FANS go to watch a competitive team. If you get it right on the pitch, everything else a club needs to survive will follow.

That means a larger support, which means increased turnstile revenue, greater marketing opportunities and merchandising plus a much more attractive product to attract sponsors.

Also, this will lead to a better chance of attracting better players to the club rather than them refusing to come even on loan - such as happened with Steve Barrow, the young Wigan A Team player recently.

Chronic under-investment in the team is very poor business sense and is a short-sighted recipe for disaster.

We are not after superstars or throwing silly money at players (even though we all think they should be on more than they are at present) but a compromise would be nice.

If we cannot afford players such as David Whittle then where is this club going?

I'll tell you - out of business.

Wayne Valentine

Glebe Street, Leigh

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.