Rugby League: Reviled Robinson steps down at Wigan

Jack Robinson bowed to intense pressure yesterday by resigning as chairman of Wigan.

Robinson, chairman for the past five years and a director for 18, announced his decision after his vice-chairman, Tom Rathbone, resigned earlier in the day.

The two men have been the object of an increasingly vitriolic campaign to remove them by shareholders and other supporters furious at the sale of the club's Central Park ground to the supermarket group, Tesco.

They had fought off one attempt to unseat them at a shareholders' meeting, but had called another in September after allegations of irregularities in the voting.

Robinson also appeared in court earlier this year, where he was found not guilty on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A section of Wigan fans, however, considered him guilty of leading the club into decline and the potential disaster of having nowhere to play in Wigan.

The sale of the ground to Tesco means that, at most, the club has one more season at Central Park, and there are no concrete proposals for a new home within the town. The alternative is a loose arrangement to play as temporary tenants at Bolton Wanderers' new Reebok Stadium, but many supporters have made it clear that they bitterly oppose that solution.

A delegation marched on the Rugby League's headquarters in Leeds two weeks ago and, even among crowds that have shrunk to a financially ruinous 6,500, the clamour for Robinson to go has grown louder.

One group of fans has taken to standing on a road-bridge outside the ground with a partial view of the pitch, carrying banners declaring that they will not pay to enter until Robinson departs.

Now they have their way. Announcing his decision, Robinson - an antiques dealer and, like Rathbone, a member of the so-called Gang of Four directors who revitalised Wigan in the early 1980s - said yesterday: "I felt that I had taken Wigan Rugby League as far as I could. It is now up to the chairman and the new board to go forward."

The new chairman is Arthur Thomas, who joined the board earlier this season. The only other surviving director is David Bradshaw, the club's chief executive.

Apart from improving performances on the field - Wigan are fifth in Super League and were beaten by both Sheffield and Salford last week - the board will have to resolve the matter of the stadium.

One possibility that now opens up is sharing with the football club Wigan Athletic and rugby union club Orrell at a projected new ground in the town that has the local council's backing.

The football club's chairman, Dave Whelan, who has been in bitter conflict with Rathbone and Robinson, has said that he would not discuss ground- sharing while they remained in charge.

The former Wigan player, Martin Offiah, could make a surprise return to the London Broncos' side for the rest of the season. Offiah was thought to have played his last match for the club when his agreement with them ran out and the two parties were unable to settle a new one last month.

Since then, Offiah's contract with Bedford rugby union has expired and a move to a First Division London union club has not materialised. He has been in discussions with the Broncos' chief executive, Tony Rea, and could even return to their side for the match against Halifax next Monday.

Meanwhile, London have transfer-listed their scrum-half, Josh White, at pounds 100,000. White has already had talks with Hull and Salford but the Broncos insist that he is under contract to them for next season.