Our last season at Wilderspool was one of my favourites as a Wire fan, it was one of the rare years where we started the season with lower expectations than we actually delivered. "Leaving Wilderspool with dignity" was Paul Cullen's mission statement for his first full season and we did that.

There was only one 'new' signing in the off season, Brent Grose from Souths, with four ex players coming back in Wainwright, Sibbit, Stevens (who had actually signed at the end of the 2002 season) and Mark Gleeson.

We got put straight out of the Cup by Bradford, I remember being on a train with some Bradford fans after the match who reckoned that apart from Halifax who had pretty much imploded, we looked the weakest team on paper, with Wakefield making some big signings and Hudds no longer whipping boys now they had Tony Smith.

However we won 5 out of our first 9 games and it became apparent early on that we were a lot more competitive than we had been the year before. Without having big names the squad looked quite balanced. We now had a bit of a strike threat in the backs with Grose and Appo, two good halves Nat Wood and Briers and a good solid pack with blokes like Fozzard, Hilton, Paul Wood (who ended the year in the GB squad), Burns, Domic, Wainwright and Guisset.

We copped our usual smacking at Knowsley Road but only lost by a point at Wigan who were a top side that year and ended up in the Grand Final. There were signs that things were starting to change from the old days of "boom and bust". We had only one really bad day at Wilderspool, losing to Castleford on a day Cullen was furious, saying we didn't "operate the grind", the next home game we drew with Saints (the day Sean Long got a mass of abuse from the Wire fans for keeping running to the sideline to put on a wireless headset and talk to Millward in the stands), and went close to one of our famous home wins over Bradford....with an up-till-then impressive Gaskell misfielding a kick late on and Bradford (double winners that year) scoring at the death.

These narrow losses were a sign of an improving strength and we started to find 'banana skin' teams lower down the table easier to despatch. We put 50 on London and 60 odd on Halifax, with Appo switching to stand-off after Briers broke his hand and was out for the rest of the season. We avenged our 3 derby losses of 2002, with 3 wins over Widnes in 2003 - that was the year of the most intense derbies because both clubs were on a similar level, after that Widnes declined rapidly.

Mike Gregory took over at Wigan and his first game in charge was at Wilderspool, this ended up in another narrow defeat to us, and Sean Mellor winding them up over the tannoy "would the Wigan fans please form orderly queues at the pie stalls...." "if you're a Wigan fan, please try and stay till the end..."

With the run in beckoning we had one of those famous 'away days' (like Hull/Leeds in 2002 or the Cup semi in 2001) where there was a great atmosphere amongst the Wire fans, at Castleford who were rivals for the top 6, we got a great win there with Fozzard coming over to the Wire fans at the hooter holding six fingers up in the air. That was the day I think we really started to believe that we could go from relegation dodgers to making the playoffs. We signed Daryl Cardiss from Halifax to bolster the squad for the final few games, the writing was then on the wall for Lee Penny.

We looked like we were just outside the mix, but won our last three games of the season to sneak in, including a fantastic 52-12 over Wakey in the last ever (one of the many!) game at Wilderspool, with Appo who got into the Dream Team that year, getting a hat-trick.

We really pushed Wigan for a while in the playoff, I remember Nat Wood getting an interception try near half time, but they had some class players and were too strong for us in those days. A very enjoyable season none the less, we seemed to have a real spirit of togetherness in the camp that year. I remember reading an interview with Fozzard when he was at Saints, saying he remembered 2003 being a real family atmosphere with the players wives all getting on and the players really enjoying the cameraderie. He ended up getting a big contract with Saints and left at the end of the season, with the other significant loss being the one enforced by us having to cut a player from the overseas quota. We chose to keep Wood, Appo and Burns and release Domic who had had a few injuries...that turned out to be a terrible decision, little did we know then that Appo had had his last hurrah in the final game at Wilderspool.

So what were your memories of 2003....?

typical 2003 team: Appo; Smyth, Grose, Westwood, Gaskell; Briers, N Wood; Hilton, Clarke, Fozzard; Wainwright, Burns; Domic (Guisset, Stevens, P Wood, Gleeson)

In 2003 the game away at London Bronco's had me believing things were going to be different that season...Its was one of those games where you thought "i hope we win"..But we went there and bossed the game and as you said Sally the pleasing thing was we were brushing aside the so called lesser teams a lot more frequently...

