Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'This uneasy feeling of distrust is nothing new to long-term Latics fans'

Alan Rogers:

At the end of a very strange week, we had an even stranger result to dissect. Looking at the stats after the match against Wimbledon, the Latics won everything...except the game!

Most shots, most shots on target, highest possession, most corners, highest total passes, best pass accuracy...I could go on and on (and I usually do!) But obviously the most important statistic is the result and, for the third game in a row, we lost.

It was clear for all to see that we need someone who can score goals, or we need to change the system drastically. However, this didn't stop some of our armchair experts screaming the obvious on social media.

If we'd been second on all the stats as well as losing, then I'd be screaming too, but let's try to pick at least one or two positives out of the situation. We are still building a new team, so let's try to get a sense of perspective.

I said at the beginning it had been a strange week, and last week's 12th Man had certainly stirred things up! As usual it wasn't my boring waffle that raised the temperature, but one person must have had a thesaurus as a present, while another contributor delivered a passionate if somewhat inflammatory offering.

Going back to why I started scribbling a few words on here occasionally, I was fed up with people - mostly online, but also within the stadium - throwing out baseless insults and accusations each week, mainly about certain players.

The players can't answer back, so I tried to redress the balance, hopefully in a humorous way. I don't pick on our players and usually not on our managers, preferring to save my wrath for the opposition players, opposition management, and definitely the officials.

However, we cannot completely look like 'Yes Men' or 'Happy Clappers' when something or someone is wrong, and you can see it's wrong, then you need to speak up.

I wrote a few articles painting Ryan Lowe in perhaps a bad light. He didn't like it and asked to see me and a few others who held similar views. We met up, neither of us changed our view of each other, and that was that.

I didn't feel the need to publicise the meeting or discuss it on social media. I felt I had approached the situation in a positive, constructive way. I wrote what I believed to be true - mainly because I could see it each week with my own eyes. I was stating facts.

I certainly didn't speculate on what may or may not be going on behind the scenes, and I definitely didn't lash out at people who were only trying to help. And when I was called out about my comments, I went to a meeting to defend them. I didn't back away or hide behind a fake name.

But these are indeed weird times. An indifferent start to the season on the pitch has led to mixed reactions off it. Some people are asking for patience, but others aren't so tolerant.

We've always had mixed views from the fanbase. It's part of why we love the game so much...being able to say 'I told you so!' to your mate when that forward starts scoring, or when an expensive purchase finally begins to perform.

But the criticism this year has perhaps gone beyond what we have seen in previous seasons. I would say the majority of our fans, myself included, always have a feeling of distrust in their minds, even when things seem to be going well. It's only natural I suppose because, in recent years, as a club and a fanbase, we've been treated very badly.

We've almost gone out of business, and lost players and assets that the club had slowly developed over time. Even going back to the Springfield Park days, rarely a season went by without a rumour of bankruptcy, or selling the ground off for housing.

So, this uneasy feeling of distrust is nothing new to long-term Latics fans. In fact, distrust could be said to have its roots in reality. We are perhaps experiencing something now that has triggered a memory of past events. And we should all be careful to remain vigilant.

However, what seems to be happening in some small pockets of the fanbase can only probably be described as borderline paranoia.

If you look in the dictionary, paranoia is described as 'irrational, intense suspicion and mistrust'. When we learn to trust - or mistrust - something or someone, it's usually based upon life experience...several flirtations with administration for example. It's very rare - apart perhaps from religion - that we trust something or someone blindly.

The same can be said of mistrust. 'Once bitten, twice shy' means we are unlikely to make the same mistake again. But when we look at paranoia, there is no 'origin story'. No evidence to support suspicion of a person or experience.

For some reason some people have decided that the Dansons are the enemy, and the Official Supporters Club are their foot soldiers. Thankfully the majority of fans are too busy getting on with their lives than to involve themselves in conspiracy theories.

Who knows what the future holds? One thing I do know is that biting the hand that feeds you never usually ends well.

And here's a final thought. The club are looking for new FAB members. Let's get some of the conspiracy theorists to put themselves forward.

They would need to provide a quick summary regarding why they should be elected and then the fanbase can vote. The same is true of the Supporters Club - volunteer yourselves so that you can maybe see what is actually going on. Put your money where your mouth is.

Matt Auffrey:

There’s no beating around the bush; our striker room is in a dire state. A little over two months ago, I mentioned our current squad only returned less than 25 per cent of our goal production from last season. Fraser Murray, Dara Costelloe, Christian Saydee, and Jensen Weir were the only contracted players who had scored league goals for us during the prior campaign.

At that time, there was no question about how important it would be to bring in the right players who could help us improve on last year’s paltry total of 49 goals. Needless to say, we have widely missed the mark in numerous areas.

