They seem to think its their God given right to take players or staff from Wigan or any other RL club. If RU is so good then how come they can't bring their youth players through instead of trying to sign Richards.

If I was a youth winger at Sale I'd be bitterly disappointed in the lack of faith shown in me by the club.

And speaking from a football fan's point of view, what's happened to Stockport County since Sale moved into their ground is a disgrace. They've gone from a steady League One/League Two club to looking down the barrel of Non-League.

For those reasons I would not lose much sleep if Sale got a poor attendance at Bolton and then eventually got relegated from the Aviva Premiership.

I received the following pm from Mick Hogan this morningThe story which has caused this original thread is utter rubbish. It is written by a man known for basing his stories on rumour and gossip and the fact he has acted on a text message says it all really. Its actually quite incredible to think that a player (as good as Pat is) without any RU experience could come over and use Aviva Premiership games to gain fitness in order to get back into RL is ludicrous. Dont get me wrong I think Pat could well be a big success in RU but not sure that would ever happen as he is such a legend now at Wigan Warriors.[/i

That sounds pretty cut and dried to me. It's clearly a load of nonsense, though obviously a player like Pat would be of interest to anyone who was looking to recruit. I guess it's down to us to keep him happy at Wigan.

On this subject, I owe Mick a bit of an apology. I made some rather uncalled for (and uninformed) comments about him earlier on in this thread, and I now take them back.

I think it's good of him to send the above info. That should put this whole thing to bed.

It certainly is.

Not many would have taken the time.

Seconded. Case closed.

All of Aus, was rated far higher than Lyon who left Parra at the same time...keep up

I believe this puts an end to all this