Mr Lenagan, speak to us please!
Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:49 pm
If I had the ear of our owner below is what I would like to say.
Mr Lenegan, when you took ownership of Wigan Warriors you brought enthusiasm, ideas, ambition and a promise of change from the Whelan era. Most of all you communicated with your customers, the fans! The fans forums were a breath of fresh air. Not all your ideas worked – taking games on the road, the trip to Australia, letting players easily leave for Australia and the NRL in the belief that they would come back better players, marketing initiatives, the Business Club and brand-building etc had mixed success. But at least they were ideas. We could see a purpose and identifying Michael McGuire as a coach to take us forward was a masterstroke and we enjoyed some good times and exciting rugby.
Of course, the world has changed over the last couple of years and the Shaun Edwards saga was clearly a major blow, but even prior to that it seems that you were very disillusioned with the management of Super League and the RFL. Your enthusiasm and ambition seems to have waned and more than anything, and most disappointingly, you have stopped communicating (as has Kris Radlinski) and this has left fans feeling extraordinarily left out and unimportant. Believe me, most fans are very worried about the direction of travel of the club. When it was reported recently that you were thinking of selling the club, you denied this and said that you were committed to your ownership of Wigan Warriors.
So please level with the Wigan fans! Ambition seems to have gone, our team is struggling, most fans believe that recruitment is haphazard – yet you are silent! What is your ambition for Wigan Warriors as things stand? Fans will understand if money is tight if we are told the truth; will understand if the policy is to invest in youngsters and that we have to be very patient (not a common characteristic of us average Wigan fans admittedly); will understand if you’ve lost your passion for rugby league and/or your ownership of the Warriors and need to move on. But you need to come clean and be open – the silence, at the moment, is deafening and simply leaves way too much room for unhelpful rumour and speculation. Tell us the plan to halt the apparent downward spiral of Wigan Warriors.
You are the owner. Your club is faltering badly. Very few fans look forward to matchday as is seen by the steady decline in attendances. Please inspire us, give us some hope, explain to us how you see the way forward. We can’t support the silence, we can’t support what we can’t understand. Help us to help you! With every week that passes the task of restoring the fans passion and enthusiasm for Wigan Warriors will get harder and the prospect of attracting new fans become very remote indeed. Over to you Mr Lenagan.
Mr Lenegan, when you took ownership of Wigan Warriors you brought enthusiasm, ideas, ambition and a promise of change from the Whelan era. Most of all you communicated with your customers, the fans! The fans forums were a breath of fresh air. Not all your ideas worked – taking games on the road, the trip to Australia, letting players easily leave for Australia and the NRL in the belief that they would come back better players, marketing initiatives, the Business Club and brand-building etc had mixed success. But at least they were ideas. We could see a purpose and identifying Michael McGuire as a coach to take us forward was a masterstroke and we enjoyed some good times and exciting rugby.
Of course, the world has changed over the last couple of years and the Shaun Edwards saga was clearly a major blow, but even prior to that it seems that you were very disillusioned with the management of Super League and the RFL. Your enthusiasm and ambition seems to have waned and more than anything, and most disappointingly, you have stopped communicating (as has Kris Radlinski) and this has left fans feeling extraordinarily left out and unimportant. Believe me, most fans are very worried about the direction of travel of the club. When it was reported recently that you were thinking of selling the club, you denied this and said that you were committed to your ownership of Wigan Warriors.
So please level with the Wigan fans! Ambition seems to have gone, our team is struggling, most fans believe that recruitment is haphazard – yet you are silent! What is your ambition for Wigan Warriors as things stand? Fans will understand if money is tight if we are told the truth; will understand if the policy is to invest in youngsters and that we have to be very patient (not a common characteristic of us average Wigan fans admittedly); will understand if you’ve lost your passion for rugby league and/or your ownership of the Warriors and need to move on. But you need to come clean and be open – the silence, at the moment, is deafening and simply leaves way too much room for unhelpful rumour and speculation. Tell us the plan to halt the apparent downward spiral of Wigan Warriors.
You are the owner. Your club is faltering badly. Very few fans look forward to matchday as is seen by the steady decline in attendances. Please inspire us, give us some hope, explain to us how you see the way forward. We can’t support the silence, we can’t support what we can’t understand. Help us to help you! With every week that passes the task of restoring the fans passion and enthusiasm for Wigan Warriors will get harder and the prospect of attracting new fans become very remote indeed. Over to you Mr Lenagan.