just to throw a few names in the mix
andy greg
joe lydon
ellery hanley
andy goodway
martin offiah
steve ella zip zip man
phil blake
les davidson

just to name some.....i await your pathetic reply

I'm glad you like Warrington, but it's you who isn't listening. Keep regurgitating falsehoods and erroneous analysis, and it's my continuing duty to correct you. Accept the truth and you'll allow me to have a break.

There's no further point of discussion, you'll continue to enjoy your world no matter what anybody else says.

You've got to be having a laugh now if you're going to start to quote any player a club signed in that context. Remind me again what year Les Boyd, Andy Gregory, Alfie Langer etc. came through your academy? And i'm sure Andrew Ettingshausen was a leeds born lad as well. Teams sign players, it's a shock i know.

I'm not denying we signed good players, and the ones you've listed had good careers at Wigan, and in the case of Hanley was sold on for even more money than we bought him for at Leeds and did a good job for them to. I was merely pointing out the myth that we signed players to stop other clubs from having them, as that would mean (and has already been daftly suggested) that they didn't get in the team and play.

its the open cheque book debate here..wigan bought any one at will in the days when wigan won the league at a canter..and you did have a bigger squad than any one else,so some players could`nt possibly play every week....when other clubs went proffesional there was more of a contest in matches...something wigan did not like

When do you think that Wigan went full time professional, and when do you think that Wigan bought all those players.

As I said previously Billy McGinty, Henderson Gill, Ged Byrne, Martin Hall, Neil Cowie etc. all gave good service to Wigan without being "star players" at the time of purchase. Indeed many questioned their signings.

Did Saints not do the same with Newlove, Sullivan, Sculthorpe, Goulding, Martyn, Joynt, Matautia, Nickle, Gibbs etc

Didn't Wire sign Ellis, Drumond, Boyd, Blake, Davies, Bateman (one of the most under rated centres I have ever see) Langer etc.

Surely it's not the same as Wigan doing it though.

this was done years after when teams went pro..you lot were the 1st team that went proffesional then years later other teams did it...hence the mighty wigan not winning everything...

So when did Wigan go full time pro?

not sure of the year but it was before the rest of the league..anyway should`nt you know that

So how can you be sure that all Wigans success was down to Wigan being full time pro?

By the way Leeds were the first team to go really full time.

Do you think Wigan were full time when they beat Warrington at Wembley in 1990?

no..but during the 80`s warrington players(not all) had jobs...cant see ellery or joe lydon or shaun edwards having a window cleaning round can you..leeds went full time after you then the rest slowly followed..

Brian Case was an electrician, Ian potter was a milkman, Ged Byrne had a window cleaning round, Steve Hampson was a drayman, Nicky Kiss was a plummer, David Stepenson had a well paid job in insurance, Ian Lucas ran an antiques business, Andy Farrell was an apprentice joiner, Nick du Toit had a pub (still does), Mark Preston had some sort of job in technology, Martin Dermott worked with a mate of mine at British Leyland.

Those are just a few that I know of.

Wigan weren't a full time lot as clubs are full time now. What the club said was that they had to have priority against any other jobs which players chose to have. So if the club said train at 10am they would train at 10am.

I was in business in Wigan at the time and - for example - Frano Botica would turn up helping his wife's selling business and we would see Andy Platt who worked with an electrical company.

ok ..was farrell a joiner later on when he was regular gb international...may be i was wrongwith the years but when you lot hogged the challenge cup and league many of your players were full time