The year this forum turned nasty.

The season I turned from a Cullenite, to a pessimist.

I just knew it wasn't going to happen under Cullen.

It would have been interesting to see the Wiganers' reactions if we had got the guy we wanted as coach.

I have never been as cold in my whole life as I was that night. Snowing horizontally! Cracking night.

That night in Wigan was a blur for me. I'd just finished college on the Friday afternoon and met with a few mates down at Bank Quay to find 20/30 people all under age drinking on the train and packed into the train. Getting back we could only afford a taxi to Winwick so I had to walk for an hour the rest of the way home.

It was a good night back in my wilder days.

Such a pity I don't remember much else of that season, and not because I was intoxicated. It was probably the least interesting in the last decade in the way we went about things. We were average for most of it, while showing only glimpses of both brilliance and disastrous. The highlight for me would be in Perpignan, where a picture of me topless wearing a beret hat and my wire top sticking out of a pair of flower shorts was taken whilst holding a beer next to the canal. Such a boring season from a wire point of view.

Reading that Sally, it still baffles me how the board stuck with Cullen & didn't give him the heave ho. I know we had injuries, but the style we were playing was garbage with no confidence.

Kev Penny was the highlight for me..I'm still convinced he can play a big part as a strike winger for this club...

The Hudds defeat at home where we needed the win to make the playoffs..Sickened me to the stomach no fight no character..Beaten by a team that wanted it more, truly awful...

Another pretty bad season, but it showed what penny could do on a rugby field without half the idiots in the stadium blaming him for everything that was going wrong. I just wish we had brought a new coach in then to iron out his weaknesses whilst he was playing in the first team with sky high confidence. Surely there is no wire fan who would want to sell him when they think back to that season?

On reflection I don't think we stood still in 2007, if anything we went backwards. Both 2007 and 2008 were fairly similar years with reasonable runs of form followed by a period of absolute disaster. Chester Wire is right, it was the first year that some on this Forum turned very nasty, with some very stupid, ill informed and highly offensive postings.

Fought our way to Fourth but gave it all away...

Lost some great players this year as well!!!
Fa'afili, Grose and Lightbulb...

We lost a lot of players because we were clearing the decks for who was coming in, we made four pretty big signings for 2008 which is probably why there was still a split debate on whether we should or shouldn't keep Cullen. I reckon most people had realised by this point that we weren't going to win trophies with the current squad under Cullen but the primrose and blue romantics were thinking that our squad in 2008 was going to be so good that even with Cullen in charge we still had a good chance of winning something and it would be nice to do it with him at the helm.

The two big catches of the 2007 signing-season were Michael Monaghan and Matt King, Monaghan who was the form player of the NRL and was being chased by us and Hull, King was supposedly chased by Wigan, Bradford and Harlequins, we were mentioned in some of the Aussie papers but I thought that was a case of us being linked with everybody. I remember thinking we might have a chance with Monaghan but didn't think we'd get King as well - and we topped it off by getting Louis Anderson and Chris Hicks (research on Manly and NRL forums showed that Hicks was very well regarded in the NRL).

Those signings really did make everybody stand up and take notice because on top of a squad already containing lots of big names it looked like we could have the strike power to smash everybody particularly as we were expecting Penny and King to devastate.

So even after we had had another disappointing season, most of the off season talk was about just how good we would be in 2008 and most of our fans reckoned we would be at least in the top 3. Because we were always making good signings there was always a bit of a feel good factor about the club during Cullen's years, that yes this season is not what we expected but when we get so and so on board we will kick ass next time around.

2007 really brought to the fore the club motto of "Next year is our year" - looking back at a team with Morley, Martin Gleeson, Briers, Fa'afili, Grose, Penny, Paul Johnson etc should have been knocking on the door to the top four not missing the play-offs. Players were played out of position, number 1 being Adrian Morley the NRL's bext prop for the previous couple of seasons playing in the 2nd row. We also had stints with Martin Gleeson (at the time possibly the country's best centre) playing at 13, with Henry Fa'afili (the league's top try scorer) playing at 6 in at least one game! If anyone wanted proof then that our coach had lost the plot then it was there for all to see - when injuries struck players should have been picked in their rightful positions with youngsters coming through in their positions not shuffle the deck so noone knew where they were playing!

Standout performances probably Wigan twice & demolition of Salford at home. Other than that as others have said a poor & forgettable season where only the money of Simon Moranavich kept us hopeful for the future...

Good too see it's still about us...but who did you want?

The guy we turned down a few years previously.

I think that might be a myth, that Shaun Edwards was in for the job in 2001 and we said sorry mate, you just missed out to Anderson and Plange, but we'll keep your CV on file just in case any opportunities arise in the future

Fair does. A bit of poor judgement on your boards part if I'm honest, but I guess this was when he was completly unproven as a coach? So understandable really.

I'd completly forgotten about David Plange lol, had to google him and everything.

He must have been telling lies in his foreword for Chris Joynt's autobiography.

One of my favorite away days at Wigan that was, immense performance had everything that game. Morley's injury, freak weather abit of biff and tension. Great game.

The way Penny burst on to the scene was great, I've seen nothing like it. They way he captured everyone's imagination, he brought so much confidence back into the side, hopefully he will get back to they way he played sooner or later this year or next under TS.

A lot of nasty things and rumours were posted on here about Cullen especially around the time he with given leave of absence by the club for personal reasons.

You'd hope that there will be a lot of apologies appearing but don't hold your breath.

The silence from some is deafening.

Not read that, what did he say? What did it have to do with Joynt, did Edwards have him lined up to join us if he got the job?

Foreword from The Quiet Man by Shaun Edwards:

[codeAt one stage back in 2001 when it looked likely I would become Warrington Wolves' coach, my first thought was about recruiting a captain.
I needed a player I could rely on, who would be a shining example to the younger players in his attitude, toughness, skill level and the way he conducts his life off the field.
The first person I thought of was Chris Joynt.[/code

wigan away 1st round... absolutley freezing but worth it as we beat wigan. also, kev penny burst on the scene.

Benny Westwood became a kicking sensation this season!!! With touch- line coverations against Leeds and Huddersfield!!!

Crikey, i'd forgotten about that. Imagine Benny kicking now - can't see it happening.