: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:47 pm  

I haven't read the article and I dont agree with booing as I feel it is counter productive but I do feel it come back to the word "Expectation", The Wigan club has played this "Expectation" trump card for the last ten years to get people to part with their hard earned cash to buy season tickets on the premise that it was our year and the failures of previous seasons would be addresed...

Well I am sorry Mr Lenegan, although fans may forget the same speeches being paraded around before the start of forthcoming seasons, telling the fans how great things are going to be for us, the "Expectation" this creates in the fans makes them buy tickets and with this they expect perfomances which justify the promotional comments... but when the team has for the last 3-4 years been a side that has such poor discipline, boring rugby and a complete inability to perform against the "lower" clubs, I think the frustrations have to be vented somewhere and if the chairman/owner hasn't got the balls/ability to change things. Then the fans have a right to inform him, Brian Noble and the players of their disgust at the shere state of their beloved club especially with there being very little light at the end of the tunnel!!!

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:03 pm  

WarriorSteve wrote:

I haven't read the article and I dont agree with booing as I feel it is counter productive but I do feel it come back to the word "Expectation", The Wigan club has played this "Expectation" trump card for the last ten years to get people to part with their hard earned cash to buy season tickets on the premise that it was our year and the failures of previous seasons would be addresed...

Well I am sorry Mr Lenegan, although fans may forget the same speeches being paraded around before the start of forthcoming seasons, telling the fans how great things are going to be for us, the "Expectation" this creates in the fans makes them buy tickets and with this they expect perfomances which justify the promotional comments... but when the team has for the last 3-4 years been a side that has such poor discipline, boring rugby and a complete inability to perform against the "lower" clubs, I think the frustrations have to be vented somewhere and if the chairman/owner hasn't got the balls/ability to change things. Then the fans have a right to inform him, Brian Noble and the players of their disgust at the shere state of their beloved club especially with there being very little light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Sorry, but the expectation doesn't come from the chairman telling us we have great things ahead. All chairmen sell their clubs as excitingly as they can before the season starts. You'd expect them to. They want to pack the fans in. That's perfectly understandable, and totally within their remit. They wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't - seriously, what do you expect, that they'd get up in front of a packed forum and say: "I have a bad feeling that this season is going to be crap for us."

The point is that the ovewhelming expectation at Wigan doesn't come from the chairman, or the marketing department, or the head-coach. It comes natural with the Wigan territory. Several times in our history, we've had 10-year-periods when we were near enough the best team on Earth. Only in the last couple of years have we been truly crap. Our last CC final appearance saw us field a team of 'underdogs' that included a number of players who were all better than almost anyone else playing in their respectives in SL today.

That's what creates expectation. This pedigree our club has, which at times can be as much a curse as a gift.

It's certainly overwhelming the current team and maybe the back-room team as well. Argue that the chairman and co. haven't got it right yet - there's little debate about that - and maybe they never will. But I think it's ridiculous to accuse them of creating unrealistic expectation to try and con people out of their 'hard-earned cash'. For God's sake, nobody's twisting anyone's arms to make them buy tickets. That's a crazy argument.

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:27 pm  

I have no doubt every club has to create "Expectation" but what I am saying is that when the reality is so far from the "bumf weve been fed" then fans have a right to express their displeasure!!!

Being Wigan comes with some level of expectation agreed.. but I have no doubts that many fans were bouyed by the media coming out of the club in the pre-season that they attended the first match with great anticipation... So much so that 16,000 turned out for the opening night of the season, yet 4000 of them decided that they didnt want to see the following game because the media coming out of the club saying "They were gonna be great this year" wasnt exactly what they saw...
How many of the remaining 12,000 are not be going to the next game????

To further my point Everything in life is relative to something... and if you compare us with say York City then you would say we are great side, yet comparing us with Leeds we are just laughable.... therefore in relative terms we are not very good which compared to the "Relative" which is that we are going to be a great side this year, is again just laughable and therefore people have a right to be disppointed...

On a final note... the media has so much influence on our lives that it can create whatever type of reaction within people it wants, if that information is aimed a creating a certain reaction. The information being bombarded at Wigan fans is very different from the games I have seen this year which in normal everday business terms is false advertising!!!

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:28 pm  

Which would Mr Lenagan prefer:

Booing

or

Non Attendance

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:35 pm  

I would say he would like neither and so would I.....

I think fans would just like to see the glaringly obvious floors in our game/club resolved...so we can get back to enjoying top quality entertainment.

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:36 pm  

I've never booed the side but don't blame anyone for doing so. The argument that it is counter productive is beyond me. These are highly paid professional sportsmen and if they can't take a bit of stick from the stands then they are in the wrong business. Maybe this is the problem they are just in the wrong business - literally.

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:40 pm  

I would say he would like neither and so would I.....

I think fans would just like to see the glaringly obvious floors in our game/club resolved...so we can get back to enjoying top quality entertainment.

: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:52 pm  

smithovyick wrote:

I've never booed the side but don't blame anyone for doing so. The argument that it is counter productive is beyond me. These are highly paid professional sportsmen and if they can't take a bit of stick from the stands then they are in the wrong business. Maybe this is the problem they are just in the wrong business - literally.

I think the point is that it creates nervous play which prohibits normal performance.. I suppose it depends on the player.. All I know is that when the fans get behind the team with chanting you see a notable increase in momentum which is much more than the reaction after the fans have booed!!!!

: Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:10 am  

Wigan/Leeds Andy wrote: Could someone with the Obby post some quotes for those of us fortunate enough not to live in town anymore. Ta. Here you go Andy.. http://www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5013441.jp

Wigan/Leeds Andy wrote: Could someone with the Obby post some quotes for those of us fortunate enough not to live in town anymore. Ta. Here you go Andy.. http://www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5013441.jp

: Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:46 pm  

the team is dull and boring to watch, that alone deserves a boo or 2 nevermind the fact we've had our worst start in 24 years

tha fans have the right to express their opinions as much as the chairman