Smith added: “Ryan’s signature is not going to impact greatly on our salary cap, but his experience and attributes will make him an extremely valuable squad player."

So...pay as you play but we don't expect him to play much??

Warrington board

Westwood sucker punches Blake Green, fine
Briers sucker punches Carl Ablett, fine
Wood sucker punches Carl Ablett, fine

Bailey drops down heavily on Chris Riley, WHAT A DISGRACE OF A HUMAN BEING, HE'S SCUM AND NOT THE TYPE OF PLAYER WE WANT AT WARRINGTON BECAUSE WE ONLY WANT ROLE MODELS!!!

Role models such as Joel 'Dog Botherer' Monaghan of course.

The meltdown over on their board right now is great. 4 different threads in reference to the Bailey signing with the main one already being 19 pages long and the first mentions of people refusing to buy Season Tickets because of this signing.

Classic Bailey

Hilarious stuff

All very OTT though.He has only signed a 1 year deal, probably on peanuts and with stipulations. You would think he had been signed the same terms of contract Asotasi has just finished the way some of the wire fans have reacted.

After being on their forum I'm starting to want Bailey to do well for them

Some people on their forum laughingly suggest Les Boyd was preferable - a genuine hardman. That may be but he was also guilty of one of the most vicious and cowardly attacks ever seen in pro RL when he smashed Darryl Brohmann's jaw with his elbow (very Moriarty-Waddell). That's what gets me. There is zero footage of Bailey doing anything remotely in that league of thuggery, and a guy who has played pro RL at prop for over a decade is somehow a coward.

I don't think Bailey came close to being as good as he could have been, but the hysteria over a squad player is ridiculous.

I second what Biff says above.

Like him or loath him, he was a cornerstone of our pack for a decade. He's a winner, pure and simple. He will add some much needed experience and aggression to wires pack and is on a claused contract to keep him ont strait and narrow.

The fact some wire fans can't see past their own nose is neither here, nor there...

It's the kind of meltdown for which the wigan board was once famous. Should wire struggle there's gonna be some serious, serious whining from that part of the world next year. Bring it on

I think there is also this to take into consideration, imo Bailey left Leeds to HKR believing he was a bigger star than he actually was.He came down with a bump there and failed again to get back on the horse at Cas.He has had a few months to digest it all and I'm sure it's been made clear by all and sundry that this Wire chance is really last chance saloon at top level.I expect him to approach this challenge with far more effort and determination than the last season.It remains to be seen, but I'm tipping Ryan to go well and earn a new deal with a few wire fans eating humble pie come October

He's an average player but found his niche in the leeds team 04-14.

Since he's left the comfort zone of leeds his averageness has been laid bare for all to see.

The frothing at the mouth is ridiculous. These people are idiots. Bailey has never really done........anything! Odd high tackle here and there, occasional facial. Kids stuff.

He's not a dirty player of the game as such. You'd think he was Terry Newton level, running round with his elbow trying to kill people.

Why is the Meltdown great or unexpected?? the first page of your own forums thread on him starts with these nuggets below...all from Fans of Leeds who know Bailey better than any Wire fan.....

how could we win...? we sign Bailey and all explode, and you find it funny. We sign him and say "hey do you know what those Leeds fans haven't a Clue this Bailey feller is going to be fabulous,he'll get us to some more finals and be a great influence on our young academy players"...
I don't think the crux of the matter is your or our individual views on Bailey. Its the fact that some of your fellow wire fans seem to have lost all sense of proportion. You've signed him as a bit part player, on a small wage and with plenty of get out clauses if he returns to behaving like a d1ck. But the (over)reactions of some on your board ignore both this and the fact that if he comes with the right mind set he could do a good job for you as he did for us. Talk of not buying season tickets etc off of the back of one minor signing seems like a massive over reaction.

Doubt that's really about Bailey tbh. Once-vociferous fans don't want to be seen as fair weather by abandoning a team that's struggled so instead they search for "issues" by way of excuses. A few Wigan fans sulked in the same way when we turfed them out the play offs from fifth, claiming that the regular season was meaningless and they wouldn't be renewing. Our board would be no different; I bet similar threats would have been made in the "name of god, allah, go McDermott go" thread, had we not won the 2011 and 2012 titles.