Re: Gary Connolly : Sat Apr 06, 2013 4:49 pm  

saint at wire wrote:

- like Gaskell allegedly (£12K).

I know for a fact that Gaskell is on much better than that.

Re: Gary Connolly : Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:45 pm  

tank123 wrote:

On Super League Supermen he gave the full account of the transfer to Wigan:

He was in Australia and then got told he was getting sold to Wigan he then told them he would play for Saints for half the money Wigan offered him. But they sold him to get a fee.

He told me that exact story when having a beer with him after the Wigan heritage day in 2011 when I'd been in the exec box and managed to get into the players bar.

At the end of season dinner a few weeks later, he remembered I'd bought him a pint at last orders and bought me one back

Re: Gary Connolly : Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:34 am  

You have to remember that Wigan were a lot more professional in every sense than Saints in those days, not just in monetary terms. I remember the likes of Andy Platt and Paul Loughlin hanging around the town centre with nothing to do, Saints were the happy amateurs who could beat Wigan every so often but not consistently. To improve yourself you were looking for a move to Wigan.

I reckon that Paul Loughlin could have been a absolute world class centre if he had been handled correctly, he was a good un, imagine how good he would have been if he took it seriously. Similarly Andy Platt wouldn't have scaled the heights if he had stayed at Saints.

Re: Gary Connolly : Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:56 am  

Finfin wrote:

You have to remember that Wigan were a lot more professional in every sense than Saints in those days, not just in monetary terms. I remember the likes of Andy Platt and Paul Loughlin hanging around the town centre with nothing to do, Saints were the happy amateurs who could beat Wigan every so often but not consistently. To improve yourself you were looking for a move to Wigan.

I reckon that Paul Loughlin could have been a absolute world class centre if he had been handled correctly, he was a good un, imagine how good he would have been if he took it seriously. Similarly Andy Platt wouldn't have scaled the heights if he had stayed at Saints.

People often underestimate the impact of a professional full time environment on players. Connolly and other players visibly bulked up shortly after joining wigan for starters

that said player like Andy Platt used to take there own fitness and conditioning seriously despite the lack of direction from the club