I for one am not suggesting IL is a fool, but for fans to think that sponsorship is unimportant if we continue to win trophies is a bit naive. Any main sponsorship needs to fulfil two criteria in my opinion .

A) to bring good initial money into the club
B) to deliver increased awareness of the club on a national level and build the Warriors brand therefore increasing overall revenue.

Whilst I of course do not know the actual monies involved I suspect this sponsorship will do neither.

How many sponsors have we had who fit the second criterion? None? They pay to be our sponsors to put their name out there, not the other way around.

Yes I agree sponsors pay to have their name out there, but at the same time we should get benefit as well. Sponsorship should ideally be a partnership in which we push the sponsor brand (providing it is appropriate) but at the same time, every time someone sees the sponsor name there should be some link with the club.

An example is, most people think of Arsenal when Emirates is mentioned. I'm not saying we are in that league, I just think a better more well known sponsor would help the club image more and at the same time attract more businesses to the club.

Except there is no storm. Some people aren't that impressed by the sponsorship deal. Is that really such a big deal that you have to keep squealing about "prophecies of doom" every other sentence? You know what's really yawn inducing? People trying to tell others what they should and shouldn't discuss, and doing so in such hysterical, melodramatic fashion, when if they really didn't want to discuss it they could just, you know, not do.

Really?

[urlhttp://www.amnesty.org/en/region/uae[/url

There does seem to be a degree of arrogance from some quarters who assume we should be attracting big-ticket, blue-chip companies because...well, because we're Wigan aren't we. I've no idea of the numbers (£) but I'd guess the shirt sponsor is fairly low on the pecking order in the grand scheme of things. So why not a charity or local business that can feed back directly into the borough? Some might want to look up the definition of snobbery when they've a minute or three.

Your point is different because Arsenal are massive, they have that exposure that makes it a partnership as you hear about Arsenal more than Emirates generally. We were sponsored by Mecca Bingo a few years ago. They are a big name, they have 100 bingo halls across the UK, and are ran by a group which is also the largest casino operator in the UK and did a lot of online gambling at the time as well as they owned Blue Square. Now, bearing in mind how many members of the general public they must reach every single day, do you think they improved our image, or attracted more business to the club? Did people other than SL fans think 'Wigan' when they saw Mecca Bingo? The answer to both questions is 'no', and I can't see why it would be otherwise for any other large company. There's no incentive for them to do it, we aren't paying them after all

I would much rather them do that than have a full on civil war like the rest of the middle east, Also that is a massively biased website. Ask the majority of Expats living here and they will say they have a fantastic and safe life style. But i think the poster was trying to suggest the Labour camps for unskilled Indian workers who would be live on the streets begging and stealing or starving to death back in India, which emirates as a company has nothing to do with.

God forbid we should have a bit of ambition eh? I imagine that if Warrington hadn't struck a deal with a global brand then this discussion might not have included "blue chip" companies, but there would still be a discussion because a local housing association doesn't foster the image that some of us think we should be aiming for.

Don't get me wrong, the UAE does appear to be one of the least objectionable regimes in the area (as a raging atheist, any state built & run on religious grounds does not get my vote) and I'm not going to be a flag waver for Amnesty any time soon. But you can't deny the whole area has questions to answer to one degree or another..

Anyway, back to the thread's topic.......

Ambition is one thing, but a common theme in here does seem to be that the WW brand is above some penny ha'penny outfit that nobody's heard of further away than Billinge.

I honestly don't see anything wrong with that outlook. There are successful brands at one end of the spectrum that we associate with world famous clubs and there are less successful brands at the other end that we associate with Sunday league pub teams. The fact of the matter is that whilst the sponsor pays for exposure via the club shirt their branding does contribute to the image of the club (and sport), and a brand that isn't seen as successful affects the image of the club and the game.

Thanks CyberPieMan. I really didn't think that people were so ignorant of this stuff. Perhaps I shouldn't be so lazy in future!

like i said much happier with that than innocent people being effected by a civil war for absolutely no reason as people in Dubai live a fantastic life style and have the option to earn life changing money. The culprits was trying to cause trouble for no reason and the majority are guest in the country there not even locals. People know the laws here and if they break them they get punished. Would you bat and eyelid if the same happened to anjim choudary? I know i wouldn't.

You're not on about this are you?


