Derek Beaumont praises fellow Super League club’s CEO as ‘one of the best’

Yesterday saw some brilliant rugby league action with all of the top three of Super League in action including the Channel 4 televised 1pm clash between Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards.

The game between third placed Wigan and second placed Leigh came off the back of both sides’ epic Challenge Cup semi-finals, with the two sides having had contrasting results.

There was a huge sense of optimism for the Leopards heading in given that they had just made it to Wembley and boasted an impressive form record of just one loss in their last fourteen matches.

Of course there’s always optimism surrounding Derek Beaumont this season with the Leigh owner having been a breath of fresh air in Super League this season.

The rebrand from Centurions to Leopards has worked far better than even Beaumont could have imagined and that’s been in part due to the incredible success on the field.

Rivals Wigan are a side that are used to success on the field, having lifted the Challenge Cup themselves last season, and plenty of that success is built from the top down.

The stability of having such a brilliant chairman in Ian Lenagan can’t be understated and the club have already expressed how much they will miss him when he steps down at the end of the season.

Beneath Lenagan though is a brilliant Chief Executive Officer in former Wigan player Kris Radlinski, and the former full-back drew huge praise from the opposition yesterday with Derek Beaumont making a point about the “class” nature of Radlinski.

Class operator highly respected amongst fellow CEO’s and owners. Great accolade to him by Ian in programme notes as well. Has my respect in abundance! Enjoy your much deserved winning weekend 👍👏🐆 https://t.co/fqxaxEPMkW

— Derek John Beaumont (@derek_beaumont) July 29, 2023

With Radlinski having arranged for a leopard print themed dining table and the inclusion of a cheeky pair of leopard print handcuffs for Derek specifically, the Wigan CEO was labelled a gentleman with Beaumont responding in kind.

The full tweet reads: “Class operator highly respected amongst fellow CEO’s and owners. Great accolade to him by Ian in programme notes as well. Has my respect in abundance! Enjoy your much deserved winning weekend”

Derek was also full of praise for another gesture that the club did, this time not for him but for player Jack Hughes who made his 300th career appearance.

@LeighLeopardsRL fans were outstanding today great songs loud and proud. The boys really appreciate it. We didn’t do it for you today but we will stay together and bounce back. Credit to @WiganWarriorsRL outstanding and a class club how we treated and what did for @Jackthughes12 pic.twitter.com/3brpUTGO0V

— Derek John Beaumont (@derek_beaumont) July 29, 2023

There was also thanks for the fans with the full tweet reading: “Leigh Leopards fans were outstanding today great songs loud and proud. The boys really appreciate it. We didn’t do it for you today but we will stay together and bounce back. Credit to Wigan Warriors, outstanding and a class club how we treated and what did for Jack Hughes.”

Unfortunately for Hughes, Beaumont and all Leigh fans, the Leopards were unsuccessful in their efforts to win as they fell to a 44-18 defeat and in doing so slipped below Wigan to third in the table.