Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - ‘Boom and bust has gone...being tighter than Rambo's headband will be the norm. Should we be bothered? Absolutely not...’

Caddy from the 5:

It's back to business this weekend after the international break for next season's Champions-elect, with mouth-watering games against Burton at the DW on Friday - for the only game in town - then the long trek to Cambridge on Monday that'll hopefully see us cement a place in Division Three for one more season only. The focus this week has been on the young Tics, with Sam Tickle getting his first England Under-21 start. A brilliant achievement for all involved at the club, but especially Gregor Ricoh and his team. I've no doubt this lad will go far in the game and with 'self sustained' being bandied about nowadays, hopefully he'll bring us a very decent wedge when he moves on to pastures new. The game itself was great to see, Sam having nothing to do in a rout of a tinpot team at the Tough Sheet Stadium and keeping a clean sheet...nothing new there then for him, eh? With a good handful of other Academy lads on show for their respective inferior countries - I jape! - it cannot be stressed enough what our system has produced. Make no mistake, we'd be in a very different place - if a place at all - without the lads we've got now, and the lads that were sold for peanuts during administration...thanks again Begbies, eh? The season is in the final furlong for us now and, to be where we are - sitting very comfortably in mid-table - goes all the way back to the start of the season for me...and the tremendously hard work that Caroline did to basically ensure we actually the started the season by getting Mr Danson on board. We can now actual see how deep we were in the mire with the financial figures released...record losses and we were quite simply not a sinking but a sunken ship. The Bahrainis may have come with all the best will in the world, but by goodness they knew nothing about running a football club (starting with their board appointments for one...but that's for another day). The absolute hole we were in was incredible, and what Mike Danson has had to do behind the scenes to even get us on some kind of even keel cannot be underestimated by anyone at the club - including all the cynics, myself included. Things will no doubt be run very differently from now on...boom has and bust gone, being tighter than Rambo's headband will be the norm. Should we be bothered? Absolutely not. Because if you think Wigan Athletic are a spent force, you're deluded. We don't do boring, we don't do mediocrity. We'll have our day again, maybe not as many as we've had in the past, but they'll feel all the sweeter when they do come! So let's just enjoy a quiet finish to the season for once...and hopefully just once! If you can, get yourself down to the DW on Friday...sitting in the pub with a replica top nursing one pint for two hours shouting at the telly at that time is for fans of other sports! Right, I'm off moidering the club again to get Strongbow back, it's worked before! UP THE TICS!

Matt Auffrey:

The ‘beginning to the end’ is fast approaching as we are just days away from entering the final month of the season. Burton Albion visit on Friday to kick-off Easter weekend and represent a prime opportunity for Latics to make it four wins on the bounce at the DW. Despite taking just one point from their past seven matches, the Brewers still find themselves above the relegation places in the league table. A few more bad results could drag Burton into real trouble, so they will be desperate to get points on the board, ahead of three straight fixtures against play-off chasing sides. Nonetheless, a win on Friday would provide a bit of good cheer after the club published a sobering financial report from last season. The club produced its largest loss ever during the 22/23 campaign, and were on the brink of going bust before Mike Danson’s 11th hour takeover. It’s well known we were in a desperate state at the tail end of the Phoenix 2021 ownership era, but seeing the actual numbers that led to our undoing only made the negligent and irresponsible acts of the previous regime all the more infuriating. We took several steps forward only to take several massive leaps backwards. The club cannot afford to put itself in such an unstable position ever again. With that information in mind, the handling of our current player assets is of the highest importance. Academy graduates such as Charlie Hughes, Sam Tickle and Thelo Aasgaard could collectively bring the club an eight-figure payday if they were to be sold over the coming transfer windows. At the same time, the club has to find the ideal balance between putting out the most competitive team possible on the pitch, and selling players of considerable value at the right team for the club and for that player’s career. Between our loan players returning back to their home clubs, numerous other first-team players having their contracts expire, and whoever else we choose to sell for a fee in the summer, we are staring at the possibility of significant player turnover heading into next season. In the meantime, this current squad still deserves our full support over these final seven matches. It’s the least we can do for the players, the staff, and especially Mike Danson. Some players will be playing for a future with Latics, while others will play to maximise the potential of their next move. As fans, we should be grateful for the fact a foundation is in place that will ideally sustain the club for years to come. Last week’s report gave us a harsh reminder of where we were one year ago, but there should be just as much reason to look forward to where we could be on this same date in 2025. We’ve been given more than enough time to reflect on our losses over this past international break. Let’s shift our attention back to winning.

