The difference with Swain though was he at least tried to play attacking football, with two upfront. The players we had were very limited, but we did have a few bright spots as I recall. We demolished Crewe who were a decent team then, and we scored some really good goals. David McKearney was better than what we have now, as was Neill Rimmer. Pat Gavin and Neil Morton could be a threat upfront.
And of course then, our owners had real limitations, which isn’t the case now, it just seems that the “running the club sustainably” is being used as a smokescreen to not plough money in…and I’m talking sensibly. Stevie Wonder could see it needs a bit of money spending as we have sank miles behind our rivals.
But then again, any manager worth their salt would come out and say this. Paul Jewell said to Whelan when he came in and was met with a case of half arsed players that it needed “major surgery”, and Whelan backed him. I’m not saying our current players are half-arsed, I just don’t think they’re good enough in all honesty. I’m concerned that Maloney seems to think they’re good enough and that’s why I am really worried. The squad is nowhere near good enough, I’ve said this all Summer. We lost the best players in the squad, amd also a lot of experience so I thought that without some strong signings and a bit of money spent, we would struggle. I kept waiting and expected to hear “wigan have signed..” and some experience to come into the squad…a spine through the team to build around. But it never happened. A lot of these young players who have come in would only be fringe players if we had the right squad. Adeeko included.
I’m alarmed that Maloney thinks the squad is good enough, when myself who most would consider a ‘layman’ could see it wasn’t. I’ve watched football live for 40 years at all different levels from Non League to International level. I’ve watched the best, and the worst. So, I can see when it’s not good enough, and this squad is not good enough. It’s not the players fault, it’s upto the manager. He’s got cut a lot of slack due to his history with the club, but my own personal opinion is that he is not upto the job. The football he tries to play, is awful. The club is heading in one direction, and it’s not up.
Some of you will flip when I say this, and that’s fair enough. But the thought has actually gone through my mind a few times that perhaps we’d have been better doing a Bury and folding and then starting again in non league. The only trouble is, I’m not sure there would be enough energy among the various factions of our support to have got us up and running again. But the alternative is this what we have now, an owner who it is debatable if he has any real interest in us at all, and a manager in place who is just a puppet for the ownership who use his history with us keep it just ticking along.
Crowds are going to drop and drop the way things are going. As things stand, we are in serious danger of going down this season. And then what? Latics ‘relocated’ to Leigh Sports Village because its smaller? I could see that happening.
He’s not my type of manager. I like a bit of a gobshite manager, rather than a quiet, thoughtful one. I’d love a Warnock type manager. Show some passion and tell it as it is. Maloney repeats the same old bullshit and spin in his post matches…its already boring.
Something really has to change, and change very soon. People dreading the visit of the mighty Crawley Town on Saturday just shows how bad we are. One up front…is shite. Tippy tappy one paced football, is shite. Got back to basics, do the simple things correctly, and that will be a start. If not, a change needs to be made.
