To some people that's a viable reason and to others it's not.

If someone came along to me and said they'd double my pay for what I'm doing now, then I'd jump at the chance, and most others would.

Wigan have done the same with Union players, such as Quinnell and Inga. I didn't hear much booing of those players when they put on a Wigan shirt.

This is an eminently reasonable point to make.

Except that sport is partisan. It's all about being partisan. It would be nothing if it wasn't partisan.

So your point, reasonable as it is, won't cut much ice.

That said, I'm sure that most Wigan fans, despite Ashton's extremely impolite manner of departure, would still welcome him home if he ever decided to come (so long as he isn't in his 30s by then, of course).

Some people need to grow up a little bit here. So what if he went for the money?? He got the chance to more than double his wage and most people would jump at that, especially at his age. It was still a big decision to move away from everything he knows and now he has been proven that it was definately the right choice.

The club was in a complete mess at the time as well therefore it was pretty much a no-brainer. He's performed really well and deserves his call-up. I hope he rips it up!

If i was Ashton i would have took the money and ran, dont blame him.

I wouldnt have worn the shirt before leaving Wigan though, I suppose everyone makes mistakes. I think some people are going over the top still holding a grudge, its life at the end of the day, he had a chance to finanically secure himself in the future and he took it - most people would have. Its not like he destroyed the club or anything, he just left to play for another sport, quite a few players do that. Worst thing is that we had to endure a couple of seasons of Richie Mathers after he left

I wonder if that girl on here from a while back still has 'Ashton' tatoo'd on her wrist

Just the kind of player England ru need to inject a bit of attack into their god awful ultra defensive performances. Hopefully he'll see some ball and impress.

Couldnt give a monkeys chuff about the snotty toe rag. The bloke shat on our great club from a great height and i will never forgive him for that. And for those with Alzheimer's its got naff all to do with the money and everything to do with wearing that god awful ru shirt 6 months before the end of the season. No class.

None of these points are relevant when it comes to why Chris Ashton's name still rankles with some Wigan fans.

To deliberately not mention the thing that peed so many people off is to present a very lopsided argument.

At the time it was reported he went for £140K a year. How many players do we have with one senior season under their belt on that sort of wage? Had Mo matched the offer he would still be being slagged off for paying over the odds.

What rankles most fans isn't that he went for the cash but the manner in which he left. He knew he had done wrong and tried too hard to over compensate and didn't look as good in his last games for us anyway but whatever, he did what he did and so for ever more will be looked on with disdain by some fans.

I tend to view him as any other ex Wigan player which is sort of "Oh he used to play for us <shrugs shoulders>".

Dave

My view too.

I'm not going to get into an argument with anyone about him.

The manner of the departure - the posing in the shirt and all that - was deeply irritating at the time, a real kick in the teeth given all the other crap we were having to deal with back then - but it's over and done with. There's no point crying about spilled milk.

That said, I'd be interested if I ever heard he wanted to come back. But I can't see that happening. Unlike most who've defected to Union, Ashton appears to have fully bought into it, a la Jason Robinson.

That was certainly controversial, but I guess their marketing guys would have put him under quite a bit of pressure to wear the shirt to get that photo. As an 18/19 year old kid surrounded by all the hob-nobs of Northampton RUFC that would have been a difficult position to be put in, and I guess the longer term ramifications of it didn't immediately spring to mind.

It was an error of judgement, but not nearly as large a one as many of our other past-players have made, and I don't personally begrudge him.

Good post! From a ciddy fan as well!!

I tend to agree with DaveO and Cruncher on this. Regarding the point above though, it's not so much that he did it, but that he hasn't (to my knowledge) apologised for it. Anyone can make a mistake but, equally, anyone can apologise for having made it. As far as I know, he did the former but wasn't big enough to do the latter and that's why i have no respect for him. Let's be honest here, he could still make an apology at any time if he so wished; he obviously feels he doesn't need to and that speaks volumes.

I only got a season ticket at Wigan (I was going to say the JJB, but of course it's now the DW Stadium :/ ) two years ago. Before that I watched both codes of the game. However, I tried to watch the Six Nations ties last weekend and I was unbelievably bored. It defies belief that Union is the 2nd or 3rd national sport in the country and League is merely talked about in passing.

As for Ashton, well unless he wears Wigan colours underneath his England jersey I could not care less about his debut. Congratulations are in order of course, anytime you can represent your country it's a great honour, but I certainly won't be watching.

Why is Farrel desserting his home town team for big money alright and Aston doing it a crime. The wearing the shirt was blown up out of all proportion. Good Luck to the lad he earns good money and does not have to put in half the work that he would have to do in league.

You've basically answered your own question.

Faz didn't give any such metaphorical V-sign to the Wigan fans when he left. Plus, he'd done so much for the club already that no-one begrudged him getting his final payday.

I don't think the two cases bare any comparison at all, to be honest.