PART 2: Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - ‘I’m willing to give the club the benefit of the doubt and the time to make up for perceived mistakes...’

Matt Auffrey:

It took exactly 20 matches, but we’ve finally taken part in our first scoreless draw of the league campaign against Lincoln. The match was nothing short of poor viewing, but, aside from the controversial disallowed goal, it’s almost fitting the action on the pitch was so uneventful, as it provided a counterbalance to the overload of ticket-infused turmoil taking place off the pitch. I completely understand the club is a business, and the decision to place the Manchester United away supporters in the East Stand (as opposed to the North Stand) was a ‘business’ decision. Across multiple platforms, I’ve read estimates of how much more revenue we’ll generate as a result of this seating shift, along with additional commentary on whether the move is ‘worth it or not’. In a perfect world, we beat United with over 20,000 spectators in the DW and get to celebrate one of the best nights for the club in recent memory. On the contrary, we could also end up on the wrong side of a thrashing in a stadium that looks and feels like a United home match. At what price would such suffering and embarrassment be excused? The potential ramifications of this decision could be discussed endlessly until we reach January 8. I don’t think there’s a single fan out there who’d say there wasn’t at least one thing the club could've done differently to improve this process. Without diving too deep into exploring who received the shortest end of the stick during this fiasco, I think it’s important we show grace to our relatively new leadership group. They are still learning the ins-and-outs of this club with each passing day in an effort to run it as efficiently and sustainably as possible. Focusing on football again, we have an upcoming trip to Port Vale to look forward to this weekend, and a grand opportunity to stretch our unbeaten run (across all competitions) to 10 games. We’ll have a chance to reunite with two important figures from the 20/21 team, Gavin Massey and Funso Ojo, who both fought diligently to keep us in League One, despite spending the overwhelming majority of that season in administration. After we struggled to cohesively attack against Lincoln, it’s hard to be optimistic about our goal-scoring prowess for the foreseeable future. However, it was good to see both Steven Sessegnon and Charlie Wyke return to action after their recent injury spells. We’ll need both players to find their form very soon if we’re going to see this unbeaten run continue into the final weeks of December. On a separate note, I’m happy to see Leam Richardson find work again in the Championship with Rotherham. He’ll have a massive challenge on his hands going forward, but Leam was never the type to back down from adverse conditions. Some 13 months have passed since Leam’s departure from Latics, and much of it still does not sit well with me. That said, I am still very happy to have Shaun Maloney at the helm of our club right now. This Saturday represents another opportunity to take a big step in the right direction towards where we want this club to be in 2024. Let’s not let any off-the-pitch distractions stop us from giving our full support to the lads going forward. We have too much left to accomplish to let up now.

George Chilvers:

Match report of game Latics v Lincoln: we were awful, they were dreadful, the referee had a shocker, and the weather was atrocious. And that's pretty well it. Of course, it's a bit unfair that the latter fact pretty well affected at least the first two. It was easy to sit in the stand wrapped up in layer after layer of Latics merch and criticise. But once we got out of the stadium into the freezing driving sleet, it was perhaps easier to understand why the players weren't inspired to play like Lionel Messi. Naively I could suggest maybe running around off the ball a bit more might have warmed up cold legs, but what do I know? The referee got the disallowed goal wrong, no question in my mind. The goalkeeper spilled the ball then collided with Charlie Wyke. But poor refereeing at all levels is a given these days. I'm not denigrating all who give their time for this thankless job, but I'm afraid my expectations are of a better standard with league officials. At least we just moan about their incompetence. Did you see the game in Turkey where Ankaragucu's president punched the referee to the ground at which a few players then stuck the boot in? This in a top-level game too. There have been arrests and the whole league season has been paused. Referees, no matter how incompetent they are, don't deserve to be treated like that, and I hope they throw the book at the club officials and players involved. Anyway, we're off to Port Vale on Saturday, of course, who play in Burslem. I still recall some of our fans once singing to Stoke 'you're just a small town in Port Vale'. Education standards, eh? I also remember a Boxing Day game at their place when our fans were in fancy dress, and I distinctly remember Elvis being dragged out by the police. Oh happy days. And then the elephant in the room...the ticketing for the FA Cup tie against Manchester United. I completely understand the financial arguments, I really do. But to move your loyal fans so you can fit in more opposition fans, who will then occupy pride of place on TV screens throughout the world, is in my view the wrong decision. Threats of boycotts, however, sound and are pathetic. And because of our third rate legacy IT system, I spent a jolly two hours in the rain queuing for our tickets. Mind you, I was still amused by the people who kept saying 'how can that seat be gone...it's my season ticket seat?' Never change, Wiganers. Never change.

