Ian has already brought in advantageous changes and more are in the pipeline. He has, however, also dropped one or two clangers, (in my opinion).
One of the few players in this very ordinary team who can be relied on to give 100 per cent effort is Micky Higham. His reward is the bullet! We were told at the fans forum recently that he was being released as "a rugby matter", yet in the press last week it is now a "salary cap problem" What is the truth? Two clangers in one there for Ian.
If it is a cap problem there are many other players who should be released before him. The back row must be the worst we have had for many a long season. Phil Bailey and Harrison Hansen are so ordinary it is painful.
Sean O'Loughlin must be the most uninspiring captain in the history of rugby league. He defends well but is not playmaker. His true position is second row. Gareth Hock is good when he is not injured or being suspended.
We still don't know about Thomas Leuluai's capabilities because no scrum half can operate behind a powder puff pack like ours!
The back line is very weak, but has possibilities with George Carmont and Cameron Phelps. The team has no steel in it whatsoever, failing time after time to string a really good run together. I am sick and tired of reading that "maybe we were complacent" or "that defeat was the kick up the rear we needed".
These men are professionals for goodness sake. They shouldn't need kicks. Complacency should never enter the equation and steel should be second nature. There is not a single player at present who would have got in the squad, never mind the team, of a few seasons ago.
I sympathise with Mr Lenagan. He inherited a shambles of a club and team, but his biggest clanger is to increase season ticket prices by 23 per cent for this lot! Forget it, I have better things to do with my £207.
J Halliwell,
Bird Street, Higher Ince.

Where is the fighting spirit?
After another inept display against Leeds, I find myself writing to you again regarding the demise of the once mighty Wigan.
While this side is capable of the odd good result, they are NOT a good team. They are populated by journeymen with a journeyman coach. What's so appalling is the lack of true fighting spirit, dreadful positioning in defence and clueless in attacking options.
Worse still – and something is seriously amiss at the JJB – they cannot give (and in some cases clearly do not want to ) 80 minutes of sustained effort. In these days of full time professionalism, fitness issues are unforgivable.
It is now time for major root and branch reform and no better time to do it with a three year franchise ahead.
A wholesale clear out is required, starting with the coach. If there are more than four players of the current squad left afterwards the cuts will not have gone deep enough. Send the journeymen on their journey.
Tom Crompton,
Lamb Street, Whelley.

Noble's not the man to lead us
Another sorry and shambolic display by Wigan RL club. It was just another game in a long series of inept performances by a very poor Wigan side and surely reflects on an even poorer coach in Brian Noble.
The team are no better now than when Noble arrived and his record after after two years at JJB has been win one, lose one.
Wigan have dismissed better coaches than Noble in recent years, so I feel they should dispense with his methods of "coaching" forthwith. It's true he won silverware while at Bradford, but they were a far better team than this sorry bunch he has at Wigan and he hasn't improved them one bit.
Make no mistake this present Wigan team is the poorest in many a long year, and they won't so much as win an egg cup for many years to come, especially with Noble at the helm, who hasn't been half as good as the reputation he arrived with.
E Green,
Bradshaw Street, Whelley.

Good show ... but I missed anthem
My friends and I went to the Proms at Haydock Park on August 16 and although it was a very wet night the atmosphere was terrific and we really had a good time.
I feel that through your newspaper I must just see if anyone could tell me why the National Anthem is no longer played at such functions. All the usual tunes such as Rule Brittania and There'll Always Be An England were played but God save the Queen was omitted! I am sure the majority of people would join in if it were played.
Kathleen Millett,
Blenheim Road,
Ashton
A spokesman for Wigan & Leigh Hospice said: "Although we do the Proms as a patriotic night we have never included the National Anthem. The company which organises the event for us produce several throughout the UK and have never included the National Anthem basically because the events include patriotic songs and end with the spectacular firework finale."

Beach was a treat
We may not be the first, nor the last to write praising the thoughtfulness of someone who initiated the beach area at the bottom of Makinson's Arcade in Wigan.
It has brought immense pleasure to the hundreds of children on school holiday, making sand pies etc and the mums and dads enjoying a relaxing few minutes in the deck chairs provided.Simple but brilliant.
Grandma and grandad Meadows,
Wigan Lane,
Wigan.

All applications judged on merits
Mrs K Sutherland says she can't understand "why Wigan planners would even consider the fact that Wigan needs another betting establishment." (Council should curb gambling, Observer 26 August)
I would like to point out that the council has no choice in the planning applications it receives, and we cannot refuse to consider any properly submitted application. This application, which is for premises in Market Place that used to be an amusement arcade, will be assessed on its planning merits, as the council is legally required to do.
Councillor John Hilton
Chairman of the Planning Committee

Memories of Hindley Green
I was born in Hindley Green in 1941, later living in Hindley in Borsdane Avenue, I attended Argyle Street Secondary Modern School. I left the area in 1958.
I was wondering if any readers of the Wigan Observer have any old books or postcards of the area, or photocopies of any old pictures, if so they could contact me at the address below.
Ronald Whittle,
8 Gardenfields Close,
Wellingborough,
Northants, NN9 5XZ.