Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man PART TWO - "One thing is paramount...we as supporters and the custodians of our club MUST NEVER take our club for granted again..."

Part two of our fans' special - and we're still trying to believe the light at the end of the tunnel is here...the Spanish are coming!
The DW StadiumThe DW Stadium
The DW Stadium

Caddy from the 5:

“OLE OLE OLE”... the news we’ve all been waiting for has finally dropped, and we’re now Wigan Atletico (subject to our great mates at the EFL and Barnsley appealing the sale). I jape of course, but seeing our beloved club saved is the greatest thing since Sir Ben Watson's header and ASDA doing three crates of ‘Bow for £20. The last three months have been horrific...from the job losses at our club, the team that in my eyes would’ve seriously challenged for a play-off spot this season being ripped apart, Paul Cook going, to the fanbase bitching with each other daily. We really do need the signatures on the paperwork, the new owners wearing sombreros on the pitch (a la the Three Amigos) and the whole Begbies caravan ran out of town. Touch wood, we’ve finally got our club back, in what guise we’ve all no idea yet, but at least we’ve a Wigan Athletic to watch again. And whenever we can, one thing is paramount in my eyes...we as supporters and the custodians of our club MUST NEVER take our club for granted again. We must turn up in numbers, when allowed, and show our new owners the passion that’s been shown in the last three dreadful months. Hopefully the Supporters Club will have an ear in the boardroom so we never have to see the likes of IEC, Choi and his imaginary mate Yeung again. It’s time to look forward, not back, let’s raise the roof on our return to the Whelandome, and show the football world we’re Wigan Athletic and we’ll never die – no matter how much people try. A final word for Macclesfield Town. We dropped on a few of their lads around the town last weekend, their tale is so similar to ours, but they’ve been wound up and are officially ‘gone’. That could very easily have been us, and in the near future football needs to take a really good look at itself and help those that need it. The Premier League is the Holy Grail for everyone, but it’s killing everything underneath it. We, as a club, were guilty of this, and now we mustn’t forget what we’ve been through, and not forget the Charltons etc that were in the same boat as us. Football needs rebooting from top to bottom, but will it? I won’t hold my breath as long as the clowns at the EFL, the FA and the Premier League sit in their ivory towers lording it over us. For now, though, we at the ‘Tics must all be absolutely over the moon at being saved, and FINALLY enjoy our football again. Right, I’m off for a cow’s mouthful of Estrella and some seafood (no chance of the latter) and, as they say in the 5 nowadays: Dejar Gel Latics!

Matthew Auffrey:

I became a fan of Wigan Athletic sometime during the 2009/2010 season as a second-year student at an American university. The events that led to Latics winning my “English Football Fandom Sweepstakes” are best explained over a beer or two. As a new fan, I quickly learned to despise Bolton Wanderers, never grow attached to a prized player who eventually may be sold for a profit, and appreciate every Latics victory, no matter which circumstances led to the result. One thing I was not able to appreciate right away was the financial stability that Dave Whelan brought to the club over the period of more than two decades. The professional sporting landscape I grew up with in the United States is much different than that of the United Kingdom. Forbes estimates that 21 of the 25 most valuable sporting teams in the world are American - all of which have an estimated value of at least 3 billion dollars. My naive understanding was that owners of all professional sports clubs had access to nearly an unlimited supply of funds and possessed a warchest that would exceed the capacity of Windsor Castle. After becoming a Latics fan, I learned that this was absolutely not the case. As a result, I grew to love Latics not for the cash in their accounts, but for the resounding spirit that permeated the DW Stadium and somehow captured me in my little corner of the world. Almost three months ago to this day, I read the news of Wigan Athletic entering administration as fluently as I would read a 19th century novel written in Mandarin. I knew of other clubs that recently entered administration, most notably Bolton Wanderers, but I did not have the slightest idea of what led to such standing and never imagined in my wildest dreams that Latics would be in a similar position. While educating myself on the club’s happenings, my feelings floated between optimism and desperation almost interchangeably as I pondered the future of Latics. The update of securing a Spanish buyer for the club was the one piece of news we had seemingly waited for eons to receive. I hadn’t experienced such a sharp rush of joy since watching Kieran Dowell’s world-class volley produce our eighth goal of the day against Hull City on a Tuesday that feels much further in the past than our calendars would suggest. As I walked the streets of New York City with my head held as high as ever after receiving the news, all I could think about was how Wigan Athletic continued to defy the odds. We defied the odds when we were down 2-0 to Arsenal in 2010. We defied the odds when we were down 2-0 to West Ham in 2011. We defied the odds when we beat Manchester City three consecutive times in the FA Cup over a five-year span. We defied the odds when we went down 1-0 with 10-men at Leeds United in 2019 and stormed back to gain a crucial win towards Championship survival. We have faced our most adverse period as a club over the past three months, but our ability to band together - players, staff, fans and all - has created a spirit so strong that it could not be resisted from the Iberian Peninsula. Let’s continue to defy the odds during this new era of Latics football.

