According to Bilko (so probably true) these are the players out of contract.

I reckon:

Phil Bailey
Thomas Leuluai
Andy Coley

These three I would imagine are the three that are well paid. Coley and Lulu will more than likely stay.

George Carmont
Karl Pryce
Joel Tomkins

These three will sign extensions and improved contracts.

Mark Flanagan
Tim Smith

These will go.

That's true to a certain extent.

Mick Hogan spoke about press and messageboards often talking about negative news. I'm not sure how press and messageboards can report good news when the club don't wish to release certain positive stories.

I think this may improve in the future after feedback from last night.

Perhaps the people posting on here that Calders and Higham were not on mega bucks were right and not as much money left the club last season as you assume?

Jinkin Jimmy posted several times Millward told him Calders (and Higham as well I think) was on around £70K which for players of their experience was about right and not silly money.



Well I can't see Riddell and Roberts coming all the way here on three and four year deals for a small wage especially given the way the pound has dropped recently.

Dave

Earlier I pointed out what IL said about Pirtek and how it can affect potential sponsors. That's all.

I didn't think it was too bad, although I was a bit chilly.

The most disappointing aspect, I thought, was the bit about Latics getting drawn in an FA Cup game the day after we had a scheduled game. And obviously I wasn't alone there with all the grumbles in the room.

The second most disappointing aspect was some of the embarrassing questions (Pies being ready/Steve Ganson/Cameron Phelps/Shouty lady near the front) and the people who just seemed to be there for an argument. Oh and what's the deal with all the clapping?

I didn't expect the shirt/sponsor to be announced but I'm happy knowing that we'll be given the details next week. I did enjoy Mick Hogan's little 'slip up' too regarding the 'secret' sponsorship



I also thought it was nice to have Amos Roberts there, although someone mentioned he was only there for 30 seconds? He was actually there for about an hour, maybe a bit more. He was talking to IL etc before the forum plus a few fans and that reporter guy whose name has totally gone out of my head, then he stayed after he'd been introduced for quite a while. So

How embarrassing was she? .

Judging by her voice, I think she's the same person who continuously shouts and whinges towards the referee ALL game during academy and reserve fixtures in that same horrible tone of voice... It's very cringe-worthy and annoying.

Phil Wilkinson

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Nobby seemed pretty excited and enthusiastic, more than I've ever seen him during his time at Wigan.

looks like i didnt miss much then. thanks for all the reports, glad they werent deleted!

I was unable to attend the forum, thanks to those who have posted summaries.

Again the prevailing impression I am getting is just how much of a mess the club was in before Lenegan took over.

So I am personally encouraged by the work IL and team are doing to sort it out

Until we have a situation where all the players at the club signed a contract under IL the ghosts of the Whelan/Lindsay era will continue to haunt.

I am amused by some comments on this board that 'at least Lindsay was a good PR man'.

IL doesn't seem to be well liked by fans due to a more abrasive approach - but we now seem to have a club that is being overhauled to be run like a professional outfit, from which we will hopefully reap the rewards over the years to come.

So although 2009 is likely to be a similar story on the field to the last two seasons, I personally look forward to 2010 as the year when the 'new Wigan' will finally start to come into place.

It may look like that mate, however a lot of the usefulness came out of the subtle points.

IL said that no announcements were being made at the start of the evening, which is good as it lets us all cut to the chase. He also laid down the ground rules, which a lot of people ignored.

It seems as though a lot of people like to whinge because it makes them the better fan, makes them feel wise! And there were a few issues which have grown from this forum, which everyone wanted to ask repetitively.

However in between this mindless whinging IL tried to convey and explain in an open and honest fashion how his tenure had gone so far. I got the impression the job was bigger than he anticipated, and he didn't have the staff, infrastructure in place until recently. Some of which goes a long way to accounting for my own frustration with the growing list of minor cock ups.

best question of the night had to be the one asking lenegan to evaluate himself

oh and lenegan also commented that we may have the scholarship scheme with an aussie club set up in the next 18 months- he was hinting at st.george and cronulla mainly

from reading the reports, i get the impression that announcements where made about when the announcements would be made (if that makes sense) i.e. shirt launch

The Trent Barratt connection..

Ryles to Les Cats given IL said he wanted a prop being the obvious one.

If we are still suffering from over inflated contracts for players still at the club fair enough we can't bid and the statement we have only £20K left on the cap makes this sound likely.

I am more concerned about not paying transfer fees of £75K (assuming we could fit the player in question under the cap once signed).

When IL took over there was lots of talk about us exchanging one multi-millionaire for another with the assumption we'd be still splashing the cash. It doesn't seem to be working out quite like that and I doubt IL would have forked out the transfer fee for Fielden had he been in charge at the time given the comments about not paying £75K for a player.

