Most important signing was Dobson. If we did not get him then i do think we would have been relegated that season as Moran was out of his depth.

For me,got to agree, I personnely thought without Dobson we would have been relegated,forget mcguire,league leaders shield,grand final win and challenge cup win, none would have happened if we had gone down,i've no doubt we would have come back up but the play offs wouldn't even be in our sights yet.also a big credit to stu fielden who 2nd to dobson saved the club

Agree with the consensus above regarding IL, Dobson/Noble (for the relegation dogfight) & Madge for when BN had taken us as far as he could. However, I also think Leuluai has been a great signing - was very young when he joined, and was understandably overshadowed by Trent Barrett, but during the dark days he was one of the few players who regularly pulled their tripe out when others looked like they couldn't be bothered.

Whilst he's never been the flair player, he's quietly improved year on year & has now matured into probably the most influential player on the pitch & seems to be the player who opposition fans actually fear/respect the most. Certainly, we seem to notice the difference when he isn't on the pitch, and giving him more minutes during the play-offs is a must for me. Plus, some of his tackling is worth the entrance money alone.

In addition lets not forget the massive impact Radders had in coming back from retirement and putting his body on the line for us to help save us. True legend that lad is.

Michael Dobson saved Wigan from oblivion.

Others helped but he was the man who saved us in my opinion.

Totally agree. He's been the best thing to happen in Wigan in decades.

As for a player a lot will look at Fielden or Dobson but to me relegation wouldn't have been that bad a thing. We would have got rid of all the deadwood in one go and Wigan lads like Lockers would have stuck with us IMO. We'd have got plenty of other young Wiganers in the side as well which would have had lads like Prescott a further year on. We'd have come back up to superleague straight away with a full salary cap to play with.

As a player I thought Barrett turned us around more so then anyone. His class dragged us around the field in 2007 but he still had too much deadwood alongside him.

Dobson

On field: Dobson.

Off field: Rob Harris, nowadays when players are injured they are diagnosed, treated and rehabilitated properly. Best in the business.

Lenegan followed by Madge followed by Carmont. I remember the first fans forum and the honesty Lenegan spoke with, we as fans had never received anything like that under mo and dw, also stands out is the fans forum after the huddersfield game where Ian literally ripped in to everything which was wrong with the team that day for me signalled a change, we then started to get the wigan way back slowly but surely improving from that day.

Dobson/Noble/Fielden

I think take any of those away and we would have gone down.

Total urban legend, perpetuated only a week or so ago by Brian Carney. Sam was already playing regularly before Smith got injured. Check out the player lists on Bilko's site for details.

Significant turning points for me, already mentioned by several posters before me, are getting rid of Nill-ward, bringing in Noble and Dobson (not so much Fielden IMO, although he helped), and then IL and Madge (chronologically).

IL is the winner for me though, as all the really good stuff has come about from his vision being put into practice.

Radds return coinsided with Dobson's i belive first game against Catalans. Remeber coming up M6 and hearing that Wakey had beaten Warrington by a point i think and Briers had missed a pen to win the game. Thought then if we lost to Catalan that day we were gone after that result. That game maybe is the biggest league win we have had in the SL era. We won a very nervey game. I am certain we played them in the league home again inside a month at home and we batterd them.

If we got relegated it would have been a disaster as most of the players like Lockers, Richards would not have stayed and we would defenitley not have been in an attractive position to sign Leuluai, Coley etc and defenitely no Barrett. The cap is much lower in the lower division and any player with any SL ambition will leave. There was some deadwood but the side that almost got relegated was one of the best SL sqauds assembled that season it was run by the worst coach we have had.

Noble's side was better than anyside that season apart from Saints who if we had got to the GF we would have given them a better game than Hull in Old Trafford. We had a good side on paper but paper is thin just like our defence until Noble took over. If anyone thinks that relegation was a good option does not realise that you will lose your entire playing staff in one go if you do go down.

Dobson, Carmont, Leaulia and if they can be classed as signings Madge and IL

*and Trent