Wigan Album

What a sad sight.

A very sad and nostalgic sight. There's no doubt that the ground was past its sell by date as any one who visited the "River Caves "(aka the Gents behind the main stand), will tell you, but there was something about standing there in the cold on the terraces arguing with a Saints supporter which somehow captured the whole character of Rugby League. It was a great day out, a few drinks in some of the close by pubs, the banter with the opposition fans and almost a hundred years of history. Leaving the DW Stadium attempting to get over that pathetic little bridge over the canal, having stood in "Whelans Puddle" in the queue for ten minutes, somehow dampens the feelings after a good win,sat in a seat in a dry stand, which are the better points of a game these days, compared to Central Park, but I still wish we were there.....cold damp afternoons and all.

As a Wigan "Ex Pat" (I left Wigan in 1966) this would have to be one of the saddest sights that I have seen, Wigan Rugby League is known all over the world, I believe that the sale of Central Park, was to pay for the incurred debts that the Wigan RL Commitee had amassed through their mismanagement of the club. is this true?

My brother-in-law, who is an ardent Wigan RL fan, wouldn't visit tescos once it was built, said it was sacrilege!

Syd, nobody, except Jack Robinson, knows where the money Tesco paid for Central Park went to.It vanished into thin air or somebody's back pocket.

That's my second favourite photo

At the time and for many years before, WRLFC were living way beyond their means.Their income from the so called massive crowds in no way came anywhere near what they were spending on players wages.These wages were having to be paid to the only fully professional squad in Rugby League in order to win all the honours that they did in the 80's/90's. So when the brown stuff was about to make contact with the fan resulting in WRLFC going bust,the directors were forced to turn over the £12m they got from Tesco to a certain D. Whelan. £4.5m of this went to pay off the accumulated debts of WRLFC. The remainder went into Mr.Whelan's back pocket,which along with the money he got from the sale of Springfield Park,went towards the building costs of the JJB stadium.Does this answer your questions?

Bert,as a fellow Latics mon,you'll remember telling any Rugby mon who would listen,that they were going bust.But very few of them were prepared to listen.

As opposed to going down

No-one wants to know your bedroom habits Warrior

big crowds ,no brass.how did this scenario come about.maybe dodgy characters on the wigan board.or does their former accountant own mustique,we the supporters will never know

Mickey east,have you read my post above? The crowds weren't massive,they never averaged more than about 15500 over a season.At the same time they were paying the players up to £2500 a week! That's where the money went. They weren't even paying the massive transfer fees. Norweb bought Offiah for them! £440,000, still a world record I think.

This is really a tragic sight. I left Wigan in 1981 and now live in the US. I was a Wigan Rugby fan for many years before we left and seeing this picture has really put a damper on my day. I spent many Saturday afternoons on 'The Kop' and was there when they had the record crowd on 47,747. I can't get over this picture!!

Chris, Many thanks for your historical narrative, it's appreciated. But I'm still confused,(I know,I'm simple)
But who the hell is D. Whelan, from your information it would appear that he was the owner of the land, that was Central Park, is this the case? If he was, how did the Wigan Committee get access to 4.5 Million pounds to resolve their debts, from the sale of Central Park? All,the money from the sale would have gone to the vendor, which in this case was D.Whelan. I look forward to your insight, Many Thanks.:0)

So tell me Chris Southworth what theLatics home gates are discounting away supporters and all the free tickets given away for every home game. My guess would be about 8000.

Alan mate, I can't belive a rugby supporter has posted that.
Wigan rugby have done that since Lindsay's days and still do. Still frightened of Little Latics eh?

Bert,these rugby men really are hard work, aren't they! The bitter ones just want to talk about Latics and as for Syd,well he's just completely confused me! I'm giving up on this.I'll see you back on TNS.