We get knocked down, but we get up again…

…you’re never gonna keep us down!

Well it’s hard to know where to start after a weekend where the phrase “a rollercoaster of emotions” doesn’t even come close to describing what latics fans went through. Not just on Sunday, but also on Saturday, before Wigan had even kicked a ball.

Throughout Saturday afternoon, with games taking place that affected Wigan’s own survival chances, our relegation rivals went behind, levelled and went in front seemingly every five minutes. I personally had to leave the house at 1.30pm as I couldn’t take the stress of it all…and my team wasn’t even playing!

To say results ended up going against us is something of an under-statement. Blackburn got an unlikely point at home to newly-crowned Premier League Champions, Manchester United. Meanwhile, Blackpool and Wolves both picked up wins to put added pressure on latics going into Sunday’s crunch match.

When latics quickly found themselves 2-0 down in the first half against the Hammers you’d have been forgiven at half time for feeling as though it was all over. Our time was up, our Premier League journey had run its course and the dreaded ‘R’ word was but 45 minutes away.

But this isn’t any ordinary football club, this is Wigan Athletic we’re talking about here. Giving up simply isn’t an option. The introductions of Victor Moses and Conor Sammon at half time gave the players and the crowd the lift and the belief that they needed to turn things around.

No sooner had Rob Green picked the ball out of the net following Charles N’Zogbia’s wonder free-kick, Green was doing it again when Conor Sammon cut inside a defender from Ben Watson’s through ball and slotted calmly beyond the ‘keeper to pull things level.

With Birmingham losing at home to Fulham, a point was enough to keep Wigan’s survival chances alive going into the last game at Stoke. But Wigan didn’t stop at that. The spirit, commitment and desire the players showed to go and get a winner was enough to take your breath away.

Rob Green’s goal led a charmed life and it felt as though we’d have to go to Stoke needing a win to even give us half a chance of survival. However, like the true prizefighter we are, we found that extra inch, that extra bit of energy and with just seconds left on the clock Charles N’Zogbia’s second of the afternoon sent the DW Stadium into celebrations that are simply indescribable.

Not after Jason Roberts’ goal at Arsenal to send latics to the Carling Cup Final, nor after Charles N’Zogbia’s injury time winner also against Arsenal last season have I seen celebrations to even come close to those on Sunday.

When you talk about Wigan Athletic you’re talking about a prizefighter that’s truly unique in its never-say-die attitude. They broke the mould when they made this prizefighter. It just does not know when it’s beaten. Even when it’s firmly down on its backside, with the third fist about to hit the canvas, it somehow finds something from somewhere to get up, dust itself down and finish the job off.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s what makes being a Wigan Athletic fan truly special. I see other teams fighting like mad to stay up, but are any capable of the sort of courage we showed on Sunday? I don’t really think so. There’s just something about this football club that means it’s always capable of the impossible, the unthinkable. We won’t always pull it off (we’d be Champions of Europe if we did) but somehow when we really need it most we manage to pull it out of the bag.

Roberto Martinez summed it up in a direct address to the fans in the supporters bar after the game. “Sorry we put you through it today but we like to do things our way, the latics way!” Having a man in charge that knows exactly what this football club and its supporters are all about is a big reason why I think this club is going places and is as capable of the unthinkable as it’s ever been before.

And so it’s on to Stoke. A draw could be enough. We could even lose and stay up on goal difference (again!) if the likes of Birmingham and Blackpool suffer heavier defeats than we do. That really would be remarkable given our goal difference was -10 after the first two games of the season. Just like four years ago at Sheffield united, you wouldn’t bet against latics doing it the hard way, whatever that hard way is.

I wrote on Twitter on Sunday night: “I don’t know who writes Wigan Athletic’s scripts but they ought to be nominated for an Oscar” Here’s hoping that’s the feeling on Sunday evening. It’s like living within a real-life Rocky film. We’re in the final round, we’re exhausted, we're battered, we’re bruised, but somewhere within those last closing moments you feel we’ve got it in us to deliver one final, telling blow.

Progress with unity

I can’t go without showing you a couple of videos from Sunday. The first is, of course, the highlights from an unbelievable match. The second is how Sky Sports News covered the game. It's over 11 minutes long so if you can't watch it all makes sure you watch from about 8 minutes in. I really feel it sums up Sunday’s events and the emotions attached superbly well.

No one likes us, we don't care

Well this week saw yet another member of the national media take a huge swipe at little Wigan Athletic. This time it was the turn of Mick Dennis. It seems Wigan only getting 17,000 through the turnstiles each week just isn’t good enough and therefore the Championship beckons.

Funny that, because last time I checked the rule book there was no mention of teams not being able to compete in any given league based on how many attend their matches. The FA must have omitted that one, how foolish of them.