Ed Bazeley:

Right then, the obvious place to start: The East Stand. My opinion on the matter is that, after everything this club has been through, with the administration period of 2020-21, and the winding up petition of last summer, the very least Latics fans deserve is to have access to our most popular stand for our biggest game in six years. But no, the club has given away the East Stand to visiting Manchester United supporters, much to the disappointment of many Latics fans including myself. Personally, having seen the results of the poll on X/Twitter in relation to the ticketing decision - posted by the editor of this page - I was very surprised the option with the most votes was those who agree with the club’s decision, but get the reaction of fans who disagree. I do not get how any Latics fan is pleased with the fact our stand which generates the most atmosphere has been taken away from us and given to away fans for such a big game. Yes, it might make more money, but for me that’s very much thinking in the short-term. Perhaps we’d be better off creating a better atmosphere with the usual noise of the ES2/ES3 section, as that’d make the prospect of a cup upset somewhat more likely. I don’t like the precedent it sets either. As being a Latics fan of my age, I do not remember the days of away fans having the East, which is by far my favourite stand. But at the same time, I’m not going to boycott the fixture, and will support Latics no matter what decision the club makes, although I don’t like the fact the club seems to be taking advantage of loyal support like this. I don’t like it when our fanbase splits into different factions, but I just feel passionately about this issue. And even if we do somehow win, at least a small part of me will think 'imagine if I was in the East for that goal'. Things like that may seem small, but in football they can mean a lot. In terms of on-the-pitch matters, Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Lincoln was a very dull affair, and perfectly matched the grim weather. We also had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed but, as Shaun Maloney acknowledged, we didn’t deserve the win anyway. But given the ‘Tics have gone unbeaten in nine games in all competitions now, there’s no real complaints from me there. Long may the unbeaten run continue, and let’s hope we can get back to winning ways at Port Vale on Saturday.

Sean Livesey:

What a week, eh? Nobody does controversy like Latics, do they? Just when you thought it was safe to come out from behind the couch, the club's approach and decision making to ticketing arrangements ahead of the Manchester United FA Cup third-round match was called into question and, in some quarters, heavily criticised. Before I go on, I recognise the strong feelings on both sides of this debate. There are those who are quite rightly annoyed at the club. There are East Standers who are inconvenienced because their usual seat is no longer available, and there are those who feel it’s foolish to give our biggest stand over to United, who already have so many advantages over little Wigan. All of those are valid viewpoints, and the communication on this from the club has been found wanting. This was always going to be a game that caused issues. Unfortunately, unlike the rest of the 92, this is arguably one of the most difficult matches we could have had out of the hat. Unlike other clubs that would immediately sell out a fixture like this, the size of our stadium in relation to our support and the chance of home ends being infiltrated by 'Wigan Reds' always make it a difficult fixture. Those of us old enough to remember the Premier League days will remember with some anger the 'Wigan Reds' who used to infiltrate the home ends with regularity, most famously when United won the title at the DW in 2008. Does the opportunity offered by a bigger away allocation for United reduce the chances of that? Maybe, maybe not. Will it reduce our chances in terms of success? I think that’s a negligible chance at best. We’ve been to intimidating stadiums in the past - whece our fans were completely outnumbered - and succeeded. If you strip the emotion out of it and look at it from a purely business point of view, then in my eyes at least (and I am but one voice, not the definitive voice) I can see the reasoning. With our success on the pitch this season, it feels like we picked up where we left off in 2021/22. The horribleness of last season has been put in the rear view mirror and, for a lot (not all), it’s business as usual, and we should be romping to the League One title, as we usually do at this level. That completely ignores the glaring issues our club has experienced and is still experiencing. We were a mere matter of hours from liquidation this summer. Not administration, but liquidation. Wigan Athletic would have ceased to exist. We wouldn’t have had recourse to complain about the ticketing arrangements for a third-round FA Cup match, we’d have never featured in the FA Cup again. We would have been a footnote in history. It was that close for us. So I can see why a club first hollowed out by administration and then sent back to square one by ridiculous overspending on the last owners' watch may now try to monetise the biggest home game we’ve had for a number of years. How couldn’t they? Wigan Athletic is a money pit. Dave Whelan will attest to that, as will Mr Al Jasmi, who very quickly found it too rich a commitment for his liking. As did Stanley Choi, who also nearly destroyed us. The club needs to become self-sufficient as quickly as possible. It’s the only route to a future, and frankly I want this club to be around for my children and my grandchildren.

