I think IL gets some seriously undue stick on here, he couldnt have done anything about the stadium fiasco, thats the bottom line. If he'd have come out and said stuff in the press surely it would just have meant it was more likely to happen again in the future.


As for not signing another prop, i suppose you have to think about the salary cap, if managed properly you'll have a certain amount for the backs, certain amount for the forwards, and when you consider we have 5 props (who all are good enough for first team in theory) that will already take up a massive chunk of the salary cap that then would have needed to be taken from somewhere else. If fielden wasn't such a pansy, we would be near the top, i genuinely believe that, we'd have someone leading from the front and a bit of strength. It's not lenegans fault that the best prop in the world has decided he's gonna soil himself when faced with anyone running towards him.


I think a huge amount of work has been done in taking the club away from being a Wigan Latics subsidary and back to being Wigan RL who can support itself from it's own revenue, restructuring the personnel to actually be able to manage the club and generally sorting out the whelan created by turning it into a branch of latics.


Lenegan, keep it up (just sack noble next week though

)



p.s shouldnt votes 5 + 6 be more attributed to noble than lenegan?

But how are they down to him?

Stadium Fiasco? Do people expect him to buy the stadium on top of the club? He is no mug he would not have earned the cash he has if he were, so why think he could have got the stadium rights in the deal is beyond me.

Regards signings-it has been widley publicised IL and BN meet 4 times a year to decide on a recruitment policy, so how is the recruitment of backs over forwards down to IL, he may have a part in it but clearly he must be advised by his coaches. It is clear BN was reluctant to throw Tomkins and Ainscough in and signed accordingly.

Gleeson-if signing the most gifted British centre of his generation is a bad thing i wonder that people want from the club.

I agree with a lot of what you have said there, but like it or not IL has had a fair amount of stick on here (unfairly you may say). Re: The stadium, okay the playoff issue was unavoidable, but the Good Friday game should have been sorted last summer with DW. Re: Vote 5 - well 40% disagree with you, thats why it's open to debate, hence that's why its included.
Vote 6 - A high transfer fee was paid (and it didn't come out of Noble's pocket).

I didn't realise my opinion carried so much weight



I voiced my concerns over Goulding going the other way. Once he wasn't part of the deal, no problem.

Dave

Gotta say i'm happy with the way things are going under IL;

Mick Hogan has been a quality appointment,
We managed to get Gleeson AND send Mathers to Wire,
The accelerator squad shows increased attention to youth development
Fans forum has given fans access they've never had before
Richards & Tommy signed up
IL has finally started to spread the wealth and we have the makings of a good squad with depth which we haven’t had in years
Best home kit in years imo.

I’m not saying it’s been all good but when I look back to the times under Whelan I’m glad we’ve not got a kn0b in charge anymore.

It’s a massive task taking us back to the top again and I’m sure we’re moving in the right direction under him.

Please see my "Turning the Ship around" Thread!

Please show me ANy Chairman or Club that Hasn't made mistakes!

Well 39% disagree with you there.








This was very emotive at the time, still is in fact, regardless of fault. To have left it out of the poll would have been glaringly obvious.




I agree, tremendous signing, just had this down as a filler. Although one person doesn't agree on the poll.

Exactly.

For every negative under Lenagans ownership theirs been plenty of positives and he's doing a fine job.

I had my doubts about him not wanting to splash out on big name players but the signing of Gleeson involving a transfer fee proved he'll pay for the right quality.

I'm happy with how things have gone since he's been here especially when you consider the mess the club was in when he took over.

The stadium fiasco was a mistake because when buying the club he failed to secure adequate rights to play at the JJB and failed to warn the supporters in advance that this kind of thing could happen.

Darrell Goulding Registered on here then is he??

Have we ever had a "what's the best thing IL has done since he got here" poll ?

I honestly think if IL went on holiday for a fortnight and found a cure for cancer on the day he came back, there'd be people on here wondering why he didn't do it before he went.

Couldn't agree more. All the other things can be rectified, the stadium issue sent a message of weakness, and we will continue to be exploited.

First of all, I'm very happy that IL is in charge of Wigan RL and I'm confident of the future of the club whilst the club is in his hands.

My only criticism was the stadium fiasco. It felt that we as a club accepted the decision by Whelan and that we were happy to go along with it. We didn't seem to publicly challenge the decision and aknowledge that Dave Whelan was out of order.