I think the point really is that for years our club has over-achieved beyond the wildest dreams of anyone connected with Wigan Athletic. For a short time the press and the majority of outsiders jumped on our bandwagon and were heaping praise on our achievement of moving through the leagues so quickly and reaching the very top.

However, the tables appear to have turned. Those people don’t want to praise us now. They don’t want to say how well were doing or “that’s how a football club should be run.” They want to take every possible little swipe at us that they can. Their love for our club has turned to hate. The very fact there’s only one thing they can ever criticise us for is our attendances makes me smile, I’m sorry to say. It really is a sad state of affairs.

If you were to ask me right now which sets of supporters have given grief to me personally over the last few weeks and months I think you’ll quickly see a pattern emerging. Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Coventry City and, most recently, Norwich City (Mick Dennis’ team), to name but a few. (Even Wigan Warriors fans are having a go and they get less through the turnstiles than we do!)

Now can you detect the pattern? Yes, they have all been Premier League clubs in their day and most have been some sort of force in Europe too. The trouble is, while Wigan have been lauding it up in the Premier League, their respective clubs have been struggling a division (or two divisions, in some cases) below us.

What’s the reason for the barrage of abuse? The answer, quite simply, is jealousy. Their clubs have been run so poorly while we’ve been working our way to our current position. Just because they get more through the turnstiles in their respective divisions than Wigan Athletic do in the top flight, that makes it alright to try and give the club and its loyal supporters a bad name.

When they dish out their criticism there’s not thought to the fact there’s little over 80,000 people in our town. No thought to the fact we’ve got 7 other Premier League clubs within a stones throw of our ground. No thought to the fact we’ve spent most of our history in non-league football. No thought to that fact we were getting just 1,800 through the turnstiles only 16 years ago. No thought to the fact that we’ve not got generations of supporters to call upon now we’re in the big time. The list goes on.

It’s wrong. What Wigan Athletic have achieved in the past 15 years is something few clubs will ever achieve in their entire history. It’s something that I, for one, am immensely proud of and, even if we do suffer from the dreaded ‘R’ word at the end of the season, we can always look back fondly at what we achieved, which is more than can be said of the aforementioned clubs and their under-achievements.

We’ll never be bitter and twisted about what we once had. We’ll always be grateful for what we had and respect that we couldn’t punch above our weight forever. We’ll always know it’s not that long ago we were in the bottom division and we’re not blinkered enough to think we have a divine right to be in the upper echelons of English football forever.

More importantly, we’ll always be here. It doesn’t matter what league we’re in, whether we get 1,700 or 17,000 through the gates, whether we’ve got a millionaire backer or go back to the days of collection buckets outside the turnstiles. There’ll always be a Wigan Athletic.

No one likes us, we don’t care.

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.

Why England Will Win the Ashes

This winter sees the England cricket team go down under to defend the Ashes that they won back on home soil only last year. However, they’ve failed to come back from Australia with the treasured urn in almost a quarter of a century.

So, the question is, why should English cricket fans be getting so excited about this tour? It’s only four years since England suffered a 5-0 whitewash in Australia when they supposedly had their best squad and best chance of success in decades.

This time it really is different though. Since Andy Flower replaced Duncan Fletcher as coach in 2007 England have made nothing but forward strides in all three forms of the game. In that period Australia have only gone backwards. In fact for the first time in living memory England go to Australia while actually sitting above their Ashes rivals in the ICC World rankings.

Belief

For me, half the battle in beating the Aussies on home soil is actually believing that you can beat them. In the last Ashes series in Australia, England dominated the 2nd test match in Adelaide, with a 310-run partnership between Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen putting the visitors into a real position of strength. However, England failed to do their jobs in the second innings and lost the test match. This, for me, was largely due to the fact that they lacked the bottle and belief to complete the job.

With this current set of players it’s a different story. Andrew Strauss as a leader has done a truly remarkable job and Andy Flower has instilled a belief into his players that they can beat whatever is put in front of them. There’s no sterner test of those characteristics that a trip down under.

It’s often about which individual players step up to the plate and put in the performances that’s needed. Indeed, England’s last Ashes success away from home was largely down to the performances of Chris Broad and Ian Botham. So, who should England look to for inspiration this time around?

James Anderson has been England’s number one strike bowler for some time now. However, I really don’t believe he will be the one to do the damage. As a bowler that relies on favourable, swinging conditions, Australia probably isn’t a place where he can shine as a bowler.

I’m really excited about Steven Finn. The more I see him, the more he reminds me of Glenn McGrath. He’s a tall, ‘bang it in’ sort of bowler who bowls a consistent line and length, frustrating batsmen and taking wickets. We’ve not seen much of him in England colours so far but I’d say he’s a certainty to play all five tests and he’s my tip to be England’s leading wicket taker.

