Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:59 pm  

Was a scene in Only Fools and Horses.

DW told it in his Ruby Wax documentary

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:00 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Whelan told that story himself in a documentary IIRC. He may have just been joking but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. The old tales about him turning the heating/hot water off at Central Park when he first took over and getting people to count sheets on toilet rolls to ensure he wasn’t being ripped off may also have been myths but nothing would really surprise you.

I'm told that up to a few years ago he would regularly go around Wrightington Country Club switching lights off in rooms he thought were unoccupied

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:33 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Whelan told that story himself in a documentary IIRC. He may have just been joking but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. The old tales about him turning the heating/hot water off at Central Park when he first took over and getting people to count sheets on toilet rolls to ensure he wasn’t being ripped off may also have been myths but nothing would really surprise you.

It sounds ridiculous but he isn’t a millionaire by accident. As the old saying goes “look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Mon Dec 07, 2020 6:00 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Whelan told that story himself in a documentary IIRC. He may have just been joking but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. The old tales about him turning the heating/hot water off at Central Park when he first took over and getting people to count sheets on toilet rolls to ensure he wasn’t being ripped off may also have been myths but nothing would really surprise you.

Yeah heard he tried to sack (or did sack) the new office junior as she put paper in the bin that had paper clips attached to them (unauthorised disposal of company property).

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:56 am  

A true story is when he had his supermarket he had a two young lads delivering large electrical goods. At the start of the week, they were told that from the following week, they had to wear a collar and tie. One of the lads refused to do it as Whelan never issued them with work clothes or safety shoes and he was sacked. A week or so later he got a job at the Heinz plant where he worked till he retired.

If anyone called Whelan, he would always say to them, he's a cracking fellow, he sacked me when I was 17 and I have never looked back since".

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:10 am  

Egg Chasing wrote:

He sacked you didn't he?

If you mean me, the answer is a big emphatic NO!

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:14 am  

ksm1701 wrote:

I'm told that up to a few years ago he would regularly go around Wrightington Country Club switching lights off in rooms he thought were unoccupied

I can confirm stuff like this to be true. When i was at college i worked at JJB Warehouse. On his visits he used to have lights switched off etc. The best one though, my sister worked in the office and he made the bosses give her a final written warning because she had her phone on charge behind her desk using his electricity for free

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:26 am  

Not saying Whelan isn't miserly but I guarantee that a lot of these are just anecdotes people in every town tell with the famous local businessman's name inserted.

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:51 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Not saying Whelan isn't miserly but I guarantee that a lot of these are just anecdotes people in every town tell with the famous local businessman's name inserted.

The Wrightington Country Club one is definitely true as it came first hand from my brother-in-law who's had the lights switched off on him whilst in a room several times and also been b0ll0cked by Whelan for daring to have left a room with the lights on for 5 minutes!

Re: Latics in administration - Lenagan leading bid : Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:09 pm  

I would be more interested in knowing what happened to the three State of Origin players we were going to sign that he mentioned to the Wigan Supporters group on his first meeting with them.

Seem to remember that made headlines in the local press. But it was still the last we heard of it.

Truth is that I never thought Whelan had any real interest in us. Feel sure we were no more than a stepping stone to getting the funding he needed for his new football stadium.

When he brought Mo back, things looked up. It was almost as if he realised that Wigan fans didn't trust him. But Mo was past it by then and never acclimatised to the era of the salary cap.

DW wasn't a disaster for Wigan RL, but he nearly was. I remember a rare astute comment from Ray French when we were looking at what seemed like imminent relegation:

'Someone has taken their eye off the ball at Wigan for too long.'