SMITH SIGNS FOR WIGAN!!!

[gpartin]

Great signing. Anyone who says he is a 1 season wonder has abviously not watched NRL. I like the fact that IL is willing to give the kid a chance, I don't think we can understand the pressure NRL players are under in Australia and particularly with a condition like bipolar disorder. If managed well through monitored medication there is no reason why he won't be a success.

Bipolar disorder can actually help players on the pitch due to a sense of invincibility at times and with the correct drugs the periods of depression can be eliminated.

Give the lad a chance

[Matthew]

Matthew sorry but all I hear are empty promises from IL and where the hell is Lydon? Whatsmore, the messages are like the rhetoric / empty promises you get from politicians. So thus far all IL has proven is he is a politician. He has lied (Higham) and he is OTT on how good things are/players are. Forgive me I do not want a politician, I want somebody who turns this club into a winning club.

How can you say the promises are empty and that IL will not turn Wigan back into a winning club? He's not even been here for a season yet! He's still got the team from the previous administration! At least give the bloke a fair crack of the whip. If we still haven't won anything in five years - then I'll happily join you in putting the boot into the bloke. You criticise posters for not giving academy players the chance to settle in - yet you want rid of the chairmen before he has been at the club for 12 months! Let's not forget; he hasn't bought Tesco - the club is costing him money if the accounts are to be believed; so he isn't just here to make a quick buck!

As for being a politician - all good chairmen are! Hetherington and McManus are politicians and it hasn't done their respective clubs any harm! To the best of our knowledge, IL has yet to give out any contracts worth a king's ransom (no pun intended, wire fans) to anyone - would you have wanted us to pay silly money for an over-the-hill Aussie as we have done in previous times? Or for a superstar who leaves their form in the southern hemisphere? IL does not suffer from this condition like ML did - and he's not distracted by wendyball like DW was either!

Can Trent be replaced? Yes. Why not offer Saints 400,000 for Pryce, NRL clubs are having huge financial issues, knock on the doors of those clubs and say we want Mateo or a similar quality player. Prince has been snubbed for rep honours, have a go. Hell we did not even compete for Bailey.

You've lost me here! You don't want a player who has had a few problems with drinking and fighting - but you want a player that has been banned for sexually assaulting a player on the pitch????

Just because Prince hasn't made rep honours this season; doesn't mean that he is happy to turn his back on ever getting them - what about Origin? A player that has yet to achieve anything on the biggest stage is surely more likely to want to stay and prove their point.

Of course Barret can be replaced. No one player is bigger than the club. If Hanley and Edwards can be replaced than I am sure Trent can. But breaking the bank for a big name Aussie is no guarantee of success and I don't want a player coming to the club purely for the money. When I heard Hodgson's comments on joining the Giants for next year; I was pleased we hadn't signed him - all he talked about was making the most money possible and how few options he had.

IL went to Australia and who knows what discussions went on. It seems likely that Riddell and Phelps were sorted before he left - who knows who else he spoke to whilst he was over there (apart from Smith, obviously)?

Your opinions of Noble are well documented and that's your opinion and you have every right to it - most people on here have their doubts with his tactics at times. However you are alienating people by being negative for negatives sake with your "the academy lads can do no wrong and the imports can do no right" approach - with the greatest respect; you're starting to sound like a cracked record.

[Nine]

Tim Smith is a very shrewd signing, IMO. He has all the talent but there is a question mark about whether he can produce it because of the problems he has/had. With bi-polar disorder, surely one of the key things is to have it diagnosed in the first place and then have the person concerned admit it to themselves and work with the doctors to vastly reduce even eliminate the symptoms. Surely a lot of Smith's off-field problems came before his condition was either diasgnosed or before he acknowledged that he needed help.

If he's straightened out and if he settles at Wigan he has half a season to get to know the place and the team/coaching staff and will then step up to fill the gap at 6 next year.

