Millward press conference

[Wardy]

[/quote]
As I've said many times before, this man has no idea what the clubs traditions are and what they mean Millward OUT. :exc: [/quote]

we cant keep livin in the past and talkin about the great wigan rugby of the 90's ... we need to look to the future and make this club a great club that challenges for every honour again ... give millward a chance and let him get his own players that will fit in!!

[- psycho -]

Matthew posted:

WiganWarrior posted:
One point he makes that is a good one is the amount of players that have left in the last couple of years weve lost alot of good and influential players Faz, Smith, Newton, more recently Rads, Carney gone, O'conner, Lam to name a few

Let's go through these players:

Faz - released while under contract
Smith - allowed to return home because he wasn't wanted
Newton - swapped for Higham
Rads - retired; no one's fault
Carney - released while under contract
O'conner - was so disillusioned with the club that he left
Lam - highly successful academy coach allowed to leave

WiganWarrior posted:
I fear next season will be similar losing Dallas probably Orr and Moran who knows who else i think after this we should have a stable team to go forward with

Dallas - retiring, should we convince him to stay for one more season?
Orr - not likely to stay unless a major turn in form
Moran - supposed to retiring, being offered chance to stay?

As you can see from the above - a lot of bad decisions have been made. Rads retirement aside - we seem to want to keep average players whilst letting the good ones go

dont forget to ad connoly to that list.

[billyboy]

I find it difficult to understand some of the comments on this thread. Of the present squad, Millward has signed four.
Three of them have been amongst the very few who have performed. I feel the jury is still out on the other one (Richards). The end of this season will see the end of two players for certain. Seu Seu will not have his contract renewed and Dallas will retire or go back to the NRL. Whatever, he will definitely go.
The biggest problem at this Club for quite a while (I have posted this opinion on various threads) has been Lindsay. He is the one who has made all the duff signings and hiring and firing coaches almost ad infinitum. Frank Endacott wrote in his book that the problem at Wigan is that it is a dictatorship. At least Millward now has the say on who comes and goes, provided he gets financial support from the Board, now thankfully no longer a one-man band. I use the word 'thankfully' with tongue in cheek because at this point I know nothing of the new directors apart from John Martin, the only director from the old gang by the way, who wanted to stay at Central Park.
One posting called for the return of Lammy as coach, overlooking the facts that a)he probably has a contract in Aus. b)He may not want to come and c)most important of all, what are his coaching credentials? A brilliant player certainly, but if that were the only requirement, Superleague would be flooded with Wigan players from the 80's/90's fighting for twelve coaching jobs.
What this club needs more than anything is stability. Since Lindsay came back we have had five coaches (I include Mike Gregory in that. Sadly, we will never know how things would have turned out. He may have been the answer, he may not, we don't know).
For goodness sake, stop yelling for Millward's head before he's had a fair crack with HIS signings, not those of someone who seems to have completely lost the knack of making quality signings.
I may be wrong, but I think that if the present squad buckle down and give us a reasonble season (I'm not asking for the impossible with this squad), we will be on our way back to the top in the not to distant future. O.K.,so it's jam tomorrow, but it's better than no jam at all. Remember one thing. Whelan does not accept failure.
One thing which would improve the squad in my opinion would be to pay off Vaeliki's contract and let him go home. He is neither use nor ornament.
Finally, I have heard that Hock's problem is more domestic than medical. Anybody else heard anything?

[jinkin jimmy]

DaveO posted:
Just read the BBC version and here are some quotes:

"Coaching is about getting the best out of the team, giving them support and finding solutions and just getting on with your job."

Getting the best out of your team? Hmmm. Go then Ian, lets see you do it.

"I've got an old saying: 'If you end up listening to people on the terraces, you'll end up standing with them'. You've got to stick to your beliefs and work hard with the guys.

Most of the complaints from fans are about playing players out of position and if he sticks to what he believes and he believes that it is a good idea, he might find the new board are listening to the fans even if he isn't.

Has he now decided the fans opinions are worthless?

.....but there are going to be changes as there have been something like 24 players who have left the club since the end of 2004.

"This includes a huge batch of experienced players and players with international experience who have influence and talk in the dressing room.

"I find we're a very quiet team, and that's where Bryan Fletcher will have a big affect when he gets going."

He finds it a quiet team? That makes it sound like he is sat on the outside looking in. It is his job to get it motivated, not look form afar passing comment about it as if it isn't his team.

The comment about Fletecher is surely a tacit acknowledgement he gave the captaincy to the wrong player? Why isn't Lockers having any effect on changing the "quiet team" culture. What about the other new players? Are they all shy?

Dave

Sorry Dave but these rantings of yours are beginning to look personal. You are not strictly correct with you tinkering theory. For instance, given the performance against the Giants there is no way he would have changed anything for Salford if Lockers had been fit - why would he have needed to? I'm not saying there hasn't been changes, but not all of them are down to tinkering. You could successfully argue that Brown was the wrong person to play loose forward, but the change was forced by injury, not an example of tinkering.

You comment about seeing him get the best out of the team was naive in the extreme - that was an interview soundbite and you should know that.

