The 12th Man: Latics fans look back on a fine win over Gillingham ahead of a tough trip to Southend

It could well have been a case of after the Lord Mayor's Show on Saturday as Latics got back to league action against in-form Gillingham.
Nick Powell and Dan BurnNick Powell and Dan Burn
Nick Powell and Dan Burn

After the cup heroics of the previous Saturday, and the struggles to score in recent league games at the DW it wouldn’t have been surprising for Latics to not get all three points against the Gills.

But once again predictions like that were clearly nonsense.

From minute one against Gillingham, Latics were in control. Nick Powell pulled the strings throughout the match and showed that when on form, no side can deal with him.

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Two fine goals from Will Grigg and the aforementioned Powell was all it took to see Latics earn another three points on the march to promotion.

Results elsewhere made for interesting reading, with Shrewsbury once again getting a late goal to keep their own promotion campaign right on track.

But in Devon, Blackburn suffered a damaging defeat against Plymouth.

Blackburn fans still maintain they’ll be promoted as champions, but they’re going to have to get a move on if they are to over take us.

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Away from the pitch it seems the takeover has moved a step closer.

But as more details are revealed it feels like we know less than ever before.

A lack of information in takeovers of football clubs like this isn’t new.

But if papers filed this week are to be believed we were all thrown off the scent with the supposed involvement of online gambling company K8.

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Instead it seems Cayman Islands based IEC (International Entertainment Corporation) are the soon to be new owners of Wigan Athletic.

Reports online range from the company being part owned by one of the richest families in Hong Kong or a professional poker player.

Make of that what you will, until anything is announced though it’s all speculation and as worrying as it is, there’s very little we can do at the moment.

Certainly when any little information that is available is clouded in secrecy.

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For the time being if we concentrate on on the pitch matters we won’t go far wrong.

And thankfully Paul Cook and his players are doing a grand job of that.

This weekend marks the start of three matches in 10 days, culminating in that FA Cup tie with Manchester City.

Southend and Blackpool aren’t on the same level as City but both pose their own threats.

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With another weekend off league duty for the cup coming up, two wins in the league would be the perfect way to keep up the pressure on our rivals.

Let’s hope the lads can continue their great form.

Sean Livesey

While the Gillingham game on Saturday was not exactly a riotous shoot-out, it was better than some of the recent home league performances.

The basic fact of the game was that quality won out.

Neither team would be delighted with their performance, but Latics won because we have better players and that ultimately told.

Will Grigg scored and so did Nick Powell.

A fitting way to celebrate the announcement that he had asked to stay at Latics and not move during the transfer window.

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It is a shame that we couldn’t get a few more goals, but our quality gave us a comfortable victory over one of the in-form teams in the division.

Yes good form is important, but often a bit of quality and class will prove more important.

With Blackburn losing, the only downside was Shrewsbury’s last minute winner.

They have done that a lot this season and this might make us think that they are a jammy team who will fall away later in the season.

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However, I think they are a lot better team than they are given credit for.

They are this season’s Burton and will be fighting Blackburn for second place come the latter stages.

Also this week we saw an official announcement on the takeover of the club.

International Entertainment Corporation (IEC) announced to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where they are listed, that they have agreed the basic principles of a deal to buy the club completely.

Very little is known about this company. Worryingly little.

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You can tell that from the fact that all the newspaper articles on the subject just regurgitate the same basic facts.

It is only a few days since this news broke and hopefully some decent investigative journalism over the next few days will reveal a bit more - but perhaps that national media will ignore this story and focus on how many tickets we have or haven’t sold for the Man City game instead.

All we really do know about IEC is that they are an investment company who, while listed on the Hong Kong stock market and seem to have their main roots there, are registered in the Cayman Islands which, of course, is a notorious tax haven.

The company say that their interest in Latics is a “good opportunity to diversify the income stream of the company and broaden its revenue base.”

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This does not immediately read well for fans hoping for a large amount of money to be pumped into the club.

The truth is that we do not know anything about their intentions for Latics, what investment that might bring, or even who is really behind this purchase.

Dave Whelan has said that he will be seeking a buyer who would “maintain the traditions” of the club.

This is good news but there are so many unanswered questions it is natural for us all to feel a little uneasy.

At times like this, it is useful to have a bit of faith.

I do trust Mr Whelan to do the right thing.

