Durham Giant wrote:This is what i posted on the Giants site in response to some off the stuff on here. Slightly out of context but the general gist is there.
But the problems at wigan go deeper than just having a new coach..
K Brown was not hounded out by the coach it was the fans and their refusal to accept less than perfection or immediate success which contributed to the massive pressure on him and the subsequent loss of confidence.
the ownership of wigan first with maurice and then Lenegan who wanted to buy immediate success and bring in overpaid ( overweight) aussies rather than realistically building slowly from the great number of young players you have in the area. All this was compounded by the fact that too many Wigan fans judged everything on the past rather than the present and too late realised with SL, SC and franchising that you could not buy immediate success.
The goalposts have changed and now you have to take small steps over a few years . that is what the Giants have done. Our crowds, team, backroom staff, merchandising has been building over the last five years. None of that was due to Brown. Most of it is due to our chairman.
Brown has taken a group of underperforming players and got them to realise their potential. Some quality recruits have been added but Hodgson was wanted before Brown was even approached. Brown has then taken these players and instilled in them good coaching and AUSTRALIAN approach to the game of getting defence sorted and letting the rest follow. his personality seems to have made the players happy.
This however was not luck. Brown was thoroughly vetted and interviewed to make sure we got the right man. That is down to our chairman and the management team.
the original post on the Wigan board seemed to suggest that getting brown was a bit of luck and all the success we have was down to him. that is just plain wrong he built a good house on solid foundations layed by davy, smith and Sharp.
In general i like Wigan fans and the club but there is still a lack of humility which i think is needed before your club can move on. To suggest that kevin Brown would be back at wigan like a shot if given the chance is way off the mark. Why would he swap what he has now for uncertainty in moving back to Wigan even if he is a Wigan lad at heart.
A successful club is more than a coach it is a combination of many parts all working together. nathan brown is a big part of it but if the other bits were not working his influence would be really diminished
Brown is a confidence player and it was knocked and he began to let errors into his game, we should of given him more time but I still do not think he would of fully made it at Wigan.
The paragraph on ownership is spot on, we should of been building even from the start from the start of this season, we should not of signed Riddell and Roberts, we should of kept Colbon, played our youth along with another prop forward and the signing of Gleeson would still of been made.
You talk about you building your club and I agree Hudds is an example along with Hull KR and wire of how a smaller club takes the steps to be a bigger one, but realistically we do not need to do those things, the only thing wrong with Wigan in the big picture is results on the field although there are things around that which are not good as well. Our crowds, and all that jaz are pretty damn good. We need a good team on the field and the rest will come, I have no doubt we will get crowds over 20,000 when we get back to the top. Hudds had to do it the other way around.
Brown has done a top job and made the most of what he has got. The australian approach was always going to work as we get beat by them every year. I do not think the success of Brown is down to any luck.
Brown would come back to Wigan I think you would find but only if he knew he had a place.