Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'We can’t physically get behind the team with things as they stand, but let’s at least not throw them under the bus just yet'

Paul Middleton:

Ever felt like you were listening to a broken record? We’re hearing, yet again, that the takeover may not be all it was hoped to be. Even if the now month-long saga we were promised would be two to three weeks does go through, at what cost to the club and the remaining staff? If it is true that some staff will be expected to take a 30 per cent wage cut, and that the Academy – the only real bright spot in an otherwise dismal couple of years – will possibly be vulnerable, then what hope do we have for the future? The answer, sadly, looks like ‘not much’. Yes we have a club, I know that, and any owner is better than none. But we can’t keep going round in ever decreasing financial circles. We’re not a Premier League club by right, but we are a mid-table Championship club. At this rate, we’ll be settling for survival in League One for the next few years or more, assuming we manage to stay up this year. I don’t just want Latics to exist, I want us to thrive. The sad fact is, though, Dave Whelan was the last of his breed. No longer will business owners be content with owning their local club, and making sure there is enough money to keep going indefinitely. Now, owners want a return, whatever that means. Whether it’s fattening the club up for a sale, or reaching the Promised Land, both require significant investment. We simply can’t generate that level of income but, with some good accounting, we can punch above our weight. We’ve been doing it for 40 years, for the most part, but times are very different today. It isn’t enough for most owners just to be involved. They want to run a successful business, when actually very few football-based businesses make any kind of real money. Love him or loathe him, Simon Jordan summed it up best when he said: ‘If you want to make a small fortune, start with a big one and buy a football club’. Most clubs, and Latics are no different, need more money than they can generate. As we seem to be looking at a new owner who has no interest in just owning Latics for the significant warts and all we have, I don’t see a rosy future. A future, yes, but not a particularly bright one. On a final note, a lot has been said and done about on-field performances. We cannot fault the kids or the seasoned pros who are giving it their all in very difficult circumstances, including a reduced squad size and a very inexperienced side. I’m not sure John Sheridan is the man to get the best out of them, but we are shopping in the beggars bit of the beggars and choosers shop, as it stands. For people to be hurling abuse on social media as though we’ve got a world-beating team is ridiculous. Have your say, if you want to, but think about the circumstances. We can’t physically get behind the team with things as they stand, but let’s at least not throw them under the bus just yet.

Statto:

Well Wigan Athletic...another week another set of more downs than ups. The Plymouth game was the classic game of two halves, looked like we didn’t know each other first half, second half looked like a team that was going to score every time we had the ball. Didn’t see the MK Dons game but, looking at the team sheet, it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Judging by social media, it was like one of the Premier League sides we had had been beaten by Skelmersdale United. We also appear to have a new boo-boy in Gavin Massey, who’s been chased off Twitter, which is sad. The takeover keeps dragging on with no official news, and the rumour mill is starting to turn, leading to more anxiety. As always, stay safe.

Caddy from the 5:

Still nothing from Krasner or Begbies regarding the takeover, and the jungle drums are in full flow about it hitting stumbling blocks with the Spanish. Hopefully it’s only Estella or Carling in the ground they’re ironing out, personally I’ve no idea what’s going on, and think we should have some kind of update from either Krasner or the Supporters Club. People will believe any old tittle tattle they ‘hear’ until they’re put right, and it would calm the fans’ fears. On to the on-field activities...do we have too? Normal service has resumed on Twitter, with the ‘Tics fans at each other’s throats and bitching about team selection, subs, the manager, players, etc. Just need a bad chippy tea to be put on by Gavin Massey and I fear World War Three will erupt. The first-half performance against Plymouth and the whole performance v the snide Wimbledon was appalling. I said on Twitter I don’t mind losing, with the current state we’re in we’re going to lose games. But the performance and attitude from one of our senior players - yes, I mean Massey - shouldn’t be tolerated. If he’s not happy being here, leave. It’s that simple. Yes, thank you for last season, but throwing your arms about, muttering and going straight down the tunnel when being rightly subbed for having a pitiful game isn’t showing the togetherness we need at this time. The younger lads need him, Lee Evans, Kal Naismith, Joe Garner and Jamie Jones to pull us through until the reinforcements arrive. Leam Richardson has said the kids are 18 months ahead of where they should be, and they’re learning the hard way. They’re trying their best, so let’s stick with them. Of course you could pull them up, but cut them some slack. I’ve said it before, this season is all about getting a new owner, settling the ship and trying to avoid relegation. Anything else is a bonus. Next week brings the FA Cup back, and a glamour tie against Chorley. Well, it would’ve been if we’d been away and allowed to go. They’ll be as gutted as us there’s going to be no fans in the ground, and will be quietly confident of a giant-killing. Personally I hope they’re putting out another statement at 5pm after the game. Right, I’m off to Christopher Park with a crate of ‘Bow and a loudhailer to recreate an atmosphere while the lads are training.

