To the post above, the clubs have terraces down the side.

Do you honestly believe that he would ever have built it?

Yeah, he originally was gonna do up CP, make it 20,000 all seater and bring Latics to CP if you remember. The board of directors voted for Whelans proposal but Jack Robinson went and sold it to Tesco anyway. Tesco offered £11m, Whelan offered £4m plus the renovation of CP. Once JR sold to Tesco, Whelan pulled out and went off to build a stadium at Robin Park.

Central Park would have changed dramatically had we stopped there. It would have had to have done because it was a dilapidated place. But Central Park wasn't just about the ground itself, it was the location so close to the town centre pubs. Thats the real loss in my view.

Oh yeah i know but it would still have been Central park. Its like Old Trafford has dramatically changed since the mid 80's but because its still Old Trafford, it keeps that magic.

Was about to say that myself

Personally i like the DW, but it holds no atmosphere with the exposed sides, central park was a bowl dug into the ground which always helps

Fill those sides in and make a terraced area and it would be perfect

Would be very difficult as there is no break for the stadium so extensive construction work can be done. In the current situation if work was to be carried out, guess who would more than likely be chucked out to accommodate the work?

Also, there's the old FA rule that forbids clubs in the top two divisions to have terraces in their stadiums. I'm sure Whelan wouldn't shell out for work on his stadium that his precious football team can't use. Having said that, should Latics continue on their inevitable implosion and get relegated to League 1, jobs a good 'un!

Does anyone have any pictures they could post of the renovated CP? Us JCLs ( ) have never seen them.

The were no grants available to refurbish Central Park so it would have to have been funded by Dave Whelan. The cost would have been greater than building the JJB for which grants were given.

Whelan would have sold Central Park to Tesco, just as Robinson did, and Whelan would have pocketed the money. That's how he works and makes his money.

Exactly!!

I've said a million times that the one thing the DW seriously lacks is a quality meet up pub for before the game. I'm talking about any old pub like the Red Robin but a true WRLFC supporters bar where everyone congregates before the match and really kicks the night off. Or a stretch of pubs which you know will be jam packed in a sea of cherry and white before the match.

My only regret about becoming a Wigan fan is that i didn't do it sooner.
Never saw a game at Central Park.

Sometimes this makes me feel i am not fully qualified .

With an avatar like that your not doing too bad.

Still got the oridinal evening post paper with all the photos on pride and passion will hand it to my grandson for safe keeping.

Correct.

The loss of Central Park seemed like a catastrophic blow at the time, and it certainly changed Wigan town centre for the worse. The famous Wigan Lane pub crawl now lacks any kind of spirit. Several of those boozers, once so famous for the landlords they had and the rugby memorabilia that filled them, are now seedy dens, which have been all but abandoned by the punters.

But ... and it's a big but, if Whelan had rebuilt CP and housed Latics there as well, can you imagine how we'd have felt that terrible play-off night when he showed us the door so the football could take priority? It was bad enough being told we couldn't play at the DW, but imagine being told we couldn't play at Central Park. That would have been truly unbearable.