A leagues club akin to what they have in Aus would be nice but I'll dream on for that one.

As much as I'd like to see us sign some world class players the reality is English Super League is that poor that I don't think they can be attracted.

You'd have to wonder in the salary cap world whether we could attract even someone from another club such as Watkins/Yeaman. Would be good if we could though.

That said I don't watch the NRL - is there anyone over there we think we could attract realisitically?

The latest accounts contained a warning that this year wasn't looking great financially for Wigan so may well go against some of these costs referred to eg Wigan TV.

At last years shareholders meeting IL stated that Wigan were PLANNING a loss for the year due to set up costs of Wigan t.v, Central Park etc so as you say some of the money may be used to offset that.

Im gob smacked by that, I think It was stated last year Central Park costs hit the accounts and that the loss in the CC last season hit the accounts hard, but this year seems to have been a better year On and Of the pitch.

Is the revenue down considerably in 2013 ?

have a feeling that a good proportion of it will be investing in the future of the club, youth developement.

The figures Paul quotes are for 2012, the 2013 figures will not be available until August/September 2014.

I didn't quote any figures. The "warning" related to performance going forward eg Dec 2012 to Nov 2013.

I'd imagine since the accounts were produced then a Wembley appearance would have improved the outlook.


Is Wigan TV considered a worthwhile expenditure. I cannot ever seeing it being self-funding let alone generating profit.

I was thinking about this the other day weirdly enough, would love for it to happen. Failing that I'd like to see the money go on further improving our scouting and player development. I really do think growing our own is the way to go in the current climate.

Have been thinking the very same over the last year or so.

Agree with this.

We have cash to keep all the projects ticking over like Central Park, the Welsh link up, the academy set up etc but ultimately we should be able to go out and cherry pick the players we want (within realistic parameters) now rather then feed off the scraps that may be left out of contract. We've already showed a willingness to do that last year by signing Smith, Green and Taylor for decent, yet realistic fees and that needs to continue. We've again done that by signing Hopkins and it sounds like they will do the same for Clubb (rightly or wrongly).

It's players like Daryl Clark, Danny Kirmond and Dean Collis I'd be looking at. All reasonably realistic options that would add to our squad. The rumours are the first two are Warrington bound though.

Lenagan floated the supporters bar/club idea at a fans forum a few years back but wasn't the rumour that Whelan had threatened to put the rent up at the stadium if we went ahead?

He was supposedly miffed because this type of club would take away from the taking inside the stadium and its bars pre and post match.

I'm more worried that we don't seem to have been in for the top quality SL players that have become available, the likes of Moon, Chase and it now appears Clark and Briscoe are being added to that bracket. Yet underwhelming and so-called "project" signings like Lauaki, the apparent signings from London and to some extent the signings of Dudson and Gelling keep happening. The only one under this policy who can be deemed an outright success is Ben Flower IMO.

It's suggested we'll get £700k for Sam. Over 3 years that's approx £230k+ a year.
Mossop will fetch £100k over two years so that's £50k a year.
Hock £250k over 2 years - £125k a year.
So that's over £400k a year for two years then Sam's last £230k.

IL may put some into the finances of the club and try and get rid of the historical debt. He's been doing that and not far to go so he may wipe it out.
Then he has a trophy winning team, plus a profitable club which is debt free.
Some acheivement is that!

There have been rumours Tom Briscoe may come here but that won't take a fee and I can't see him earning more than Pat.
There are replies here saying we need a left centre and we all know why. However, Thornley had an imposiible job replacing Carmont and with no one readily available I'd like to see how he goes next season before bringing in an NRL player.
We'd all like to see the squad strengthen but we aren't going to get Clarke here to play sub to MicMac. Wire are after him as both their 9s will retire in the next two years. I'm like most on here, want a position filling but can't come up with a name that is ever likely to sign for the club.
If Briscoe doesn't sign then I'd willingly go with Burgess and Manfredi for the 5 shirt.
One thing we do need is a top class goal kicker. Pat won us many a game by out kicking the opponents kicker, like HullFC away! Either Smith and Charnley had better start practising big time or we need to sign some one.
A top class kicker would be my spending priority.
Owens has just signed a new deal at Widnes so that would take a fortune to prise him away. He's a good wingman and a far better goal kicker. That's one!
Any other names?

Getting to Wembley and winning the cup will help there too

Transfer fees, probably not, as I don't see anyone likely to be available that would dramatically improve our squad - the top clubs are unlikely to sell, and the cash-strapped ones don't have anyone we'd really want.