Matthew Auffrey:

Our recent home fixture against Plymouth provided several breakthroughs for Wigan Athletic. We secured our first point in four league matches, which has temporarily kept us out of the relegation places in the League One table. Saturday’s match also marked the first time this season where we overcame a losing deficit to produce a positive result. We broke a 370-minute League One scoring drought as Will Keane scored his first Latics goal, after making his debut for the club nearly seven years ago as a Manchester United loanee. Our first draw of the season did come at a hefty price, however. First-team regulars suffered injuries that would keep them out of the squad for our next match. Right after opening his scoring account with Latics, Keane was hit with a goal tax that forced him off minutes into the match at MK Dons. We would go on to lose 2-0, finishing with five academy players, four senior players, and two loanees on the pitch. Our losing performance was humbling and incredibly disappointing, and a vocal response followed from our supporters post-match on social media. There was frustration with the effort of individual players, there was questioning of the coaching staff and the strategies they employed, and there was a growing sense of hopelessness after many fans claimed they had just watched one of the poorest Latics performances of their lifetimes. I understand how great of a letdown that many of October’s matches have been. We’ve won once, drawn once, and lost five times. The current political and economic landscape is not cushioning the blow of our club’s poor fortune either. Next Tuesday is Election Day here in the United States, and there is no need for me to elaborate on how much is at stake for myself and nearly 330 million other residents. This past year has driven our country apart more than any other year during my short lifetime of 30 years. As tumultuous as 2020 has been for us Latics fans, it has also created an incredible community full of friends - and strangers - across the globe, who have supported each other and the club through very good and very bad times. A new era of Wigan Athletic football awaits us, and it’s important we enter this era as unified as we have ever been. No individual who currently represents the club on the pitch or on the sideline should take blame for any of our shortcomings through the first two months of the new season. I remain adamant we must uplift, not berate, all players and club staff going forward. Keep the faith! Up the Tics!

Deb Chapman:

I love my club, and I hate us losing. But one thing is for sure, I will always support whoever wears our badge (I sound like a broken record!). Some fans need to think before hurling abuse at individuals. In midweek against MK Dons, we had young lads on, players on short-term contracts, not even a handful of senior players...but we had a team on the pitch. Oh and we were awful (apart from little spells here and there). Whoever thought this was going to be easy needs to take a reality check. Will we hear anything about a takeover (or not)? Only time will tell. If yes, hope the EFL have done their proper checks. If no, maybe they have done proper checks, and we go again. As we all should remember, only one person has caused all this. We should be flying high in the Championship after finishing 13th. All I know is Wigan Athletic has always been part of my life and, as fans, we need to fight for its survival.

