Re: Wigan v Widnes - Match postponed - OH NO IT ISN'T! : Sun Feb 26, 2017 9:13 pm
Frankly, anyone who, after the last few years, thinks that IL is not a good chairman for Wigan needs their head examining.Whatever the circumstances surrounding the stadium and our deal to play there - and let's remember that this was a deal put in place before IL took over, when the odds were very decisively in favour of the stadium-owner - the guy has delivered success after success. There barely seems to be a year now when we aren't in with a really good chance of winning silverware.
Let's just compare that to the era when Whelan and Mo were in charge. It was a desert. We got nowhere near winning anything, crowds were declining, we drifted steadily closer towards relegation (which would have been totally unthinkable even under the previous struggling administration) - there were rumours that journos were ringing the club during work hours and no-one even answered the phone. I think it's safe to say that, for all the promises made, we weren't much of a priority.
Now, under IL ... even if he does have other interests, we are back to being one of the British game's leading clubs. That is not just a coincidence. It can't have happened by accident.
I admit that the stadium situation is awkward and embarrassing, and it never seems to go away. Even though Latics are currently tanking, it seems obvious they are always going to have the upper hand. But ultimately, I'm not sure that's the end of the world - every so often when this kind of thing happens, it allows fans at the likes of Saints, Leeds and Latics to ignore their own problems by jeering at us for a day or two, but it's not stopped us winning trophies. This last weekend alone we beat a bunch of opponents who, if their public statements were to be believed, were really outraged by the trick we'd played on them and so had every reason to take our scalp.
I personally would love it if we could somehow find a way to guarantee that when we have a home fixture we will always be able to play it at home. But there are only two certainties about this: a) it isn't going to involve us buying or building a new stadium; and b) if anyone can sort that out, it's more likely to be someone like IL, who has already shown that he can and will do great things for the club, than someone who quite simply has other priorities.