Am I missing something or does that CockneyLatics site have a massive font? Reminds me of the special needs books you see in schools with big bold letters!! Then again if the players are anything to go by then it seems about right!!

How many local lads play for the latics?

They have a lad on loan from United who plays, pretty close....

They have nobody who actually plays who is local though I don't think where as we have a number of either local or home grown players in contention every week.....

S Tomkins
Goulding
J Tomkins
Deacon
McIlorum
Hansen
Lockers
Prescott
O'Carroll
Mossop
Farrell
Tuson
Marsh
Charnley

Not to mention the amount of backroom staff we have previously linked with the club or local/fan of the club.

Although saying that, any team in the football league has no where near that many players either from the town or developed through the youth system. RL in general is terrific for this.

I speak to fans of Liverpool and United all the time who love having a great team but admit they would rather it was local lads taking to the field. The derbys are so much more intense.

Tom Cleverley isn't even a local lad he's from Basingstoke

More local than Oman, Columbia, Honduras, Senegal, Argentina and all those other places the Latics' squad come from!

I asked the question on CL a good while ago as to how many local players had come through their system and played for their first team since they were formed in 2005 - the only one they could come up with was Leighton Baines, and it didnt take him long to jump ship to his "boyhood club"!

isnt baines a scouser? and came up through the liverpool of excellence?

I agree with Billy's Cat sentiments re: football 100%

I went to a football school and played for the school team, back then it seemed that rugby was only played in Catholic schools. My mates from St. John Fisher introduced me to the beautiful game at CP in the 60's and I was privileged to see Billy Boston in full flight down the right wing and follow the C & W's to Wembley.

I still went to watch both sports back then though. Latics were non league and a lot of the players were local part timers (in fact my brother was on their books having come through Burnley's youth system).There wasn't the animosity that exists now between the fans. Looking back the non league stuff was far better entertainment than what the soft,foreign, overpaid, diving, prima donna millionaires serve up in the Premier League nowadays.

When my daughter was a teenager she wanted me to take her to the Latics so this I duly did, unfortunately I picked the Stoke game. I didn't realise that there was bad blood between them because a Latics fan had attacked the Stoke goalie at their ground, Stoke fans retaliated because they believed Latics fans had disrespected Stanley Mathews who had just died.

It was chaos, there was riot police, dogs and horses everywhere, helicopters hovered overhead and there was hatred and anger in the air. The Stoke fans rioted, the ref took the teams off the pitch for twenty minutes. Afterwards my daughter said that was the first and last time she would watch a game of football.

Seizing the opportunity I bought two tickets for the Warriors next home game. The first thing she said when we went over the canal bridge was "Dad, where are all the police ?". She couldn't believe it when I said that there won't be any, just stewards. She absolutely loved it and is a life long fan now.

I have just had a look at the link to their site and I am disgusted. They don't talk about Football, just their hatred for WRLFC. They must all be 12 year old's with an ASBO and an IQ of -3. Why is the font so big as well, it is like they are shouting all the time. It is an amateurish site, it is like googling for a repair site forum when you want to get your washing machine fixed.

I always say that I wish latics go down. But let's face it, the bigger the attendances latics get the better for the town in revenue and probably more jobs. I wouldn't want to deprive any fellow wiganers of income for their family.

On this basis, I hope they stay up and also because you can get to watch some good footy every now and then for dirt cheap.

That being said I don't appreciate some latics fans apparent disdain for Wigan Rugby and their success. To the point of spray painting over "Super League champions" on the welcome to wigan sign recently.