POSITIVE news at last - that's what we all want to see and I will have a drink in my local tonight and make a toast to 'Plenty more of it!'

Lee Penny's decision to stay at Warrington Wolves, a week after the GUARDIAN revealed coach Darryl Van de Velde will be staying, should not be sniffed at.

I know that the full back had three top Super League clubs chasing him and yet he has chosen to remain at Wilderspool.

He is an ambitious 23-year-old wanting international honours and he believes, in the fact that he has signed a new contract, that he can achieve his goals over the next three years with Warrington Wolves.

Lee would not have signed without knowing there are better times round the corner for the Wolves.

Let's hope that Steve McCurrie and Danny Nutley, two of the season's other top performers, follow suit soon and put pen to paper as Darryl builds for 1999.

The Wolves have been linked with a number of players who have become available for transfer at other clubs. But it has been made clear to me that the club was not in the running for prop Craig Makin, who left Widnes to join Salford Reds this week, and that talks with Wigan's front rower Neil Cowie were stopped when it seemed apparent that Cowie was just looking to increase his contract at Central Park.

Van de Velde has confirmed that he was interested in St. Helens' young centre Tony Stewart but understands that the 19-year-old has signed a longer term contract with the Knowsley Road club.

I hear that Alex Murphy has been complaining about 'poor treatment' when he was an invited guest at Wilderspool Stadium's centenary dinner a fortnight ago and has been critical for not 'getting a mention' in the Wilderspool Centenary brochure.

The cheek of the man! Alex was at the helm in the 1970s in one of the most glorious periods of the club's history. They were magical days at Wilderspool and no-one can take that away from Murphy. That is why he was invited to the dinner free of charge as a special guest to join in the celebrations to mark 100 years of history at Wilderspool (not just Murphy's years).

But then he criticised the club in a Sunday newspaper article and continued it this week through a gossip columnist.

At the dinner, he was introduced to the diners, he did receive applause and he did receive a free copy of the Wilderspool Centenary brochure, courtesy of the GUARDIAN, in which, incidentally, he is mentioned more than 30 times and features in three pictures. Supporters voted him as joint third best Warrington scrum half of all time in one feature.

Some would say he did not deserve to be invited to the dinner on the back of his 'swearing at supporters' antics last year while he was in the role of football manager at Wilderspool. The club's chief executive John Smith had to make a public apology for his behaviour at that supporters' forum. Maybe Alex was not asked to speak at the dinner in case he said things which did not suit the occasion.

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