The Old Curiosity Shop on Hilton Street

[MattyB]

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this site, although I have watched Wigan since 1982 when I was a wee lad - Gary Stephens and Dennis Ramsdale to name but a few.
I wandered into the old shop on the corner of Hilton Street to purchase any Wigan RL related items suitable for my 8 months old son ( i.e. Pyjamas / T-Shirt etc. ) Has anyone actually ventured into that shop lately, talk about Steptoe and Son, photo's available to purchase of Inga the Winger, okay he was a superb player but the club is about as up to date as its official website.
My father in law bought my son a Man Utd Full Kit ( didn't go down too well with me being a Man City Fan ( Did it on purpose !! )), not only was this available but was bought in Bolton !!
It just concerns me that the club hasn't given a damn about the supporters since the start of Super League. I cannot complain about the stadium, nor the admission price which is great value, it just seems to me that the enthusiasm at the club in particulary Maurice Lindsay has disappeared. In the old days his Fizzog was never of the telly, now you hardly see him. I remember shovelling snow with 200 speccies at 7am on a morning at Central Park with my dad before a Challenge Cup Tie, Maurice gleaming offering us a brew when the job was done. The match was played and he bragged on the BBC about it !! Those days have gone ( not just because of Summer Rugby & Undersoil heating ), we cared for the club and it cared for us in a way. I know I am being sentimental (after a can or 2 ) but I would love for my son to experience the same sort of feelings as I did. But I think watching Wigan these days has become impersonal and the fault lies with the Board.
Does anyone else agree who remembers back to the early eighties.

[Bilko]

I've yet to find a fan who disagrees with that. It's very sad but money is all that matters not pleasing us the folk who pay to follow the team home and away week in, week out.

Take the official site is a clear example of them not giving a damn and only caring about cash. Loads of adverts on there aren't there? But zero content.

Basically we are used to a poor official site now. The club aren't perpared to do anything so people like Mike here and me on my cherryandwhite.co.uk site will just have to do it ourselves. I haven't made a penny out of my site and I've spend days on it. In fact it's cost me about £40. I think the official is about to re-launch. I just hope people stick with the fan sites that care!

[Bilko]

Don't know if you ever went on the pre match entertainment site but the address for that now forwards to the official site so thats what makes me assume they are going to run the offy. But I could be putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5! Not for the first time.

[PD]

"But I could be putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5!"

I'm putting 2n2 together and getting that horrible "we don't want to spend money on the fans" result !!
Went to the sundown disco site - Doesn't register anymore !!
Went to the official site - Although someone has applied a new coat of paint & put upto date notices up.............It's the same Advert infested site it was before.

Wonder who'll be running Wigan's pre match now ?
Whelan didn't buy a media company recently did he ? Or am I being cynical ?

[AJ]

i rememeber talkin to bilko about this on msn a while back

i wonder whether the sudden downturn in things like the pre match site is anyhting to do with a certain ROCK FM taking over as a sponsor

and am wondering if our pre match entertainment and i use that word loosely will be done by ROCK FM next season

howeva i still suspect were stuck with gordon and his uncle joes mintball gag1

[johnsons_babexx]

It was all lost between fans and club when we moved to the jjb in my opinion. At central park (rip) everything was together eg shop and ground. Nowadays to get any merchandised (can u call it that with what they have available at jjb's) unless u park around the soccer dome and walk down to the stadium its out of the way. The shop on Hilton street used to be packed with things and it used to be packed with fans. But now there is not alot of things to buy anyway and can u blame hilton street for not buying things in cos probably not alot of people use it anymore.

Also when we were down at cp everything was so much open i remember going down in school hols and watching the team training and talking with the players now u cant watch them train from what i gather. Ok i can understand that u cant have people walking around the jjb but they could once in a while have a session where u could go in and watch them training.

Ne way these are just my opinions im sure some 1 will disagree with this but there u go.

[super-kris]

well i am not 2 pleased with the products jjb has to offer to us the fans. i would like 2 see a better shop moved nearer the ground just like we had a central park. but i suppose i would be gettin my hopes up as it will never happen.

[DaveO]

Although I can, I don't think you have to e able to remember back to the eighties to agree with what MattyB says.

As to a relaunch of the official site because the pre-match one has gone, don't count on it.

I assume the pre-match one has gone because Mick Hannan has gone. Wasn't he responsible for that site?

Back, to MattyB's post. I have to say reading it just highlights the difference between then and now. I don't think fans turning out to shovel snow off the pitch just would happen (if we were still in playing in winter) because some sort of link between the fans and club seems to have gone.

I spent most of the eighties living in London and felt more a part of the club then than I do now!

I'd come home to Wigan, visit the club shop follow it avidly in the press and so on.

I remember Graham West being an absolute star behind the scenes. We once lost a ticket to an inportant game down the back of the mantlepeice and he fell over backwards to help us out.

Now we have a bunch of faceless employess in the ticket office who work for the JJB stadium company not Wigan RL.

What I don't understand is given Lindsay has always, despite what some may say, been Wigan RL through and through and as MattyB points out the kind of person to be proud of fans shuffling snow off the pitch - is why he can't see the need for more fab-club ties.

The lack of publicity about matches around the town (no posters like there used to be when I grew up) is just one thing he could do.

As a season ticket holder the only thing I ever get apart from the ticket is the JJB stadium company advertising the function room.

Has he got his head in the sand? Why can't he implement some more fan oriented stuff?

I recall when Ian Riddoch was here I think he wanted to set up a club shop in a vacant part of the JJB but was knocked back.

Why can't Whelan and JJB set up a specialist shop within the stadium specialising in Warriors and Latics merchandice?

Simple stuff like this would go some way to getting back that sense of involvement for the fans that is no longer there.

Dave

[Pie_Eater14]

i think the soccerdome is our specialised warriors and latics shop, well stand cos thats all there is but even thats half full with mugs.I thought the merchandise would be better when patrick came along but its probably got worse (at least adidas was a respectibal brand) and the useful things they do like coats and things are all latics. In warriors there is a pair of pants, jacket a polo shirt and a shirt- thats it.
as for the eighties i wouldnt know much about then i was only born in 1987 but iv seen videos of matches like manly and all the derby's and the atmosphere looked electric in everyone of them. Shaun