You can't think it's alright to do that to someone who hasn't been convicted of any crime, surely? Apologies if you were on about a different point, I know there were a lot of links in there

People don't just get detained for nothing believe it or not, Dubai and the UAE has evolved from the middle ages unlike a lot of tabloids and biased websites would have you believe. All cases here are made public but that website doesn't say why he had been arrested and what criminal convictions he faces. lots of people cry wolf like the women who hit a police officer after being told 3 times to stop whilst having sex on a beach (jail for 6months only served 3months and deported).

Also just to disperse another myth you don't get your hands chopped off if you steal incase anybody still believes that. But executions do happen to drug dealers and smugglers if they have a certain a big quantity of drugs they also get beaten until they tell the police who provided the drugs.

Overal people who live here are very happy with the judicial system, cant explain how nice it is not to worry about my car being stolen or house broken into which happened 3 times whilst living in Upholland and the police did squat about it.

So the government can go round torturing anyone who disagrees with them with no proof required just so long as your car's alright. It doesn't matter what they are accused of, it's not right to beat, sleep deprive or water-torture people, especially people who haven't been convicted of a crime and can't even talk to a lawyer to defend themselves in court. Can't believe I'm actually trying to explain why I think people should have the right to a fair trial. It's probably the most important right we have.

Water torture doesn't happen here usually its a beating with a stick and then sleep deprivation if you wont tell them what they want to know.

yeah exactly the government just go round pick up nobodies to torture them. seriously do you know how ridiculous that is? the only reason for them to beat you is to find out your associates who 9 times out of 10 have committed the same crime, this doesn't happen for no reason its usually is a substantial crime. If somebody had supplied my kids with drugs and they overdosed or got addicted i would happily pay the low lives to be beaten. Also nobody is detained with out a judges ruling this person will be waiting for the supreme court date, he would have faced a judge with a lawyer they don't just make it up as they go.

Can't believe i am defending a judicial system of a country i have lived in for more than 4 year and really happy with to some one who probably hasn't spent more than a week here. Also i have the exact same Human rights as i would in the uk as innocent person not as a criminal. Guess what there isn't many repeat offenders either must be working.

...in the same way that there aren't any LGBT men or women in Russia or starvation & poverty doesn't exist in North Korea.

Read the amnesty report, he was forced to induce an unidentified liquid and hasn't been allowed to meet his lawyer. He hasn't been found guilty of anything and yet he is being tortured, obviously that's not ok! This shirt sponsor thread has taken a turn

I'll leave it there

any facts to prove repeat offenders in dubai?

And this is a word of a criminal!! on an extremely bias website that makes its living off cases such as this. I know how the legal system works in the UAE and what is being reported on this website is not correct at all and like i said it was the same as the women who went back to the uk crying wolf about being molested and treated unfairly in Dubai after being convicted of having sex on a beach and assaulting a police officer (she forgot to mention that when she was selling her story).

unless you are a danger to the state, part of organized crime or drug smuggler/dealer you wont get beaten because they don't need any information from you. wonder what the MOD would find if they could interrogate Anjim Choudary properly. All this protect criminals is none sense, this people violate rights of other human beings so why should they be entitled to the rights they deny others?

Still wanting for you to tell me the crime of this said person WHO WOULD OF FACED A JUDGE TO SET THE DATE FOR THE SUPREME COURT.

yeah it has taken a turn probably should leave it there people have different opinions obviously.

So is the main sponsor or is there other sponsors to be announced? Not quite sure why we just haven't got Magners as the main sponsor?

Or Jacamo even? Magners would have been good

Frankly I'm not bothered who the sponsor is as long as we have one.
At present Ive become rather a blind faith follower of Ian Lenagan.
We have won a trophy or trophies for each of the past four years.
In those four years of SL there are three trophies to be won each year so 12 to be won over the 4 years.
Wigan have won 6, Warrington 3, Leeds 2 and Huddersfield 1.
If the financial results for 2013 show a profit that will be four years of profit whilst winning more silverware than anyone else.
That's pretty much the Holy Grail in sport.
We have a top class academy and scholarship system who provide the next quality first team player every year.
The club is, all round, better run now than at anytime in the past that I can remember since starting to watch in the late 1950s (even the halcyon days) and things are looking very good.
I do agree with someone who said the club is in a good place right now.
The new sponsors might not be everyone's idea of a good name but as far as I'm concerned at present, if it's good enough for Ian Lenagan then it's good enough for me.
That probably puts me in the Happy Clapper catagory but at present I will quite happily applaud what Ian Lenegan has achieved at this club.