Phone call from Chief Exec!

[sheepdip]

Wigan through and through, as a child watched Latics in the Northern Premier League week in and week out, forget those who have jumped on the success. I will never support them again, I hope they go down and down, and down, and down, and down down down down down down down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same here watched Latics in NPL, went to many away games and sold match programmes for two years. Gave up watching them in 83. That was a different era and I enjoyed it at the time. I now detest them and all they currently stand for.

[cornwall drive warriors]

If you want to make it hurt, never buy a drink or food from the bars in and around the JJB stadium again, make it hurt, where he understands in his pocket. lets get behind the new management and now move forward, there is not much we can do this season. Lets not lower our self like they do in football. GET BEHIND THE TEAM, my 11 year old daughter and husband are now putting their holiday on hold and going to Fridays game, my other daughter, nephew and I are going by ourselves. We can win the Grand Final without Whelan, rugby will never leave this town as long as we comtinue to talk about it.

[DaveO]

Having seen the full text of the article in the observer the issue is clearly one of ground preparation (according to DW).

It is pretty obvious Wigan RL only tried to book the stadium after the Wire result came in (on the Saturday and not before) so that is less than a weeks notice.

What the article in the Obbo is saying is that it was not possible to get staff to prepare the stadium for the game on Saturday. That is what the getting staff to work through the night comment was about.

So DW's reason for this is that Wigan RL did not give enough notice to allow staff to be organised to sort the stadium out after our game and get to it ready for the soccer game on Saturday.

He is also saying (in effect) he needed longer notice to switch the soccer game which of course would have meant the staff were not needed on Saturday night had he done so staff unavailability would have been a none issue.

Is less than a week enough notice to move a Premiership game? Technically it probably is according to the rules but that is going to screw up a lot of people's arrangements which could include TV rights across the globe never mind here (all Prem games are televised somewhere).

Can you imagine the fury on here if a league game were switched with 6 days notice? There is enough complaining if Sky alter the fixtures.

DW's stance does not seem unreasonable to me and it all stems from the fact Wigan gave less than a weeks notice.

Had they given longer notice DW would not have a leg to stand on.

Dave

[Nine]

We could not have given more notice that we definitely needed the JJB, as the fact that we had a home tie was not confirmed until shortly before 8pm on Saturday.

How likely was the Premier League to allow a game to be moved on the off-chance if we had forced the issue with Whelan before that?

The Super league fixture list has been know for many months. If I were the "biggest Wigan rugby league fan in the world" I might have asked the powers that be in my other sport for a fixture change much earlier, to ensure my beloved Warriors got their home game if they qualified for it. I defintiely would have "moved heaven and earth" to get the fixture moved once it was confirmed. Did he even attempt it?

Aside from all that, I don't think 6 days' notice to get the stadium staff lined up to have a rugby game one day and a soccer game the next is too desperately unreasonable. Hull managed a turnaround in about three hours.

Having read Whelan's comments, especially those in the Obbo about turnaround time being the blame, the phrase that springs to my mind was "donlt p1$$ on my back and tell me it's raining!".

[Cruncher]

Having seen the full text of the article in the observer the issue is clearly one of ground preparation (according to DW).

It is pretty obvious Wigan RL only tried to book the stadium after the Wire result came in (on the Saturday and not before) so that is less than a weeks notice.

What the article in the Obbo is saying is that it was not possible to get staff to prepare the stadium for the game on Saturday. That is what the getting staff to work through the night comment was about.

So DW's reason for this is that Wigan RL did not give enough notice to allow staff to be organised to sort the stadium out after our game and get to it ready for the soccer game on Saturday.

He is also saying (in effect) he needed longer notice to switch the soccer game which of course would have meant the staff were not needed on Saturday night had he done so staff unavailability would have been a none issue.

Is less than a week enough notice to move a Premiership game? Technically it probably is according to the rules but that is going to screw up a lot of people's arrangements which could include TV rights across the globe never mind here (all Prem games are televised somewhere).

Can you imagine the fury on here if a league game were switched with 6 days notice? There is enough complaining if Sky alter the fixtures.

