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I think alot of people are getting sick and tired of all the talk about Andy Farrell going to Union. Simple facts is, he's 29, he is one of the highest paid players at Wigan and after a great season last year, its going to be down hill from here!!!!

He has given us so many years of loyality and carried us so many times! he deserves this opportunity and anyone who thinks otherwise is selfish and aint a true Wigan fan. I'll be sad to see him leave but i think its a good think for him and us!

I await everyones critism.

Warriors_ace_17 posted:
I think alot of people are getting sick and tired of all the talk about Andy Farrell going to Union.

Not his fault, the RFU are the ones who have started all this.

Simple facts is, he's 29, he is one of the highest paid players at Wigan and after a great season last year, its going to be down hill from here!!!!

Why? Are players only allowed one good season? Remember the rubbish Sculthorpe somehow won Man of Steel two years in a row.

He has given us so many years of loyality and carried us so many times! he deserves this opportunity and anyone who thinks otherwise is selfish and aint a true Wigan fan. I'll be sad to see him leave but i think its a good think for him and us!

There's also the club, not just him and us. Loyalty to the club means fulfilling his contract. The state the RFU seem to be in, they'll still be knocking on his door in a couple of years when England have been bottom of the 6 Nations yet again. I'm not entitled to a massive payrise or a change of job for loyalty to my job for nearly as many years, and some of the things I do are pretty vital to the organisation. Why should he be entitled to that when he's contracted to do a job?

I await everyones critism.

You didn't have to wait long!

Warriors_ace_17 posted:
Simple facts is, he's 29, he is one of the highest paid players at Wigan and after a great season last year, its going to be down hill from here!!!!

He is one of the highest paid players becuase he is one of, if not the best player at the club. You get what you pay for.

We are signing players older than him so there is no logic in getting rid of Farrell on age grounds just because you have concluded he won't be as good as he was last season. If he was 90% as good he'd still be better than any alternative of whch there are precious few. Well none actually.

He has given us so many years of loyality and carried us so many times! he deserves this opportunity and anyone who thinks otherwise is selfish and aint a true Wigan fan.

Rubbish. Him leaving will leave the club weaker and he has a contract he freely signed that runs until the end of 2006. Were he saying he was off at the end of it, fair enough but running out with two years to run when the club needs him as much as ever is something I don't think I am being selfish about objecitng to.

He would not have a livelyhood at all if we fans didn't support the club and the game in numbers. We pay his wages and what is more he enjoys the support he gets. He is paid with more than just money and what money he is paid is very good and he doesn't need a big pay day from Union. If the figures are correct he won't be on much more than he is at Wigan anyway.

I'll be sad to see him leave but i think its a good think for him and us!

Why is it good for us? If we want similar quality we will have to spend the same amount we pay him in wages on the new player.

Who would this new player be? None any good are available. SBW will stay in Australia and who else do we get?

We don't need the money the RFU would give us to buy out his contract. If we do then Dave Whelan should be shot given the amount he spends on Latics.

Without Farrell the squad is weaker and so why we will be better off I don't know.

I await everyones critism.

You have mine!

Dave

Ouch! You sure know how to critisie. I aint going to argue !

Warriors_ace_17 posted:
I think alot of people are getting sick and tired of all the talk about Andy Farrell going to Union. Simple facts is, he's 29, he is one of the highest paid players at Wigan and after a great season last year, its going to be down hill from here!!!!

He has given us so many years of loyality and carried us so many times! he deserves this opportunity and anyone who thinks otherwise is selfish and aint a true Wigan fan. I'll be sad to see him leave but i think its a good think for him and us!

I await everyones critism.

why should he go down hill and as for him leaving being a good thing i just don,t get that one :doz:

Warriors_ace_17 posted:
I think alot of people are getting sick and tired of all the talk about Andy Farrell going to Union. Simple facts is, he's 29, he is one of the highest paid players at Wigan and after a great season last year, its going to be down hill from here!!!!

He has given us so many years of loyality and carried us so many times! he deserves this opportunity and anyone who thinks otherwise is selfish and aint a true Wigan fan. I'll be sad to see him leave but i think its a good think for him and us!

I await everyones critism.

I'm also not understanding why it is going to be downhill from there? If there had been no talk about him going to union, would you have started a thread off about getting rid of Farrell? No you wouldn't because it's a completely sh*** idea, even two weeks ago the thought would not have crossed anyones mind to let Farrell retire/go to another club or go to union. There's a simple fact for you.

No one is selfish for having their own opinion and seriously you've got a cheek saying that fans that want possibly the best player at the club to stay, aren't true fans! That's ridiculous, surely true fans want what is best for the club, at the moment (since there is no replacement) Farrell going is not the best move for our club.

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Maybe they meant he cant get any more awards etc so he cant have as good a season or something and just worded it very badly

I find it very disappointing to see words like Judas being levelled at Andy Farrell. The situation gives me a strange sense of deja vu having grown up supporting Wales and seeing player after player up sticks and leave for rugby league just when they had become a force at international level. Frustrating though it was then, you couldn't blame them, just as you can't blame Faz. The man is nearly 30, increasingly injury prone and has given us 14 years of truly sterling service, the Welsh lads were often 24 and just showing their potential when they were whisked away.

