Interview with PR in the Reporter ,A couple of quotes , " Already I have identified with Shaun ( Wane ) 4 or 5 players who will be our potential DRs for 2013 and believe me the Leigh fans are going to be delighted " and another quote ,
" But just where they play are played or whether they are selected is entirely up to me . Wigan or any other club does not have any input into Leigh Centurions selections at all ,I take sole responsibility for that "
I hope that clears things up ( this quote from me

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Cheers Mate, thanks for the update , makes things a little clearer.
So its 4 or 5 contracted players from Wigan Warriors potentially playing for us next year.

I think its safe to say I don't share Pauls enthusiasm over this little snippet of news

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Will the DC's still work the same way as previous seasons, where W1gan can take away players at will when approaching our next game? If so, how can PR decide if and when they play all the time?

Never liked DC's. Needs must I suppose.

Think he means if they are available to him he will decide whether or not they play .

That's what i thought he meant as well itsatry.

" Already I have identified with Shaun ( Wane )"

Being a LEYTHER....that is HORRIBLE to read.

I HATE W**AN
HOPE THEY LOSE EVERY GAME THEY PLAY, I remember when we used to play 'em (not their academy side in a friendly)
WHY CAN'T WE HAVE THIS AGREEMENT WITH WARRINGTON, PIES didn't touch us with a 'barge pole' whem Millward was our coach, how pathetic is that - PIES can sod off.

The reason is Wire have decided to "Twin" with Swinton.

The RFL have introduced this not our club.

For us it means we can not get DC players from clubs who have twinned with other Championship clubs.

PR will probably only use DC players if he thinks he has no alternative.

Would any Leyther object to Tom Spencer playing for us next season ?

Why hate Wigan if it temporarily suits us ?


We are where we are' but I think 'because of the squad we have assembled we will still win the league next season even without DC players.

More likely cos the club is in wigans sevice area.
The club plays out of a stadium owned and run by wigan,and apparently, the club have now been given a good financial deal to play out of that staduim.
No doubt there are one or two other things as well.

There is no doubt from a council point of view Leigh is part of Wigan Council.

Mind you on refelction' if I recall Wigan have twinned with South Wales Scorpions so it makes my previous post look a bit strange' so maybe I am wrong about us only getting DC's from the Pies.

I still think however even without DC players Leigh have a better squad than last season.

I don't understand all this " I hate Wigan " business ,I know some Wigan fans feel the same about us but it doesn't bother me in the least .I"m not fond of Leeds ,don't know why just like to see them lose, unless they are playing an Australian team

but if we were getting some DCs from them it wouldn't upset me .I too think the squad we have is more than capable of winning silverware next season but injuries happen and thats when the DCs come in very handy .

Very True , how someone can Hate someone or something they dont know is beyond me , i dont hate anyone , last night at a Family birthday at Leigh East , there were many of my Wigan relatives there , i would say about 40-50 , they took the singing of the Flute Song very well , even had a laugh about it ,as i have said , i know i can count on my Wigan Brothers and Sisters anytime for help , HATE is so narrowminded .

I hate courgettes and obergines.

First up I can fully understand any Leigh fan disliking Wigan Warriors, thats totally normal in British sport for supporters of rival clubs to have a dislike for each others teams.

Second point Leeigh Leeigh posted some good comments and then at the end of it in relation to this merger/link up / partnership (call it what you want) said 'needs must I suppose'.
For me thats the question I'd like answering.
Is it as case of 'needs must' and we have no other option than to link up with Wigan Warriors as we cannot get players from any other set ups (be it amateur clubs or any scouting of players or even through our own reserve / youth set ups) ?
Is this because we cannot afford them, we think they are not good enough or the Wigan link up is cheap easy and suits Wigan as well ?

The reason I ask is I can recall Leigh being in a far worse condition than we are now when we was 2nd bottom team of the entire professional set up , we probably bottomed out when we got beat by South Wales in Cardiff by a mixture of pub players and temporary contact RU players.
Millward arrived months later and the rest is well documented, my point being though we at that time (our lowest league position) kept going with our own players and the belief was we'd turn it around.
Now eventually that happened and the club built upwards , at no point did that board or any other before or after it (until now) think 'damn we better go and see if Wigan will lend us some players as we haven't got enough' - we went with what we had , cut our cloth accordingly and kept ambitions realistic and eventually the local area contacts helped us get the players in.
So why now ?

Equally as one of the 'rumours' has turned out to be true (I presume our head coach wasn't acting on his own when giving interviews to the local press thus our board are fully aware of what is going on) could we have a official answer to the other 'rumours' namely have we got a merged community department and have any of our reserve / youth teams merged with Wigan Warriors RLFC ?

Which rumour turned out to be true, just out of interest?

The one saying Leigh will have 5 Wigan Warriors players in the squad for 2013.

One or two of them are current International RL players.

Oh and tangerines with pips.

