Yeah. A number of times IL has gone on the record saying that he wants Latics to stay up. At one Fans Forum I attended this disgruntled some Wigan fans, but it's clearly a sensible appreciation of how things stand financially.

The really strange thing about the Wigan v Latics animosity is that it wasn't always there. When Latics first got promoted to the professional ranks in the early 1980s, it wasn't far off the same crowd watching both teams. I remember a Good Friday when stacks of fans went to watch Latics in the morning and then pub-crawled across town over lunchtime, getting to Central Park in time for the next match. There was no atmosphere of 'them and us'.

Exactly !

It would serve both parties best if we could get that kind of joint approach back....it won't be easy and it won't be quick....and like I say....any hope of it happening will only gain any impetus once the field is cleared and Latics get a new regime......which will happen eventually !

The main problem is that some section of them blues can never accept the sucess we had in th 80 & 90s

Well, to make something like this work both sides have to make sacrifices.

Thus far we've had to sacrifice Central Park, our reputation for being the UK's flagship rugby league town, an excellent quality playing surface when we kick off our season in spring, and any control at all over fixture clashes.

Perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask Latics fans to sacrifice their embedded belief system that Wigan's past glory years are somehow hindering their progress to the top of the Premiership (and accept the reality that they aren't and never will be a big enough fish to attain such status anyway).

Lets face it, Central Park (RIP) can never be replaced in our affections, so not much point in pondering over it really.
I like the JJB actually. When its near full, the atmosphere is cracking! And as for Stadium facilties, its a million times better than CP in all honesty.
I dislike the ego-maniac-pensioner, as much as the next man. And will never feed the power-crazed ones ego even further by calling our home the 'DW' stadium!
And i dont really care too much we share it with the minor-sport team in Wigan either. I'm not fussed one way or the other what happens to them.
On match-days, its our home......Our stadiium......And thats that for me.

Has someone got a pic of what Central Park would have looked like re-developed? and could you put it on here?

I think the only pic ever produced was a quick sketh by an artist which wan't to scale as the stadium that was drawn coulf have never fit in between the Road and the Dougie with a full size rugby pitch in it.

There is an artist impression in the book The Central Park Years, unfortunley dont know how to put it on here

To be honest, we dodged a bullet on that one.

Can you imagine if we'd developed CP as a groundshare, and then in 2008 had David Whelan telling us that we had to play a vital tie elsewhere so that Latics could accommodate a routine fixture?

That would have been an impossibly bitter pill to swallow.

Some Latics fans won't sit in a stand named after Billy B - they'd be alright going to CP.

And I know of a few of them

Quote: wiganrlforever "And I know of a few of them www.cockneylatic.co.uk/forum/vie ... 2945#p2945

Quote: wiganrlforever "And I know of a few of them www.cockneylatic.co.uk/forum/vie ... 2945#p2945

Looks like a few decided not to bother at all last night, never mind the Billy B Stand!

Yeah, shocking attendance.

It's the first time i have looked at comments on the football board... They make Warrington fans look balanced...