***ALL 2009/2010 SIGNING TALK HERE***9 GLEESON HERE TOO

Here's my take on the whole saga. Firstly I dont see how the whole deal stacks up. It was posted on here that Lenegan said we only have 30k left to spend on the cap. I would be fairly certain that Goulding gets less than 40k and I wouldnt have though that Mathers gets much more. This would mean that Gleeson would have to take a huge pay cut to leave Warrington, which I cant see. I have heard that this all came about because Warrington wanted to sign Goulding, who Wigan dont want to let go, who then mentioned a swap involving Gleeson. I actually believe that Smith tried to sign Goulding whilst at Leeds a few years ago and I guess that is where the interest comes from. However unless we get rid of a real high earner like Bailey I cant see how it is going to happen.

I have to say though I would be gutted if this deal went through if it does mean us losing Goulding. Gleeson is nearly 29 and only has 2 or 3 good years left in him. The entire deal just sounds like Noble's short term desperation to keep his job. Gleeson is a player that has underperformed for years and has very few good games and lots of very average ones. He has built a big reputation on very little, largely because we are so short of decent English centres. In addition we all know about his off field antics and we have too many of these types of players as it is and we should be looking at reducing the number of players like this that are at the club, not doing the opposite. He will also be on a big wage, a wage that could be much better spent on 2 good forwards or a stand off. With the team that we have at the moment Gleeson will make absolutely no difference at all and will just eat up money that needs to be used elsewhere.

Goulding is a very promising player and and could be the Wigan centre for the next decade and is a player who I believe has the potential to be one of the England centre's in the future. He has been made a scapegoat by Noble, and indeed some fans, and I guess that is why he wants to leave, that is if that rumour is true. Indeed he should be playing now at the expense of an overpaid and very average import in Bailey but despite him scoring tries for fun in the academy and being the stand out player in the last few weeks but he still doesnt get picked and by all accounts Noble wont even tell him why so that he can improve. It will be a big mistake imo from the club if Wigan do let him go.