wigan warriors up for sale

[adrenalinxx]

Cruncher posted:
As for Latics, I wonder what they think will happen when David Whelan washes his hands of them. They're only where they are at present because they're his personal obsession. Once he's out of the picture, do they seriously think some hard-headed board of directors is going to keep on pouring millions into the bottomless pit that is an underachieving Premiership team?

I would agree with that, there have been take over bids for the big clubs in football, Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and possible Man City. All big clubs without of history and fans behind them, when Whealen is not longer putting his money into Latics its not likely that some else will come in and buy Latics because they don't have the history or the fans, there is no opportunity for big advertising and merchandise deals. When Wigan Warriors are without Whealen i'm sure that someone else will come in and put some money into the club because a rugby club costs pennies compare to a football club and because of the salary cap and fans base of Wigan Warriors it is practically a self sustaining business other than that it just a case of chipping in for transfer money and new facilities.

If I was a Latics fans I would be concerned about what will happen after Whealen, there are not many people out there willing to put money into a small team with very little scope to expand.I have only two words for Latics fans........ Leeds United

[Sutty]

A prime example of this is Blackburn Rovers. When big Jack Walker was in charge he pumped millions and millions into the club and they ended up winning the premiership. When he sadly passed away, the club went into freefall. It just goes to show that as long as a club has got an extremely wealthy, genuine fan, willing to invest their own money into the club, they have got every chance of success and staying in the top flight. But as soon as the plug is pulled or the funds are no longer available, for whatever reason. It is very hard for a smaller premiership club to maintain it's position in the top flight.

I am currently torn between what I want to happen to the Latics. I am a Wiganer born and bred and I am proud to be from a town which can boast arguably the most famous Rugby League club in the world and a Football team that has come from obscurity and managed to get into the premiership and stay there. But on the other hand the amount of abuse and insults that are being directed to the Rugby Club via the Latics fans, especially last season when we were in a relegation fight. Really makes part of me want them to be relegated, just so that I can stick two fingers up at them in reply to all their taunts and abuse.

I know this would mean that I am probably sinking to some of their fans level, but I suppose that's human nature.

[Matthew]

Sutty posted:
A prime example of this is Blackburn Rovers. When big Jack Walker was in charge he pumped millions and millions into the club and they ended up winning the premiership. When he sadly passed away, the club went into freefall. It just goes to show that as long as a club has got an extremely wealthy, genuine fan, willing to invest their own money into the club, they have got every chance of success and staying in the top flight. But as soon as the plug is pulled or the funds are no longer available, for whatever reason. It is very hard for a smaller premiership club to maintain it's position in the top flight.

I am currently torn between what I want to happen to the Latics. I am a Wiganer born and bred and I am proud to be from a town which can boast arguably the most famous Rugby League club in the world and a Football team that has come from obscurity and managed to get into the premiership and stay there. But on the other hand the amount of abuse and insults that are being directed to the Rugby Club via the Latics fans, especially last season when we were in a relegation fight. Really makes part of me want them to be relegated, just so that I can stick two fingers up at them in reply to all their taunts and abuse.

I know this would mean that I am probably sinking to some of their fans level, but I suppose that's human nature.

Unlike Blackburn, the lactics are yet to win any major honours and realistically the chance of anyone else coming in to spend an equal amount of money on the lactics as Whelan has is pretty low - especially if they get relegated.

I am not from Wigan and can't stand football. I thought that it was a bit sad that a section of lactics fans wanted us relegated last season and likewise I think it is a shame that some of our supporters are doing the same to the lactics this year.

I may not have to live day to day with the abuse from some of the lactics fans; however two wrongs don't make a right and resorting to petty name calling and celebrating someone else's hardship doesn't help anyone - regardless of how satisfying it feels in the short term.

[Cruncher]

Matthew posted:

Sutty posted:
A prime example of this is Blackburn Rovers. When big Jack Walker was in charge he pumped millions and millions into the club and they ended up winning the premiership. When he sadly passed away, the club went into freefall. It just goes to show that as long as a club has got an extremely wealthy, genuine fan, willing to invest their own money into the club, they have got every chance of success and staying in the top flight. But as soon as the plug is pulled or the funds are no longer available, for whatever reason. It is very hard for a smaller premiership club to maintain it's position in the top flight.

