The 12th Man: Wigan Athletic fans have their say

MARTIN TARBUCK: The rumours just won’t go away that Sunderland are after our prized centre forward.

So long as I get copyright on the “Will Grigg’s on Wear, our fans are terrified” punchline, Mr Kendrick.

In fact, it’s a shame he’s not being linked with Fleetwood, as “Will Grigg’s on Wyre” works much better.

See, you have to laugh, otherwise you’ll take to social media, aghast with anger, waving flaming pitchforks.

Players come and players go but I do hope we can keep hold of Will, and that Paul Cook comes good with his promise to give him more starts, once the creative triumvirate that surround him are back to full health.

However, maybe that is perhaps a sentimental view, and maybe Joe Garner has been somewhat maligned for the heinous crime of not being Will Grigg.

If that’s the case, then what can I say, I’m a sentimental old fool!

We are Wigan Athletic, and Will Grigg, like millions or maybe billions of others didn’t first kick a football as a child, dreaming of playing for Wigan Athletic.

Yet, Will Grigg, also like hundreds of other professional footballers, will retire one day, so glad they did, as it gave them moments they couldn’t ever have dreamed of.

For that reason, I hope we can keep hold of him as long as possible so he remain synonymous with the club.

It’s not the easiest of tasks for the club to perform, but every player we sign should be able to look back at their time at Wigan Athletic as the pinnacle of their career.

That’s why Will Grigg is loved and Grant Holt was loathed.

Football is a national sport, a global sport.

Hundreds of millions if not billions of kids around the world play the game, and dream of growing up to be a footballer.

Most of them dream of becoming a footballer in this country, as our leagues are the most competitive and famous in the world.

Oh yes and they are awash with money, that bit helps too.

It compares favourably to another sport in the town which, for all the attention it is given locally, is barely taken seriously apart from a handful of places – and external competition for players simply isn’t there.

If you want to be the best sportsperson, you have to play the biggest and best sports.

The constant comparisons that rugby league players are all local lads are ridiculous.

Where else are they going to come from?

Anyway, little Wigan Athletic, just like every single other football club, compete at this time of year to bring players here from across the land who will improve our squad.

Some of them do exactly that, others don’t and get shipped out.

For the ones that do, well we want to keep them, make them better players and turn them into legends who help us win trophies.

Or if funds require it, sell them on at a big profit at some point in the future, where everyone’s a winner.

Nobody would deny Sunderland are a bigger club than Latics, but it would not necessarily be a progressive move.

I don’t think anyone begrudged Max Power his move (another player who will leave a long legacy due to his attitude and spirit) as he wasn’t really a first-choice player, but the omission of Grigg continues to baffle.

Yet taking out the emotion of it, Joe Garner does have the better pedigree of the two at Championship level.

Perhaps if he wasn’t playing the part of the pantomime baddie for keeping Grigg out of the team, the fans would really take to him.

He’s tough, he’s physical and he has shown on occasions to be quite accurate in front of goal, including a pinpoint dig into that Villa defender’s rib cage the other week.

Does it just come down to pragmatism versus sentiment then?

Cook seems to have adopted a more direct approach in some games to combat superior opposition, and Garner plays the lone front man role better?

On this point, I’d still argue we have been better when taking it to teams with patient attacking build-up, but what do I know?

I will happily get behind whichever 11 players take to the field in every game, including the industrious Joe Garner, and regardless of who leaves or stays.

Yet the sentimentalist in me thinks about all those kids (and grown ups) with “Grigg 9” on the back of their Latics shirts and hopes he will be back in his very own shirt soon, banging in goals for us during the rest of the season.

He’s OUR centre forward and should be on the field not trudging down the touchline.

It’s going to be a nervous week or so.

SEAN LIVESEY: One step forward, two steps back – it’s a mantra that can be applied to our season at any point since October.

We seemed to have got over a mini-blip in November with an excellent win over Blackburn and a point on the road at Bolton.

Only to go on to lose the next four matches in a row.

Latics fans could have been forgiven for expecting something better from the trip to Sheffield – especially with how the lads had systematically taken Aston Villa apart the previous week.

Sadly it was a case of ‘more of the same’ on Saturday.

Our record on the road truly has been awful this season.

Yes, there have been matches away from home where we’ve been close such as QPR and Swansea– and there’s been those where we’ve been miles away.

This probably fell somewhere between the two, in that we weren’t outclassed by Sheffield Wednesday but equally we didn’t actually show any threat either.

Michael Jacobs made a welcome return to the side once again, but there were injury concerns with Anthony Pilkington, Cedric Kipre and Will Grigg.

That one step forward, two steps back adage again.

After the flowing attacking football the previous week, it was disappointing to see a lack of verve and cutting edge to our play – one shot on target tells its own story.

