For the Doom Mongers

From an outsider looking in with no bias i will throw my view in.

Firstly a massive problem from when i was a ST holder was the ‘jobs for the boys’ mentality that engulfs the club behind the scenes from the boardroom down. Barrow and company need clearing out asap if The Latics are to move forward.

I actually think Joyce has the makings of a very good manager and the first transfer target (albeit controversial) is a dynamic and skillful midfielder in Ravel Morrison. He has been dealt a shitty hand in having to inherit a squad full of over the hill and over hyped players signed by another ‘jobs for the boys’ type appointment (although i also think Caldwell should have been given to the end of the season to rectify it)

The appointment of a chairman in his mid 20’s in my view is just ridiculous. He might be a Latics fan but he doesn’t know what is best for the club and it’s just a decent way of Whelan keeping his hand in. He will be off when grandad tells him it’s time to go.

I cannot believe fans have not yet realised that saying ‘we are playing well, we will come good, we deserve better’ doesn’t wash. After 4 years of saying that with Martinez it has carried on ever since. It’s like some people set very low standards for the club and expect them to be in the lower leagues.You have to earn the right to win and that side is extremely, extremely poor. It’s devoid of any skill or pace bar Yanick. Far too many clumsy loan deals and freebies of players in their 30’s. It smacks of what Blackpool started doing after their time in the Premiership came to an end and now they are near a sticky end. Very similar chairmen in my opinion. Like i said, i think Joyce has the credentials but he is working for an amateur chairman and he won’t spend any money. I can’t see Wigan Athletic getting out of trouble this season and then anything could happen.

I’ve been saying the same myself Runcorn but I’m getting sick of thinking after every match the same thing. Another crap team have gone away with all 3 points…… So I’m beginning to think we are..

Confidence is the issue now more than anything else. We just need to nick a win and who knows?[/quote]

I keep thinking the same but it reminds me of the season we went down. We would lose 3-0 to a side who had 3 shots.

Bolton fans can thank their lucky stars they had an owner who was prepared to walk away 150 million quid lighter.
Very charitable to basically give away a stadium, an academy, an hotel, land and a football club.Or does he still own the real estate?????
Somehow though, I don’t think we have heard the last of Bolton’s woe.

Few questions/points Yosser.

Q – Having been a ST holder why are you no longer even a fan?

From a squad of 27 (if you count Bogdan) only 7 are in their 30s with 4 of them 30 or 31. Hardly an ageing squad.

Q – Seeing as our budget is the 16th biggest in the league with some clubs paying 5 or 6 times PER PLAYER than us, where do you expect us to be?
Q – Should we risk the future of the club like Bolton and Blackpool as you mentioned and spend massively despite getting crowds of 9k and having shirts from 2 seasons ago in the club shop still?[/quote]

Sure Egg, i will answer. It’s no secret. You may not remember me, i used to be a prolific poster on here and although i still read what is going on don’t post until 3 days ago. I congratulated them on the F.A Cup win and again in May last season when they were promoted but that has been it.

To answer your first question about not being a fan anymore. I stated a good few years ago that it was nothing personal to Wigan Athletic, i am not a football fan in general anymore. I will break it down into a couple of sections for you though. Like many i first forayed into Springfield Park as a youngster in the early 90’s. I didn’t care that we would get walloped at home to the likes of Mansfield etc before Whelan came along, i was a kid actually there witnessing my team registering the score that i could only previously view on teletext because i was too young to go on my own. I got to experience the jostling in the toilets to piss on a concrete wall, i got to smell the whiff of cigars floating down the Shevvy end by old fellas who probably aren’t around any more. Listening to the banter of the chaps in the crowd and i was hooked. As the years passed and we reached the Premier League i found myself becoming more and more bored with the money involved, the mercenary of players, managers and chairmen as they became more greedy. When Palacios, Valencia, Roberts, N’Zogbia and even Steve Bruce were moved on or pushed out by either greed or lack of ambition i stopped going, Right around the time we started signing dross like Caldwell x2 etc and being expected to pay for the privilage of watching my team win maybe 2 or 3 home games per season when they could have been and still could have been competitive. Instead the goal was to scrape 17th place on as little as possible when finishing higher up the league had much more financial and recognizable implications. I carried on watching for a few seasons but even then i started to switch off because it was so predictable. Now football in general has become a complete farce. 100m pound transfers. Players on half a million pounds a week. It is becoming less and less of a spectator sport and many more people are switching off. The only way to combat this in my view is to have a worldwide salary cap of £20,000 a week. It’s a damn good living and more clubs become richer for it and it would also combat the mercenary aspect that stalks the game. Players will only move to another club if they want to actually join that said club not because they can offer no money. I could go into more detail but it will take forever.

