SUPPORTERS have had a mixed relationship with Peter Higham during his reign as chairman of Warrington Wolves.

Highs include the Premiership final victory over Halifax in 1986, Challenge Cup final runners-up to Wigan at Wembley in 1990, Lancashire Cup winners in 1990 and Regal Trophy winners in 1991.

The lows include the past two lean seasons of Warrington finishing in the bottom half of the league table and Higham and his board of directors not having the financial clout to get out of debt trouble. During the dark days there have been terrace chants of 'Higham out' and 'Sack the Board'.

Appleton-based Higham, who is contracts director for engineering firm Hertel Services UK in St. Helens, has been supremo at Wilderspool since season 1983/84.

The former Rylands FC soccer player, still known to many as 'Ike Higham', is seen in the game as having been a modern and ambitious thinker but, on the down side, having often ruled in a non-communicative way - sometimes leaving club officials and fellow directors in the dark as well as supporters.

It all started off nicely.

A then world record figure was paid out in 1985 to bring Widnes and Great Britain scrum half Andy Gregory to Warrington.

The other signings his era will be remembered most for are Australian Test star Les Boyd, Welsh hero Jonathan Davies, and youngsters Iestyn Harris and Paul Sculthorpe.

There have been five coaches in his era - Reg Bowden, Tony Barrow, Brian Johnson, John Dorahy and Darryl Van de Velde.

But one thing will stand out more than any of these which all Warrington Rugby League fans will have to be eternally grateful for.

It was Higham who won Warrington a place in Super League. Without his determination, forceful opinion and many sacrifices at a time when 'mergers' were the orders from the top, Warrington would now be playing under the name of Cheshire somewhere between Warrington and Widnes, or even in Widnes.

Ironically, it has been the club's inability to trouble the top dogs in Super League, due to financial restrictions, that has led to Higham having to take a back seat.

With not being in the millionaire's bracket Higham and his board have not had the financial backing to make big money signings.

Instead, the club put all its backing behind youngsters. Children aged around 14, but some even younger, have been handed thousands of pounds in a bid to attract all the best young talent in the country to Wilderspool.

Unfortunately, the scheme did not pay dividend enough. There have been the success stories of Jon Roper, Lee Penny, Mark Hilton, Iestyn Harris and Paul Sculthorpe but they have been too few.

Two of them, Harris and Sculthorpe, had to be sold to keep the bank manager happy and now Higham has had to sacrifice his own interest to offer the club a lifeline and a future with new investors on board.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.