DW's stance does not seem unreasonable to me and it all stems from the fact Wigan gave less than a weeks notice.

Had they given longer notice DW would not have a leg to stand on.

Dave

So what you're basically saying is that you believe the very first excuse that Dave Whelan has come out with?

That's your choice of course - though it totally baffles me given the man's track-record of putting Latics' interests ahead of Wigan's during the last few years.

But what about Good Friday next year? How much advance warning did he need for that? You seem to be leading the charge to believe Whelan at present, but thus far I've yet to see an adequate response from you regarding this.

If it's only about advance notice - what about next Good Friday? Why is that game also going to have to be moved?

For Heaven's sake, he's doing exactly the same thing to us again, and yet Wigan fans like you still think he's being reasonable.

[gw]

Then why is he telling the RFL not to let us play at home on good friday as the latics are playing the following day, is the 6 months notice we are giving him not enough??

I'm sure he could have done something if he was indeed " the biggest rugby fan in wigan "

[Mike]

Having seen the full text of the article in the observer the issue is clearly one of ground preparation (according to DW).

It is pretty obvious Wigan RL only tried to book the stadium after the Wire result came in (on the Saturday and not before) so that is less than a weeks notice.

What the article in the Obbo is saying is that it was not possible to get staff to prepare the stadium for the game on Saturday. That is what the getting staff to work through the night comment was about.

So DW's reason for this is that Wigan RL did not give enough notice to allow staff to be organised to sort the stadium out after our game and get to it ready for the soccer game on Saturday.

He is also saying (in effect) he needed longer notice to switch the soccer game which of course would have meant the staff were not needed on Saturday night had he done so staff unavailability would have been a none issue.

Is less than a week enough notice to move a Premiership game? Technically it probably is according to the rules but that is going to screw up a lot of people's arrangements which could include TV rights across the globe never mind here (all Prem games are televised somewhere).

Can you imagine the fury on here if a league game were switched with 6 days notice? There is enough complaining if Sky alter the fixtures.

DW's stance does not seem unreasonable to me and it all stems from the fact Wigan gave less than a weeks notice.

Had they given longer notice DW would not have a leg to stand on.

Dave

This is all fair enough, if you believe the latest excuse - staff availability. Given Whelan's historical treatment of his staff I am dubious about this for a start. HOwever, the acid test will be next years Easter fixtures. We are scheduled a home game on the Friday. The Latics have a home game on the Satruday. Notice for this fixture is 6 months. If that goes ahead with no complaints then fair enough, however I predict that the RFL will not schedule our home fixture on Good Friday, but will instead have it at Knowsley Road. If this happens, it will be because Whelan will have told the club that he will not allow a RL match before a Prem game during that period and the club will have had to inform the RFL that our stadium is unavialable. Then we will see the true nature of Whelan. If I'm wrong, I will hold my hands up - but predicted this mess would happen 5mins before the end of Wires last match and I was right about that.

[Cruncher]

Having seen the full text of the article in the observer the issue is clearly one of ground preparation (according to DW).

It is pretty obvious Wigan RL only tried to book the stadium after the Wire result came in (on the Saturday and not before) so that is less than a weeks notice.

What the article in the Obbo is saying is that it was not possible to get staff to prepare the stadium for the game on Saturday. That is what the getting staff to work through the night comment was about.

So DW's reason for this is that Wigan RL did not give enough notice to allow staff to be organised to sort the stadium out after our game and get to it ready for the soccer game on Saturday.

He is also saying (in effect) he needed longer notice to switch the soccer game which of course would have meant the staff were not needed on Saturday night had he done so staff unavailability would have been a none issue.

Is less than a week enough notice to move a Premiership game? Technically it probably is according to the rules but that is going to screw up a lot of people's arrangements which could include TV rights across the globe never mind here (all Prem games are televised somewhere).

Can you imagine the fury on here if a league game were switched with 6 days notice? There is enough complaining if Sky alter the fixtures.

DW's stance does not seem unreasonable to me and it all stems from the fact Wigan gave less than a weeks notice.

