Wigan Warriors: Maurice Lindsay was 'thrilled to bits' the day he was asked to become a director

Shortly before his death at the age of 81, the former chairman was interviewed by Warriors executive director Kris Radlinski.

Lindsay told him he could’ve been knocked over with a feather on the day he was invited to become a director at Wigan.

He said: “I wanted to do anything I could to be involved. I sponsored the club on a matchday, which was £50 in those days. It was a thrill to be involved in a very minor way.

“Later on, I was invited to get more involved, so I did and I got closer to the club. They invited me to the boardroom after the game. It wasn’t quite the splendour it is today.

“One day, the chairman came down to my office, which was close to the ground. He said: ‘I’ve come to see you, can I have a chat?’

“He said: ‘We’ve been thinking, you’re a bright young fella, you’re doing well in business, how would you like to be a director at Wigan?’

“You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. I said: ‘It’s astonishing that you’ve asked me, you don’t think I was going to say no, do you? I will be absolutely thrilled to bits?’

“They invited Jack Robinson as well. So me and him got very friendly and talked about how bad the club was, because it had got ancient in its thinking.

“We went to Castleford one night in the cup and got knocked out, thrashed by them. The lads deliberately left a big gap between them and the directors. There was a clear division, it was a shame.

“Jack said: ‘We need to change the club.’

“He was more forceful than me in those days, and his ideas were good, he was always right. We wrote to all the shareholders and told them what we wanted to do to make the club great again to bring the trophies back to Wigan.

“We set off on a pathway that finished off where we are now, and it was wonderful.”