But I'd had 13 years at Wigan and I did fancy running the game."The position was advertised, 102 applications were received, and the board of directors spent three weeks interviewing candidates. "I thought I would just be setting myself up to be shot down. Lindsay's achievements at Wigan remain the most powerful testament to his abilities as an administrator. During his period at the club, they won enough trophies to fill a removal van and, as the crowds flocked back, Wigan gained world-wide renown as the model professional organisation.In 1991, Lindsay was appointed president of the rugby league and was chairman designate for the following year. Towards the end of the 1991- 92 season, he was in the French city of Albi for a Great Britain international.
On the eve of the match, he went into town for a meal with Bob Ashby, then chairman of the league. They began to discuss who would replace David Oxley as chief executive when he retired later that year. "We were both relatively young at 38, we were both businessmen with very similar philosophies." They worked on a plan to put before shareholders that, in return for a loan of pounds 100,000, they would get control for 15 years. Ashby suggested that Lindsay combine that job with the role of chairman "I didn't really want to do it ," says Lindsay. There was no single plan that we could all agree on, and the factions were still there We had to have a new management structure That meant a small board.
I knew that was the way forward." As Lindsay took his place in the Wigan boardroom, the other vacant seat was taken by Jack Robinson, who went on to succeed him as chairman of the club Lindsay saw in Robinson a fellow believer "We were like-minded in many respects," explained Lindsay. At Wigan, we were meeting from six in the evening until midnight and achieving bugger all. "The first thing I did was telephone one of the sacked directors, who was a chartered accountant, to answer some queries. I remember him saying to me: `Maurice, you'll never make it go at Wigan.' I never embarrassed him with that any time later, but I have always remembered it."His first ambition was to streamline the 12-man board. "Wigan were being outstripped by other clubs, like Widnes, Hull, and Hull KR. I was friendly at the time with Ossie Davies [then chairman of Warrington]. They had a small board of directors who, together with the coach Alex Murphy, were making instant decisions, buying good players, and having a good deal of success.