The players’ confidence away from home seems to be shot to pieces, passages of play that come easy at home fail to work away from home, and our play seems to be stifled in a way that it isn’t at the DW.

Many will blame Paul Cook’s tactics away from home, which I don’t really buy in to.

This seems more of a mental block, and something we need to resolve as soon as possible.

We need an away win from somewhere and, with any luck, that would lead to us getting past this mental block.

Whether that will come against Nottingham Forest remains to be seen.

Martin O’Neill’s return didn’t get off to the best of starts last week with defeat to promotion-chasing Bristol City.

That probably makes our visit that bit tougher.

Another sell-out crowd awaits Paul Cook’s side at the City Ground, as Forest will look to crown O’Neill’s return with a win.

We seem to perform better against the stronger sides in the division and, with a sell-out crowd and a decent away following, the scene is set for us to actually get something.

Whether we manage to do that remains to be seen.

It’s getting tight at the bottom of the division, and the table seems to be settling in to place now.

There’s still plenty of football left to play, but Latics need to start picking up wins on a regular basis to secure our Championship place for next season.

A win on Saturday could move us up to the lofty heights of 19th place.

Not many will give us a chance, but we had the better of this Forest side in August and we can do again with a bit of belief and a bit of luck.

Off the pitch, there’s less than a week of the transfer window remaining, and it’s been a relatively quiet January at the Dave Whelan Stadium so far.

Those persistent rumours of Will Grigg’s departure won’t go away, but I still hope there’s nothing in them and our most dangerous striker remains in place.

We need reinforcements at the back, and arguably up front.

If we manage to get some deals across the line and with those players returning from injury, it will hopefully give us the boost we need going in to the final third of the season.

IEC did explain they wouldn’t be throwing money at Latics, which is definitely the approach to January so far.

Something that seems to have been lost on some of our supporters who were expecting Manchester City-level spending once the Whelan family handed over the reins.

KIERAN MAKIN: It was back to reality for Wigan Athletic, wasn’t it?

After the euphoria of the 3-0 win over Villa came the frustrating yet ever-so-familiar feeling of a loss on the road – this time 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.

The away form is obviously a serious concern, but what’s more concerning is how we can go from one extreme to the other in terms of our performances.

Listen, we aren’t going to win or even draw every away game we play.

But I’d rather lose 4-3 or 3-2 by having a go rather than whimpering to 1-0 defeats with a negative performance.

Having said that, it’s now black and white.

We need to start picking up points away from home because we’ve been lucky the bottom three have struggled to pick up points, which has kept us six points clear of the relegation zone.

However, that luck will soon run out.

Another thing that has switched from positive to negative is this transfer window.

Last week it looked as if we were keeping hold of Will Grigg and finally strengthening our areas of need – left-back and centre-back.

Now it looks like we’ll lose Grigg to Sunderland as they are selling striker Josh Maja to Bordeaux for £3.5 million, which should mean funds available for the Black Cats to get their man.

Unfortunately, that’s just the way it works with Wigan.

Because of the size of our club and our revenue stream, we have to fund the club by making profit on players.

All I ask is we use the funds wisely and recruit the players we need.

Because if we come out of this window with no Grigg, no left-back and no defensive cover, it will be a disaster.

ORRELL TIC: We are now at the end of January, around three months since Paul Cook starting saying each week that we urgently need reinforcements.

So far only one new face through the door, Althony Pilkington – albeit early days he does appear to be a decent buy.

However, was a winger really needed?

The first game Pilkington started we had three wingers sat on the bench – Nathan Byrne, Michael Jacobs and Callum McManaman

A left-back should have been lined up and signed as soon as the window opened on January 1.

We also only have two fit centre-backs that Cook trusts and the lack of goals is alarming, especially away from home.

This brings me on to my next point, and it appears the club will take £1million for Will Grigg – the same figure we paid over three years ago.

Since then, Grigg has improved massively, scored over 50 goals, and proved he can score against Premier League opposition.

What does £1million even buy you now?

Jayden Stockley, a League Two striker went for £750,000 this month, meaning we should be looking for at least £3.5million for Grigg – which is the reported fee Sunderland are receiving for Josh Maja.

What are the reasons for us not buying anyone?

Lack of funds? Board not trusting Cook? Players not wanting to come?

It needs to be sorted soon, otherwise if our form continues we are facing a real fight to stay in a league that we should be comfortable in.

I by no means want Cook sacked, and I feel he deserves longer in the job.

But when you see Blackburn six points from the play-offs, it shows how much we have underachieved so far this season.

The injuries have taken a toll but why change our tactics away from home after the first two performances atAston Villa and Stoke?

Hopefully once this weekend’s game is out of the way, we can get a few new players in.

And with a kind set of fixtures in February, we will start to pick up points once again.