The squad of 27. 7 are in their 30’s true, so that leaves a lot more of them in the ‘overrated’ bracket. Players like Grigg, Power and Jacobs are nowhere near what is required for the level and i think there is going to be a hefty price to pay for this. They could get a couple of million for Will Grigg because of the ‘chant’ alone probably but would it be re-invested? i doubt it. Although the first player linked in the window could be an exciting signing does it not concern you that the first potential signing is also a free transfer? With noises about a cull happening in January it would concern me as a fan that the only noises or rumours are those of lower league or freebies.

On the budget. Now in 2017 no i don’t expect Wigan to be competing with the likes at the top end of the league but….. They could have grabbed the bull by the horns and gone straight back up in the first place with the right decisions but the decisions in managers and playing staff ever since premiership relegation have been nothing short of embarrassing from a side that won the F.A Cup. The stature of the club was huge at that point, European Football (which was treated as a joke by Coyle) for a side in the Championship to have an F.A Cup and European Football they could have easily, easily attracted a squad of players to walk that league that season and then the money comes rolling in again but typical Whelan decided to strip the club bare of it’s assets during that pre-season and indeed throughout that season and repeated the exact same tactics that got them there in the first place and the less said about Mackay the better. Yes the chairman brought many great memories to the town and to me personally but he also helped me fall out of love with the game i had grown up adoring. The soulless stadium which he hardly paid a penny for, the stripping of the assets, ridiculous media commitments to make his stature grow and now they are headed for a place far darker than then they ever were before he took over. Relegation this season would be absolutely catastrophic, i can’t put into words how devastating that would be to the club but they still have a chance to rescue it… somehow i don;t think that is in the vested interest though.

in my opinion of course

Thank you for your honesty Yosser. I wasn’t being arsey with you so I hope it didn’t come across that way I was genuinely asking why you were no longer a fan as yes I do remember you being a regular poster and hopefully you’ll stay around.

I agree totally with your comments regards modern football. It is an absolute joke that money is thrown around the way it is when the World is in the situation it is in but that’s life I guess. Actors/actresses will get paid millions for one film or TV series. It’s the entertainment business I suppose.

Otter has a point though; whilst you don’t want money being thrown around you are wanting Latics to throw money around to be successful. Can’t have it both ways.

Personally (and I have said it before) I think that the 8 Premier League years has ruined some fans expectations of a club such as ourselves. Obviously those that jumped on the wagon during the rise think that that is the norm. I started watching us when I was 6 and we were relegated that season to the bottom division. Obviously I don’t want to see us there again, but aside from a nice stadium and a pretty wealthy Chairman we aren’t much different to the clubs down there and our financial records show you that.

Dave Whelan had no choice really other than to strip the assets of the club in order for us to survive and to ensure that we don’t go down the route of our near neighbours. We aren’t exactly skint though as we have a stadium and training ground that are very cleverly held under a different business name so that should the shit ever hit the fan we actually have assets to sell or to bring in much needed finance from other avenues.

No egg i dont think it was arsey at all. I understand why you ask. It wasnt so much a case of spending trillions. We had good sides that cost very little but every time it started looking good they were all sold on.

Sorry but i just do not buy that the club had to sell year on year. Nonsense to me that. In the premier league years Wigan athletic recieved about 700 million pounds but probably more in transferred players and tv money. It doesnt cost that much to rent a stadium and pay about 5-10m a year in wages. There are other reasons but yes Standish i 100% still firmly believe it

Financially I don’t think we could have done it any other way. We kept STs ridiculously low for obvious reasons and it had a knock on effect on transfers. We are well run in that department and still quite solid for a club our size. I would not knock Mr Whelan in any way he has steered the good ship Latics brilliantly.