Warriors V Latics

[captinjack]

I was listening to Radio 5 Live this morning when they interviewed Dave Whelan, he said that he had put several millions of pounds into getting the Latics to where they are, most likely being promoted to the Premiership, today. He also said that he is going to make up to 25 millions available to the Latics for the buying of new players.

Of course there is no salary cap in Football, unlike Rugby League. Some teams, Bradford, St. Helens, and I also believe Leeds are getting around the salary cap rules by paying their players half of their contract money in this country and paying the rest to off shore accounts, which lets them make signings a will. Unfortunately DW will not even entertain doing this so the Warriors have ended up in the state we are in by playing to the letter of the law while the some of the other clubs bend the rules.

Without doubt the Warriors are also rans in the thoughts of DW, with the Latics taking prime position. I don’t begrudge the Latics their success good luck to them, but which of the teams have been filling the JJB the most. It’s not the Latics. No doubt Latic fans will now come crawling out of the wood work, that happened in the Central Park era of Wigan. But what will happen when if Latics are relegated, which is a strong possibility, at the end of the next Premiership Season.

I have no doubt that DW would drop the Warriors in the blink of an eye, and evict the Warriors from the JJB without even a backward glance, should the state of the pitch, due to ground sharing, become an issue is the survival of the Latics in the Premiership, thereby leaving us without a ground to play at. Don’t be under any illusions that the Warriors are the main team in Wigan, in the fans eyes we are, but not in DW’s.

As for Friday’s nights game we were lucky. If there had been a video ref there we would have lost!

[GeoffN]

Why should the state of the pitch be any different if Latics do go up? Do they play more games? (if so, it won't be many more, I would think).
It's being used in winter (i.e. mainly by football) that messes it up - compare the state it was in in February, before our season started, with what it's like now with both teams using it..

Why does this obsession with ground-sharing keep coming up - it's been stated clearly enough by all interested parties that existing agreements aren't affected.

EDIT: just heard they won, and are promoted.
Congratulations to them!

[ChrisA]

Quite the opposite, they play less games in the premiership, 8 games less to be exact. And Mo has been on record as saying theres no problem in sharing a ground, London played at Charlton without any problems. Why people keep bringing it up I dont know, we have a 100 year lease on the JJB.

[robjoenz]

I can't understand the hatred towards the Latics. I watched the game on tele before and I was really pleased for them getting promotoed, they deserved it!

I know some of their fans have been on this site making fools of themselves, but what they have to say is exactly the same as what Warriors fans say about the Latics.

I can't see what Whelan has done wrong by us, ok, maybe with the exception of sticking with Lindsay as our chairman. He's spent more money on the Latics because he can do, it's hardly his fault that the salary cap restricts what he can do with us.

With regards to the state of the pitch, it is the same problem every February. The pitch is damaged through being played on and the bad weather, this is before we even kick off. Now the pitch is in good condition so there's no reason for Whelan to kick us out (if he actually does have the power to do so). If he does sell us and still owns the ground then he'll be wanting the rent money.

[waterside glens]

congratulations to the latics on their promotion to the top league. btw.the warriors have been in their top league for years

[MrsLam]

As I've said before, a few seasons ago I used to listen to every Latics game I could on Wish FM or watch teletext to see the scores, I was proud to have them go up to 1st division UNTIL I had to put up with the abuse that followed it.

I know thereare the few actual loyal Latics fans and I'm glad for them and their team but I am sick to death of hearing those that have just this last year come out of the woodwork to tell me Warriors are going down and Latics are the future, there are a lot more of that kind of fan than the loyals which is why at this moment in time I really dislike the Latics fans not the team.

I do think though that maybe its time to sell us to someone else, we will be second in his priority list and as a fan I cant see how that is a positive to our club. Sell us to someone who hasn't achieved anything with this team before and let's see what he can do for us.

[MrsLam]

As for the Warriors V Latics subject heading, there is no Latics V Warriors. Two different sports, not gonna change anything to me personally. I'll just be wearing my united top a lot more than usual.

If the Latics fans want to have a go let them, it means nothing to us.

[robjoenz]

MrsLam posted:
I know thereare the few actual loyal Latics fans and I'm glad for them and their team but I am sick to death of hearing those that have just this last year come out of the woodwork to tell me Warriors are going down and Latics are the future, there are a lot more of that kind of fan than the loyals which is why at this moment in time I really dislike the Latics fans not the team.

Similarly though we play a team like UTC and only get 5,900 which is probably the same number of hardcore following that Latics get. I've heard a lot of Warriors fans saying that Latics will go straight back down and that Wigan is and always will be a rugby league town, isn't that just as short sighted as Wigan has both a football and rugby league team. Both sets of fans just try and wind the other up.

[Fraggle]

Biggest game in the Latics history - was the stadium full? Nope. 19600 fans. Don't know how many Reading brought, but given they could also have made the play-offs there should have been a few. A bit of a change, though, from 10 years ago when Whelan took over - according to an article on the BBC website the Latics managed a whole 1500 loyal fans on average at Springfield Road. I wonder how many of the 19000 today will claim to have been supporters back in the Dark Ages...

[MrsLam]

Not quite. Latics did not have an average supporting of nearly 6000 fans when they were in division 3.