If he doesn't settle or fails to produce, he'll leave; if he succeeds we'll have a world-class stand-off again for a while, then he'll probably relaunch his Aussie career, by which time we'll have a replacement lined up. It was significant that Ian Lenagan referred to the problems of finding a replacement at 6 "at such short notice". IL is slowly but surely rebuilding this club, I think.

I'd say we are in a win-win situation here but for one thing - if Smith fails he have a problem for next year at stand-off. Sam Tomkins has talent but needs more time before we can rely on him week in, week out.

Anyway, - welcome, Tim. As long as you give your all in the cherry and white you have our support.

BTW, cpwigan - as it's been raised by others, I too must say that I've noticed your posts descend further and further into negativity and vitriol in recent weeks. Try to chill out a bit.

[the-Bowtun-Warrior]

yawn..... :baaa:

[nathan_rugby]

Anyways, i hope this is a signing that brian noble really approves of.

If noble thinks that tim can fit into his plans then i hope we do well having tim smith at 6.

[cpwigan]

Did this site not slag Coley off when we signed him last year before he even played a game he has turned out to a grafter in the team.I dont know whats happening on here some posters just slag off for the fun of it .Lets look positive and not negative lets give them a chance to see what they can do and that goes for JL and IL too.

Great example that they did Jaws. Same goes for Carmont. The expectation from the "older generation" is really high at Wigan because of the take it for granted success of the past.
Need to come to grips with it being a lot harder and closer competition because of the salary cap which our chairmen at the time introduced! Irony eh?

I don't see how people can slag players off before they've even worn the shirt yet. Utter madness. I wonder if Saints fans were slagging off Lyon before he played for Saints? Similar situation with Lyon and Smith in terms of being out of the game.

As far as I am aware Carmont and Coley were not criticised.

[GeoffN]

As far as I am aware Carmont and Coley were not criticised.

Coley certainly was. Not a Wigan standard player; Salford reject, etc etc.

Remember IL said when he arrived it would take 3 or 4 years to turn the club around; everyone agreed then, what's changed now? He also said, and most agreed, that too many players were being paid too much by ML (hence the cap problems).

[cpwigan]

Matthew sorry but all I hear are empty promises from IL and where the hell is Lydon? Whatsmore, the messages are like the rhetoric / empty promises you get from politicians. So thus far all IL has proven is he is a politician. He has lied (Higham) and he is OTT on how good things are/players are. Forgive me I do not want a politician, I want somebody who turns this club into a winning club. Can Trent be replaced? Yes. Why not offer Saints 400,000 for Pryce, NRL clubs are having huge financial issues, knock on the doors of those clubs and say we want Mateo or a similar quality player. Prince has been snubbed for rep honours, have a go. Hell we did not even compete for Bailey.

It's negative-for-the-sake-of-it nonsense like this that is driving posters away from this once informative but now drearily uneventful message board.

The above post is the biggest heap of schizer I've seen in weeks. You haven't got a clue what's going on behind the scenes, either with regard to players, staff or finances, yet you feel free to liberally tar everyone with the brush of incompetence. You're even knocking Lydon because we haven't heard from him since he was interviewed on telly last week. Crikey, talk about scrabbling around for things to complain about. And as for your comments re. Ian Lenagan, you must be the only person in Wigan who can't see how he's slowly but surely rebuilding us after the wholesale mismanagement of the last few years. Just out of interest, how do you know he didn't offer 400 grand for Pryce? How do you know he hasn't spoken to a number of top Aussies? How do you know that we haven't got more signings to come for next year? The truth is that you don't - you don't have a bloody clue about anything. You just write him off as 'a politician', as if that's something to be ashamed of. Good grief, I'm glad he's a politician - thanks to his diplomatic skills, most club chairmen and players' agents will now talk to us again. Trust me, it wasn't like that this time last year.

Sorry, but I'm sick of this kind of undiluted schizer pouring from the gobs of idiotic, endlessly moaning Wigan fans. No doubt you were one of those miserable gets who used to stand at the back of the Spion Kob, slagging Hanley and Edwards off every match.