I am currently torn between what I want to happen to the Latics. I am a Wiganer born and bred and I am proud to be from a town which can boast arguably the most famous Rugby League club in the world and a Football team that has come from obscurity and managed to get into the premiership and stay there. But on the other hand the amount of abuse and insults that are being directed to the Rugby Club via the Latics fans, especially last season when we were in a relegation fight. Really makes part of me want them to be relegated, just so that I can stick two fingers up at them in reply to all their taunts and abuse.

I know this would mean that I am probably sinking to some of their fans level, but I suppose that's human nature.

Unlike Blackburn, the lactics are yet to win any major honours and realistically the chance of anyone else coming in to spend an equal amount of money on the lactics as Whelan has is pretty low - especially if they get relegated.

I am not from Wigan and can't stand football. I thought that it was a bit sad that a section of lactics fans wanted us relegated last season and likewise I think it is a shame that some of our supporters are doing the same to the lactics this year.

I may not have to live day to day with the abuse from some of the lactics fans; however two wrongs don't make a right and resorting to petty name calling and celebrating someone else's hardship doesn't help anyone - regardless of how satisfying it feels in the short term.

I think it's more an assessment of reality than petty name-calling.

This thread is about Wigan RL allegedly being put up for sale. My contention is that, even if this rumour - which seems to have originated among Latics fans - isn't true yet, it will become true at some point. But it isn't necessarily a problem for us. Wigan RL is a very marketable name, and a buoyant business. There also seem to be a number of interested and very capable parties waiting their chance to get involved.

However, I don't think this will be the case with Latics. They've punched way above their weight for several years now, thanks to Whelan's personal investment. I can't see that continuing indefinitely if, or when, he steps down.

That's not name-calling, it's just a realist's view of the situation.

[Sutty]

Regarding your comments about two wrongs don't make a right. I agree, but if you did live in Wigan and were as passionate as we are about our rugby team you would almost certainly have a different perspective on this.

I like to think that I am fairly easy going and tolerant and I always try to look at situations etc from multiple perspectives, but the almost constant, insescant abuse that we receive towards our team has eventually and inevitably turned part of me against the Latics. I would also like to point out that IMO it is no longer the minority of the Latics fans that are abusing us, but it is increasingly turning towards the majority. I noted in my thread that I am proud to be able to say that we have a Premiership team in the town as well as a Rugby League club, therefore I am not being as blinkered as some of the fans from both clubs. Whilst I don't support any particular football team I am a fan of most sports and I really enjoy watching Match of the Day on a Saturday night.

You also make reference of my comparison between the Latics and Blackburn. The point I was trying to make was that, like Blackburn, the latics have got a chairman who loves his club and is investing his own money in them. This comment was made in relation to something that another poster mentioned regarding what will happen to the funds available to the club if / when Dave Whelan is no longer the Chairman. I know the Latics are yet to win any major silverware, but they are, like Blackburn were, being built up into a succesful club by a man who is willing to invest in his beloved club. Granted, they may never have as big a fan base as Blackburn and the chances of them winning the premiership or the European Cup is virtually nil. I don't say this as a dig at the Latics but they simply haven't got the fan base or the money to compete with the massive clubs in the premiership.

I read a newspaper article a couple of days ago, were a premiership manager was saying that the difference between finishing the premiership in 6th place or 4th place was about £100 million. Look at how much the top four teams spend on transfers compared to the likes of Bolton etc.

In conclusion, I am not one of the blinkered fans that sings anti Latics songs or hopes more than anything that the Latics go down. I was simply stating that the abuse is turning more and more people against the latics. I do know that if they go down, the economy of our town in general will suffer slightly, simply due to the amount of revenue that the Latics and the 15-20,000 Latics and travelling fans bring to our area every other week during the football season.

ps. I think this is the longest post I have ever done.

[Rugbydav]

Can anyone answer why the Latics truely hate the Warriors??

I have my views and explanations and wonder if they are the same as the rest on this site!!

Most of my mates are Latics fans and to be honest they are the reason behind my dislike for the club.

They ramble on constantly that MO is the reason behind their hatred ... back in the day when they were struggling they came in for help and high flying WRLFC told them to 'Go Away' (or words to that affect) . Me mates Dad even states he used to support WRLFC before this happened.

I love Wigan, I was born and bred in Wigan .... I will support anything positive coming from the town ... but not the Latics I'm afraid

Your thoughts!!

[Matthew]

It's a good one too!

I might not live in Wigan - however I have received abuse for supporting Wigan RL! Before RU turned pro I often received snide remarks for wearing my RL shirt. My brother and I were asked to leave a pub because we were wearing Wigan shirts when we were out celebrating after Wigan won the inaugural grand final. They claimed it was because they didn't allow "football" shirts - however as I drank in there pretty regularly I knew this to be total crap.

Since RU has turned professional there has been a blurring of the differences and most people who are rugby fans seem to have at least a passing interest in the other code to the one they follow - if only because of the movement of players between the two. I can probably thank Jason Robinson for that!

Onto the latics...

I wasn't having a dig at the latics (or you) when I pointed out that they have yet to win any meaningful silverware. Even DW with all his wealth does not have enough money to bankroll a premiership title. I agree that in soccer if you have enough money you can buy success - however that speaks volume about the culture the sport inspires in this country - the way some players transgressions are forgotten as long as they play well is disgusting.

As I said, I don't live in the town and I don't care about football. However I know one thing for sure - if the latics are relegated and fans of Wigan RL celebrate it; the amount of hatred and bitterness directed towards RL will go up.

Whenever trolls appear on here trying to start an argument I either use humour - or I ignore them completely; because reacting with anger or abuse is exactly what these people want.

[Sutty]

Whenever trolls appear on here trying to start an argument I either use humour - or I ignore them completely; because reacting with anger or abuse is exactly what these people want.

I agree, reacting with anger or violent undertones is something that a lot of football fans would thrive on. With a lot of them it is the only language that they understand. I'm not calling them thick or anything like that, I just think that the society within football breeds it. Can you imagine scenes at a Rugby match like the ones a couple of weeks aga between Man. Utd. and Roma? I doubt it very much. I can't remember ever responding to a post by a troll, that's not to say that it doesn't get to me, I simply can't be bothered wasting my time on them. If the Latics fans weren't the way they are against our club then I would be gutted if they get relegated. whereas, as it stands I am pretty impartial either way.

I remember speaking to a former colleague of mine in a pub a couple of years ago. The rugby was on the big screen and it was Wigan -v- Leeds. The person in question was cheering for Leeds, which I have no problem with. But afterwards when I was speaking to him. It tranpisred that he didn't lke Rugby at all, but when I asked him "why cheer for Leeds then"? He said it was because he hated Wigan RL. This isn't an isolated case either. If football fans have no interest in Rugby, then why cheer for anyone at all, and vice versa for rugby fans. I think it is this small minded, antagonistic behaviour that is increasingly driving a wedge between our town's Rugby League and Football teams.

Whilst the majority of amiable fans try to treat the snyde comments with the contempt they deserve, sooner or later it does start to get to you.

I know you weren't having a go at me or my posts, I got the impression that (please don't take this the wrong way) you didn't fully understand or possibly couldn't comprehend the amount of abuse that we (Rugby fans) receive every single day. It's not only youth's or kids but grown men of 40 or 50 who have families themselves. I wonder how many of them would still be in a job if they behaved like that in the workplace or if their employers knew how they behaved at weekends when rival supporters come to town.

[Cruncher]

Matthew posted:

As I said, I don't live in the town and I don't care about football. However I know one thing for sure - if the latics are relegated and fans of Wigan RL celebrate it; the amount of hatred and bitterness directed towards RL will go up.

The amount of hatred and bitterness will struggle to be any more intense than it already is.

I don't wish to go over old ground here, but in the early days of the Internet, when sports clubs were first getting message-boards, forums etc, in which their fans could chat, Wigan RL's were being incessantly attacked and hijacked by no more than a handful of Latics fans, who seemed to spend every waking hour of every day on our message-boards, causing as much trouble and offence as they possibly could. And this went on, relentlessly, day in and day out, for months, until new security measures were brought in. Surely you've seen for yourself that, even now, they sometimes slip under the wire incognito and make as much hay as possible before being chucked out.

When you're dealing with that level of obsessive loathing, I doubt you need to worry about it getting any worse.

However, you're right. The best way to respond to Latics hatred is to be indifferent to it. They've had their moment in the sun, but it's never impacted negatively on us - in fact quite the opposite, it's galvanised us to prove that we're still at least as important a club in this town as they are.

If their fifteen minutes of fame is now over, that's their concern, not ours.

[Sutty]

Morph posted:

I got the impression that (please don't take this the wrong way) you didn't fully understand or possibly couldn't comprehend the amount of abuse that we (Rugby fans) receive every single day. It's not only youth's or kids but grown men of 40 or 50 who have families themselves.

Spot on :eusa2: we also have the constant abuse in the local papers letters columns as well

Thanks morph, it's good to know that not everything I say is rubbish.