Had they given longer notice DW would not have a leg to stand on.

Dave

This is all fair enough, if you believe the latest excuse - staff availability. Given Whelan's historical treatment of his staff I am dubious about this for a start. HOwever, the acid test will be next years Easter fixtures. We are scheduled a home game on the Friday. The Latics have a home game on the Satruday. Notice for this fixture is 6 months. If that goes ahead with no complaints then fair enough, however I predict that the RFL will not schedule our home fixture on Good Friday, but will instead have it at Knowsley Road. If this happens, it will be because Whelan will have told the club that he will not allow a RL match before a Prem game during that period and the club will have had to inform the RFL that our stadium is unavialable. Then we will see the true nature of Whelan. If I'm wrong, I will hold my hands up - but predicted this mess would happen 5mins before the end of Wires last match and I was right about that.

The simple truth is that Whelan could and should have been able to sort this problem out. He's supposed to be a Wigan fan, he's supposed to have guaranteed us a 50% share in the stadium.

Regardless of minor details about whether a request was put in writing or not - and none of us know how this process normally works - the only real villain here is David Whelan. Other people may be guilty of making errors. But in refusing to organise extra staff at five days notice (that was long enough to reshuffle entire regiments when I was in the army), he is NOT being reasonable and he IS stiffing Wigan RL. Again.

Attempts to spread the blame elsewhere are nothing but distractions from this indisputable fact.

[Fujiman]

Having seen the full text of the article in the observer the issue is clearly one of ground preparation (according to DW).

It is pretty obvious Wigan RL only tried to book the stadium after the Wire result came in (on the Saturday and not before) so that is less than a weeks notice.

What the article in the Obbo is saying is that it was not possible to get staff to prepare the stadium for the game on Saturday. That is what the getting staff to work through the night comment was about.

So DW's reason for this is that Wigan RL did not give enough notice to allow staff to be organised to sort the stadium out after our game and get to it ready for the soccer game on Saturday.

He is also saying (in effect) he needed longer notice to switch the soccer game which of course would have meant the staff were not needed on Saturday night had he done so staff unavailability would have been a none issue.

Is less than a week enough notice to move a Premiership game? Technically it probably is according to the rules but that is going to screw up a lot of people's arrangements which could include TV rights across the globe never mind here (all Prem games are televised somewhere).

Can you imagine the fury on here if a league game were switched with 6 days notice? There is enough complaining if Sky alter the fixtures.

DW's stance does not seem unreasonable to me and it all stems from the fact Wigan gave less than a weeks notice.

Had they given longer notice DW would not have a leg to stand on.

Dave

I saw him interviewed on sultana and he said there were two reasons, the short notice with the resulting staff issues but the main one was that the rules didn't allow itWhat a chump

[cpwigan]

Just as a caveat, here is the latest from Whelan in the WEP

Whelan insists he has every sympathy for Warrior fans forced to travel to Widnes instead of their own ground for the game. But he pointed out that he is under pressure to keep the JJB pitch in pristine condition following the widespread criticism of its poor state towards the end of the last football season.

He said "I'm a Wigan RL fan too and this is unfortunate.

But if we'd known earlier this might happen then perhaps we could have done something about it"

"The fact is I don't think they expected to get a home tie in the play-offs and by the time they knew last Saturday, it was too late to change. It's not possible to turn the ground around in 24 hours.

"We have done it once before but that was in the Championship

Subtle change instance?

1) We were told the problems re the ground had nothing to do with sharing but rather laying pitches on top of previous ones etc etc. Therefore, the new pitch should not suffer in any way by comparison.

2) But if we'd known earlier this might happen then perhaps we could have done something about it" So no gaurantee Whelan would have done anything.

3) It's not possible to turn the ground around in 24 hours. = We will never have 2 matches in a 24 hours timeframe come what may?

4) "We have done it once before but that was in the Championship As long as we have Premier League status tough titty?

Re Whelan. The man is shark. Within 24 hours, subtle changes in context, use of language. Trust him? Irrespective IL and co have to really up their game when dealing with a shark. Treat him as a door to door conman.