Slightly off topic here but I'm sure a few of the Wire or Wigan fans reading this thread also follow Lancashire in cricket and during the glory days of the 1990s when Lancs were winning all those Sunday League titles and Natwest Trophies and Benson & Hedges Cup, you would always read in the broadsheet press about how Lancs supporters would "trade them all for one County Championship title". My and my school mates loved our trips to Lords in the 1990s watching Lancs, they were my favourite sporting memories before Wire and Wembley, we would have never traded them for winning the County Championship that nobody watches anyway! I was glad to see when Ian Austin's book came out, that he basically said the same.....as if the players would have traded all the one day wins for the Championship!

I would swap all the one day trophies for a title for Lancs, and maybe one of the Challenge Cups but not both...

Obviously Wembley could never be used for the GF as it is what seperates the challenge cup from the rest with it's history and all. But do you think the reason it has to be Old Trafford is because a lot of the time it's only a week's notice.

Would there be a way to hold the final at a location where it could still become more of an event for supporters (i.e. Cardiff?) or would it still have to stay local so as to help supporters at short notice.

Play it at the Emirates I say.

Winning the GF is the bigger achievement. The winners are worthy champions and can rightly claim to have been the best team of the 27 rounds. Although, technically, the team finsishing 8th in the league could become GF winners, in practice only once has a side finishing outside the top two actually won it. So the finalists, and the winners, have been a pretty close reflection of the season as a whole. This was certainly true this year. As a Wire, fan, I don't think we can call ourselves the best until we've won a GF. However, winning back-to-back CCs has rarely been done and is certainly a major acheivement. The Pies are worthy champions in 2010 but let's hope that not many of their fans refer to the 8 cups they 'bought' through the 80s/90s. That was a much of an acheivement as Hicks and Gillette 'winning' Liverpool Association Football Club.

well said

Ok forget the 8 challenge cups, we'll just concentrate on the 5 consecutive championships, just remember that everyone back then was allowed to spend money not just wigan.

personaly i wouldnt swap two cup medals for one gf medal,but i would swap one for one.fwiw i thought both the wire and the wigan deserved a trophy each this year as you both entertained most of the time.

Nah, they wouldn't like that. There would be serious danger of a real atmosphere being created. At which point the stadium would probably implode.

More teams have won back to back challenge cups than have won SL. I know you think its some massive achievement to win a knock out cup against semi pro teams but the likes of Hudds, Cas, Wakefield and Batley have already been there done that.

Yeah the likes of Huddersfield, Bradford, Catalans and Leeds all being semi-pro. Three of them teams have beaten you this year.

He's a "Saints fan".

Although they too are trying to disown him.

With the exception of Leeds who had an off the day, all the others are randoms.

I was making the point that back to back CC wins arent that rare.

when we compete in a grand final i`ll be able to answer this question...but i would imagine grand final day would have to be out of this world to beat my wembley outings...2 fantastic days out..now if you were to ask a saints fan back to back wembley triumphs or 4 losing grand finals in a row???

I mentioned the 8 cups because someone else already had on this thread. Back then, Wigan effectively went bust twice through overspending, and badly damaged the whole sport in the process. I have praised Wigan's efforts this season all over the place because now they have won SL legitimately under a professional but sporting management. The 80s/90s owners were egotistical pirates.