Many have quite rightly pointed to the last big FA Cup match in Wigan against Manchester City in February 2018, and the infamous night under the lights. Many incorrectly said the £15 tickets that night led to a sell out, and helped us win. Well it wasn’t a sell out. Even in the East Stand - which has caused so much controversy this time around - there were more than 1,500 empty seats covered by netting, and a total of 6,000 empty seats in the stadium as a whole. Anyone who’s seen our crowds this season, and the ever dwindling numbers in the East Stand, couldn’t say the club at least had a point in considering the stand switch. Against Fleetwood a couple of weeks ago, you could have moved everyone from the East to the South and still had room to stretch out behind the goal. Sadly, and it’s becoming clearer more than ever, this stadium is far too big for us and for the rugby club as well. I’m not suggesting a few more United fans will cure all our ills, but in my humble opinion (others are available) it’s one I’m struggling to criticise the club for. In an era of huge stadium expansion and creation, 25,000 seemed a default capacity for many, but what a difference it would make for the club now if instead of 25,000 we had a stadium similar to Brentford (17,250) or even Doncaster (15,231). It would mean a far better atmosphere, the disappearance of the tedious 'no fans' argument, and would drive up demand for tickets. I don’t know what the answer is, but the calibration of a stadium that is too big for us, and the effect it has on the club in various ways, needs looking at sooner or later. Pricing wise, whether we like it or not, £30 is on the cheap side for many football matches now. Certainly those involving one of the biggest clubs in world football. Lest us forget that seven years ago we faced United at Old Trafford in the same competition and were charged £46. It was only Dave Whelan sticking his hand in his pocket that reduced the price, but Wigan Athletic had to make up that shortfall. For so long we had it so good, but guess what? We didn’t sell out then either.

I don’t want to dismiss people’s very real frustrations and concerns with what’s happened in the last week. The club needs to quickly improve its communication, and a statement explaining why they were doing what they did would have been welcome - alongside the news of the tickets, rather than a day later. The position of CEO desperately needs to be filled, and Latics need to start working alongside supporters again. But I’m also a realist, and this club - thanks to decisions made elsewhere - is still operating with a hand behind its back. Things will change, but they will take time. I’m willing to give the club the benefit of the doubt and the time to make up for perceived mistakes, as I believe intentions from the ownership group are positive. Whether you decide to vote with your feet and not go, jump in the North Stand or come and join the 'bloody hell' brigade in the West, I’m sure we can all agree Shaun and the lads deserve as much support as possible. That’s now one defeat in 14, and progress in both cups will be bringing in much-needed financial capital to the club. They shouldn’t be caught up in this, and it’s unfortunate they will. I hope as many people as possible can put their anger to one side on that Monday night, and help to give the lads the support they deserve. I’m sure if anyone had offered us a scenario like that back in June 2023, or July 2020, would have happily snapped your hand off for it. Sometimes we just have to remember where we’ve come from to see how far the journey still has to go.