Clearly wasn't light hearted. Listen to Wanes BBC and Sky interviews right after the game. He says to two different crews 'most of the fans' stayed with us. I think its pretty clear this was a sore point for them.

To even question Bilko, who I do not know (never met him, saw 1 photo of him, but find his website and work incredible!!!) shows a lack of class. This is without any of the external factors that have been happening to the guy. If the same was happening to me I would say more than Wigan had been awful this season, which was correct.

Without Bilko I would honestly say I wouldn't support Wigan with the same enthusiasm. He made researching stats, looking at history and always having his eye on the ball with what is going on, who for someone not from Wigan was a godsend. I have zero link to Wigan, in fact my whole family supports St Helens, going back generations as we are not from the area.

Sam should have very little to say right now. All the money we have invested to players who ultimately did nothing to help us become champions goes to show that this club is bigger than anyone. Get your head down and show you are worth the money that the fans ultimately pay you.

100% agree with this.....the club need to accept we are entitled to opinion and it does not always agree with the establishment. Again poor PR skills from Wane & Tomkins who clearly do not appreciate nor understand the privileged position they hold....they are never beyond reproach

Tomkins has already had a pop at the fans who dared question our form earlier this year, fickle was the word used.

It has left a very bitter taste really after the sweet success of the final.

The noises from Wane and now Sam - in professional sport I don't think senior figures at the club should be reacting like that to the most important stakeholders in the club.

Supporters weren't burning effergies and protesting at matches. The criticism was justified and a Grand Final win does not gloss over the poor RL on show from the Widnes game back to February. I think Lenagan even brought up pur poor attack in an interview! It is sport and criticism will find you at some point in your career. Look at Wayne Rooney right now!
5
The thinly veiled comments from Wane, no home coming and now Sam picking the wrong target in Bilko to poke some fun at.

It wants nipping in the bud quickly. I am thrilled we won the Grand Final - I was nearly in tears at the end. We all love this club just as much as players and coaches.

Criticism from supporters more often than not just manifests from a love of the club and the game.

I don't think it's a coincidence that we started playing better rugby after a few people hit a nerve with some criticism. Criticism that I felt was fair given the circumstances.

It's been frustrating because so many people could see the quality we had and it felt like although winning games we were not performing to our potential. Wane has done a brilliant job to bring them over the line but I don't think a lot of the criticism was unfair at the time. Losing to a widnes side at home who had 11 men was the straw that broke the camels back for me, and who knows. Without the reaction after that game would it have given Wigan the kick up the backside that they needed?

Whilst I'm proud of what Wigan acheived on saturday I don't think it's unfair to say that the standard across the board hasn't been the best and paying fans have a right to an opinion. Seeing the way a certain player has reacted to those opinions on twitter tonight has been disappointing to say the least

I don't have an issue with Wane tbh. He kept a lid on it and reading on here but even more so the other forum, there have been some fans that haven't stuck with them but Tomkins has had a pop at an individual and that's out of order.

It's funny because Lenagan can't be too happy. He said on Wigan TV he agreed with every word that Bilko said so Tomkins has bitten the hand that feeds him in more ways then one.

I may be in the minority but I am still of the opinion we have had a poor season when taking the entirety of it into account.

The mast few games do not make up for the dross we have had to watch this year for 90% of the season.

The final few games of the year actually highlight how much from a performance point of view we have underachieved for the bulk of the year.

If players want to run round thinking they are now untouchable they are wrong, especially Tomkins. I think his injury has been a catalyst to the upturn in performance as we actually started to get our sets off to a good start with him no longer strolling towards the line on kick returns of running sideways then dropping off the winger losing us tons of forward momentum. The injury has taken its toll and that is unfortunate but he has hardly covered himself in glory so far on his return.

Does Wane deserve credit for us becoming Champions? Undoubtedly. However I do feel it has papered over some cracks that should not be forgotten.

On the positive side he certainly has earned the right to stay, and prove that the performances we have had to witness at times have been down to wider issues. He has the opportunity to really lay a marker down now and take this squad to the next level. I hope he does, I'm however not going to be won over by a few good performances at the end of the season to make me think all of a sudden it's been a great year.

Jury is still out for me but the playoff series has earned him the right to prove he can coach a team that play at a consistent level of good quality throughout the year.

Perhaps - I've said on the other forum that for all the criticism he has shouldered for the quality of RL, he should reap the praise for the brilliant (seems ironic after Sam T"s comments) never-say-die attitude he has instilled in our players. That got us the win last saturday. I've called myself out before as someone who called for his head on here - I'd buy him a pint now if I saw him!

Pretty much how I feel, however when I say it out loud it sounds absurd after winning the grand final.

There's two issues, one is that SL as a spectacle is poor, it's been the most forgettable season I can remember. That said the very low standard has enabled us, with all the injuries, with an attack that barely outscores our points conceded to finish second and win the GF. What I don't want is for us to use the overall low standard of SL to paper over where we have lacked this year. I desperately hope we can stay relatively injury free to see if Wane can get us firing and turn us into a serious attacking threat and entertain while doing it. I say this because we have struggled to break down good defences for much longer than the last 6 months. We've been predictable and over reliant on certain players.

Wane has worked wonders with our defence, the team spirit and willingness to work for each other is phenomenal. That said it's 50% of the equation, the fact that was enough this year should not mask the fact that even with the injuries, we were abysmal for way too much of this season and the potential improvement is massive, it should be and has to be a priority to fix.

I'm pretty sure Sam regrets his comment now, not the smartest thing to say and he does seem to bite on Twitter occassionally. I don't think there was any malice intended, but fair play to Bilko if it fired up the team to win a championship!

Sam shouldnt be saying those kind of things imo, he could have easily sent bilko a private message without the world seeing

On subject, i dont think micky mac's tweet on sat was the most appropriate either - talk about giving wire motivation for the next time they play us!

I think he can be pretty proud of himself. As a normal fan just making a heat of the moment comment it must be crazy to think that the side has clearly used that as a big motivating factor in winning the big one. It's probably our finest trophy victory in decades.

Well done Bilko I say.