Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - '...a further decline of the football club with no clear end in sight...'

Martin Tarbuck:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. You hear and read a lot about this thing in your brain called the amygdala these days.

Essentially, it is a small walnut-shaped part of the brain that goes bonkers at the slightest sign of uncertainty. While the rest of your brain is sitting in comfy chairs, listening to Acid Jazz, basking in all of its accumulated knowledge, the amygdala is running around like Road Runner, swearing and sweating profusely...'S***T! This is the worst thing ever, life is over, and this is the worst crisis ever known to humanity!'

Sound familiar? I guess we’re at the point now, where we are best just finding a lazy sofa and putting on some headphones for the sake of our own sanity. The transfer window has slammed shut, and the manager doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. We’re still losing football matches, but at least we seem to be trying to win or draw them. Or at least going forward with a bit of purpose. The formation has changed to one where we actually have players who can play in their respective positions and, hey, it wouldn’t be Wigan Athletic if there wasn’t some form of drama to see out the season would it?

Not that I am advocating a return to League Two - I would rather we be nice and safe in mid-table. I sometimes think a change of scenery wouldn’t be the end of the world, but relegation has to be considered unthinkable and unacceptable for a number of reasons...most of which point to a further decline of the football club with no clear end in sight.

I think most fans pragmatically understand we are not a football club any more that will be challenging for the League One title any time soon. But we are also a damn sight better than one which is wallowing in 20th place and only out of the bottom four on goal difference.

Asking what on earth has gone wrong and demanding answers should be the least we can do given our perilous status. If we sit in a lazy chair, zone out for a few months while muttering 'we won’t get relegated'...well, you know the rest.

A quick scan of the mood out there seems to point to a manager that is underperforming, or a squad that is underperforming, or a backroom team that are underperforming...or maybe all three. But as none of those people seem to be able to find fault with their own performance, then what on earth can we do about it?

I’ve seen talk of protests and so on, but the people who put that out there don’t even attend games half the time. And if they do attend, barely raise a peep. As ever, at Latics, everyone expects everyone else to do the work, and slags them off when they don’t. The only thing that actually gets served up is a large portion of apathy, with more and more fans staying away because they are disappointed with the fayre on offer.

Same goes with the upcoming Fans’ Forum. People who aren’t going, continually growling away on social media: 'Well I'D ask the difficult questions if I was there...' So step away from the keyboard and go then! Sentiment of the fans towards the manager may have softened a little bit after Saturday’s spirited second-half performance, but it is a results-based business - and we are one or (more) two poor ones away from staring the drop in the face.

I mean, in the interests of balance, we are probably only one or two results away from clambering back into mid-table, but performances don’t seem to be pointing towards an upturn in form. We are somewhere between free fall and treading water currently, and probably reliant on their being four worse teams than us. Which is always the case to be fair. But there’s no way we should be down there, given the squad that was assembled over the summer.

The club will continue to try and pacify us and talk about the long-term plan, in the fans' forum and via the local press, but plans won’t get us out of this mess. For that, we need results. What was it Mike Tyson said about everyone having a plan until they get punched in the face? Well, us Latics fans are black and blue already from the results and performances this season. So here’s an idea which might quieten down the discontent from the fanbase: How about you win a football match or two and put a smile back on our face?

Billy H:

The 12th Man Top 10 countdown.....to the tune of Top of The Pops!

