Cup draw

On a personal level may have preferred away to go to a new ground, and we were still late in with a chance of being away to Spurs at Wembley.
But what will be will be.

Whether it is Shrewsbury or West Ham it certainley makes the replay worth winning. I hope PC gives the replay with Bournemouth the same level of respect that he gave the first match and doesn’t revert back to the fiasco of the replay against Fylde.
Our name could be on that old trophy again, who knows???

Shrewsbury will frustrate Wet Spam and we may even start minus Grigg and Powell next week so who knows what will happen.

Afternoon Latics. There’s no decent way to say this so, “My name’s Stu, and I’m a West Ham supporter.”

Now before you all get to ripping me the inevitable new one, please allow me to say I come bearing a genuine question. I’ve not tried any other Wigan chat forums, yours is the first (the name helped, it has to be said) and I hope you’ll hear me out and be able to shed some light. Hopefully you don’t mind me intruding on your forum too much, people, though of course I’ll fully understand if you’d rather I just do one.

For some time now there has been debate on the West Ham forum I frequent over whether a club such as ours, and I literally just mean the “flirting with relegation” aspect here (none of the rest of the ridiculous circus that we are), should be playing a weakened team in the F.A. cup in order to prioritise staying in the Premier League. There are arguments for and against, some sensible and some not so much, but one of ours on the side of “Team PL” has suggested we “ask a Wigan fan how THEY feel”.

So that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Would you guys take the glory of that cup win, the run to the final, that whole day out and everything that went with it, and say it never took place…and swap it for avoiding relegation that season and staying in the PL? Or was it worth it for you?

Hi Stu
There is a slight difference I think in our positions.
West Ham HAVE won the Cup before. It’s not in the realms of the impossible (maybe just now – but over the years it wouldn’t be a great shock if you won it). So in your position it may well be that for your supporters winning the Cup wouldn’t have the same impact it had for us.
Even our most fanatical supporter, our most dyed-in-the-wool fan, would never ever have believed we would do what we did. Even on the day of the Final most of us were hoping we wouldn’t be embarrassed like we had been when we lost teh League Cup Final to United 4-0.
It was out of this world for us to win, and as we had always been treated as a bit like pariahs in the Premier League (don’t deserve to be there, Leeds are a big club who should be in the PL not Wigan etc etc) I don’t think there are huge numbers who shed too many tears.
The simple answer to your question then is that (and I think I speak for most Latics fans) we would 100% of the time choose the FA Cup win. I remember being asked the same question before the final by a Norwegian TV crew, and answered the same.
Our name is on that trophy and can’t be erased. No-one would remember if we had finished 17th that season.
But I suspect your situation is a bit different.

Thanks for the replies chaps, really appreciate that.

Whilst you’re right in that yes, we have won it before, the last time was 1980 so an entire generation of our fanbase up to about the age of 40 – myself included – have never really seen or witnessed us lift a “proper” trophy. I know that’s probably splitting hairs from your point of view as for Wigan to win it was definitely an absolutely incredible achievement as opposed to a return to former glory, but hopefully you can see where I’m coming from. This is not about a comparison, I’m genuinely just after your opinion from your viewpoint.

I do very much appreciate the differences between our clubs, believe me, and that’s why I wanted to convey a respectful tone asking this as I was slightly worried I may come across unintentionally condescending. I’m really and genuinely glad you’ve not taken it that way, and thanks for the quick comebacks – I do appreciate them (and would appreciate more!)

FWIW given the choice of securing our place at the big greedy table of the PL for another year, which only a few stand a chance of ever winning, to bob around mid-table but ensure that TV money keeps rolling in, or placing that on the line to see the team lift a trophy…like you guys, I choose the second every single time.