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But unless some of the current board hang around after the sale it is hard to know whether any assurances he receives from new owners would mean much.

The people I do not trust are the Football League.

We hear a lot about the ‘Fit and Proper Persons Test’ which must be met for someone to be able to buy a club.

While the future is uncertain, and while we wait for some more news, hoping it is reassuring, we must also hope that the players and the fans can focus on the job in hand, which right now is beating Southend.

Stuart Glover

There have been worse times to be a Latics fan.

An FA Cup fifth round tie against probably the best team in the world, and sitting top of our league with stats which outshine every other team in all four divisions.

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In about 12 weeks, this season will be over and we will – or at least should – be looking forward to the new season in the Championship.

A season which just has to be better than the last one.

A season where we show people we’re not just too good for League One and just not good enough for the Championship.

A season which shows we belong. For the first time in 23 years, we won’t be starting that new season under the stewardship of the Whelan family.

Instead, we’ll be starting it under the control of a Hong Kong company nobody has ever heard of, and who are currently in a loss making situation according to their last posted accounts. It’s rare, these days, that anybody buys a football club and expects to get rich.

The old joke about how do you acquire a small fortune?

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Start with a big one and buy a football club, is absolutely true.

This is especially relevant when you look at our own club.

With the greatest respect in the world for Latics, a club I’ve watched and loved for over 40 years, we’re a small, provincial club in a town where football might be king, but it’s often displayed by supporting teams other than Latics.

There is no money in Wigan, let alone in Wigan Athletic. So why a group of Honk Kong investors would buy into it is still a mystery.

Social media has been awash with rumours and unconfirmed information about the new owners, IEC.

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Although IEC post their interests as hotel and casino acquisition and development, 65 per cent of the business was shifted sideways into an asset management company called Head and Shoulders (really) last year.

Everywhere you look at both IEC and H&S, you will see acquisitions and mergers mentioned as a core part of what they do.

Basically, they are financiers, with little interest other than making a profit.

This is not a good sign for a football club which neither has, nor can make, any kind of serious money.

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All in all, this does not sound to me like IEC have any real interest in investing in Latics as a football club.

I hope I’m wrong, and only time will tell, but it all just feels like this deal is part of something bigger, and which is being deliberately hidden from sight. The next year or two will certainly be interesting times.

Paul Middleton

Saturday was a very good day back on the league front with a comfortable win for us and Blackburn slipping up at Plymouth.

From our perspective, I find generally that when we play teams from the south, you will always get a hard game at their place but when they come up to the DW, they aren’t quite the same proposition and that was certainly the case with Gillingham.

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The rule perhaps applies in reverse this weekend. Southend at home was a walk in the park but we will undoubtedly be in for a hard game at their place.

Especially seeing as they have finally sent Phil Brown for an extended holiday to top up his tan and installed a new manager in the form of the experienced Chris Powell.

Then we have Blackpool at home who have faded a bit.

Yet for some reason they have had the better of it against us at home in recent years, in stark contrast to our performances at the party zone that is Bloomfield Road.

Of course, takeover talk is dominating the Wigan Athletic world right now, with opinions varying from delirious optimism to catastrophic doom mongering depending on what you read and who you believe.

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One thing is for certain, despite the silence coming out of the club, it is definitely happening, and we as fans, have little option but to go along with it unless one of our fans finds a few billion quid down the back of the sofa to make a counter offer.

In the short term at least, we can only hope that nothing changes, as it is currently one of the best periods we’ve ever had as Latics fans, and there’s some pretty fierce competition for that accolade given all we’ve achieved.

Understanding the motives of the new group coming in will be key, and also for me it is ensuring that anyone coming in will leave the club in a better state than when they arrived.

There is little doubt that Dave Whelan has done that during his tenure but what guarantees do we have for our future here?

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Again, that lies solely with the Whelan family’s judgement and is a leap of faith for the rest of us.

The end of an era and the beginning of a new one awaits us.

Martin Tarbuck

It is now looking increasingly likely that the top two automatic promotion places will be decided between Latics, Shrewsbury Town and Blackburn Rovers. The race for promotion is gathering pace but who is best equipped to finish in the automatics?

On paper Latics and Blackburn have the strongest squads with many players who have played, or are capable playing at a much higher level. Latics have probably the most influential player in the division in the £10m rated Nick Powell (12 goals), and many other of outstanding individuals including captain Sam Morsy, prolific striker Will Grigg (15 goals), and centre-back Dan Burn.

