They'll sell the ground to the rugby club for £3.60

people said i was mad to build a castle on a swamp

It was on Rock Radio as well.

The story went something like this - Whelan wants to 'unite' the town by saying that, as Wiganer, we should ALL support both Latics and Wigan RL.

In the next breath they say that he stadium is being GIVEN to the Latics FOR FREE, and that Wigan RL have a 50 year lease to play there (I thought our lease was 99 years, but hey...)

However in a 'peace move' to Wigan RL, he's naming one of the stands after Billy Boston. But not without opposition - oh no. He's had 'loads' of emails and letters saying that the stand should not be named after ANY rugby players. So, evidently, he's doing us rugby fans a favour.

If it's true, it stinks. Personally, I don't really care who owns the stadium. Whether we own it or not, we should feel privileged to be able to play our home games in a state of the art, clean, modern facility.

But it's clear where Whelan's loyalty lies. His talk of wanting to unite the town is tosh - his actions have spoken far louder than his words, here.

The top and bottom of it is this; Latics get everything that matters, whilst we get nothing except meaningless token gestures. Personally, if I was Billy Boston, I would tell Whelan to shove his token gesture up his backside.

I imagine both Latics and Wigan RL have contributed similar amounts to the upkeep of the stadium since it was built, in which case it's a bit of a kick in the b*lls that Latics now get the whole shaboodle for free while Wigan have to pay them rent to play there.

Why are people surprised or concerned?

Wigan Athletic already virtually owned it. Whelan WAS Wigan Athletic.

We were second-class customers before. The situation is no different.

In fact, in some ways it's better. As someone has already said, if Latics start to struggle financially or get relegated, they'll need us more than ever.

I would agree though, that yet again he's been caught spinning a yarn. When IL took over, didn't Whelan make some kind of public statement to the effect that he'd be giving the stadium to 'the people of Wigan'?

However, to be fair I must admit to having been told that the terms of Wigan's lease at the JJB are very favourable to us.

It is a bit, I agree. That said if Wigan are paying a fixed sum in rent (I don't know this, I'm just presuming) then it's actually not too bad, as Latics will have to meet all their own costs in running the stadium. Being fair to Latics, even though they won't have to pay to buy the stadium, it will be far frmo a free ride for them.

I'm genuinally not bothered. The only thing that I'll admit hurts slightly is my pride, knowing that the towns Football club owns the facility that Wigan Rugby play at each week. But in reality, I've known that for years and this weeks news is just confirming it.

For me the JJB stadium is simply like the Telstra in Sydney. A big stadium that can be used to hold spectators and generate business, that's it. It isn't our spiritual home, there is no passion for the place and it's not a stadium that we can be proud of. It's just a nice structure with seats and very good facilities that the club can use on matchday.

This is where I think Wigan would beneift from having a Leagues club/museum type place. A building with Wigan RL and Wigan supporters in mind. The club is big enough to afford, finance and attract people to such a place...More importantly, we deserve our own dedicated place space just for Wigan Rugby League.

Brilliant idea.

Lenagans talked about something similar since he's took over but we're still waiting!

Infact if it takes him until a couple of weeks before the season starts to sort out a sponsor this could literally take him 40 years so i'm not holding my breath!

That just about sums it up, Alex. Well said. I feel more 'sad acceptance' than anger.

To be fair to Lenegan, he's only been in charge five minutes. You might think it's a long time, but a year or two in business is nothing, and certainly not a timescale in which you can make sweeping changes. You certainly couldn't acquire, plan, apply for planning permission for, build finance and open something like that in the space of time that Lenegan's been here.

Aye fair do's in the respect of a clubhouse/bar type building being rushed through as it will take time but the real worry is that every other aspect of decision making since he's come in has taken an age, from signing players to sorting out the new shirt and so on.

This Noble situation will drag on aswell and nobody knows where they stand.

I suppose sometimes it pays not to rush into decisions but we can't afford to take too much time over certain things either like we've done so far.

Didn't he say some time back that he would be leaving the stadium to the people of wigan, as such the clubs would own a share apiece.

Disgraceful about turn in my mind. DW can take his sports and his stadium for me, I'd rather play Asda's car park.