In at No.10 is a new entry...The Doobie Brothers with...'What a Fool Believes' (us fans for believing in Ryan Lowe);

Dropping three places to No.9 is...Paul Simon with...'Slip Sliding Away' (our teams league position);

In at No.8 is...The Beatles with...'Don't Let Me Down (again with false promises of changes);

A non-mover at No.7 is...The Clash with...'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?' (I mean Lowe);

Up five places at No.6 is...Frank Sinatra with...'My Way' (Lowe's mantra, his way regardless);

New at No.5 is...Bee Gees/Steps with...'Tragedy' (it'll be a tragedy if we stick with Lowe);

Another non-mover at No.4 is...The Who with...'Won't Get Fooled Again' (with more empty promises);

Down one place to No.3 is...The Sex Pistols with...'Pretty Vacant' (our defence, Midfield and Strikers);

Up nine places to No.2 is...Tears for Fears with...'Change' (will we change in time to beat the drop?);

And for the 10th week in a row, and still at No.1 is...Fun Boy Three (Lowe/ Rioch/Whelan) with...'It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It'(aame old, same old, week in week out);

So from the top...are we being taken for 'Fools' who 'Believe', while we are 'Slip Sliding Away' despite us saying 'Don't Let Me Down' (again)...otherwise we're not sure whether Lowe 'Should Stay or Should Go', but he'll just say, I'll do it 'My Way'...even though us always losing is a 'Tragedy'. Will we, won't we 'Get Fooled Again' because we're 'Pretty Vacant' in defence, midfield and attack?

So come on Ryan, do the decent thing and 'Change'...you can 'Change'...but I guess you won't because it 'Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You (Can't) Do It'.

So it's time for you to go, I'm afraid to say. Tune in again next week for the Top10 at 10, when we'll see if there's any change...will we be in the drop zone...will we turn it around...can we turn it around...?

Tony Moon:

To paraphrase the great lyricist, John Shuttleworth (who, in a different guise, also wrote the definitely not moronic 'Jilted John')...'Meat pie, sausage roll, come on Wigan, give us a goal' Pleeeeease!

001010100. Nope, that’s not a binary representation of the number 84 (well, yes, it is actually, but that’s not the point). It is, in fact, a record of the goals Latics have scored in recent home league games (to have included cup games against lesser teams like Salford (0), Wolves Under-21s (1), Hemel Hempstead and Barrow (yay, 2) wouldn’t have been right, as it might have unjustifiably skewed the figures).

Now I’m more than happy to concede that it’s possible for us fans to be entertained without us actually scoring a goal. I’m also happy to confirm that I’d probably go home after a game with a little jaunt in my stride if we’d scrawped a dodgy win, even though we didn’t play great.

However, to further paraphrase another great lyricist, Jim Steinman, three out of nine is bloody awful. Any road, Leam’s back next week (with Reading). He’ll do us a favour...won’t he? After all, we named a bloody stand after him! Give us three points next week, Leam, and we’ll put a statue outside too. Pleeeease.

Dave Jones:

Thanks for saving us Mr Danson, as we would not have a club to support any more. However, can you now please stop us disappearing into League Two, and possibly back to the non-league days that we were in when I first started to support this club?

A lot of people worked very hard over the years to finally help us become a Football League club. Another lot then worked very hard to help us to climb up from Division Four to Division Three and then the Championship. We finally arrived in the Premiership and stayed there for EIGHT YEARS. We played in the League Cup final and then the FA Cup final, which we won.

If you sit back and do nothing else after saving us, then all that history will be lost. And Wigan will have nothing in the way of an exciting future as a football club. IT WILL ALL BE GONE Please don't let that happen. Get rid of this failure of a head coach with IMMEDIATE effect, and spend a little bit more of your funds to bring in a new exciting and positive manager who can get these players to reach their potential and take us away from relegation.

Hope you get to see and read this, and help us fans to have a positive vision again. As a fan of more than 60 years, thank you.

Martin Lally:

There are points to address before a ball is kicked this week. There are people who use social media as a platform to scatter thoughts and sometimes abuse (directed at individuals). This is, however, an age old platform problem, and it is simply unacceptable and not good.

There are, however, a high percentage of people giving an opinion and backing up that conversation on the terraces of the League One grounds across the country with more seasoned fans (who probably deserve a voice more than most) and friends/family, which is not abusive but is giving an opinion. For me this week, this narrative has thrown both in the same bag.

