Central Park JJB/DW

[Kittwazzer]

Interesting sideline by Brian Reade in yesterdays Mirror.

He mentions the clubs who have moved from their spiritual homes to State of the Art venues but won nothing since they got there.

Arsenal,Man City, Sunderland, Stoke, Bolton & Wigan.

I contacted him to say that, having moved to the JJB, Wigan had broken into the Premier Division. Surely the height of their expectations?

But it did make me think. The move from Central Park seemed to be the beginning of our slow decline from total domination. Its certainly taken me a long time to get used to the new place. And, given the choice, I'd be back at Central Park like a shot!

Anyone else feel the same way? If I were a Stains fan, I'd be very worried indeed!

[ancientnloyal]

Bolton got promoted and into Europe... now sitting in 4th... Latics also beat arsenal in a semi at Highbury (i was the unhappiest wiganer at highbury that night) and into the cc final.

blody tabloid newspapers eh

[Kittwazzer]

Oh come on A&L. One week in 4th and a a solitary win against Arsenal does not negate his argument. Or mine.

Hell Fire. Weren't Bolton top of the Prem on one occasion a few years ago!

[ancientnloyal]

yeh they beat Leicester 5-1 opening game of season... apart from that...

[Kittwazzer]

We are slightly detracting from my original theme which, if I recall, was that Wigan's darkest period began with the switch to the JJB!

[gpartin]

We are slightly detracting from my original theme which, if I recall, was that Wigan's darkest period began with the switch to the JJB!

possibly but it comes down to a cause and effect kind of argument. Our problems would have been a lot worse potentially if we'd have stayed at CP because although we may still have been playing well on the pitch before we moved, things had started to go wrong financially and that can bring about all sorts of issues in itself.

[cpwigan]

No the decline of Wigan RLFC was not marked by the change of stadia. It was actually a combination of events. Long term issues like debt from the new stand created a burden but Wigan were if anything becoming more dominant. 1993/94 or 94/5 were our most successful season IIRC.

The loss of players to the Auckland Warriors added a further burden

The advent of professionalism in RU and the SL War saw Wigan lose players and stretched financially. The best players in RL made a killing in the SL War. Some failed signing in part unlucky did not help. Along came the double season (RL Centenary Season?) Most clubs / fans did not give a damn about one or the other abbreviated season and RL became a joke with Wigan keeping the sport going but interest badly waned IIRC. So you have the cumulative effects of 4 or 5 incidents. All placed massive strains on a club even if it was firing on all cylinders. However, Wigan entered into a civil war for ownership which meant that nobody was concentrating on the playing side anymore.

We still got back up again and although not dominant the teams in the early 2000s were very good / competitive. It was only the tragic loss of Mike Greg and the introduction of a Jackass Australian Midget combined with bad injuries to Lockers / Hock IIRC that saw the club enter freefall.

[the grinch]

wigans problems began at central park but only really became evident at the jjb stadium. most fans where completley unaware that wigan where in fact deep in debt and close to bancrupcy if the truth be known. and the second part of the question would i go back to central park given the chance? not now we have established ourselves and found some rythm i think it would be a backward step.

[KOOCH]

Central Park certainly holds some fond memories for me.And previous to our 2010 season I would probably have gone on sentiment.But we are at the( Sadly)named (D bloody egotistical W Stadium.)I genuinely do not believe in the nonsense that moving to a new ground is tantamount to losing the winning mentality we at Wigan are noted for.Madge and Wayne have brought back both the winning mentality and silver.I shall never forget the good days at Central Park but I do believe it is time we moved on and started to believe in what our chairman and his playing staff have brought to the DW Stadium something the self appointed god and his mottley crew the latics could never achieve.SILVER and more and more SILVER.

[No straw damn us]

No the decline of Wigan RLFC was not marked by the change of stadia. It was actually a combination of events. Long term issues like debt from the new stand created a burden but Wigan were if anything becoming more dominant. 1993/94 or 94/5 were our most successful season IIRC.

The loss of players to the Auckland Warriors added a further burden

The advent of professionalism in RU and the SL War saw Wigan lose players and stretched financially. The best players in RL made a killing in the SL War. Some failed signing in part unlucky did not help. Along came the double season (RL Centenary Season?) Most clubs / fans did not give a damn about one or the other abbreviated season and RL became a joke with Wigan keeping the sport going but interest badly waned IIRC. So you have the cumulative effects of 4 or 5 incidents. All placed massive strains on a club even if it was firing on all cylinders. However, Wigan entered into a civil war for ownership which meant that nobody was concentrating on the playing side anymore.

We still got back up again and although not dominant the teams in the early 2000s were very good / competitive. It was only the tragic loss of Mike Greg and the introduction of a Jackass Australian Midget combined with bad injuries to Lockers / Hock IIRC that saw the club enter freefall.

Brilliant. The appointment of Millward was a master stroke in self destruction.
As you say there were many reasons for the decline in the 90's, some of which were beyond Wigans control. However in hindsight, should we have built the new stand, installed undersoil heating, should we have given in to the players demands during the ARL Superleague war? Probably not. I've often wondered if we could have held on to C.P had that money not been spent.
However if any of you think that was Wigans darkest hour you should have been at Castleford on 11th April 1980, or in fact any of the three or four seasons preceding.