The blame can go a number of different ways. Off the back of losing a multi-million pound loan striker in Joe Taylor, and our top young attacking talent in Harrison Bettoni, we needed to ‘spend’ to some degree to bring in a proven goal scorer for this level - whether through paying a transfer fee or meeting wage demands.

Who knows how close we’ve been to actually acquiring this profile of player over the summer, but the fact Sonny Perkins currently represents our best effort in this department is a massive disappointment based on the small sample size we’ve been given on the pitch thus far.

Meanwhile, Dara Costelloe is as equally out of form as Perkins, Christian Saydee is recovering from a pre-season injury, and Chris Sze appears to be a ways off a breakthrough after years of living on the fringe of the first team.

The calls for investment are louder than ever. If we want to make it to January in halfway decent standing, we need reinforcements that go beyond the bare minimum. I like the way our midfield is developing. Our defence is slowly coming together and should hopefully grow into a strong unit as the season progresses.

Not giving the same attention to our attack is like building a brand new house but failing to add appliances and furnishings. You can have a rock solid foundation, sturdy walls, and a watertight roof, but with nothing inside, it’s just an empty shell. That’s a team that builds and builds but never finishes the job.

Gary Caldwell’s post-match comments on the striker situation after Wimbledon didn’t fill me with confidence that we had a sure-fire solution sorted out for Tuesday’s deadline day. Our hero didn’t magically sign in the 11th hour, so we must hope our issues with scoring gets sorted out organically with players in every other position chipping in goals on a consistent basis.

We’ve had no problem creating chances. Is it really just a matter of time before the dam breaks? We need to see some form of progress, because we’ve only just seen the tip of a toxic iceberg from the fanbase. I remain hopeful that our new additions will help us get on track.

George Arkwright:

It is hard to describe my feelings on Sunday’s game at Wimbledon with any real conviction. The reaction at full-time suggested the performance had been as abject as the fans seemingly were, but in reality I felt as though, outside of our strikers, we played...well.

Our passing looked slick, we created well, having 14 shots throughout the match, we looked relatively solid defensively, and aside from a few individual errors from some of the weaker links in our defines, we seemed a team that could kick on and find ourselves higher up the table than we currently find ourselves. And yet, the match ended in cala-mighty and we were sat once again rueing spurned opportunities and defensive malaise.

Jon Mellish looked ineffective and indecisive, but hopefully that will be a problem of the past with new signings. And Joe Walsh should’ve been sent off twice, but again, he should find himself bench warming with a new goalkeeper taking his place between the posts.

Where our true problem lies, and where our owners seem unwilling to compromise on complete apathy, is our strikers. We cannot score goals. And if we cannot score goals, we cannot win games. And if we don’t win games, well, I think you know the outcome of that.

Gary Caldwell was asked by this publication after the game whether a strike target was on the cards, and his answers resonated far more than any empty platitudes presented to us by our esteemed leadership...‘I have targets, but I can’t afford them.’

If there is one place on the pitch that requires carefully curated endeavour, it is the striker. They are, after all, the be all and end all of every football team. The man that scores the goals is the main man. And we have no main man.

Dara Costelloe, despite his best efforts, is not a League One striker, and unfortunately Sonny Perkins is worse...lacking the endeavour, the determination and the grit that even his beleaguered strike colleague employs in lieu of goals.

Both showed multiple times on Sunday why they are not fit to play the leading role at our club and, while I wish them both the best, the sooner they are replaced, the better. And yet, the manager sees this, and wants something more, and is given nought but scraps to feed on.

The answer could well be a completely inexperienced, albeit allegedlforward quality, loan s from a Premier League team in Brad Burrowes, that we plan on helping develop before moving him on without a penny for our troubles.

It does not speak to the sustainability that was reported on Mike Danson’s arrival, nor does it speak to the investiture and growth promised in multiple statements since.

Exeter City had a striker in Jayden Wareham, who was signed by Caldwell, who we couldn’t afford to even begin negotiations in an arena like that. We’re being outbid and outspent by Wycombe Wanderers.

Owned by a Kazakhstani with seemingly no ties to Wycombe as a town or a club. Our owner is a Wiganer and, despite his seemingly best efforts to forget that, it remains the truth.

Frankly, it is beyond belief.

As I mentioned, the reaction to the full-time whistle was grim. Booing, jeering and gestures of a downwards motion were thrown at the players as the manager shook his head in disagreement...maybe even disbelief.

That reaction speaks to a fanbase that are utterly disenfranchised by the state of the club. We need someone astute and remarkable at the helm of our club, that carries us and themselves with pride and enthusiasm.

We need our owner to take responsibility for an entity that means so much to his own hometown. We need investment and honesty and integrity after so long without any.

Writing this before the transfer window has 'slammed shut' (due to print deadlines), I could look back on this article in mere days and ask myself why I ever questioned our leadership. Or, and unfortunately more likely, I will look at this as another cut in our death by several thousand.

