I read in one of the books that commemorated the leaving of Central Park that one of the last parts of the ground to be taken down where the goalposts because they were set in 6ft blocks of concrete. Maybe that was the reason Association Football couldn't be played there.

Believe me, nobody is that daft to support Wigan RL and Coventry

Only you adam

I go purely for the comedy value!

Watched Wigan Rugby since 1959 and used to watch Latics "Big matches" (FA cup against league opposition, decent friendlies etc.)
When Wigan went down into the second division a certain Latics crettin stated in the Evening Post that - "Rugby is finished in this town - come and watch the football!" This was the start of the hatred.Then within a few years we go on our best ever trophy spree and really them all off! For the next 20 years in must have been like being a Christian in Rome under Nero - no wonder they really are so bitter.
Whelan making us play at Widnes against Bradford was the final straw for me. Yes - I suppose this made me bitter too - How to upset more than half a town with one action. Wouldn't waste mi on 'em if they were on fire.

..........

Hope they go down, the first 5 letters of their name is enough to make me gag

You may get your wish...

what a great easter warriors win in last min

latics lose 4-2 to sunderland after leading 1-0 and back in the bottom 3

There not down yet, you cant constantly hover in that zone and not go down eventually though

They are often quite frankly an embarrasment to Wigan though, with some of the performances they put in on the pitch, that and there bitterness towards RL puts a sour taste in my mouth. Its in our benefit though that they dont drop below championship level as they would then probably stuggle with rent payments for the DW and we would not doubt have to foot most of the bill for the DW, seen as the owners are technically Wigan Athletic and they could force us to do so.

So the Latics own the DW but would still be paying themselves rent?

It would be very risky of them to call our bluff by trying to up the rent if they go down. If we say feck off they would be struggling for the rent even more.

Correct me if im wrong, but as far as im aware they currently pay half the running costs



Thats one way to look at it, the only place we could go is to the reebok stadium, that wouldnt go down well id expect

On the flip side though If they did drop like a stone, what is to stop IL going to buy the DW outright? This would add a huge amount of corporate and matchday revenue that currently goes to Welco (Whelan)

I think they would offer us the chance to buy it before they up the rent to a stupid amount. I suppose it all depends on the terms of our lease as to what they can do with how much we pay anyway. The more desperate they get the more chance we have of getting control of the stadium i suppose but things could get very messy in between and do we really want that just to see some football team suffer that most of us dont really care about?

On reflection it would probably be easier for us to keep things as they are as we are thriving and we dont need the hassle.

No I don't watch latics. Reason is, I find SOCCER pedestrian and boring, and at top level at least, played by overpaid foreigners who aren't there for the love of the game, just the money.

Yeh exactly, thats what i was basically trying to say in my first post. Seeing them drop like a stone is probably not good for Wigan RL. Whelan could bankroll them of course, but Whelan isnt going to be around forever

Them dropping could be good if Whelen pulled out because they would be bust then but we dont need to take the risk on the chance it might not turn out how we want. Weve got a good thing going on and off the field at the moment so we are best off keeping things exactly as they are for now.

If we get the 20k average IL wants it might be worth hoping for them to go down and fall apart but until then we are better off as we are imo.

How about the football go down, RL have an agreement with regards to rent and limits (e.g. can't be more than the football's contribution). The owners of the ground cannot keep up repayments on loans for the ground if they were transferred with the ground. Owners go bankrupt and have to sell the assets.

How about the latics go down, then down again and again and again disappear out of mind and die a death and let real football teams take their place, like QPR and Notts Forest

Quite likely, although probably best discussed when they are actually struggling in the championship

Still think they might end up a mid-table Championship side, a bit like Preston north end

Sounds good to me but i doubt it will be that simple. It will get messy and we might end up worse off. Unless Latics going bust will 100% certain make things better for us I would rather things stay as they are.

When I saw the Latics result this afty I got a picture in my head of an auctioneer saying "Going, going ..."

I think we know the missing word.

I still think they will stay up.

So do I, been saying it for a while, Blackpool, Wolves and Blackburn for me.

Since when are running costs rent? Do you call your utility bills and council tax, rent?

Where did you get your info from on who pays what proportion of the running costs of the DW?



Maybe a lack of £20m-£30m might be a bit of a problem for Lenegan, that's if the Latics wanted to sell in the first place - why they would is anyone's guess, especially as it's a relatively new ground and the maintenance will be relatively low still.