Good points mate. I think your correct in many ways but there or one or two players out there, that we could get for reasonable money that would definitely strengthen the team.

It is only a couple tbh but guys like Clark and Kirmond wouldn't cost the earth and your meant to be in for them. If the rumours about BJB to Wire are correct he's another that would have improved us but it looks like we're only willing to move for players that nobody else bids on (Taylor aside) for fear that the price will creep up.

Wire make decent players available by cherry picking them.

Great idea.

There are lots of ways clubs could boost revenue, they have become far too reliant on TV money (and the Sky deal isn't a great one!) and have had their ambitions stifled by the stupidly counterproductive SC. They need to think more creatively. A club like Wigan, with probably 10s of thousands of fans (including casual fans) should be able to earn a lot more than £6m in revenue a year. If we assume there are say 30,000 people interested in the club to one degree or another then if we could get an extra £100 a year out of each fan on average then the club's turnover would rise by 50% to £9m. A 1000 local businesses putting in an additional £1000 each would get us another million, taking us to £10m. All this should be achievable for a brand like Wigan.

As we all know, we don't own the ground, so the club should be looking very hard at developing other business lines and revenue sources in Wigan and surrounding areas (though a Leigh branch of a Wigan leagues club may be a step too far, it would probably get firebombed... ).

I just don't buy the SC apologists line that there is nothing clubs can do and we have to accept that the SL clubs are more or less broke and there's nothing we can do about it. With just a bit of business sense clubs could massively boost their revenue.

It would actually be possible with some hard work to put the game in a position where our top clubs can at least put up a better fight against RU and the NRL. Would Sam really have risked a move to the NRL if we were stong enough financially to pay him say 400k p.a. ? Maybe he still would have moved for the challenge, but it would have been a much harder decision for him.

You make it sound easy! Don't you think Wigan, and every other club, are already trying that? Whatever one's opinion of IL, there's no denying his business acumen.

Isn't that what IL is trying with the likes of Wigan t.v. and Central Park?

If any on here have any good ideas on revenue generation then I'm sure IL and the Wigan board would be more than glad to hear from you.

Wigans merchandise sales have increased by something like a factor of 3 since IL took over, and our marketing is the best in Super League.

Wigan and or or two other clubs have greatly improved their marketing etc but being realistic that is only really appealing to those already interested in the main. I wonder how many new fans have been recruited in the last few years? There is a limit to how much return one club can effectively generate via those methods - especially outside their catchment areas. Although Wigan are trying to generate more via the S Wales plans which in the longer term may help 9although that is so far away as to be a non-starter in raising crowds in Wigan)

I wonder though if clubs could adopt a more pro-active approach at expansion by link ups with amateur clubs nearer to the RL heartlands - the experiences of Wrexham/Crusaders surely showed there was some interest in the North Wales/Chester areas (which do not have large/high profile RU clubs) - perhaps the likes of Wigan / Warrington etc should be trying to create link-ups in these areas?

Sadly I think a lack of vision in the game as a whole will always act as a very effective brake on any club (see Salford).

Not good enough. What happens off the pitch is irrelevant. Why are we trying to promote the club when all we're doing is selling our best players one by one?

We'll be lucky to finish above Salford next season with the sub standard players we are signing.

With their superstar signings i dont think so

Perhaps we should wait and make a judgement when we know who has been signed?

Pettybourne and Bowen are good signings (at least potentially) and Hopkins would appear to be longer term good singing. As far as I know no other signings have been announced (despite the various rumours).

1 Bowen v Mullanhey
2 Charnley v Meli
3 Goulding v Sa'u
4 Gelling/Thornley v Gleeson
5 Burgess v Williams
6 Green v Chase
7 M.Smith v T.Smith
8 Flower v Morley
9 McIlorum v Howarth
10 Dudson v McPherson
11 Hansen v Ashurst
12 Farrell v Dixon
13 O'Loughlin v Rapira

14 Taylor v Puletua
15 L.Tomkins/Hampshire/S.Powell v Fages
16. Crosby/A.Powell v Griffin
17. Pettybourne v Hock

Oh aye, dead lucky

do you have the address of any bookie who will take my bet that Salford will finish below Wigan next year..??

Sarcasm isn't easily spotted on here then?


Read my previous posts on the subject and you'll notice a distinct difference in my opinion

It's about improving the first team really. If there are players knocking around in SL who would improve our first team we should be trying to bring them here.

Who do rate as your best player? How much would it take for Moran to sell him to Wigan?

Maybe unlike IL he would turn his nose up at any fee offered for the player but theoretically as contracts are worthless we have enough cash to tempt any club into selling whoever we felt would improve the Wigan first team.

Unfortunately I don't think Mr. Moran is going to troubled by any calls from IL enquiring about players.

He'd be a lot more troubled if a couple of NRL teams started enquiring about Ratchford, Myler, Atkins, Hill etc. though, especially if the players themselves wanted the move.

The salary cap in this country means a player moving from one top SL team to another is unlikely, why would they need to bother? They are already challenging for honours and it is unlikely one team could pay them much more than they are already on.

Exactly, DaveO is, as usual, comparing apples with oranges.