Weeds were the first full-time team and spent more than anyone else .. they just had a terrible youth system and bought a load of duds!!

This

What happened 22 years ago was the darkest time in the clubs history, but it appears that some today cannot face up to the reality of the then situation which was created as a result of the club paying out massive players contracts which it could not afford. A situation which resulted in a salary cap being introduced so that clubs could only spend on players contracts in relation to the income of the club and a more even playing field for all clubs to win trophies.

As a result of Wigan being the only club who had the "bollox" (as you put it) to do it, it resulted in the club ending up with no new stadium of its own and near possibility of being made bankrupt.

The irony is that some of the players who were getting the massive contracts were the first to jump ship when Union became fully professional.

We may have been good, but it led to the crowds starting to go down as some supporters got fed up of watching one sided games!

really? thats not true crowds have been pretty consistent weather we win something or not filling the away ends at grounds we go to similar to crowds at CP

Quote: Ruddy Duck "We may have been good, but it led to the crowds starting to go down as some supporters got fed up of watching one sided games!'" wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=489 Not true, we had a steady 14k throughout our successful period. Only when we went to SL did crowds dip 95-96 (Saints and Bradford started winning trophies) so you could argue that some fans left once our success dried up.

Quote: Ruddy Duck "We may have been good, but it led to the crowds starting to go down as some supporters got fed up of watching one sided games!'" wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=489 Not true, we had a steady 14k throughout our successful period. Only when we went to SL did crowds dip 95-96 (Saints and Bradford started winning trophies) so you could argue that some fans left once our success dried up.

The fact remains that from the end of the 1994/95 season, our crowds went down not just because the success of the Bradford and St Helens club, but other factors including one sided games, turmoil at the club over the sale of Central Park and most of all, a reaction by many traditional supporters not prepare to accept the concept of Summer Rugby.

Thankfully that situation has been altered as newer supporters prefer to watch games during the summer months which has indeed increased our crowds in spite of less away supporters, especially from Yorkshire travelling to games.

As someone who went to games in the appalling conditions of the Winter both off and on the field, there no way that it should ever return to the Winter as in my opinion lead to less crowds, especially with now the dominance of football during the Winter.

I don't think one sided games was ever a factor TBH

It was in part for me, 1997 was a reset period and I enjoyed 98 & 99 because of the normality of 97. Do the premierships of 96 & 97 ever get tallied into the "major" trophy counts? Funny how the majority of losses in 98 & 99 had S.Cummings in the fixture: wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3305 wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3306 but to be fair there weren't that many refs.

It was in part for me, 1997 was a reset period and I enjoyed 98 & 99 because of the normality of 97. Do the premierships of 96 & 97 ever get tallied into the "major" trophy counts? Funny how the majority of losses in 98 & 99 had S.Cummings in the fixture: wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3305 wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=3306 but to be fair there weren't that many refs.

Most, if not all of what has been said is about right, changing to summer rugby, loss of money & having to sell the stadium and star players was too many changes, no one could handle all of that. The loss of the character of Central Park is something that I have never got over but it was inevitable.

still annoys me CP, would have loved to have taken my son

Imagine selling it to Dave Whelan, sharing with Latics and then being asked to move a game because they had a match the day after.

I wonder about that, too.

Do fans really say, "I'm fed up with watching us run in seven or eight tries like last week, I shan't bother going again"?

would have preferred that to what he have now