Quality in every department

England are much stronger in the spin department this time around. They’re stronger than their last visit to Australia and for the first time in my lifetime I can say England have far better spin options than their opponents. While Graeme Swann doesn’t have the incredible skills and variations of a Shane Warne, what he does have is a superb cricketing brain and the ability to outthink the opposition. This is where he picks up most of his wickets and it’s why he’ll be England’s second top wicket taker in this series, with Stuart Broad close behind him in third.

From a batting point of view I really do think the stage is set for Kevin Pietersen to announce himself in the test match arena once again. He’s had a really poor year by his standards but class is permanent. He’s a big game player and in these 5 test matches I’m convinced he will return to form, holding England’s innings’ together and ending the series as England’s top run scorer.

Andrew Strauss has plenty on his plate as captain in trying to keep hold of the urn, but expect him to be in the runs. Not least because he too is a class act at the top of the England order, but because I simply don’t think Australia have the bowlers to cause damage at the start of England’s innings’.

As for Australia, man for man they clearly had the better squad four years ago. However, this time things look a little different. Several players have retired since then, such as Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Brett Lee, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. The Aussie’s current bowling attack looks a little threadbare without the latter three and taking 20 England wickets will prove difficult.

Lacking experience

The loss of so many players hasn’t just made them weaker in terms of ability, they’re also badly lacking in players with Ashes experience. This is a big problem for Australia and it’s a big part of why I don’t think they’ll be able to stop England taking the urn home with them.

Captaincy is key and while doubts have surfaced over Ricky Ponting’s ability as captain in the last couple of years, Andrew Strauss’ reputation as a captain has done nothing but rise.

Of course it goes without saying that England need everyone fit and with as few off the field distractions as possible if they’re to achieve their goals. During the 2002/03 Ashes tour England lost Simon Jones, who ruptured knee ligaments in the field on the first morning of the first test.

During the last tour down under England player the entire series without their captain, Michael Vaughan, who was missing with a knee injury. Andrew Flintoff stepped into the role but it never really worked, and the extra responsibility on his shoulders seemed to affect his form with bat and ball too.

Furthermore, frontline spinner Ashley Giles was forced to return home to be with his ill wife. England really could do without these unhelpful events causing problems this time around.

England have all the key ingredients to make this series a success. They’ve got great players, players better than their opponents. An inspirational leader on the pitch in Andrew Strauss and a knowledgeable coach off the field in Andy Flower, who has instilled a belief into his players that they can win an Ashes series down under.

Series Prediction: Australia 1, England 3

Come on England – make the nation proud again and bring back those Ashes to where they belong!

Wigan Athletic in Good Hands

It’s fair to say that the tenure of Roberto Martinez as Wigan manager has been a topsy turvy one so far. While keeping Wigan in the Premier League last season he was the brains behind marvellous home wins over Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. At the same time, he put out similar teams that were thumped 9-1 at Tottenham, 8-0 at Chelsea, 5-0 (twice) by Manchester United, 4-0 at Championship-bound Portsmouth and his side were also dumped embarrassingly out of the Carling Cup by then Championship side Blackpool.

Over time things seem to be turning in the right direction. They key word here is ‘time’. Martinez has changed the whole ethos of the club from top to bottom. Under previous managers Paul Jewell, Chris Hutchings and Steve Bruce it was a case of adapting the team and the style of play in whatever way possible to keep the team in the Premier League.

Those methods clearly worked and in a couple of seasons respectable mid-table finishes were achieved. The trouble is it doesn’t take long for other teams to find out your strengths and weaknesses and those good seasons were often followed by relegation battles.

Roberto Martinez came to the club with clear goals and he’s well on the road to achieving them. He’s adopted a style of play which is more attractive, entertaining and pleasing on the eye. Admittedly, from the start this wasn’t always pleasing on the eye and some of the aforementioned results cast doubts over whether this would work in the long term.

To give credit to Roberto, he has always stuck to his guns and stuck to his beliefs. He continues to send out his team with those same instructions week in, week out, no matter what the previous result was. After two horrific results at the start of this season, Wigan are now really looking like a side that can have an impact on the Premier League in a way that they have never done before.

While I’m not saying that we’ll win the Premier League, I think some sort of regular mid-table finish would be a remarkable achievement for a club of our size. This especially when you consider that the top of the Premier League is getting richer and stronger and therefore making European positions harder to achieve for the likes of Wigan Athletic.

We’re not there yet by any means and I dare say there will still be the odd disastrous result along the way (there always is in this league). But finally the fans are starting to see what Roberto is trying to do here and seem to be a lot more patient with it.

