He has been an absolutely fantastic owner and we all owe him a huge amount of gratitude. Others have already given all the main tributes I'd want to say.
When we moved into the new stadium Simon Moran drove the club forwards and helped completely transform our mentality. I remember being in the queues at the club shop for Andrew Johns merchandise when we brought him in, in summer 2005 and thinking the club was completely unrecognisable from where we were 3 years earlier battling to avoid relegation at Wilderspool with a championship level squad. We had internationals like Gleeson, Fa'afili and Swann already, then we brought in Andrew Johns. Then over the next few years we were adding guys like Morley, King, the Monaghans, the Andersons, Hicks, Hodgson, Solomona, Waterhouse. Suddenly Warrington were a big name in the world of rugby league who top players wanted to play for.
How much of that was due not only to Simon Moran's investment but also his contacts and ability to sell the club and vision and get superstar players to sign for us. I guess that is what being a promoter is about. I also think Paul Cullen was a good foil for Simon Moran in that era - he had the charisma and media presence to be the front man for the club's ambitions while Simon Moran kept a low profile behind the scenes.
You can split the last 20 years into two halves. Whereas 2003-13 was an exciting ride with a sense of the club going places, 2013-23 has been largely frustrating with a sense that we have underachieved. I think there have been some bad decisions over that time and some things have been allowed to drift. But we should also remember that the wider environment has been very different. The higher NRL salary cap has made it harder for British clubs to bring over the real top players so guys like Morley and King aren't available any more. Unfortunately we've ended up overpaying for some mediocre players because that's all that has been available.
Also the last few years have brought other challenges which Simon Moran will have had to deal with, away from the club. Brexit has made it harder to attract acts from Europe due to the complicated additional bureaucracy for artists doing gigs in the UK. Covid and the restrictions on live events basically put everything on hold for the best part of 2 years. It's been a difficult time to be an events promoter.
So whilst we have all been a bit disappointed in recent years and that contributes to the occasional frustration that gets voiced on here against people at the top of the club including Simon Moran, we have to accept that the wider environment hasn't been the same as it was in say 2004-10 when he was landing big signing after big signing.
