Progress With Unity

It’s a forgotten motto these days since the powers that be at Wigan Athletic opted for a change of club crest, but “progress with unity” is certainly a phrase that still applies to the club. Saturday’s win at Blackpool highlighted something to me that makes me immensely proud to be a Wigan Athletic fan.

We may not be Barcelona on the pitch, or Manchester United and their forty-three billion fans off it, but what we are is a club which is together and has a never-say-die attitude that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. When times are tough, when our backs are firmly against the wall, we always come out fighting, we always have done and we always will.

You can go right back to the 70’s when the club were fighting a constant battle to gain election to the Football League and failing time after time, the club never gave up and eventually it paid off. It seems that attitude has been instilled in the club ever since and is there for all to see.

There was such a good feeling amongst the latics fans at Bloomfield Road on Saturday, it was almost like we knew we were there to do a job and we WERE going to do it. Yes there were nerves, yes there was anxiety, but every single latics fan at the game on Saturday was positive, sang their hearts out and showed great support for their beloved team.

People under-estimate how important fans can be to a team but I really do think the fans made a huge difference on Saturday. Blackpool’s fans were clearly nervous and subdued, which their team mirrored. Our fans were vocal and up for the fight, and it was mirrored in our team.

Not since ‘that’ day at Sheffield United have I seen a group of supporters turn up so desperate to get three points and climb the table. There was no negativity, no one on anyone’s back (like the odd idiot at home games), just everyone together fighting for the cause.

Latics fans helped get the team through that day in Sheffield and we did it again on Saturday. The common denominator here I feel is that the games I’m talking about are away from home. At home games there’s a small amount of negativity coming from small sections of each stand. It seems to get to the players at times and they struggle to focus properly on the job at hand.

Every club has it, unrealistic supporters who want more from their team than they’re capable of, but I just wish those negative idiots were at Blackpool at the weekend to see what true support is all about.

It’s for this reason I feel we’ve got chances of picking up more points on the road this season and retaining our Premier League status. We’ve got another away game this coming weekend at Sunderland and three points there will leave us so close to survival you could almost touch it!

Aston Villa away in a few weeks is another game to whet the appetite, not least because in six seasons in the top flight we’ve never actually lost there (3 wins, 2 draws!) Then we go to Stoke on the final day where I hope to God we don’t have another Sheffield United situation on our hands.

But, the thing is, so what if we do need to win at Stoke to stay up? There’s not another club in the Premier League that could go into such a game with backing like we latics fans give to OUR team. It’s the main benefit of being such a small club, in my eyes. We’ve got forty-three billion less fans than Manchester United, but those that we have got are as vocal, passionate and devoted as ANY other. We are actually a part of OUR club, we’re not just there to fund ridiculous wages and transfer fees, we actually make OUR club what it is.

I actually turn up every week and feel like I’m needed, like me being there makes a difference. That’s always been the case and I dare say others feel the same. It’s what being a supporter of a small, family club is all about. You can’t help but feel a part of it. I’m not sure there’s another club around where this applies as much as it does at Wigan Athletic, where the fans drive the club forward.

This season I bought a season ticket for my 15 year-old brother. In previous seasons he’s just come along when I can afford to take him or when a mate can’t go and he has their season ticket. It’s taken him one season to be completely hooked on the drug that is Wigan Athletic. He’s as obsessed with the club as I am, this despite latics winning only 7 of 33 games so far this season. He’s not there craving title success, he’s not there craving trophies, he’s there to support his local club and actually be part of that club. In one season that’s exactly how he feels.

Manchester United, on the other hand, are driven forward purely by the fact they’ve got a vast number of ‘supporters’ (and I use that term loosely for some of them, not all) who pay stupid sums of money for season tickets, match tickets and merchandise, which funds the bank balances of footballers who I’m not sure really appreciate what it means to the fans like is the case at Wigan Athletic.

I’m proud of the fact that we’re a small club, with a ‘small’ fan base, and players who must be among the lowest paid in the Premier League. I don’t know what the likes of James McCarthy earns but I’d guess it’s about one tenth of the wages of Michael Carrick, and McCarthy is worth ten of what Carrick is worth for his sheer determination to go out and give 100% for the jersey.

I could go on but I just wanted to put down some thoughts post Blackpool because it was one of the best days I’ve had in my time as a latics fan. Not because of the result, not because of the performance, but because it showed me that OUR club is still what it was and always has been. A club that is united, ALL pushing in the same direction and never gives up. A club with first class supporters who, despite getting flack every single day for the size of their crowds, still turn up, still show their pride to be a Wigan Athletic fan and, ultimately, love the fact that no matter how much stick we get, we give it all back by simply being here. Six seasons and counting…

PROGRESS WITH UNITY

Before I finish I must add this video to this article. It was filmed by a B**ton Wanderers fan in the away end with his Wigan Athletic mad wife, but it really sums up the reaction when Hugo’s goal went in and how much it meant.