David Naylor:

I am writing this article, on the back of probably the worst performance from a Wigan Athletic side in the past five or six years. We travelled in midweek to MK Dons, a team which could probably be described as one of the weaker/lesser teams in the division, and we went on to make them look like Barcelona in their prime. Now I am under no illusions, I know this season is going to be one of the most difficult in our history, after trying to pick up the pieces of the shattered dream left behind by Mr Choi and his mate, who left us with a threadbare squad of misfits, journey men, youths, and a skeleton of last season’s squad. You can easily see why this is going to be a long hard season for us, due to them being limited to the number of players we can have in a squad while in administration. On top of that, there is the fact the squad has been made up of non-league standard players who are injury-prone and cannot get into their own clubs’ side. The young players were in all honesty probably going to be released from the club, and then what was left over after the vultures had picked the carcass of the club. Mr Sheridan has come in at a testing time, and you must thank him for his efforts of trying to get a squad together and a team on the pitch. On Tuesday, he was hampered by injuries, without four current first-teamers. Do I think that the team he put out there was good enough to get a result? No, I don’t, it was baffling. It was square pegs in round holes, players out of position all over the pitch. As for the formation, it was more like a Christmas pudding with Chris Merrie as the sixpence in the middle rather than the Christmas tree formation I think it was meant to be. Mr Sheridan’s hands are tied and, as was stated last week by one of my fellow contributors, “Michael Caine had longer in ‘Escape to Victory’ to get a team together than we did - and probably a bigger budget...” We are going to be recovering from this for a long time to come. What’s even more heartbreaking is seeing Reading Tot the Championship, seven points clear. Fundamentally, the same Reading side that was taken apart by Latics a few months ago. Imagine, just imagine, where that squad would be now, if the EFL had done their job properly in the first instance, or Mr Choi had decided to stick and not fold. Anyway, we are where we are, and I don’t think I will ever get my head around why this was allowed to happen to our club. And I certainly will never forgive those responsible for it happening to us. This season is the start of a new beginning, a new dawn, and a new era in the rollercoaster ride that is Wigan Athletic. It will get worse before it gets better, and we need to be there every step of the way, because eventually the good times will return to the club - and we will be there to see it.

Sean Livesey:

It’s not been a good month for Wigan Athletic. September drew to a close with three wins in a row and news of a takeover finally being agreed. It seemed like things were finally looking up after a tumultuous few months. Sadly this is Wigan Athletic we’re talking about, and things are never that simple here. On the pitch, results dried up, soon to be followed by performances. The wins over Portsmouth and Doncaster feel a long time ago and, although we’ve competed well in most games since then, it’s been clear we’re struggling. Injuries are beginning to bite, and that’s having a huge effect. The enforced 23-man squad may well be our downfall this season. Once you lose two or even three of John Sheridan’s preferred starting XI, it looks extremely threadbare. We should have beaten Plymouth on Saturday, that despite us being distinctly average and second best in the first half. Second half was more like what we know and expect from the lads, and I hoped we would take that performance to Milton Keynes. Anyone who watched Tuesday’s match will know that didn’t happen. Injuries again affected us with Kal Naismith, Lee Evans, Will Keane, Viv Solomon-Otabor and Darnell Johnson among those missing out at some point. I think Tuesday confirmed what many of us had been thinking for the last couple of weeks that, despite the squad we’ve managed to get together, this will still be a season of struggle. The longer the takeover wrangles on, the longer we’ll struggle. The aforementioned 23-man squad limit will stop us bringing in any reinforcements despite the lengthy injury list. Speaking of the takeover, we’re still none the wiser as to whether the bid by Jose Miguel Garrido and the unnamed Spanish investors will go ahead. There have been concerning noises surrounding the takeover for the last couple of weeks. None more so than some staff at the club being offered a choice of a 30 per cent salary cut or redundancy. Gerald Krasner spoke to this newspaper and said the administrators were still on speaking terms with the bidders. That sounded ominous at best. People were accused of scaremongering when this information came to light last weekend and, although I share the desperation for us to be taken over, it has to be right this time. It would be a huge mistake after the efforts to keep us alive over the last four months not to be vigilant now. Which takes us on to the EFL. The EFL have met with the bidders both UK and Spain-based, to work through the Owners and Directors Test. After the amount of valid criticism sent their way in the summer after failing to properly vet Next Leader Fund and Au Yeung, they won’t be stung again. If there is any hint of a red flag to be seen, it won’t be signed off. Thankfully, it sounds like there are other bidders waiting to pounce if this does fail. Whether it’s the Spanish or another bidder, we are in desperate need of some direction and stability. Let’s hope either way it’s decided sooner rather than later.

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