As an interesting aside, was listening to the United match on 5live and Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce was made up when he heard the pie score as he said he was a massive Wires fan. Who would have thought it... Might be a SJM connection?

Listened to the Wakey match.
They tore them apart from the first minute.

Widnes - actually want them to finish in the 8 and even in the top 4. Just shows how much they rely on a few key players. (Brown/Cahill)
I think this is where we do have an advantage. A big squad with only a few who have played less than 10 SL games.
Sandow and Gidley are very important but we can play without them.

I actually think SL is probably pretty low on quality this year - not taking anything away from our team though. S&G are probably in the top 5 overseas signings this year.

Mates with Tony Smith, I think.

Wigan fans on Twitter saying the need to go down the Warrington route... Apparently that means spend money on transfers... Mmmm the very thing they have slagged us off for because they produce top quality young players and we don't ha ha

Ford
Donlan
Lydon
Hanley
Gregory
Platt
Offiah
Fielden
(at least 3 of those were world record fees, iirc)
Wigan have never used a chequebook, have they?

Was thinking exactly the same thing, they are no strangers to buying success.

Wigan introduced buying success to rugby league. What with tuigamala, botica, Shelford, iro etc- hardly homegrown!

That's how Wigan became the great team of the eighties, by being the only professional club & buying the best when their opponents still had full time jobs. The experiment did lead to full time superleague though .

My thoughts exactly, and those players are just a fraction of what Wigan have paid out for over the years.

Just some of the transfer fees I could find, of course there were plenty more.

1985 Ellery Hanley £150,000
1986 Joe Lydon £100,000
1987 Andy Gregory £130,000
1992 Martin Offiah £440,000
1993 Gary Connolly £250,000
1993 Nigel Wright £130,000
1994 Terry O'Connor £95,000
2006 Stuart Fielden £450,000
2009 Martin Gleeson (£100,000 and Richie Mathers I think we got)
2013 John Bateman Undisclosed

With some of those figures you've got to think what the money would be worth now. £440,000 would be around £700,000.

In the 1950's they bought Billy Boston, Eric Ashton, Mick Sullivan.

I'd forgotten that they'd spent a quarter of a million on Connolly.

Wonder what ever happened to Fielden? Does he have a role at any club, not heard his name for ages?

Inga the winger was a £400,000 cross code deal I believe too??

Wigan spending spree started way before the previous forenames though.
I'll go back to say Case Potter Courtney Fairhurst and Later McGinty.
The Wigan up rise was from a Wire exodus!

2015/16 Sam Tomkins in excess of £200,000 (according to BBC 18/01/2016)

Sam T Cost Pies nothing. NW Warriors owed Pies around $400,000 aus on installments on him.
They just wrote off the debt to have him return early and so avoid a huge battle with Wire for his signature in 2017.
Pies no longer have the financial clout since Leneghan took control from DW. He had to be shrewd to be able to play poker against Moran, so Waney and Leneghan groomed ST all throughout his transfer for brokering a early return that helped Leneghan get a upper hand.