. First question was "Has anyone thought to teach Cameron Phelps how to tackle?". Sort of sets the tone for the evening really.

He doe a presentation beforehand too, setting out our goals and what we've achieved. People were just asking questions that had just been covered in this presentation. It must be exasperating for him at times dealing with morons like us.

On the flip side there were certain things that he said he wouldn't discuss, and if we're being honest those are the things that we really wanted to know.

In theory they were a good PR exercise but beyond that I didn't think they were much good.

One word mr chairman............................penalty count

The only decent questions came from Phim McCracken!

A better way of doing the questions would be for people to Email them in or use the official Twitter page. And the stupid questions can then be whittled out.

JTB and Pemps summed it up perfectly for me.

Lenegan quickly realised he was wasting his time trying to have any kind of adult, rational dialogue with the fan base.

Sadly true - a quick look around some of the topics on here should be enough to convince anyone that IFL was always on a looser.

It seems to me though that IFL when he first took over was a lot more visible - radio shows/tv etc - but in recent times he seems to have vanished into the background almost toally.

What is beyond dispute though is that the official information which comes out of the club is sometimes sadly lacking, perhaps there is a middle ground somewhere - a little more information - even just to kill off rumours would help.

Wasn't Lenegan on Radio Manchesters Thursday night RL programme recently?

Good point. If an open question and answer session doesn't work, change the format not give up entirely on the idea of a fans forum or whatever.

I can't believe a top businessman like IL can't organise such things better in the light of previous experience.

First question should be about that damn flag.

have a box at the door where you put your written questions...then censor them, taking out the banned/moronic ones.....hang on, will there be anything left to answer?

The clubs has been transformed since IL took over.
It was a financial train wreck before he bought the club.
For the past three seasons the club has won trophies and made a profit.
This business over Sam's rumoured departure will be a real test of IL and the club's ability to deal with it and matters following.
When we all find out most of the facts (not all) I do think we will come to term with the fact that IL will have worked in the best interests of the club in both financial and playing staff.

A rare appearance of late!

So how many times have other clubs chairman been on that programme?

Im not comparing him to other chairmen - but in his early days at Wigan he seemed to be giving interviews all over the place, he was on various radio show quite regularly. Of late he seems to have taken more of a backseat role or a lower profile anyway.That's how I see it.

Koukash and Hudgell have been embarrassing this year. AFAIC, IL can keep his low profile, but I do want honesty. Don't treat the fans as mugs. Make announcements when it's right, but bear in mind these days information is out there, so why bother keeping quiet or denying the flaming obvious.
This thing with Sam is a massive test. If he's going, tell us now. If he's staying, tell us now. Please don't string us along and treat us with contempt we don't deserve.

What if that decision has not yet been made? Perhaps, no news is simply that, there is nothing to report.

we are top of the league and i have never felt so low.we are now just a feeder club for the nrl wigan rugby league club r.i.p.

Well over the last few years we have lost a number of players. But we never got any info/news/reports as to why.

And therein lies why people speculate as to just why we are losing decent players every year.

We cannot seem to keep a settled team.

It's almost a new team every year.

Koukash is always on there and Smith(coach) of Warrington too.

Joe Lydon and Mick Hogan were the driving forces behind communicating with fans etc. Hogan left things and events like the fans forum stopped.