Planning for the future

[catman]

A few years ago l attended a fans forum at the DW where IFL gave a long lecture about the present and future make up of the Wigan squad. On the smart board he had a spreadsheet detailing which players would be playing this season, next season etc, which academy players would be coming through and which players we would have to bring in making comments such as next season we would need an experienced player in this position or that position. At the time I was impressed by this planning and I though it would bring success in the years to come which in some part it has.

However if you consider the goings on in the close season this thoughtful planning process seems to have gone out of the window. A mere five weeks before the start of the season we have released two or perhaps three of our regular first team squad. The simple question is why could this not have been done in October and given us time to recruit replacements or bring academy players up to speed. We have just had the World Cup if we had known we would have had space in our roster we could have sent the alleged recruitment department to have a look at some of the promising players from the likes of PNG, Fiji or Tonga like other superleague clubs seen to have done.

We were promised a new assistant coach, where is he? We brought in a much vaunted kicking coach and we still don't know who our best kicker is.

The whole thing stinks of mismanagement and confusion. IFL your club is looking like a laughing stock what are you going to do?

[DaveO]

I agree with you but you could argue the MM situation only came to a head after the WC BUT that is still no excuse because as you say the change has happened now.

Even if IL, for whatever reason, was looking to offload MM and has been doing do for a while it still looks event driven rather than planned. MM was at pre-season with the rest of them so whatever your views on him for a coach to have a player whipped away now is ludicrous "planning".

[jasonnlouise]

Maybe we don't know our best kicker because they're all fantastic or could that be my rose/cherry tinted glasses ????

[bill.inger]

i've been trying to draw comparisons between the last two seasons and the way things were from 1979 to 1983. then, we were a mix of English and Welsh players with just one overseas player, the superb Green Vigo and one outstanding player, George Fairburn. unfortunaely, we suffered relegation for one season but we scrambled back and held it.
Fairburn, as player/coach, was then sold to Hull and Maurice Bamford brought in a lad from Rochdale, Henderson Gill.
Murphy, the season after got Graham West here and the club took off after a couple of scratchy seasons with some good imports and some average ones, David Stephenson, an inspired buy was the ideal centre for Gilly. Our own crop of juniors fitted in nicely and the rest is history.
Now we're in this game of bringing back players to keep the team afloat with no real crowd pleasers like Gilly. We had forwards who would play the full game and not rely on the backs to take the ball up.
We've certainly got some quality players but the club need that one outstanding player who can motivate the rest like Gilly did and that one player we need is a world class centre.
WHO IS HE AND WHERE IS HE?

[DaveO]

Maybe we don't know our best kicker because they're all fantastic or could that be my rose/cherry tinted glasses ????

If that were true all Wane has to do is pick the one who is most likely to be on the pitch for 80 minutes and part of the regular 1st 13 line-up. It's not rocket science is it

I'd love to know who Hodgeson rates as the best goal kicker....

[josie andrews]

I agree with you but you could argue the MM situation only came to a head after the WC BUT that is still no excuse because as you say the change has happened now.

Even if IL, for whatever reason, was looking to offload MM and has been doing do for a while it still looks event driven rather than planned. MM was at pre-season with the rest of them so whatever your views on him for a coach to have a player whipped away now is ludicrous "planning".

Thought the International players only came back for the pre season at Newcastle which was after the New Year or was it just Lockers?