Do us a favour and put a sock in it.

Far from it thankyou. I do not even complain/moan at current matches. I certainly never did so when the club was producing quality RL on a regular basis. It iscertainly not negative for negatives sake. I care and see NO PROGRESS, only a club going backwards.

And as for your comments re. Ian Lenagan, you must be the only person in Wigan who can't see how he's slowly but surely rebuilding us after the wholesale mismanagement of the last few years.

All you have done is whine because I dare to question/criticise. Time for you to put up or shut up. Wholesale mismanagement/rebuilding. Explain/state. IL inherited the most prestigous RL club in the world. A club that had finished 1 match short of Wembley, 1 match short of Old Trafford. A club with rising support. A club with improving, healthier finances. A club that signed world class players from overseas (Trent, Feka) - Hardly overpaid, overrated as you CLAIM. Many 25 and under age wise players of quality. Most Wigan born/produced.

WHOLESALE MISMANAGEMENT? Remember WHOLESALE

State? Give your wholesale list

MORE IMPORTANTLY

State/give examples of what IL/JL have actually done to rebuild this crippled club (Your view, not mine)

Anybody else care to say what they have actually done?

[cpwigan]

As far as I am aware Carmont and Coley were not criticised.

Coley certainly was. Not a Wigan standard player; Salford reject, etc etc.

Remember IL said when he arrived it would take 3 or 4 years to turn the club around; everyone agreed then, what's changed now? He also said, and most agreed, that too many players were being paid too much by ML (hence the cap problems).

Geoff, his timescale was a politician making excuses. Sounds like Gordon Brown, it will be okay in 2 years time. How many of you believe politicians? The club did not need turning around. You do not give up 4 years. The salary cap is fluid. Some of you claim Higham/Calders will release a large amount of the cap, Trent is our highest paid player. Those 3 alone give the club huge room on the cap. Bailey? another who could go soon.

[Hawkeye]

Matthew sorry but all I hear are empty promises from IL and where the hell is Lydon? Whatsmore, the messages are like the rhetoric / empty promises you get from politicians. So thus far all IL has proven is he is a politician. He has lied (Higham) and he is OTT on how good things are/players are. Forgive me I do not want a politician, I want somebody who turns this club into a winning club. Can Trent be replaced? Yes. Why not offer Saints 400,000 for Pryce, NRL clubs are having huge financial issues, knock on the doors of those clubs and say we want Mateo or a similar quality player. Prince has been snubbed for rep honours, have a go. Hell we did not even compete for Bailey.

It's negative-for-the-sake-of-it nonsense like this that is driving posters away from this once informative but now drearily uneventful message board.

The above post is the biggest heap of schizer I've seen in weeks. You haven't got a clue what's going on behind the scenes, either with regard to players, staff or finances, yet you feel free to liberally tar everyone with the brush of incompetence. You're even knocking Lydon because we haven't heard from him since he was interviewed on telly last week. Crikey, talk about scrabbling around for things to complain about. And as for your comments re. Ian Lenagan, you must be the only person in Wigan who can't see how he's slowly but surely rebuilding us after the wholesale mismanagement of the last few years. Just out of interest, how do you know he didn't offer 400 grand for Pryce? How do you know he hasn't spoken to a number of top Aussies? How do you know that we haven't got more signings to come for next year? The truth is that you don't - you don't have a bloody clue about anything. You just write him off as 'a politician', as if that's something to be ashamed of. Good grief, I'm glad he's a politician - thanks to his diplomatic skills, most club chairmen and players' agents will now talk to us again. Trust me, it wasn't like that this time last year.

Sorry, but I'm sick of this kind of undiluted schizer pouring from the gobs of idiotic, endlessly moaning Wigan fans. No doubt you were one of those miserable gets who used to stand at the back of the Spion Kob, slagging Hanley and Edwards off every match.

Do us a favour and put a sock in it.

:eusa2: :eusa2: :eusa2: