FEEDER CLUB FOR NRL

[Owd Codger]

Perhaps some of the blame rests with them thinking of making a fast buck before all the blame is all attached entirely to the board who at the time 'speculated to accumulate' but which went wrong when it resulted in declining crowds as supporters got fed up of watching one sided game's as a result of Wigan being fully professional and the rest part time professional.

That is absolute nonsense.

Perhaps some of the blame also rests with many of the top players at the time all wanting to play for Wigan where the big contracts were in abundance.

And that is bizarre.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone Dave. Glad you could join us

Sorry, forgot you are also experts on that as well!

[Kittwazzer]

http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... 2op7s.html

[Owd Codger]

http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... 2op7s.html

A bit of a cheek seeing that he did the same along with a few others at the time.

Plus the fact that times have changed and players want to get more money when they are younger and not at the end of their careers like Bishop and company.

Perhaps Bishop would prefer them to go to Union.

[Shaun1967]

Both incorrect.
The board at that time held a debenture stock which gave them a majority vote over anything the shareholders voted on. Whelans control came about after he purchased this debenture stock.
The ground went not because people weren't turning up. It was because we had to win everything to break even. We managed this for some time but then faced bankruptcy when we failed to do so. Despite the shareholders voting to go with Whelans proposal to purchase the club and redevelop Central Park, the remaining board members sold to Tesco anyway and the ground was gone shortly to be followed by the board.

If that is the case, why pay out £125 for each one pound share?

Whelan knew the club were facing bankruptcy and having sold their ground were now in limbo. He stood back and bought up shares knowing that soon he would be able to buy the club at a knock down price and have a bigger chunk of shares than just those he purchased from the board. When I say he purchased the debenture stock, he would I think have just paid the debenture holders for this stock which would then be written off as a debenture is a recognition of a debt. This would no longer be valid after his takeover.

[markill]

http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... 2op7s.html

I didn't know Remi Casty was going to the Roosters. I think he'll go well down under.

[cpwigan]

http://m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... 2op7s.html

I didn't know Remi Casty was going to the Roosters. I think he'll go well down under.

He will. The Roosters are my dark horse tip for the NRL this season. They have some fantastic talents. Sam Moa looks a different player to the one who played in SL. Casty does fantastic here, expect him to improve in the NRL. Trent Robinson is an excellent coach IMO.

[DaveO]

That is absolute nonsense.

And that is bizarre.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone Dave. Glad you could join us

Sorry, forgot you are also experts on that as well!

What you have forgot is the last time you posted this nonsense about declining crowds because of one sided games due to Wigan being full time is I pointed out the crowd figures didn't back that stupid notion up.

[Kittwazzer]

Who would you have though KW? Lomax would be nice, other than that I cannot think of anybody. Would saints dare let Lomax go :exc:

Minichiello on a one or two year deal. The guy is still a class act.

Yes. Pleased that we have ditched the practice of taking on every Aussie journeyman but nothing wrong with hand picking one we need. Shouldn't be too difficult either as the entire RL world knows who and what we are losing!

There we go. Less than a week and the 'Minichielo rumour' has found it's way on to the Ancient & Loyal facebook page!

[Owd Codger]

Welcome to the Twilight Zone Dave. Glad you could join us

Sorry, forgot you are also experts on that as well!

What you have forgot is the last time you posted this nonsense about declining crowds because of one sided games due to Wigan being full time is I pointed out the crowd figures didn't back that stupid notion up.

For the period I am on about, the average gates being as follows:-

Central Park

1994/95 14368
1995/96 11947
1996 10168
1997 8859
1998 10552
1999 9239

DW

2000 10536
2001 11333
2002 10436
2003 10216
2004 12649
2005 13891

As you can see, during the last year's of Central Park when the club was going into a massive debt situation as a result of having a team of top players on massive contracts which resulted in many one sided games, the crowds were starting to go down and only started to go up again when that squad broke up and games reverted to being more even, plus the fact that the club had a ground with better facilities and no debts under a new owner. Even then it was a struggle to attract supporters to the DW as at the beginning, many supporters would not go either because it was owned by Whelan or they did not agree with the club leaving Central Park.

Under the present management, the crowds have gone back to what they were around the 1993/94 season and even higher.

No doubt as usual, you will disagree!

[DaveO]

Sorry, forgot you are also experts on that as well!

What you have forgot is the last time you posted this nonsense about declining crowds because of one sided games due to Wigan being full time is I pointed out the crowd figures didn't back that stupid notion up.

For the period I am on about, the average gates being as follows:-

Central Park

1994/95 14368
1995/96 11947
1996 10168
1997 8859
1998 10552
1999 9239

DW

2000 10536
2001 11333
2002 10436
2003 10216
2004 12649
2005 13891

As you can see, during the last year's of Central Park when the club was going into a massive debt situation as a result of having a team of top players on massive contracts which resulted in many one sided games, the crowds were starting to go down and only started to go up again when that squad broke up and games reverted to being more even, plus the fact that the club had a ground with better facilities and no debts under a new owner. Even then it was a struggle to attract supporters to the DW as at the beginning, many supporters would not go either because it was owned by Whelan or they did not agree with the club leaving Central Park.

Under the present management, the crowds have gone back to what they were around the 1993/94 season and even higher.

No doubt as usual, you will disagree!

I will disagree because you are talking absolute tripe.

You said "Perhaps some of the blame rests with them thinking of making a fast buck before all the blame is all attached entirely to the board who at the time 'speculated to accumulate' but which went wrong when it resulted in declining crowds as supporters got fed up of watching one sided game's as a result of Wigan being fully professional and the rest part time professional."

You attributed the declining crowds to fans being fed up watching us win because we were full time pro.

This is nonsense because at the height of our success the crowds were up! What is more our long run in the CC came to an end in 1996 and we won neither cup or league in 1997 so how about the idea lack of success drove the crowds down in those years?! Not too much success! We were full time and not winning everything in one sided games so bang goes your theory right there.

The crowds went down when the club was in turmoil from 1997 until when the ground was sold. People were protesting outside the ground in 1997 when the sale to Tesco came to light.

The idea all that turmoil didn't affect the crowds and it was all because fans were fed up because we were winning and were full time is you jumping to a totally idiotic conclusion.

The cost of the squad was no doubt a factor in the clubs financial problems which had gone up due to the board offering higher wages to fend off Aussie clubs in the ARL/SL war which occurred at that time (something else you ignore instead saying they simply speculated to accumulate) along with things like the Whitbread stand (which you curiously never mention either) but the idea the crowds went down simply because we were full time and winning when all these other factors were in play is ridiculous.

And as to the idea the crowds started to go up because the games were more even this is another idiotic leap on your part.

When we moved to the JJB as it was then loads of people vowed never to go again! It's taken years for this to become a home ground. So to totally ignore the effect of the upheaval of losing your home ground and moving to another at the same time as our long run of success had come to end as being major factors on attendance is mind numbingly stupid.

Your own figures show there is far more correlation with higher crowds and success or lower crowds with the lack of it.

EDIT: I should also add another often overlooked issue when looking at the financial situation back in the dark days just before CP was sold was the fact the 1995/1996 season only ran from August to 21st January. There was two month gap until the 29th March when no revenue came in.