Nobody consistently picked for the Aus national team is anything less than an excellent player. The difference between the Kings and Carmonts of this world is that the latter are solid and reliable, where the former are solid and reliable AND capable of those bits of magic that provide the 5% difference that separates the best players from the normal players. That 5% is what it takes to be successful.

Nobody, outside the Warrington club top management, knows how much King is earning. One thing is for sure, the Wire, unlike certain pie-eating clubs, does not break the salary cap and the devil take the hindmost.

Irrefutable evidence. If they reported the World is flat, would you believe that too?

First post on rlthis threadrl

He inadvertently answered you in another post.

I did put that he was good in oz but he's done nothing over here has he?

How long do people who dig old threads up spend doing it?

Well done KP, you've really bagged him this time

Slightly OTT. I dont believe in all this bought our success rubbish you look at the players that played for Wigan during that glorious era. The vast majority came through the Wigan academy and wanted to play for Wigan.

Kris Radlinski, Andy Farrell , Terry O'connor , Mick Cassidy , Sean Edwards , Andy Gregory, Andy Platt , Phil CLarke , Denis Betts.

That's because he's not got Tommy Looloo setting him for all those dazzling tries that Carmont is bagging.

And dont you forget that

King Piemon's just vexed because his well planned username didn't work out as he hoped.

Well I don't buy into yours.

I'm very proud of our past years at Wigan and always will be. We produced and developed some of the finest and greatest names in rugby league history and I for one am proud of it.

When did you start watching rugby league? This is a genuine question, did you actually watch the game at that time and are making your judgement based on your own knowledge or are you relying on received wisdom?
I don't seek to argue that because someone watched a sport for longer than someone else their judgement is sounder. My point is that if you lived through a period then a first hand experience is possibly more sound than a second hand one.
I don't see how you can suggest Wigans' success was based on home grown talent.
Players like;
Brian Case, Ian Potter, Joe Lydon, Ellery Hanley, Jason Robinson, Inga, Botica, Bell, Offiah I could go on and on. Yes I know some of these players hailed from Wigan but they were brought on by other teams.
As for the point of mortgaging your future, that was the reason Central Park (my favourite RL ground) was sold.
So if we can have an informed discussion about Wigans' proud heritage I will be happy to do so. Just as long as you don't seek to interpret the word "heritage" as solely relating to trophies won.

I'm not suggesting that Wigan's success was based solely on homegrown players I'm just saying I don't buy into the nonsense that Wigan simply cherry picked the players who they wanted I will admit we snapped up a few players like Offiah for a huge fee at the time however what I am saying is the team that won all them countless trophies a large proportion were Wigan homegrown players or players we had signed from an early age and developed through our academy. It wasn't just a case of "we'll sign him , him and him".

The introduction and move to summer rugby in 1996 we became emerged in financial difficulty. We had built up debts of £3 million and the clubs board members decided the answer to the financial problems was to sell Central Park. Which proved the right decision. Our debts weren't solely made up from buying success - poor management from the board was the reason for this.