Hi everybody
I have been a daily visitor to this site for a number of years now and I thought it was high time that I registered so that I could add my pennyworth to the debates now and then. But first let me introduce myself. Let me say right away that I no longer attend games which you may think hardly qualifies me to pontificate in this forum. However there are a number of reasons why I am now an armchair critic and when I tell you that I am old enough to have watched Jim Sullivan play you will not need telling which of those reasons is the overriding one. I am still nevertheless a diehard Wigan supporter. I held a season ticket for over fifty years including some years at the present stadium although I have to say watching was never the same for me after we left Central Park. I was for many years a shareholder until Dave Whelan bought the company. Talking of Dave Whelan, although I opposed him when he was at loggerheads with the board of directors in those now far off days, I do not share the antipathy that so many of the posters on this forum do. I know that obviously his first love and first consideration is and always will be to Wigan Athletic but I do genuinely believe he holds nothing but the highest regard for club and is as proud of our achievements as the rest of us. He is first and foremost a Wiganer which is more than I can say about myself. You see I now have to confess that I live, where I was born, in enemy territory although when I was born it was in no mans land and was only annexed 40 plus years into my existence. How am I doing so far?
Although , as I said, I no longer go to the matches some of my close relatives have Wigan season tickets even though one of them lives even deeper into scouseland.

What do I think about the game now as against when I first used to catch the 320 bus to Wigan and stand in the lads pen and later on spion kop. Well my favourite team was the one in the 1940's with the likes of Ryan, Nordgren, Mountford, Bradshaw, Gee, Egan, Blan & Co. They were heroes all to me then. I know though that they wouldn't stand an earthly chance against the athletes of today. Having said that I have to say that it is a vastly different game now than it was then. The finest player I ever saw for any team here or overseas was Billy Boston.
What a player. Our game went into reverse the day RU went professional and the likes of BB and fellow welshmen, overseas stars like Vollenhoven and Botica, and even English players from the South like Offiah became no longer available. These stars brought colour and excitement and were able to flourish in our game far better than they would have playing that other inferior product. But money talks and that source of star player is now all but dried up and indeed the flow is going in the opposite direction. What can be done about it I do not know. I have no faith in the present administration of the game. We used to be an amateur game run by professionals now we are a professional game run by amateurs. I realise I have been going on too long for my first posting so I will now end by saying how much I have enjoyed reading comments (or at least most of them) on here over the years and I hope that my ramblings haven't bored the pants off you. You will hear from me again I am sure.

What a great introduction. Welcome

Welcome to the board.

Love to hear peoples accounts of what the game used to be like!

Welcome.

I'd have loved to have seen Boston play but I was lucky enough to go to Central Park many times.

The DW isn't the same; CP was special.

But big though the loss of CP was, the club remains special, in fact I believe that despite the worrying state of the game in this country, this is a good time to be a Wigan fan. The GF win to complete the double was another glorious chapter in the history of the club and I'm sure the legends of yesteryear would feel that the team did the famous cherry and white proud. For me it was one of the great moments in the club's modern history, seeing Pat sign off with a try, the final game for Sam, Green putting in a big performance, our pack getting the upper hand against Wire's, our captain defying the odds to lead the team and our coach proving the critics wrong.

Welcome to the site.

I watched my first match in 1953 and saw some of the players you mentioned, but you seem to be able to go back a decade before me.
You mention some Wigan greats which I didn't see, but I agree with what you say about Billy Boston.

Howd'y

He certainly does go back a while.

The OP is the only other poster to mention Billy Blan the Wigan loose forward from way back.I have only mentioned him in a post as my old Dad who is 90, rates him as Wigans best ever LF. Before my time unfortunately. My first games to watch from the lads pen were from 1958/59.

Many thanks to those who have welcomed me to the site. In answer to any who wonder just how far back I do go can I tell you that I was a teenager when I attended my first Wigan match. It was in 1942 ( No doubt Bilko can confirm) and was at Knowsley Road in the first leg of a Yorkshire (yes Yorkshire) Cup match. Wigan lost that day but I went to Central park a week later for the second leg to see them win the tie after extra time. Jim Sullivan played in the second leg which allowed me to say in my opening post that I had seen the great man in action. I attended my first Wembley final in 1948 when home on leave from serving in the army in Germany. I have been fortunate to have been back many times since (including the 8 on the trot) with very few disappointments.

My old dad can go back to the late 1920s watching Wigan. He remembers Jim Sullivan when playing for Wigan 'in his pomp', buying the kids who had nowt, and got into CP at 'threequarter time' free, toffee lollies. Sullivan handed them out freely. My Dad was one of those kids.

He was regaled by my Grandad of even earlier players like that famed Wigan threequarter line of Leytham,Jenkins, Todd and Miller.

He can just remember Johnny Ring playing.

One of his best mates at school was Martin Ryan.

My Dad is however a technophobe, and would have no idea and no desire to use the WWW.