Great interview.

It's frightening to think where we'd be now if IL hadn't taken over.

It's strange, isn't it, how certain people who seemed to set their stall out to dislike him from the start have now virtually disappeared from this message board?

Or maybe it isn't so strange.

When you get leathered, you generally slope off home.

I'm wondering where those have gone who used to have a go at me for continually slagging Maurice off during his last few years here. Hope they can see why I was doing it now!

Ian Lenagan probably hasn't received the plaudits that he deserves from supporters. He inherited an absolute mess and a team that wasn't performing to the standard expected from this great club. He's been professional throughout his tenure at the club and I haven't read a bad thing about him. Do we think the club made a profit last year? We're certainly looking in a much better position financially than we ever have done. From sponsorship, improved marketing, club shop and an increase in attendances we are in a very healthy position off the field. On it we're the best side in Super League, with a side that his coached by the best young coach in the game, has overseas players that play to their potential and is littered and made up of predominantly of Wigan trained players that are eligible to represent England. Long may this continue and kudos to Ian Lenagan. Remarkable turnaround in just three years.

Interesting to hear his thoughts that as part-time young players you can't develop at that level and to develop into first team Super League players you need to be signed full-time, which is an investment Ian has had to make. Very interesting. It certainly seems to be working with Liam Farrell, Josh Charnley, Lee Mossop, Sam Tomkins, Joel Tomkins, Harrison Hansen and Darrell Goulding all penned down to long-term contracts. He seems to be getting it right with his theories on the game.

Once again, well done Ian Lenagan.

IL simple makes it exciting to be a Wigan supporter, which for many years had been lost.

Mo was quite a divisive chairman. In his early days, he was very dynamic. Rival fans with no clue always use the simplistic argument that he threw money at the club. Well, it wasn't his money - he had to persuade lots of people to invest in Wigan RL at a time when we really were seen as a lame duck. In that respect, he did an amazing job (and nothing that other whingeing so-called chairmen couldn't also have done). But during his second stint, the magic had clearly gone. I don't think either he or Dave Whelan ever adjusted to the era of the Salary Cap.

One thing I found amazing was how soon during IL's tenure, certain posters were comparing him to Maurice and finding him wanting!!! IL had only just arrived and was clearly trying to untangle a mess which, at one Fans' Forum, he described as "staggering", and yet there were folk on here - most now gone - who were ripping into him. Very strange.

Love it!

Love what he says about the coaches.
Love what he says about our Wigan boys.
Love what he says about Wane and Radderz!
Love pretty much everything he says.
Great chairman!

Thank Madge all you like, thank Mark Bitcon all you like, thank Sam Tomkins all you like..... Madge wouldn't be here if it wern't for IL, neither would Bitcon and Tomkins and numerous other players would not have just signed long term deals if it wasn't for this guy. I hope he sticks around for years to come! It seems everyone at the club wants to imrpove and strives for perfection, the whole culture of the club has clearly changed and it has made a huge difference.

On a side note from what he says about Wane and Radderz in this interview proves to me that unless there is a major change in the situation at Wigan, Wane will take over after Madge and then Radlinski will take over after him.

Exactly. He was genius in his first spell but sadly I look back at his second spell as one of wasted opportunity. Some of his big money signings were pretty poor (David Vaealiki step forward!)

Excuse me, can you have a word with Rogues please, he says Mo was the best administrator the games ever had!!!
By the way, full marks to IL and MM, they are doing a fantastic job for Wigan.

I don't think Mo was totally clueless. His initial deal with Sky was a lifesaver for some. Plus, I think it's now clear that some of our 'second tier' of SL clubs would have been better following his advice and merging.

Like Gateshead and Sheffield!!

A more obvious area would have been Calder.

Featherstone, Cas, Wakey - could have been a real powerbase by now.

Cas might be relieved to see Wakey going under, but it won't really clear the decks for them. Even going it alone, they'll never be the force they once were.