DW is a bit of a hate figure on here but he was prepared to dig into his own pocket to fund transfer fees which of course don't count on the salary cap. The player in question might not be worth £75K in one sense but if he completes the squad to the coaches satisfaction then how do you put a price on that?

Dave

They were, but the night wasn't about announcements. We have scheduled press releases, and media presence for that it's only sensible.

The people there wanting announcements where the ones wanting answers to the problems theyve read on here, which arent really problems. The announcements would have satisfied them.

Last night wasn't about that, but we were reassured as to things being put in place, and given excellent explanations of why things have taken so long, and how things are already being corrected for next year.

...Like MH said, they're about to start on next years kit already!

Is that Bill McCracken from Standish? He was the highlight of the evening.

Overall is was good, they advised the fans on what they could do at this time.

I was pleased to Roberts there, although he looked very jet lagged which isnt surprised based on him landing yesterday morning.

I'll agree with whats posted above, some of the Wigan fans are just plain embarrasing and thick. The same questions about the usage of the JJB kept getting asked time and time again, you could clearly see IL pulling his face each time the question was asked. Fans need to get through there thick heads that we lease the stadium, we are second fiddle in terms of usage of it, thats a fact, as annoying as it may be, its fact.

IL clearly showed fans that in the 2009 squad we have 19 UK players of which 15 of them are from Wigan. And yet 4 or 5 people asked the same question 'why do we have a team full of overseas' we clearly dont. Once again fans showing that they do not know anything about our club.

I was surprised that we didnt get a preview of the kit, this would have made a number of people happy. But as MH mentioned, it will be shown to us a week on friday, i presume a few days after the sponsors are mentioned.

Pemps was blamed for ruining a multi-million sponsorship with pirtek after showing the sponsor on the kit he designed



It was interesting to see that within 12-18 months we should have an agreement with an NRL club to send players over on loan and vice-versa with players from thr NRL coming over her for a year. IL mentioned that St George would be an ideal club to get a partnership with.

Noble spoke excellently, he made it clear of what the players are up against, and what we need to do to break the top 2 positions. They work on a rule of '1 less & 1 more' which based on last season means, we concede 1 less try per game and score 1 more try per game we would finish in the top 3 without doubt. He is happy with the side, although we are a little short within the half backs which will see Tomkins play some good game time in 2009. IL mentioned that he is still looking for that 'enforcer' prop forward, but what they do not want to do is risk letting players such as O'Barrell and Prescott leave to get this player.

They confirmed that they had looked at signed Todd Carney, but the transfer fee they wanted was far to much. He also confirmed that we have put a bid in for Greg Bird, but he doesnt expect it to be excepted. We aqre currently £20,000 under the cap for 2009, the departure of Barrett had free'd up money, but they have invested most of this into the young lads such as Tomkins, Mossop etc.

One thing that did annoy me, is that IL admitted that the game against Saints could not be played if GF was his fault. Wigan did not request to the stadium management in enough time that they needed to use the stadium on GF.

Some important questions were raised, particulary liked the grapple tackle Q. I'd not be surprised if the sheep at the RFL changed Sl rules to fall in line with the NRL which would throw a curveball in the competition, Saints would struggle without momentum.

Some bad q's also, Cringeworthy, like Phelps. What type of an answer was she expecting?

At least Phil McCraken was game for a laugh and the poor bloke ruined by IL on the first question when struggling to identify his gender

Oh and i laughed when IL shot Looby down about Phelps

This should be music to the ears of Wigan fans



As should this

Thanks for that, it was more to do with the importance of the grapple in the tackle, than grapple tackles.

I know Nobby recognises how important it is, like NRL coaches do, and it suits Wigan's style down to a t, it was also very effective against an England team composed of Saints and Leeds players.

So why was Roberts there then? There has been no official announcement about his signing and no press release on the official club site yet he was apparently introduced to the fans. I can see no story in the national media about him being a Wigan player either.

Isn't this a complete contradiction to having scheduled press releases with the media present?

Dave

What does it really matter?

He was presented to the fans as a sort of treat for them. He was also happy to chat to fans and to the press men who were there. It will all be made official and the paperwork straightened out in the next couple of day.

I can't see there's any real negative in this.

They explained it at the forum Dave, just prior to introducing him. They basically invited him along, and no doubt this week he will be inveilled at the arranged press date. He walked on stage, waved and walked off.

What is annoying me is that a lot of the useful content from the evening is getting taken away by people trying to summarise it. Missing their explanation of such an announcement being a key one.

Unfortunately we are all more concerned about settling our self made 'big' issues off here to pay much attention to things like that.

They've made clear their policy not to make announcements on anything until signed, sealed and delivered.