If anyone has earned the right to go where he likes and do what he likes it is Faz. A man who at 16 thought he was set for a lifetime of finals and trophies to eclipse anyone else in the game but in fact found himself fighting an almost lone battle to keep us is in the top four teams, deserves the few years of recognition globally that even a half decent showing for England in 2007 would earn him and his talent deserves.

This is not about money, his England winnings (unless he leads England to World Cup victory) will not eclipse his Wigan salary by much, he just wants a fresh challenge and the acclaim his skills warrant. I will be fascinated to see how he does, where on earth he is going to play and how far this incredible player can write another chapter into his story. As a Wigan fan, distraught as I am by his probable departure, I am also excited as to which massive talent we can attract with the money from the RFU and the salary freed up by his departure. I hope we get Sonny Bill, he is the next best thing to Faz.

As a lover of Union and League, I think it is very odd that a team with a huge playing base like England Rugby Union has, cannot find a team strong enough to beat a nervy Welsh side and a godawful French outfit in successive weeks and has to turn to a Union novice from League for pack leadership due to the failings of their public schoolboys in the back row. (Martin Johnson is of Wigan parentage I would like to point out and thinks Faz is the best rugby player of either code in the British Isles, Lawrence Dallaglio has gone on record as saying much of the same and Lord Jonny of Penalty is a big Warriors fan)

If Faz goes and does even fairly well, League does indeed come out looking very good in the eyes of people without prejudice (ie people who aren't Stephen Jones of the Sunday Times)as a breeding ground for great players and methods, but don't get too high on your horse because I remember much the same cry coming from Wales when we lost about three full teams to league in the 80s (and people wondered why we struggled)"If Rugby League is so great why do they have to nick all our best players all the time? Why don't they produce their own?"

We have to face facts, League might still be ahead on the field and off the field in terms of preparation and fitness, but Union has the national and global profile. Jason Robinson is now a national figure but he wasn't at Wigan, Faz might fancy the same. He is as talented as Jonny, he might just want more than three counties in Northern England to recognise that. Players going to Union after making their mark in League may well become common, if Brian carney had done what he did for GB in a British Lions jersey there would be shopping centres named after him. Money isn't everything as a sportsman, challenge and recognition is. If I was a young whippersnapper with any rugby talent now I would see Union as the better career option and League almost as a finishing school!

Sorry for opening up a post you must all be heartily sick of, but I have been working away from a computer that isn't a Mac since Fazgate broke and am only now having chance to vent my spleen. Come on the Warriors and Wales of course

Dai,

I have to say I disagree with everything you have written!

The analogy of League taking Welsh players doesn't hold water. They were amateurs and simply could not earn a living as a professional sportsman in RU despite the odd brown paper bag and cushy job.

They were not contracted to anyone.

Farrell on the other hand is already a professional player with a contract to honour. He IS well paid.

Trying to say it is the same as RL taking RU players is too easy and wide of the mark IMO.

As to the idea of it showing RL in a good light that is not how it will be presented in the RU biased media. There is more than Stephen Jones who will pen articles saying how this shows RL can't hold onto its best players and is this a second rate sport. It does not matter how well he does.

Ironically if to wanted to RL could hold onto Farrell by simply holding him to his contract but that fact will simply be ignored.

I also can't say I have seen anyone who disagrees with him going call him Judas. I myself think he his is in the wrong over this but that is going too far.

He is currently recognised as the best player in the game and is the GB captain. With that you get a lot of accolades and pludits and as you say things like that are important to players. So when I see him receive all this recognition includng an OBE for services to the game you will have to forgive me if I see the idea of him leaving a mere few months later in a dim light.

He, like all professional sportsmen, would not have had a career without the fans paying money to watch the game. His lifestyle and position in the game are directly related to the support he recieves. Loyalty cuts both ways IMO and this is not just an ordinary job.

Also as GB captain his responibility to the game that goes beyond yelling a the team on the pitch. In many ways Andy Farell is the face of British Rugby League. His picture is all over SL promotional material and it is part of his job to be an ambassador for the game.

So to see him attempt to walk away so soon after receiving all the accolades he can get when he also has this responsibility is not, IMO, something to take with a shrug of the shoulders because he has been a good servant to the club.

I also think you under-estimate how well known he is already nationally. Both RL and RU are not the national game and ask anyone not involved in either sport as a fan to name a player and you would IMO be as likely to get Andy Farrell's name mentioned as Jason Robinson's. If Johnny Wilkinson remains out of the international limelight for much longer the average man in the street will be saying "Johnny who?"

Finally as to new challenges he as unfinshed business against the Australians in League and Wigan are long overdue some SL success so the challenge is still there. If he is single handedly shoring up Wigan then he will be doing much the same in RU given the standard of England RU at the moment. He is not on a banker to emulate Jason Robsinsons success with a World Cup winners medal by any means IMO.

If he goes will I be interested in how he fairs in RU? No, I won't. I am not interested in the game at that level despite the fact I help coach Chester RUFC under 11's. (Under 11's is better than the real thing - there are only 12 players on the pitch )

Dave