Ed Bazeley:

Everyone associated with Wigan Athletic will have anticipated the international fixtures will have brought some proud moments for this football club with it. But perhaps it even exceeded our expectations as, due to an injury to usual starter James Trafford, Latics’ very own Sam Tickle made his debut as England Under-21 goalkeeper. It couldn’t have gone any better for Tickle, who kept a clean sheet as the Young Lions crushed Luxembourg 7-0 just down the road in Horwich. What a night that would have been for the Tics supporters who made the short trip to watch Tickle, and watched the team they were supporting pick up an even bigger win than usual down at the Tough Sheet Community Stadium. And a truly fantastic opportunity for Tickle to play alongside the likes of Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, who is one of the biggest young prospects in English football. Furthermore, should Latics sell our starlet in the summer, accolades such as a clean sheet at Under-21 level will help bump up his transfer fee. Tickle has rightly been the headline grabber as far as football matters in WN5 are concerned, but it isn’t just him we should be proud of this week. Josh Magennis made his 80th appearance for Northern Ireland, which speaks volumes about his work ethic. Meanwhile, the England Elite Squad (formerly known as the Under-20s) clash with Czechia provided a great moment for our club as Luke Chambers and Martial Godo started together on the left-hand side. While Chambers and Godo may be on loan at Latics from Premier League sides, it is still testament to Shaun Maloney and co that their efforts and qualities have not gone unnoticed, as they are being offered the chance to don an England shirt. Liam Morrison also featured in a victory for the Scotland Under-21s, while Thelo Aasgaard scored for the Norway Under-21s. Arguably most pleasing for Aasgaard, his newly-founded poacher instincts paid dividends for his nation as he scored from close range. He has always been one to score screamers, but if he can score more ‘ordinary’ goals on a regular basis, his ceiling for club and country could be very, very high. Now the international games are over - and we can stop bickering about whether ex-Latics man Ivan Toney or Aston Villa hotshot Ollie Watkins should be Harry Kane’s understudy for England - it’s time to focus on League One again. Bizarrely enough, Burton Albion are an opponent who have provided Latics supporters with positive memories in recent years. Firstly, the vital point secured against the Brewers via a Will Keane header in a 1-1 home draw late in the 2020/21 season helped guide us to an unlikely Great Escape. Our next encounter with Albion, in which Latics secured a 2-0 win at the DW on Halloween weekend 2021, saw Curtis Tilt score a freakishly good goal from outside the box. Later on in that remarkable 2021/22 title winning season, when Latics visited the Pirelli, Kell Watts produced an iconic goalline clearance with a superb diving header, in a 0-0 draw which helped Leam Richardson’s great side on their way to becoming champions. Let’s hope for some 'Good' memories this Friday too!

Sean Livesey

The release of last week's financial accounts made for sobering reading for all Wigan Athletic supporters. Never again can this club be allowed to reach the state it did, and never again can we allow those that don’t have our best interests at heart to use the club in the way it had been used since the start of 2020. An underlying loss of more than £17.5million for last season is horrific for a club of our size and, with a significant amount being owed to HMRC along with unpaid wages, it wasn’t dramatic to suggest we were days if not hours away from liquidation before Mike Danson decided to save his hometown club with a not insignificant amount of funds being set aside just to pay off the historic debts driven up by the previous regime. And there has been so much to enjoy this season since Danson took over. Yes, there has been lots to be concerned about as well...we still don’t really know what the future holds, and a chief executive would help take the pressure away from Ben Goodburn, who is currently combining that role with his duties as chairman. Communication needs to improve, and I’m sure we’ll all be much happier when Ticketmaster is up and running in full. But – and I will never tire of saying it – we are in a far better position than I ever imagined in those dark days of 12 months ago. So much in the way of thanks needs to go to Danson and everyone involved in the purchase of the club, but equally to Gregor Rioch and Shaun Maloney, who helped to convince Danson to save us and kept the club functioning in the days and weeks before the takeover went through. On the pitch, with safety virtually assured, it’s time to start looking towards the future and seeing just how strongly we can finish this season. Without the EFL and our eight points in their back pocket, we would have an outside chance of the play-offs this season. Not that that’s necessarily the right thing for us, as promotion to the basket case that is the Championship at this moment in time could have been our undoing again. But another year in League One, under the belts of some our bright young talent, could do wonders if and when we do return to the Championship. Let’s end the season in the best way possible, celebrating the fact Wigan Athletic are still here to fight another day...another day that has a brighter future than we could ever have imagined thanks to those that saved us.