Grose turned out to be an excellent signing and certainly knew where the tryline was..Briers and Nat Wood at half back were excellent and when Briers picked up the season ending injury the form of Appo at 6 was superb(lets forget what happened after that

)....
Fozzard was one of Super League's most feared props at the time and the fact Saints took him spoke volumes....

The 3 wins against Widnes were probably my highlight as i used to work with a couple a Widnes speccies who gave me dogs abuse after the season before...Even saying Widnes are on the up and Wire are in decline...







The playoff game at Wigan was awesome fantastic atmosphere and the try from Nat Wood is possibly one of my favourite Wire tries...

The last game at Wilderspool also couldn't have gone any better and was a fitting way to leave the old place behind...

On the whole a very good season and a massive improvement on the year before....

Smyth running down the wing

I liked reading the posts on here realy took me back.

2003 is a year that really stands out for me. I was only 10 years old so hadn't spent too long in Wilderspool but it still felt like home and the day we left was a real emotional one.

Moments that stand out for me are, the draw at home with Saints, the hammering of Wakefield in the last game and Nat Woods try in the playoff game. I just remember Wood taking the ball of Adrian Lam's feet and then the Warrington fans bouncing as he made his way to the line. One of my favourite tries that.

Overall it was a fantastic year to be a Warrington fan, with the team making huge strides up the league table and the club ready to enter a new era at the Halliwell Jones.

The last game at Wilderspool (I say last...) will always be embedded into my memory with the Fletcher End rocking to the tune of "Top Six, and we know we are..." against Wakefield. It was a brilliant party atmosphere. We went to Wigan the following week with the away stand bursting to the brim, and at half time I thought there was a very realistic chance of winning that game.

For the second half of the season at least, Graham Appo was a star. Its a shame he couldn't find a trace of his form the following year. He really stood up and filled the shoes of Lee Briers and without him we wouldn't have made the play offs.

I remember that regualr season game against Wigan away. One of the most depressing feelings all year was watching Farrell kick that drop goal over. He got MOTM just for that.

Overall a memorable season and we played some good rugby. IMO our third best season of the decade. I'll let you guess what I consider our first and second best seasons.

I remember being gutted when Briers broke his hand at home to Harlequins. It turned out to be amazing really, Appo was inspired and the team coped without Briers for probably the only time I can remember, over a sustained period of time anyhow.

On the whole, we played with some style that year, scoring some cracking tries from deep and it was Cull starting to get us to play in the way that over time we know he wanted us to play, expansive, easy on the eye rugby and at times that year, we just ripped teams to shreds, Wakefield on that last game, Quins, Halifax, they just couldn't cope with us.

My sort of 'abiding' memory of that year, will probably be that CC game against Bradford, Peter Deakin had just died, and both sets of supporters sang a chorus of 'One Peter Deakin ....' given his affiliation with both clubs, it was amazing really, one of those 'hairs on your neck' moments, more so than any minutes silence, as it had plenty of feeling.

best memory of 2003 was Guisset smashing Brad Davis..... happy days!

when appo went on that tryscoring run, i got 25-1 on him becoming top tryscorer. 10 quid and a 15 quid free bet. 625 pounds were coming my way until, with what may have been one of the last touches of the regular season, burrow i think it was scored and pipped him.

I remeber Penny being the centre of much frustration against Wigan at home. We seemed to break the line at will and then never scored. Only for them to score at the death and win it. I wanted us to beat Wigan so much that year.

Another thing about this year was the surprising popularity of Toa Kohe-Love despite him not playing for us, which was the same in 2002. The crowd gave him a big "we want Toa back" chant and applauded him whenever we came up against him.....there was a fair bit of speculation linking him with signing for us during 2003 and I understood it that we were interested but he ended up joining Bradford instead.

Funny one how Toa was always a legend after leaving but players like Fozzard and Wainwright (during his sandwich spell at Salford) just copped abuse.

I remember that Wigan game at home when Gregory was in charge. It was a really good game, very close, and they won it right at the end.