He now appears to have the players he wanted, players that are capable of playing his way. If you were to watch any Wigan Athletic side at any level (first team, reserves, youth, etc) each team plays the same system and the same style of play.

Crucially for me, the reserve team is regularly full of players that sit on the bench each week, meaning they’re fit and ready to be called upon when needed and they have a wining mentality due to the fact that the reserves seem to win more than they lose as the side is now so strong. This was never the case under previous managers as they seemed too concerned with players picking up injuries in the reserves.

Another important point worthy of note is the strength of the squad nowadays. You only have to take a look at the bench every Saturday afternoon to see the healty state that the club is now in. Pretty much all of the players that now feature regularly on the bench would not be out of place in the starting 11 each week. This point was underlined in the 2-0 Carling Cup win over Swansea recently, when most of those players started the match but yet the team looked no weaker.


What has helped Roberto along the way is having such a helpful Chairman in Dave Whelan. These days, Whelan’s biggest strength that he was so badly lacking early on in his days as Chairman is that he has a lot of patience with managers and tends to leave them to do their job.

Also, the very fact that Roberto is a Wigan man through and through is the biggest factor in his success in my opinion. Had he come into the club ‘cold’ and with no feeling for the club or knowledge of what the club is about then I think we would have a different man in charge by now.

Roberto has always been a popular figure with the fans since ending his playing days in the town and has always been welcomed back with open arms. That respect which he built up all those years ago is now serving him well and is clearly helping him do the job.

Recently he’s made us much better to watch, more difficult to beat and, most of crucially of all, put pride back in the shirt. With the hard bit done, for me it’s now a case of improving the quality of the squad that bit more and building a successful team that the town can be very proud of.
Keep it up Roberto.

The Meteoric Rise of Wigan Athletic

Wigan Athletic are often criticised for their “poor crowds” but these comments usually come from uneducated fans of other clubs or lazy journalists who fail to look up the facts before they make such comments.

Therefore I thought it wise to write about the meteoric rise of Wigan Athletic, both on and off the pitch in the last 15 years or so. Just to point out some facts, you understand. Below is a table of just how much crowds have risen in that period. The 1994-95 season was my first as a fan of Wigan Athletic and I have seen first hand just how much crowds have risen over the years.

In that first season in 1994/95 the average crowd was just 1,841, which is a touch over 2% of the population of the town. Three promotions and 15 years later the average crowd is around 18,000, a staggering increase and when you consider that means almost a quarter of the population of the town inside the stadium on a Saturday afternoon I’m sure you’ll agree it’s an incredible rise over a relatively short period of time.

What’s even more remarkable about Wigan’s crowds is that for years the club has been competing for new supporters with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton, Liverpool, Bolton and Blackburn, all of whom are in the same division and within a 25-mile radius of the town.

For a working class town like ours to have increases in prices from around £5 per adult (94/95) to today’s prices where you can pay up to £30 per adult, to have so many bodies coming through the turnstiles each week is an incredible feat and one which should be celebrated both inside and outside of the town.

Unfortunately though, too many people comment on the negative side, such as “Wigan’s ground is only 2/3 full every week” and “aren’t their crowds low” If only everyone had access to some of these statistics because it really is an astonishing rise.

The peak was at the end of the 2005/06 season, when an average crowd of 20,610 meant an increase of over 1,000% in a little over ten years! For a town of just over 80,000 people I’m sure you’ll agree that’s quite remarkable!

Well done, little Wigan Athletic!!!

Season	Average Attendance	Percentage difference	Percentage increase on 94-95	Wigan population	Percentage of Wigan population
1994-95	1,841	-	-	85,819	2.15%
1995-96	2,856	+55.13%	+55.13%	85,819	3.33%
1996-97	3,899	+36.52%	+111.79%	85,819	4.54%
1997-98	3,968	+1.77%	+115.54%	85,819	4.62%
1998-99	4,252	+7.16%	+130.96%	85,819	4.95%
1999-00	6,989	+64.37%	+279.63%	85,819	8.14%
2000-01	6,861	-1.83%	+272.68%	85,819	7.99%
2001-02	7,783	+13.44%	+322.76%	81,203	9.58%
2002-03	7,288	-6.36%	+295.87%	81,203	8.98%
2003-04	9,526	+30.71%	+417.44%	81,203	11.73%
2004-05	11,155	+17.10%	+505.92%	81,203	13.74%
2005-06	20,610	+84.76%	+1019.50%	81,203	25.38%
2006-07	18,159	-13.50%	+886.37%	81,203	22.36%
2007-08	19,046	+4.88%	+934.54%	81,203	23.45%
2008-09	18,413	-3.23%	+900.16%	81,203	22.68%
2009-10	17,884	-2.87%	+871.43%	81,203	22.02%