He wasn't

Yes he was!

He lied, and acted like a 3 year old throwing his dummy out of the pram.

I dont ses how IL can be blamed for the pack being weak.

We have 5 props 3 experienced ones who 2 of those are not performing over a long term basis now.

That is the coaches fault for not getting them to perform, so i suppose thats a argument for the extending nobles contract being a mistake.

With regards to the stadium 'fiasco' he hasnt fully bought the club yet, and wont be doing so for the forseable future, so i think it would be a bit rich of him telling whelan what he could and couldnt do about the pitch. Although i do think DW was being a bit awkward, but i guess you dont make that much money by being anything but.

Because it was clearly his decision not to recruit another prop. He was quoted soon after he took over as saying we had 7 props on the books (he was IIRC including a couple of junior players in that) so would not be signing another.

Since then we have not recruited another prop but have signed several backs.

I think he evidence is pretty clear.



I agree the coach should get them (and the whole team!) to perform but the fact remains 99% of posters on here have said we a need a new prop for about two years and when IL took over he said we had enough of them.

Dave

But even with only 5 props, if they all gave 100% and played like we know they can (mentioning no names) then we would be able to cope until the end of the season. As it stands we desperately need cover in that area because they are not of the standard they should be

Dave,

Are you saying 5 props isnt enough?

Granted i wouldnt have signed Robberts, as i think he is Vialeki Mk II, just stands there and doesnt really look for work or look interested, however with Gleason that may change.

I wouldnt have signed riddell either, as while higham isnt great, we didnt really need a 9 as much as we needed a 6.

That for me is the biggest let down, we new barrett was leaving and did nothing about it!

The 5 props we have are as good on paper as any other front 5, i do realise that the game is played on grass not paper, but again i dont see how this is IL's fault that fielden is poop and Coley has only started playing come contract time!

I wouldn't say it was IL fault for ignoring recruitment of a good pack. I am sure IL would have passed some of this responsibility to BN as he brought in Fielden who is the main cause of the problem.

BN is ultimately responsible for this problem because he has maxed out the budget for the pack with a prop who can be a good squad player but not the leader we really need.

IL will probably need a large chunk of the salary cap for this 'leader' which probably isn't available at the moment. This hasn't been helped by the recruitment of Amos, Gleeson & Riddell. These players have come available at the wrong time when we really needed a leader but I agree with IL decision to recruit these players now and not let the opportunities pass.

IL will be looking for long term solutions. The backs are now sorted! The forwards need more recruitment / replacements. We can't have everything all at once and we need to take our recruitment opportunities when we can, even if this leaves us with a short term problem. I can't criticise IL yet. If we don't recruit a leader when the opportunity comes available I will then start my criticism.

Weren't all the 5 props under contract at the time IL took over????????

What was he supposed to do then? Sign 2 x more and have weaknesses in the Backs????????

he could have off loaded the poor playters and brought in better by now.
he managed it with gleeson and mathers. off loading mathers was a minor miracle. so he should certainly be able to do it with the forwards . thats just my opinion anyhow

Sign 1 prop and Gleeson rather than Mathers and Roberts. I think Roberts will come good for us but not a player we need.

That's about the size of it. The advantage to having roberts is it offers the chance of rotating the backs as form/fatigue/tactics (i know i know) demands. However, it's a luxury in the backs when we need the basics in the pack.

This is really the issue. They are not performing and so it is THE issue that needed sorting out. Packs win matches, the backs decide by how many.

A stubborn, "We have 5 props so I ain't buying any more" attitude does not solve the problem.

We have signed backs we don't really need or could do without which are IMO Roberts, Phelps and maybe Smith as well. That ought to be enough cap space for at least one top class prop.

So what if we signed another top class prop we ended up with Fielden sat in the stands watching a prop equivalent to his former self doing the job for us?

Better that than having a really good back line that is running around behind a beaten pack. Barrett was wasted in the two year she was here IMO.

IMO the signing of Roberts was completely an IL thing and so given the pack is poop I think it is fair to say IL can take the blame for not rectifying the situation with better recruitment.

I am sure IL thinks the players we do have in the pack should do better but he must have realised by now this isn't going to happen.

Dave