Gary Connolly was interviewed in the Sponsors Lounge at todays match.
When asked if it was the Money that persuaded him to sign for Wigan he gave a totaly different version to the one believed by most fans which totaly exonerated him.

I know for a fact that Gaskell is on much better than that.

You have to remember that Wigan were a lot more professional in every sense than Saints in those days, not just in monetary terms. I remember the likes of Andy Platt and Paul Loughlin hanging around the town centre with nothing to do, Saints were the happy amateurs who could beat Wigan every so often but not consistently. To improve yourself you were looking for a move to Wigan.

I reckon that Paul Loughlin could have been a absolute world class centre if he had been handled correctly, he was a good un, imagine how good he would have been if he took it seriously. Similarly Andy Platt wouldn't have scaled the heights if he had stayed at Saints.

People often underestimate the impact of a professional full time environment on players. Connolly and other players visibly bulked up shortly after joining wigan for starters

that said player like Andy Platt used to take there own fitness and conditioning seriously despite the lack of direction from the club