IL stated that he nor the club would make a statement until the process had run it's course - the next stage takes place on the 21st August.

I got the impression from earlier comments that IL made that the club are looking for a possible future return by Hock.

i still love you, with your attitude towards your team and players, you (imo) are partly responsible for destroying players self belief and playing ability, the amunition supplied to you, as you call it, has the potential to kill! i firmly believe that you should get behind your team, encourage and promote positive attitudes. which you fail to do.

as a wire fan i say keep up the good work, i wish i had a few of your players mobile numbers so that you could speak to them sat morning pre match






oh and thanks for mathers

Sounds like we're in for big things in 2011 then and if IL doesn't deliver he will have no excuses.

Presumably Noble wants to go to Oz at the end of next season then?

Cheers for that.

Cant believe people are complaining about IL doing due dilligence on players. Just because he goes over to Aus to look for players, doesnt mean he has to sign someone. Vialiki any one?

Do we really want to sign players on the back of promotional videos and agent talk, surley people remember Doc Murray!

With regards, the players, I personnally dont have a problem with calling bad performances/play, but to single out people and have a go, is not on.

Whilst I dont think Karl Pryce is as good as some do, I certainly didnt think it was a good thing when he went down injured. Did i question his attitude, yes of course i did, but we all want (or i hope we do) the same thing, and that is a successfull wigan side.

Lets try something novel, next time a poster goes a bit overboard on the personall front, someone have a quiet word. Is this in the remit of the moderators? By no means stop people critiquing play, but some of the things said about certain non wigan born players is beyond the pale

The forums certanly seem to be serving their purpose both for the club and the supporters that attend.

Things appear more positively after the forums have taken place and in the short term that can only be a good thing in terms of P.R. but at the same time can be disastourous if the club fail to deliver longer term.

However the news that the coaching situation for 2010 has not progressed is a concern.

Did anyone mention Stephen Kearney and if we made an approach?

John you're wrong on this one. As a musician (not dissimmilar to sportsmen egarding this point) the reaction of the people you are playing for is of paramount importance regarding performance.

Did he do due dilligence on Tim Smith, Karl Pryce and Martin Gleeson prior to them signing? All seem to have either off-filed or injury issues to me.

Sounds like an excuse to me.

If you have the confidence and backing of your conductor and your bandmates surely the rantings of a few mindless idiots would not put you off.

To claim i am wrong point blank is a bit silly, as everyone has different experiences and personality traits.

What i am saying is if someone really is put off by a few boo boys despite having the full confidence of the coach, team mates and club they are not and should not be playing for Wigan RLFC, they do not have the temperament for playing at one of the biggest names in the game.

You can have all the skill in the world but if your confidence is so frail a few muppets giving you grief affects your performance you have high anxiety traits and will probably never perform to the level you are able to.

If the coach and club is doing its job giving the players confidence, which it seems in certain cases they are not, then the boo boys should not be a problem and should be disregarded as morons with a loud voice, nothing more nothing less, if they get to a player the coach and the club is not doing there job correctly.

As i said earlier smoke and mirrors for me, a case of deflecting the blame away from the actual fact of the matter.

Three things here. Firstly, I don't see how you can include Martin Gleeson in that list. Secondly, the club was very open that both Smith and Pryce were potentially problematic signings, and their contracts reflected this. Thirdly, anyone who carries out due diligence before making a major investment is NOT making excuses. They're taking a very sensible precaution.

Sean Long doesnt seem to have a problem when he gets booed.

He's largely not being vilified by his own fans though is he?

His GrandFather?

IL does due diligence to find out about players.
Bill Shankley used to asked once he had a lads name who he knew could play a bit, "Aye, but what's the lad really like?"
Same process,
Different generation,
Different language,
Different men!

i guess the proof of the pudding will be in the tasting when we see how players like O'Meley and Tronc go in SL.

Personally again i am still of the opinion there has been a bit of an error of judgement and we may have put all our eggs in one basket in Webb despite the massive risks involved in him getting/not getting as the case may be a visa.