Purchasing us to save us from oblivion, only to let us wither and die really serves no-one. Our owner would be no longer celebrated, but a pariah amongst his own people, and our club would’ve outlived itself by years only to hurt that much more when its demise came.

We’re not even asking for much. Simply the ability to compete and to grow. The sensible thing to do would be to nurture an asset. Cultivate it like a spring flower and let it grow to heights as which to be seen over the garden wall.

Once people see a good thing, they might be more interested in taking it off your hands, Mr Danson. Don’t let us rot. Don’t let us die. Let us bloom.

John Fisher:

Three league games, and three defeats to teams you wouldn’t necessarily expect to be troubling the top half. It’s hard to feel anything but an overwhelming feeling of dread at what’s to come this season.

There have been some flashes of decent football, and we have to hope things will improve as this young team gets to know each other. But every time I watch us, or look at how weak our squad looks on paper, I can’t help questioning just how on earth we’ve been allowed to get into such a poor state as a club.

The answer, of course, is the Danson family, and the way they’ve neglected our club. It’s now hard to put forward any form of credible argument to suggest that the Danson family are good owners. This summer is the final straw for what appears to be the majority of supporters.

Do they care about that? I’m not convinced they do. In the last six months or so alone, the club has received significant money for the Arsenal FA Cup tie, Harrison Bettoni, Sam Tickle, significant sell-ons for Joe Gelhardt, Alfie Devine and Callum Lang, and a Premier League promotion wedge thanks to Charlie Hughes.

A safe estimate here is that we’ve gained around £5million combined from these. We’ve also offloaded big wages in Jason Kerr. So why aren't we seeing this additional income reflected in the quality of our squad?

The Danson family's managed decline of our club means we are now falling way below clubs of a similar size. I look at signings made by Blackpool, Leyton Orient, Wycombe Wanderers and Stockport County with envy.

None of these clubs have made as much cash, or anywhere near as much in sales, as we have in the last three years, and they at best get similar crowds to us...much lower in other cases. Yet a couple of times a year, we get a patronising message from the owners about the need to increase revenues.

I was frustrated, as a member, to see the Supporters Club seemingly accept what he had to say a couple of weeks ago. I most certainly don’t accept or believe anything he has to say, and cannot wait for the day he and his family have no association with our club.

It’s time for us all to stand up, and have a unified message against these owners. Wigan Athletic needs putting back in the hands of people with a genuine care for it. Fourth-tier football - and possibly worse - seems inevitable if supporter groups, and wider platforms, do not find their voice quickly.

Jake Nicholson:

Where do I start? My frustrations are growing stronger with each week. Am I happy we have a club to support? 100 per cent I am. Am I happy with the path the club are taking? I don’t think so. It feels like we are being told to accept this is it, and that we should be happy with where we are.

We have lost players in the summer who cannot be replaced due to their wage demands. But with an influx of cash from sales and sell-ons, I would expect some of that to be reinvested into the team. We have shown glimpses of being a good team, but playing good only goes so far. When you aren’t winning, it’s pointless.

We have massive gaps in the squad. Without sounding harsh, both attackers at the weekend are far from being League One strikers. League Two might be their level...and that might be with us next year. But I will not accept that League Two is our level.

We need ambition from the owners. Simply keeping the lights on won’t keep supporters attending, week in and week out.

Alfie Hurd:

Well Sunday was a 'Calamighty' in terms of finishing, followed by a heartbreaking end.

On the pitch, things are dire, with Latics recording our worst start in 32 years, and failing to register a single point from the opening three games

Against Wimbledon, we showed we could play and create chances. In the first half, we could have easily been one or two up, with a Dara Costelloe miss and a Sonny Perkins sitter. In the second half, a one-yard miss from Perkins, that looked more like a brilliant clearance.

I really felt for Gary Caldwell and the coaching staff after that. We should have come home with three points, and at worst one. But it ultimately ended like Cambridge away on the opening day, with misery and the toxicity at full-time.

Tony Moon:

Sometimes when you lose a game, you know you had it coming. However, against Wimbledon, the number of glorious chances we somehow spurned meant we went away from South London empty-handed, rather than being in the position of our opposition on Wednesday...ie in 16th, on three points...coupled with a nice positive goal difference too.

But life sometimes gives you lemons (some would argue so do our recruitment team, but I say let’s give the lads a chance before condemning them).

I’ve been labelled a 'Happy Clapper' on numerous occasions, and it doesn’t bother me a jot. I just try and follow the attitude of one of our previous managers, and 'take the positives' - and there were many at Wimbledon - if you choose to look for them.

Of course, if you can’t be bothered to look, then based on our results, we’re absolutely rubbish, and will be confirmed relegated before the end of October...according to some, that is.

What’s the opposite of 'Happy Clapper'? 'Miserable Boo-er'? What’s the point of being one of them? Does anyone go to a football game to enjoy posting of their disappointment and misery afterwards?

Don’t answer that...we all know one...!