I'm not offended

I'm genuinely amazed that over a situation like this I.e. supporting a rugby club someone could imply (and you compound it by using it "Genuinely sounds like") what you are implying

You could have said its like x,x or x without implying people at the club are what you said. And, that others are complicit in it when using that analogy.

I've had to deal with situations surrounding this area in the past, and the number of people on Facebook or twitter for example who drag innocent bystanders into the argument, whos reputations are brought into question, who have lies told about them who are nothing more than people going about their business is beyond belief

I'll leave it at that, I would just say your choice of words are on the extreme, albeit I understand your sentiment behind the situation.

IL always bangs the "Wigan is a global brand" drum . To impose the media blackout that he did last night he did himself no favours imo. He created a what's he trying to hide conspiracy theory that in a honesty he should not have and probably didn't exist

I do not dispute any of the facts that certain posters have posted here (thanks for that) it will all come out in the wash but it does make your mind work overtime as to the make up of the audience and what % of the usual suspects were in attendance.

Regards EW

I suppose given that we can all drop a gaffe or two when speaking I can understand them not showing it live but to not tweet about it does seem a little odd.

They have social media use it surely?

Obviously its difficult to give exactisms under the current circumstances
But

I think it would be fair to say that they went extensively into the impact of covid etc over the last 20months.(and not just financially)
The projections for 2020 were for a small loss and they had worked hard to get thisbunder control in the previous 2 years whilst still paying up to salary cap etc and having marquees, I think we all know that the last 20 months have had a serious impact on that.

They explained how that funding gap had been covered short and medium/long term.

And even though some of the number in the face it look bad, comparatively to other clubs and sporting organisations they feel positive about the future.

There are still unknowns, (inc SL/RFL issues and TV deal) like will crowds come back to pre pandemic levels for 2022 onwards (and before anyone says there was a whole section on markettig and what their intentions to rejuvenate the crowd situation both in terms of numbers and fan age) but they have plans based on a/ if they do come back to 2019 levels or better and b/ if they don't.
After the event i spoke to itchy nals lads and their mates (only recently made the link that they were his lads, I've never met itchy i dont think?) And we all ahd a little say, and one ofnthe thigs was hiw do we get the hundreds and thousands sat in pubs spenidng £25 back to the game spending £25? And for me short term that is the big question and I think like NK has previously said weve some green shoots last couple of home games (notnin terms of results may i add)

As for the relationship with the football, Rads said that he and his counterpart have a good relationship, other than that im not going to expand.

What inwill say, and try to be light hearted about, is I dont knownwhy people waste their time asking why IL doesn't build a stadium, even last night someone asked and received an answer, and then 2 others virtually aksed the same question over na dover again.

I’m sure there were more pressing questions on the night but I’d love to know if anyone asked about the obvious downturn in communications from the club on platforms such as Twitter. The total lack of coverage on u19’s games now is poor, with just the odd one being covered live and all away games not being covered, even in the form of tweeting team news, score updates etc (other than maybe a retweet from the home sides feed) It is another element of how things are being run that gives an impression that costs have been cut to the absolute maximum, so whilst it may have not been covered as an individual question, I wonder if it was covered under the umbrella of general running costs/cost cutting.

Cheers mate

Interesting point, as that was going through my mind both pre and post event
Conspircy theorists

Without going into the whole thing as we could have a full blown discussion/argument i find that it's almost like "you've told us this, but what haven't you told us" attitude to be rife in society
I agree that lack of communication can lead to conspiracy theory, but i can't for the life of me understand why people themselves seem to enjoy turning things into one. Thats more about life in general than this situation if I'm honest, but as someone who has dealt with the 5G rollout and the Complete rubbish spouted over the last couple of years about it and, and this is serious, the engineers that have been physically harmed, the damage these people have done physically to people and infrastructure is frightening, and I can't for the life of me how people end up thinking like that.

Anyway, I suppose that horse as bolted in life in general, and its uo to people which way they go with that.

I won’t quote any posters on both sides of the argument because I can understand to a degree both sides of the debate.

For my two pennies worth the date seemed quite rushed and they should have streamed it live on Wigan tv or at the very least they should have updated Twitter as they promised.

My single biggest concern is the long term viability of the club particularly with the new owners of the Latics, the financial issues caused by COVID-19 and the reduced value of the deal with Sky.
To a degree the standard of play pales into insignificance with the overall financial situation of the club.
From the brief chat that I had with my sons these areas were covered but my concerns haven’t been abated because other than a new Head of Marketing they didn’t tell me about any other plans to kickstart the club.

We need some new energy within the club and if IL and KR haven’t got the energy or desire they should step aside. If they need some respite after a very difficult 18 months then personally I’d been fine with that as long as improved communications commence form today because for the last 18 months there hasn’t really been any.

On the coaching front I’m caught between bringing back SW and total new start with potentially an unproven coach. What I don’t want is this siege mentality between the club/coaching staff and the fans that has existed off and on for about 7 years or so.

The lack of activity in schools, amatuer clubs and the still unresolved issue of declining numbers of young fans needs to addressed immediately. IL should be paying top dollars for the best Head of Marketing and I suspect that would mean a 6 figure package would be the minimum to attract the best available. I’d be interested to know who they are using to help them with this recruitment.

You're not asking for much, are you?

Obviously they'll step down at some point, but given that it's a job they're both pretty attached to, and have done very well until the Covid crisis threw everybody's cards into the air, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Double post

As I typed that I thought that it could be seen as a bit callous but my meaning is that IL could handover the reigns to his son(s) or sell the sell club and KR may decide to move on to pastures new because I suspect the last 18 months or so would have been mentally and physically exceptionally draining.

I don’t wish either of them any ill on the contrary, there is a massive job to be done in still very testing times and to keep picking yourself up can be soul destroying particularly if you don’t see things improving anytime soon.

What if there isn't a good buyer? Look what happened to Latics when Whelan just sold to whoever was willing to buy.