Sean Livesey:

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Dare we dream this living hell that we’ve all been part of for the last three months may be coming to an end? Nearly three months to the day that Begbies Traynor walked through the door, and the life of every Wigan Athletic fan was tossed up in to the air, the administrators agreed a deal with a preferred bidder from Spain. We of course have been here before, July 22 to be precise, where another preferred bidder pulled out a few hours after Latics’ relegation had been confirmed. The difference this time? The new bidders had placed a substantial deposit. The new preferred bidders seem to have come out of nowhere, not the French American group that for so long seemed to be the frontrunners. What do we know of these new bidders? And this new bid? Well very little. Whereas the French American bid seemed to have been conducted exclusively in the media, this has come out of nowhere. All we know is the bid will pay off the creditors, thereby avoiding the potential for a 15-point penalty this season and also keeps the DW Stadium out of the hands of a third party. It felt at times like the stadium was going to be the biggest victim of this travesty to befall the club. To lose Euxton was one thing, but to lose our primary source of income and our home for all of its flaws was impossible to comprehend. There’s a number of avenues we can visit to try and find out the identity of the bidder, indeed a number of Spanish clubs have investigated setting up a portfolio of clubs. The more excitable of us may have linked the words ‘bidder from Spain’ to our undoubted links with Spain through former players. One of whom still resides in Parbold and has a Wigan twinge to his accent. Although the romantic in me would love that to be true I can’t see it and nor should we expect it to be true. But thanks to Dave Whelan and the Three Amigos, a small part of Wigan will always be Spanish. Indeed Roberto Martinez’s time as manager may have had more influence on this than any potential financial involvement. My family lived and worked in Spain for the bulk of time we were a Premier League side, and it was often said the most popular British clubs there were Wigan and Swansea City, due to links with Spain through managers and players. Whatever the reason, it is undoubtedly great news for the club – but still that news needs to be tempered, with what has happened over the last few months. We don’t know the intentions of any new bidders – we hope they’re honourable and that’s why we still desperately need supporter representation in the club. Our amazing supporters, former players, managers and everyone else associated with the club have managed to raise close to a million pounds during a global pandemic. I would love to see it invested in the club to ensure fan representation is part of any new ownership structure. One of the reasons why people were so disappointed to lose the French American bid is it offered the chance for fans to take a share in their club. Discussions have already taken place and there is a good feeling that these new bidders would be keen to work alongside the supporters club for the good of the club and indeed the town. That’s very good news for us. Jonathan Jackson, who has been working for free for the club every day since he was made redundant during that awful July, is someone whom the new owners should lean on once a deal is completed. Someone who is as Wigan as the rest of us and knows the pain we’ve all been through since July. It’s amazing how things can change in the space of a week. We’ve not even mentioned the fantastic result at Portsmouth last weekend. If John Sheridan’s side can follow that up with another strong performance on Saturday and the takeover continues to progress without a hitch, I think we’ll be entitled to raise a glass of Rioja, a bottle of Cruzcampo or pint of Estrella in celebration. We’re not there yet – but things are looking up for the first time in a long time. Vamos ‘Tics!