Rovers have some big names for League One with creative midfielder Bradley Dack (12 goals), striker Danny Graham (12 goals) and the versatile Charlie Mulgrew (11 goals).

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Both Latics and Rovers added extra quality in the transfer window with Rovers adding striker Adam Armstrong from Newcastle and midfielder Jack Payne from Huddersfield on loan, with left-back Amari’i Bell signing permanently from Fleetwood Town.

They have great experience on the coaching team with Tony Mowbray, Mark Venus and former Latic David Lowe, they are likely to stay the course and may just have enough to pip the Shrews for automatic promotion.

Shrewsbury have acquired many of their players from the lower leagues and even non-league, but manager Paul Hurst has managed to weld them into a stubborn outfit who are difficult to beat and have surprised everyone by maintaining a high position all season.

They are also the masters of the last ditch winner this season scoring eight times in the last five minutes of their games.

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They have no big name stars in their squad but striker Stefan Payne has bagged a creditable nine league goals so far this season.

The Shrews didn’t add any high profile signings during the transfer window but they made five new additions with left-back Max Lowe signing on loan from Derby, winger Nathan Thomas on loan from Sheffield United, while right-back Luke Hendrie from Burnley, midfielder Sam Jones from Grimsby and winger Abo Eisa from Wealdstone signed permanently.

Shrewsbury may be a small unfashionable club and everybody keeps writing them off but I expect them to be there for the long haul now and they will push Latics and Blackburn all the way to the finishing line.

Paul Cook’s team travel to Southend on Saturday in confident mood and in tremendous form but the Shrimpers have won their last two games under new manager Chris Powell, so they must be careful not to allow any complacency to creep into their game tomorrow or during the run in.

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Latics have 18 league games left to play with eight at home and 10 away.

If they were to maintain their current form of 2.25 points per game they would get 108 points, which would surely have them promoted with a record-breaking season, well exceeding the 100 points achieved by Paul Jewell’s title winning team in 2002/03.

Latics are in the strongest position leading the table by two points, with games in hand on Rovers and Shrewsbury and I’m expecting them to maintain their current form and finish as Champions.

Ian Aspinall

Last weekend’s results opened up a four point gap between the two teams, with ourselves having two games in hand on our Lancashire rivals, where we could potentially extend the gap to 10.

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It isn’t a secret how good our position looks at the top, but one defeat against Southend or Blackpool puts a lot of pressure on our trip to Ewood Park.

If we can sustain the four point gap before we play them, knowing we will still have games in hand against Oxford, Rochdale AND Bradford it won’t be a disaster to slip up in what will be our toughest test of the season. As the gaffer says though, in this league, it’s all about taking each game as it comes.

With excitement building for our FA Cup clash against Manchester City, the ‘Tics have an encounter against Chris Powell’s Southend United which will be a stern test. Coming off the back of 1-0 away win at Peterborough, the Seasiders will be full of confidence and have the belief they can be the first team to beat us since Bradford in November.

Judging by their squad, Southend are massively underachieving this year, with the amount of highly-rated players they have at this level.

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Winger Michael Kightly appeared in the Premier League last season for Burnley and scored three times in 12 games in the second half of the season for Burton Albion as they survived the drop from the Championship.

Republic of Ireland striker Simon Cox is also a well-known name for this level.

He has enjoyed spells scoring goals in the Premier League with West Brom and in the Championship with Reading and Nottingham Forest. Ex-Latic and strike partner Marc-Antoine Fortuné could also prove to be a threat.

After our away match against Southend, we will be welcoming Blackpool to Fortress DW in what will be our fourth meeting of the season. Paul Cook’s men boast a perfect three out of three wins so far against the Tangerine.

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Gary Bowyer has his side set up very well and they are an organised outfit, who defend resolutely and do the simple things well.

They’re likely to sit deep and look to catch us out on the counter attack.

Jay Spearing adds plenty of football league experience in the middle of the park and won’t be afraid to put a tackle in.

The former Bolton Wanderers skipper will probably be given the almost impossible task of man-marking Nick Powell and he will know from personal experience just how good Nick is.

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As our glamour tie against Manchester City looms, we have the small matter of six points to play for in the league which could go a long way to helping us reach our final goal of promotion back to the Championship.

Jack Unsworth