Or do you think it's smarter for us to just keep trundling along with lot of little, struggling clubs hanging to our coat-tails?

As examples
No like Hull and HKR at that time
Like Huddesrfield and Halifax at that time
Like Wakey, Fev, and Cas at that time.
Like Barrow, Workington and Whitehaven at that time.

Gateshead was sacrificed for Hull, and Sheffield was sacrificed for Huddersfield.

Mo did a lot more right for RL than he did wrong, and we were playing International RL with 60,000 plus crowds. We miss someone with his vision and drive in RL today.

In addition he also negotiated (without assistance from the RFL) for Manly to come across and play in the World Club Challenge. Next thing you know we attract nearly 37k to Central Park (with thousands locked out) on a cold Wednesday night and away you go.........the RFL saw the format worked and is still being copied today!

=#FF0040Try selling that in Humberside or the other places you nominate.
As an example, how about Wigan and Leigh

No problem as long as they still call the club Wigan and play at the DW.

We could offload Orrell and move the U20's & U18's to LSV though I suppose?

Nobody said it would be easy BJ, but ask yourself what happened to all those thousands of supporters who paraded through Wakefield, Castelford and Featherstone, where are they now. Are they actively supporting those teams, no they aren't.
And you have not addressed the International game.

Hows Maurice doing at PNE, maybe they should merge with Blackpool,

Let's not get silly now.

Given a level playing field, there is not much wrong with the international game, I was there for the last World Cup Final in Brisbane, fantastic game, full house, great result!! job done.
I was there when The Aussies started to show GB how to play (1960?) at Swinton and at Wigan in the last test, Gasnier scored one of the best tries I have ever seen,
I also remember attending Wembley (1990s)to see GB v Oz, I actually received free tickets to the game (which was sponsored by British Gas) such was the poor interest in the game.
From any of the above points, I cannot say any one individual was responsible for the success or failure of the event(s).

That’s because he is.

He was the visionary that took RL kicking and screaming into the here and now. I shudder to think what we'd be like without his vision.

In his pomp he was every bit as good as IL is now. Getting a revolutionary coach like Lowe in is no different to IL and Madge. Making sure guys like Edwards, Betts, Wane, Radders, Cassidy, Faz were kept and bringing Wigan guys like Lydon and Greg back is the same as what IL has done now.

IL coming in was the right option as MO was well past his best but in his pomp MO was the finest administrator British RL has ever seen.

It's always, with the help of hindsight, easy to pick holes in the things that didn’t go to plan but yet ignore the excellent stuff he did.

I can't disagree with your last sentence and I respect your point of view

That Aussie game was in 1963 at Swinton (I was there to), a year after the great Boston, Ashton, Fox, Sullivan, Bolton, Murphy side had beaten the Aussies over there. I was with Murphy two weeks ago and he reckons that's the greatest side he has ever played in.

You should have heard him going on about this quick play the ball, and how McTigue would have loved todays three man tackles.

You're also ignoring the 60,000 crowds at Old Trafford, and the other big crowds at Wembley for Internationals v Kiwis and Ausssies.

I was also there for the World Cup final in Australia, but lets be honest last years years tri nations was poorly attended.

I still think we lack anyone at HQ with Mos drive and vision for the game, but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, just for a change.

Times have changed, Saints v Wigan
Dec 26 1958, KR 29,465. Mar 27 1959 CP 47,477.
Dec 26 1975 CP 8,565 April 16 1976 KR 8,151
Biggest crowd since super League started 25,??? at DW
I can remember bunking off school in 1956 to see CC replay between Barrow and Saints and couldn't get in, this was on a Wednesday afternoon, I watched what I could from what I think was an old Timber place overlooking one of the corners of the ground, I was at the station in Wigan waiting for the train to leave when someone (out of breath) ran to get on the train to say Saints had scored to win the game (10-5??) That was the first year I went to Wembley.