IMO you have stirred up a hornet's nest with your "tinkering" posts and it appears you are doing the same thing with your "are the fans opinions worthless" comment. Mischievous and you know that too.

Finally, how on earth does the fact that Basil thinks the team is quiet mean he is coaching from afar?

Totally absurd. Come clean, Dave. What is your agenda?

[the grinch]

im not convinced i think "dave o" makes some good points. millward does come across as a manager who likes players to cover more than one position he did the same at stains. i find it hard to deny that he isnt getting the best from the players and its no wonder the fans are frustrated. if wigan lose at cas the pressure will be massive for millward both from the fans and from the board. like it has been said wigan have sacked quite a few coaches in the past one more wont bother anyone.

[DaveO]

jinkin jimmy posted:
Sorry Dave but these rantings of yours are beginning to look personal. You are not strictly correct with you tinkering theory. For instance, given the performance against the Giants there is no way he would have changed anything for Salford if Lockers had been fit - why would he have needed to? I'm not saying there hasn't been changes, but not all of them are down to tinkering. You could successfully argue that Brown was the wrong person to play loose forward, but the change was forced by injury, not an example of tinkering.

That is the only change that has been forced on him in the games played so far due to injury and he makes the bizarre decision to play Brown at 13. Of course he had to play a different player, but why Brown for heavens sake?

I think the charge of tinkering stands up to scrutiny. Different half backs for every game so far including the last one where he swapped Orr and Moran's positions. Dropping Ashton and playing Brown at Centre, Dallas at full back and Richards on the wing.

We have not played the same side form one week to the next and he has made deliberate unforced changes.

I am now convinced he is doing it because he is picking the team to counter what he sees as opposition strengths. Lockers was played at 6 because Millward said he wanted a bigger man there V Leeds. Richards on the wing to counter kicks from Wire. Not sure what Brown at 13 was supposed to achieve but I bet you he thought it was some kind of similar tactical positional change.

If you look at the squad for Cas they appear to be in position order and if that is how they run out he will have Brown at 13 again.

It is crazy in my opinion to keep making changes week in week out especially when it blatantly is not working.

You comment about seeing him get the best out of the team was naive in the extreme - that was an interview soundbite and you should know that.

Well I think I am pretty safe in saying most people think the players we have are not playing as well as they should be which simply means Milward has yet to get the best out of the team. So when he says that is his job, sound bite or not it is exasperating when you see the side underachieving.

IMO you have stirred up a hornet's nest with your "tinkering" posts and it appears you are doing the same thing with your "are the fans opinions worthless" comment. Mischievous and you know that too.

Of for crying out loud it is allowed to have a rant at the coach on here if he is making a mess of the job.

Finally, how on earth does the fact that Basil thinks the team is quiet mean he is coaching from afar?

It is what he says and how he says it. He says the team is quiet as if it is some entity he is passing comment on as opposed to his team. There are other examples in his interviews if you care to look. I beleive he referred to Saints as "us" in a radio interview tonight. I didn't hear it myself but it has been mentioned that is what he said.

Totally absurd.Come clean, Dave. What is your agenda?

What sort of a daft question is that? I have told you before I don't have an "agenda"? What is yours?

Dave

[DaveO]

billyboy posted:
I find it difficult to understand some of the comments on this thread. Of the present squad, Millward has signed four.

So what? A a new coach has to get the best from the squad he inherits and in any case Millwrd isn't that new. He has been here 10 months.

The fact he has more of his own men this season than last ought to mean playing better. It isn't.

Dave

[Fraggle]

billyboy posted:
Of the present squad, Millward has signed four.
Three of them have been amongst the very few who have performed.

Feka, yes. Higham, no. Calderwood, why's he here?

I'm sorry, but Richards has been no worse than Higham and Calderwood, and the latter in particular has been unimpressive. His defence under the kicks has been poor, runs have been sideways instead of forwards (with that one exception last week), and how about that "try" that he somehow failed to score last week when he dropped the ball almost over the line in a 3-on-1 situation? So he can't defend, he coughs up scoring changes... what has he done right?

[billyboy]

I was of the opinion that Calderwood, a player I have never rated, was a Lindsay signing. If I am wrong, I will change my score from 3 - 1 to 3 - 2.

The 3 players I refer to as having performed are Palea'asina, Logan and Higham, but I feel that even Higham has much more to offer.

It's all very well to say that Millward has been here 10 months and should be getting results. You can't make a purse out of a sow's ear and anyone who has ever held a rugby ball knows that the majority (not just a few) of this squad simply are not good enough. There is not a coach on this earth who would transform this outfit into a trophy winning squad.

[GeoffN]

billyboy posted:

You can't make a purse out of a sow's ear and anyone who has ever held a rugby ball knows that the majority (not just a few) of this squad simply are not good enough.

But most of them with good reputations, which is all you can go off when signing players.
Is it some other factor at the club that causes their form to dip when they come here?
Calderwood was leading try scorer last season, Richards was outstanding for Wests, Orr & Moran both starred for their previous clubs, Seuseu & DV were both NZ internationals.
"On paper" they're all good players...but the paper hasn't been delivered.