Quote: ABP' "I think Wigan fans are too quick to fob this idea off.
This year it feels like after 15 years of trying, Wigan fans have sub-conciously accepted that the DW stadium is nothing more than large rented, convenient football arena to display our home games.
We're double champions. If attendances and atmospheres aren't going to be peaking now, when will they? Something has to be done - As I can only see it getting worse. In my opinion playing at the DW is a short-term financial solution and will have an effect on our long-term survival as a business and as a club.
Wigan Rugby League need a home, not just a stage. It's essential and any managable debt would be priceless.'"
While it may be desirable to some, the problem is that there is zero chance of it happening. Wigan are at the DW for something like the next 40 years. So I certainly won't be around to see anything change, and neither will many others on this board.
The other things is that as long as Wigan fans keep talking about this, it gives our enemies ammunition.
It makes them think a) that we're all
unhappy not to have our own ground - which is not really true any more (many Wigan fans now don't even remember Central Park), and b) that the club
needs its own ground - when the reality that it more or less has that already. As has been proved time and again, no-one is going to chuck us out, and the last time Whelan attempted to change one of our fixtures he had the limits of his power very forcibly brought to his attention.
I think the malaise in support has other factors behind it. Not least the problems we face regarding player loyalty. The new rumour at Wigan is always that someone else wants to leave, and it's been proved to us several times now that when their sought-after destination is the NRL or RU, there seems to be nothing we can do. And yet it appears to be a 'Wigan disease'; other clubs, notably Leeds, are somehow able to resist it. Wigan fans want to see the creation of dynasties, and at present there is no chance of that happening. So even exciting youngsters like Rocky and Budgie will probably not be with us for more than 2 or 3 years. That is a very depressing state of affairs, and a lot of fans are feeling it.