This is being reflected as unacceptable from a number of sources across the Latics universe, and this isn’t fair. The board has publicly backed Ryan Lowe. Acceptable to them...but not acceptable to many. We received a generic update. I appreciate it’s hard, but it did not answer many questions. Instead, it provided an almost two-week window of hope that the noise would reduce.

They may go to the games, but they don’t stand on the terraces. They have made a decision to stick with Ryan Lowe, and all we can do is accept it and support the team. Gregor Rioch is thrown out and, on reflection, possibly thrown under the bus. Because, as he clearly stated, he isn’t a board member.

In everything we state, context is key. I get that. But I’ve been to the Brick for 80 per cent of this year's home matches, and been to 60 per cent of the away games, and we are generally not happy. Immediately the good people are bad people. I'm not happy, because it feels like our beloved football club is dying in front of our eyes, and I want to know if some higher up the chain care as much as I do.

Of course we want to help. It’s hard to find a Latics fan that doesn’t back the team. We might be a lot of things, but we bloody well back the lads who put on the shirt. Yes there is the occasional moron who shouts unacceptable abuse at a player...but that’s on them.

The majority bleed with them lads week in, week out. Spending money they don’t have to spend, and in some cases can’t even afford, to make a 400-mile round trip on a Tuesday in the rain and, most of the time this season, seeing us lose. That's football. But it's also passion and dedication.

Gregor is a big part of the club. And I have no doubt he has given absolutely everything. The ‘we won’t go down’ comment shows his belief in the club, but it’s flawed in its timing. Because at the minute we, as a fanbase, can’t even see where the next goal will come, never mind the next win.

There is no need for personal abuse, but it’s correct to feel let down by the comment...because we are all concerned! In Gregor’s most recent interview on Wigan Today, he has interrogated Twitter accounts to highlight people’s professions, and then showcase mental health professionals. Not a good look, in my personal opinion.

Many, like me, want Ryan Lowe to prove us all wrong, because that means the club will be on the up - and that’s what we all want. Many want him gone and won’t have their minds changed. We have signed two great players this month who can push us forward. We would probably have liked to see a few more, but we are worried that two thirds of the squad is out of contract this summer. Where is the communication around this?

I recently stated that we need leadership at this time. Ownership and responsibility. Direction towards the future. Not deflection, self preservation and blame. You find yourself doubting whether you should even say anything anymore!

Well, I can’t stand here for the fanbase, I stand alone in my ramblings. But what I do know is there is a medium sized amount of great, loyal people who only want the best for the club, and will give everything to back them at all times. All I believe they really want is some communication back from the club. The next two weeks will test whether the club feels their approach matches our expectations.

Looking back to Saturday then, and heavy feelings of trepidation approaching the Brick Community Stadium. A Lincoln team bang in form and looking likely for automatic promotion come May. In the end, once again they were there for the taking. For 15 minutes, we looked like the team chasing promotion, then it simply collapsed.

The fans asked for four at the back, and I’m not quite certain it was, but it looked somewhat better. We can’t even lay a glove on teams though. Even I no longer know what the problem is, but we are told that the players back the manager. And the board backs the manager. As for us? Put up and shut up, unless you're supporting the team of course.

I don’t personally like this rhetoric. There needs to be leadership! Sometimes that leadership comes through change, and that can take time, but the harshest reality is that trap door that looks even larger than ever. For me now it’s a mini league. That's 10 games to play against those placed 12th or below. We must win six, maybe seven, as it’s tight. Eight games against the rest, no-one really to worry about, and scrap for what we can...I can’t even think about Arsenal until next week!

Whatever the future brings, wherever you stand on your opinions, I’ll continue to support my club, and will be there at Peterborough, Arsenal, Stockport and beyond. It’s easy to take the high ground and look down, but not always easy to row the boat with the rest. Up the got to keep going Tics!