The play off game with Wigan was immence. So many Wire fans were there and the noise that was being made when Nat Wood was storming away for his try was something that will stay with me for a long time. Shame we lost it in the end, but you could tell that Cullen was building a good side.

That Wakefield game will stay with me forever. I stood in the Railway End, close to where I'd watched my first match in Feb 1966 when it was the Kop End. I've still got all the national Newspaper Press cuttings and pictures of the game. Along with a lot of others I stayed for some time after the match and really wanted to be last out of the ground. It was upsetting to be leaving so mant good (and bad) memories behind.

Yes, I've suffered over the years.

"Top six and you know we are,......Top six and you know we are........"

Favourite Fletcher chant ever!

2003 - the year of the Frank Sinatra Memorial Stadium with more farewells than Ol Blue Eyes. My favourite announcement that year was Sean Mellor's "and welcome to this week's final game at Wilderspool, the next final game at Wilderspool will be on...".

On the field an abiding memory of Lee Briers controlling a game against London Broncos while playing half of it with a broken hand/wrist. Graham Appo's performances in thumping Halifax & Wakefield at home, the ghastly silver away shirt, the atmosphere at the Wigan play-off game & beating Widnes away with Appo's last minute interception try streaking away while waving at a chasing Millard.

A season of hope & expectation for the future...

Apart from the obvious 'last' game against Wakey, my favourite match was the away match at Huddersfield which I think might have been Tony Smith's last home game in charge of the Giants. That match had everything, terrific play and loads of biff. Mark Hilton nearly got sent off for a unchracteristic high tackle and shortly afterwards mass brawls broke out. Nat Wood had one of his best games for us that night. For all his problems in later years I thought Cull did a superb job of getting the team we had into play offs that year. I honestly thought that on the back of that 2004 was going to be a really good season for us. Sadly the first game at the HJ was the highlight of an otherwise forgetable year. Looking forward to your thoughts on that Sally

Don't know about anyone else, but for me the Wakefield game was the last time I went into Wilderspool. I stood outside it with 2000 other people in Feb 2003 for the March to the HJ, but I made up my mind that day that I wouldn't be going back again.

Re the players, my take on them was thus:

TKL was one of the form centres at the time, hence him having a choice of destinations. I would imagine his deal was far in excess of anythng we could remotely offer. I bore him no malice.

Fozzard was a disappointing one for me. We had offered him an opportunity to get back into SL, when, if we are honest, he was very much a gamble. He repaid our faith with good performances, but it is my take that he had his eyes on the exit door a fair way before the end of his contract. That for me was the disappointment, not the fact he left. I don't think anyone os naive enough to think a player has to look after himself financially.

Wainwright, ther always has to be a scapegoat, regardless of how well they do.

Domic was seeking a two year deal, with Burns willing to acceppt one year. With Appo looking the real deal (what a wonderful thing hindsight is), it made sense to me to let Domic go, despite his incredible performances of 2002.

Overall, I have never really got the mindset of those who give returning plaers the bird.

GDMM: you've got Fozzard all wrong. He wanted to stay but when told Saints were interested he was advised to ask for double the best offer he had from elsewhere. Saints agreed providing it was for an extra year than what he had asked for.

He left with the club's best wishes and thanks and a tear in his eye.

Robert Relf.

Career progression. What trophies was Fozzard going to win at Warrington? He went to Saints and cleaned up.

He was a top player for us for the 2 years of his contract and committed to the shirt, he didn't owe us anything more than that. If I remember rightly he was on a contract that could be terminated instantly if his dodgy arm went again, I doubt we would have cared about loyalty if that had happened, he'd have been straight out the door.

If he had signed for Widnes for a big deal at the end of 2003 I would have felt a bit hurt but who can begrudge him going to Saints.....is he any more of a judas than Richie Myler who Salford gave a chance in SL and has now jumped ship as soon as he's smelt the first chance of joining a trophy winning squad?

As I said, I don't begrudge anybody securing their future, probably none moreso than Fozzard with his run of injuries. It was my misguided view that he had done a deal with Saints, long before he spoke to Warrington about his future.

As for the terminatin clause, I would be quite scathing if they hadn't put it in, with his history, but I actually don't think we would have enforced it, had he suffered the injury, such was his performances.

The famous three-eyed fish poster was that year wasn't it?