More worryingly is the fact IFL continues to put dates to when we can expect a major impact/shift in signings this now seems to have moved for 2009 to 2010 to 2011. Sometimes less is more why he feels the need to build up the hopes of the fans then move the goal posts is beyond me. In cases like this i think its time he learned to not put such a specific time scale on things.

I don't consider having your name "boo-ed" by your own fans when it's announced as insignificant, do you? Nor the same fans cheering when you get injured. If you do, then there is no further discussion worthy of having.

As for claiming that my saying 'you are wrong' as being "a bit silly" all I can say is this. I know literally hundreds (if not thousands) of performers. I don't know a single one for whom the reaction of their fans has no bearing. It really doesn't matter if your bandmates think you're the best thing since sliced bread if your own fans are booing you. If you think it shouldn't matter I can safely say once again "you are wrong". Of course you could argue that your own single opinion has more validity than my own real world experience, as well as that of all my collegues. I prefer to think their (and in this case my) opinions carry more weight.

The opposite was true with Sean Long. His bad behaviour was practically encourged by his home fans, because they adored him so much that they immediately forgave his every misdeed ... even the ones that were a huge embarrassment to his club.

I also don't emember Sean Long ever being booed by his own fans...or am I missing something?

In the midst of a game, I'm sure a "Boo" sounds the same from whichever mouth it eminates, surely?

You make it sound though like the entire audience is booing him they are not, it is a minority of idiots who should be regarded as just that.

My own personal experiences are to do with being a pro player and coach myself but i guess they hold no weight over you as a musician.

I agree were the entire fan base booing the lad then clearly there would be an effect just as there would be if your entire audience was booing a musical performance, but this is not the case, a minority of morons do it, 95% of the fan base does not and the booing is a real sign of ignorance.

As stated earlier how often do you see a player who has had a bad time highlight the fact the fans giving them grief has focussed them to prove them wrong, if you crumble under the pressure of a few ignorant fans giving you grief i say again you do not have a big club mentality and should not be playing at one of the biggest names in the game.

But the knowledge of where that boo is coming from is equally self evident.

you are an idiot Sir Alex, I pay my money and if I feel like booing, I will, and if it upsets the poor overpaid prima donna then he is in the wrong profession. It does not make me ignorant merely passionate about the game I love and want to let my feeling be known.

and just because you think you are connected to the sport in some tenuous way does not make your opinion more worthy than anyone elses

Again if you think the treatment Mathers had was from a minority of morons, then you weren't at the same games as I attended. (all of them) The same goes for the Pryce incident.

As to your assertions of you being a pro player and coach. May I just point out that you had a go at me for pointing out this same fact in a recent debate. Just illustrating how easy it is to be a hypocrite and/or contradictory.

(relating to comments about IL on another point in this thread)

But addressing this point. If you've played in front of an audience of thousands in your carreer, were jeered and it had no effect on you, then I will apologise for dismissing your opinion. If on the other hand, as I suspect, you haven't, then it makes your opinion no more valid.

I never heard more than a minority of fans give either players OTT stick. Of course there were occasions when the players made an error and there were moans from the crowd but certainly not from the majority was there OTT abuse that was highlighted by IFL last night as a contributing factor to there failure at Wigan.

Lost me on the second paragraph.

Final paragraph relates to the temperament of the player if they are going to react to the scrutiny and have such frail confidence then they have a high anxiety trait something that top players do not have in there personality make up generally, and hence meaning that under the scrutiny of a top club such as Wigan is they were never going to succeed, regardless of the fans reaction to them, there are numerous examples of this in all sports where high trait anxiety players have move to major clubs and failed to meet the exception and returned to a less high profile club and continued with there career.

I have had my fair share of abuse as a player in my time mainly due to the fact i was not very good but it certainly did not affect my performance, if anything as stated earlier it gave me motivation to shut them up, not crumble at the thought of what they were saying.

As I say, he could do no wrong for them.

Betting on your own team to lose is an astonishing betrayal of your club. I don't know how I'd feel if one of our lot did that, but the Saints fans forgot it pretty quickly.

He did share the tip with half of St Helens from what I heard, so those that backed it will love him for sharing the knowledge. Those that didn't couldn't complain because they did have the chance to cash in.

I don't know any Saints speccies that were d one way or the other.