Why are we not able to retain players?

[cpwigan]

Ordinarily, the name (Wigan) and success means that player rarely if ever want to leave unless they are well past their best. Yet, we have had several players all seeking to leave Or forced to leave? Sportsmen rarely leave successful clubs so why is this happening at Wigan?

[Wes]

They are paid peanuts and have to be thankful of living the dream at the moment.

Only investment players are paid well but when sold a profit will be made.

[Dobby]

We seem to have a big issue retaining players once they get to their mid 20's and seem reluctant to pay players what they worth. I personally think its a mixture of money and the way players are treated. People can rave about Burgess, Hampshire et al but the way things stand they will all be away by their mid 20s too, if not before.

There seems to be a philosophy that everyone is replaceable, and that may be true to an extent. However it is not true, in my opinion, when you are losing 3,4 or 5 players out of your starting 17 every season. I really think we are getting to that tipping point where we are losing far too many players and are getting to the stage where there are very few senior players left who know the culture of the club and who can help the younger players.

[Dobby]

They are paid peanuts and have to be thankful of living the dream at the moment.

Only investment players are paid well but when sold a profit will be made.

Yes younger players get paid peanuts and many have rejected much more lucrative offers from elsewhere to play for their home town club. They expect to be rewarded down the line and considering the amount of players that leave for better offers in their mid 20s this does not happen. Players like Hansen and Goulding have been at Wigan since kids and the fact they gave up, or are going to give up, testimonials to leave says it all. Apart from O'Loughlin and McIlorum, who is rumoured to be off to the NRL when his contract is up anyway, who are our home grown senior players?

I certainly do think the club sometimes pushes this loyalty too far. Fans may love things like contract extensions in the clubs favour and Lenegan playing hard ball at contract time and think that its great business but I am sure that players do not. They however accept these things because they dont want to leave the club. I think though that after a while players think enough is enough, particularly when they have already won everything, and it is no surprise that they leave.

[DaveO]

Sportsmen rarely leave successful clubs so why is this happening at Wigan?

Good point and a very good question.

I think people forget (or if younger never knew!) that Mo Lindsay didn't secure or retain players signatures just by money.

The same applied to coaches. John Monie took quite a lot of persuading over and above the salary to come here.

ML did it by selling the club and its aspirations.

I am not convinced that is the case now.

I get the impression the attitude is you should be grateful to play here but that has never been the case before.

Pre salary cap in the 80's and 90's Leeds had more money on the table than we did. We still got and kept the best players.

Now anyone seems to be up for sale.

[DaveO]

I certainly do think the club sometimes pushes this loyalty too far. Fans may love things like contract extensions in the clubs favour and Lenegan playing hard ball at contract time and think that its great business but I am sure that players do not.

Why love these things? Fans should love winning trophies not getting big transfer fees!

Yet when we sell a player for a high fee IL gets praise as if it is a Monopoly game we are playing where the object of the exercise is to accrue the most money. Not win the most trophies.

I agree the club name and loyalty seems to be being pushed too far. It's never been the case you didn't have to sell Wigan to players despite the history.

[Kaii]

Apart from O'Loughlin and McIlorum, who is rumoured to be off to the NRL when his contract is up anyway, who are our home grown senior players?

I can actually give Micky's direct response about this rumour spread by idiots who know absolutely nothing about what he has planned. Micky before he resigned had several offers from the NRL but after his time in Australia during the WCC and the disrespect shown towards the English game, he has no intention of ever playing in the NRL. He also mentioned that this is the general opinion now and all this talk about players desperate to get to the NRL is rubbish.

This was said at the riversiders meeting last month

[butt monkey]

Apart from O'Loughlin and McIlorum, who is rumoured to be off to the NRL when his contract is up anyway, who are our home grown senior players?

I can actually give Micky's direct response about this rumour spread by idiots who know absolutely nothing about what he has planned. Micky before he resigned had several offers from the NRL but after his time in Australia during the WCC and the disrespect shown towards the English game, he has no intention of ever playing in the NRL. He also mentioned that this is the general opinion now and all this talk about players desperate to get to the NRL is rubbish.

This was said at the riversiders meeting last month

Ditto Ben Flower. His agent has been touting him to all and sundry including the NRL. He has told him this has to stop. He has no intention of playing in the NRL whatsoever!

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Ordinarily, the name (Wigan) and success means that player rarely if ever want to leave unless they are well past their best. Yet, we have had several players all seeking to leave Or forced to leave? Sportsmen rarely leave successful clubs so why is this happening at Wigan?

It's simple isn't it? Shaun Wane's poor man management skills, is that the response you was looking for?

[Owd Codger]

Perhaps its because better ones are coming off the conveyor belt!

When you have a large squad of good players of all ages like Wigan, it is only to be expected that there will be a lot of comings and goings, especially if they fail to deliver on a consistent basis.