I'm firmly in the camp of thinking that IL has done a great job while he's been here. That's not to say I agree with every decision he's made, far from it.

As one of the 'powerhouse' clubs in the league, I think we should be pushing for an increase in the salary cap rather than keeping the status quo. I also think that we should be putting more pressure on the RFL to increase our marketing to a wider audience rather than leave it up to the clubs to do it themselves.

Other than that, I'm quite happy with his tenure. As has already been mentioned, we would be in a far worse situation without him and I think a lot of fans seem to forget that.

When he took over in 2007 he was the one that pushed for the perhaps less obvious change 'backstage' by putting more focus on our youth development, which we are now starting to see come to fruition. Could you imagine some of the kids we had in the Whelan/Mo/Millward era playing against Wire like the class of 2013 did last week? I certainly couldn't.

If anyone wants evidence of just how bad we were back then and just how far we've come only needs to look at THAT game a mere 8 years ago and compare it to any one of GF 2010, WCC 2011 and CC Final 2011

Sorry Cruncher but your notion that RL is under attack as never before is pardon my French, . You are old enough to remember Monie moving to the Warriors and taking the likes of Betts / Platt etc and soon after the SL War. Anything happening today, is small potatoes compared to that era. We also had the advent of Union professionalism to contend with too.

I read all the forums and nowhere is there a Lenagan out campaign unless your are becoming paranoid. The stupidity of such a notion is that Dave O posts on this and most other forums. So by your premise, RLfans must be operating a Lenagan out campaign too. Clearly it is not. Nor are any of the forums. Every forum acknowledges his achievement but they are balanced by genuine concerns for the game and their club.

IL does not operate as a fan. He has always made that clear. So your suggestion is simply scare mongering. You know because you are a keen supporter that IL is not prepared to invest his money in the club (how many times has he said so ) other than what he spent to buy it, money that will be returned if or when he sells the club. Whose to say our club cannot be bought by someone with more money and be happy to spend it?

You are a happy clapper because you are never prepared to criticise anything done in the name of Wigan RLFC and that makes you unrealistic and lack balance. The truth seems to hurt you more than other here and elsewhere. Is Dave O no more a fan than you? I would say more personally given every game is an away game and his views are more realistic and balanced than yours.

Sam is not allowed to

How long have the club been trying to get rid of him? Pre season and during the season publically, privately?

Wigan have prevented NZ Warriors from making an official announcement

WP you are indeed a

And the ONLY club to then lose them both in recent times too

Has your radio stint made you forget how much you hated SL/RL at the end of last season Bilko

P.S Congrats on that, much deserved.

Take noticed that those who are the most critical never tell us what they would do if they were in the same situation that IL and other Owners/Chairmen are now finding themselves in as a result of there being more money down under and in a rival code.

What do you mean never tell you what they would do? With the Sam situation I have said all along I wouldn't be selling him early and make no mistake if he does go at the end of the season IL will have sold him early when there is no compulsion to do so at all. Not selling him is exactly what most people who don't agree with him going are saying they would do. And that is after reading the usual comments that he will sulk or we shouldn't stand in his way etc. Cadoo's post in the signings thread dealt with those objections pretty comprehensively IMO.

So yes people do tell you what they would do.

Perhaps you can tell us why you would support IL selling Sam early baring in mind he has no reason to do so?

Not true in my case. I've said hold players to contract. That's what I'd do if I was in charge. It makes no difference how much money is available if you're not interested in it! This club IMO can afford to hold players to contract then release them. It cost us nothing to sign Mossop or sam so there's no transfer fee to be recouped. All speculation on my part of course.

Tricky one because of the salary cap. We'd effectively be paying a player money that could be spent better elsewhere.

The Sam situation is different though. We all presumed he signed the new improved 'no speaking' contract with the intention of leaving after the 'no speaking' clause was up. Thus enabling us to still get some decent money for him.

[sizeIF[/size he has requested to leave before that part of his contract is up, I think I'd like to see IL hold him to it. [sizeIF[/size IL is trying to cash in on him early, then I'd be very disappointed.

I suppose there is two places you can spend the money. On development or on players. I don't see us lacking in development and you have to ask what is the point anyway if all you are dong is developing players to sell. Or it cold be spent on transsfer fees to buy players to replace them.

For lesser players than Sam it;s possible. Hopkins frm Leigh cold be viewed as Tuscon's replacement but I am still not convinced you wouldn't be better off with a settled squad than having a higher turnover if possible. But with players like Sam there are no replacements to buy.



Well its got to be one or the other.

And this is the key point.

Sam is a once in a generation player. When he goes it will be at least 10 years before we get anyone like that, the way RL in this country is going, maybe never.

What I meant by that is that a player would be taking up a big chunk of cap just to be sitting around twiddling his thumbs or putting in half d performances on the pitch because he doesn't want to be there. Because of this it seems to be the done thing in all sports to let that player go.

I can't see many clubs being able to hold on to all their superstars in the current climate. Long, Cunningham, Scully and Wellens were the cornerstone of a very dominant Saints team not so long ago but I'm not sure they'd have stayed around in the current situation with Union and particularly the NRL seemingly willing to splash it's cash.

With regards to player development, I don't think you could ever spend too much money on that regardless of if you think they'll just leave anyway.

Re player development. That production line has got to be maintained and I don't think we could do it any better than we are at present. Credit to all concerned there. Re half d performances I would like to see us at least appear to do something other than roll over. If we tell a disaffected player he must stay what are the consequences? A player may take a dip in form but, in the case of sam or Mossop we are talking about 1 season only. IMO we can cope with that to make the point that contracts should be honoured by both sides. Until we actually dig our heels in we won't know if a player will start to turn in poor performances. Given our recent luck with injuries they could be sat out for other reasons anyway.