I guess times have changed, Jenky. In our current financial situation, the fact is that we can't afford a large squad of players - despite having attracted some excellent players, on comparatively low contracts. Yes, we could probably make up the shortfall by offering terms to some of the excellent local amateur talent, but that may not bring us success and the crowds we crave for.

The option of taking some of the best young SL quality talent on Dual Contract terms, is not an expensive one - especially if we are only paying match terms, and gives Paul the opportunity to boost his small squad. Last season we utilised the D/C option to the hilt, bringing in players from Warrington, Castleford, and yes, W***n. This season, the RFL has changed the rules and it would appear that we can take UP TO five D/C's from one club. That doesn't mean that Paul has to take five and it doesn't mean they get selected ahead of his signed squad members. Remember, we are paying those squad members a contract, so it would be a waste of precious funds, not to play them. Also, as far as I can see, the new rules don't prevent us from taking someone from another club (other than W***n) on loan, so maybe we won't be using W***n exclusively, to bolster our squad.

As for merging our community department an reserve teams - well, nothing has been signed up yet, to the best of my knowledge, and it is worth mentioning that we currently have neither a community department, nor a reserve team, to merge.

I realise how emotive any potential links could be, with a SL team, especially THAT one! However, I still believe that our BOD will not enter any arrangement that will compromise the name, or future of LEIGH CENTURIONS.

Jenky, we had 2 from them last year along with 2 from wire. Year before we had 3 from Warrington and one from saints. Due to the rfl increasing the number of loan / dc players clubs can have i assume thats why Paul mentioned 4 or 5. As far as i can see its not a twinning agreenentband i don't recall anyone saying we weren't using the dc system next season. Use of dc/loan players would not be classed as a rumour, i fully expected it.

Of course if its announced as the others have been as an official twinning then that would change things. Other things you mention could be put down to money although i know grants are available. Alternatively we could reduce the available money for the first team and enjoy London, Wales, gloucester in 2014.

Thanks for the reply Alan,
As you can probably tell I'm totally opposed to the club going down the path we are seemingly taking as I feel its a massive risk as whilst we may attract some new support I feel we also risk losing some of the 'old guard' like myself along the way.
I realise we need success to get crowds up (ironically this hasn't worked recently as even with a plus win/loss ratio gates have dropped - but I get the idea behind it) but doing it this way is probably not to my liking as it creates a false dawn.
I'd rather us be realistic with what we've got and build up from 5th or 6th (which is probably our true position without all the DC's next season) thus when we do look likely to step up a division we have a real sound foundation, I'm not sure relying on SL players each season (be it 1 or 5.....or more futher down the line) is a good foundation to build on but I suppose time will tell.
Like I said though thanks for the reply as it goes some way to explaining whats happening at the club.

I agree with that but if its 5 from one club its a fair old chunk of players and whilst I fully believe the club may not want to go above 3 or 4 DC's (or my even still try and get them from a selection of other clubs if allowed to) the financial implications and rules imposed on them may mean it has no other option than to use all 5 spots and all come from one club.
Equally I think the other thing that raises a query is will it be 5 at one time or is it 5 for the season (I'm sure we have 'replaced' DC's over the last few years), by that could we get 5 players in February from Wigan then with a turn in form for Wigan the players get recalled and we fill it with another 5 players from Wigan, resulting in 10 players in total having played for Leigh from one club over the season.
I fully respect others will view things differently and in fairness things seem to be happening so quickly at the moment in time its hard to see fact from fiction but with nothing concrete its easy to add 2+2 and come up with 5 thats why I'd like the club to put something out as parts of this agreement happen so everyone is fully aware of whats going on.

By my reckoning we have currently signed 20 players.

I think barring injury' in which case we would not need DC players' that the squad would certainly finish in the top 3 next season.

Being realistic if we do pick up injuries we have to take DC players or loan players.

Think most Championship clubs will be doing the same.

For our club we have the opportunity to take 5 players on DC rather than 4. Isn't that what this whole thread has established ? And that is the only difference between last season and the forthcoming one isn't it ?

Frank , i cant wait for next season , i feel Paul R has now formed a much better team than last year , hopefully Brierley will be better settled and get much more game time , and with Penky running the show alongside Riddy ,the Forwards will run riot , hopefully Hopkins will return fit , and Asppers have a good season , we will have plenty of options at Half-Back , again cant wait .

As for us finishing in the Top 3 , im backing us to win the League , and get to Blackpool , you could appear at the Tower .

I am looking forward to seeing what days we play on and how this 'relationship' with T'Humbles develops.
Do we have a deeper squad yet? Losing Bibey and Duffy and replacing them with Aspinwall and Penky is a move forward though.
Hope we can tie Spencer to a season loan and find a strike centre.
I am a bit concerned with all these hookers and halves we have though - Beswick, Penky, Nicholson, Riddy, Brierley and Coyle (plus McNally). Two will miss out every week unless Beswick goes to 13. Powell being rumoured seems a bit daft to add to this area.
Glass is half full, but expect clueless marketing/sales unless Derek B gets involved.