John Benson set to leave

“We’ve signed two Swansea players, both of which appeared decent additions at the time, the rest is press speculation. Britton is a free transfer and comes on the back of two successful Championship seasons.”
To be honest No1 I don’t know anyone who though that Jason Scotland was a decent addition at the time. Virtually everyone I spoke to about him agreed that there was probably a very good reason why, at the age of 31, he had never come anywhere close to playing top flight English football & that if he’d been good enough he’d have played there before last season.
Gomez was signed off the back of his Spanish scouting regardless of whether that was when he was at Swansea or Wigan. Bobby also stated that there was no doubt in his mind that he had what it took to adapt to top flight English football. 12 months on you have to question that judgement
That’s why alarm bells start ringing when there is an alleged bust up with the general manager over the possible signing of a player who wasn’t even a regular in the Swansea team last season. That he will cost nothing is (IMO) irrelevant if he isn’t good enough

“You’ve also ommiited Diame and the two youth teams players on the brink of breaking into the first team from your Spanish list. Amaya is the exception that proves the rule when it comes to the Spanish signings!!”
Diame I did admittedly completely forget about but its one good player. Quite how you can use 2 youth team players that in all probability you have never seen play to justify Bobby’s Spanish scouting network is beyond me

“Those in the pro and anti Martinez camps must both welcome this development, the onfield success or failure of Latics will now be down entirely to the manager.”
i don’t welcome it at al. I don’t want Bobby to fail & I don’t want latics to get relegated. My honest opinion is that yesterday’s development make both more likely but I hope I’m wrong

“McCarthy, Moses and Diame more than make up for any dissapointment in the above signings”
Hold an a cotton pickin second, how on earth can anybody judge Victor Moses a success or failure based on what we’ve seen of him so far. He may well have been linked with all the top teams under the sun but the fact of the matter is that outside of the Championship only Latics put in a bid for him. He has started 1 match is it since January & beyond that been limted to 10 or 15 minute (or less) sub appearances because our manager did not think that he was ready for regular first team football. Now I regularly question Bobby’s judgement but if even he does not think that Moses was ready up until the end of this season I fail to see how anybody can judge him a successful signing (or for that matter a bad one)

This John Benson thing…yes, its ashame he is leaving (did I really say that!) but some of the stuff on here is making me laugh. Some peoples “Facts” need to be looked at again – So, did Benno bring in:

Palacios – No, he went for a trial with Arsenal but Wenger had too many midfielders so he tipped of Bruce, he went to Brum after a trial.

Figueroa – We had one Honduran…what does the rest of the Honduran team look like……hardly extensive scouting..

Rodellega – OK, He may have unearthed this gem…but do we really know that?

He signed some good players and he signed some bad ones…everyone does.

But this is Wigan Athletic in transformation and to fully transform, the whole club needs to change. Martinez has signed some good players, he has signed some players that have not settled in (Gomez etc..) but thats football.

I welcome the change – it can only be for the good of the club by a person who is totaly 100% Wigan Athletic and wouldn’t want any harm to come of this great club.

“it can only be for the good of the club by a person who is totaly 100% Wigan Athletic and wouldn’t want any harm to come of this great club.”

I’m a 100% Wigan Athletic & don’t want any harm to come to this great club & I’d imagine everybody else on here is the same too – doesn’t mean we’d always make the right decisions for the best of teh club if we were in charge so I don’t see what his alleged “passion” for Latics has got to do with it being a good move or not

I don’t see why there’s such a worry, Martinez will stand or fall by his decisions, he passed his first test by keeping us up.

The people who don’t trust Martinez are the ones who said we were certainties to go down, are they the ones letting their passion for the club cloud their better judgement?

I’ve ranted and raved at games this season, even argued with fans who think I am being overly critical, but I still believe the manager needs 100% backing and time.

Some of Martinez’s critics say teams like us shouldn’t even attempt to play football in the Premiership, or we shouldn’t sign anymore Spanish/Swansea players, sweeping statements that don’t stand upto any critical thinking.

Personally I think it’s a breath of fresh air to see a manager trying to play the game the right way, giving home grown talent a chance, and bringing in promising British and Spanish younsgsters.

If Martinez fails he will be sacked, but you cannot be afraid of change.

some may think if one gets ones fingers burned TWICE as with scotland and gomez it would be prudent not to put ones fingers back in the fire !
now forgive me but i think that does stand up to “any critical thinking”

when you look at amaya and gomez,who forgive me if i am wrong, are our only spanish signings(except for trainee/juniors)it is fully understandable that there are certain reservations in that area.

no body is saying that we should not sign spanish players,in fact if they are good enough the more the merrier,this thread is about the power struggle in the wings and the fact that benson doesnt think some of martinez’s signings and targets are up to scratch and martinez/reeves dont think we need to be scouring markets that have prooven to be highly lucrative for us in the past.

most people who are questioning this backroom coup,think we should be opening more avenues not closing them

“Personally I think it’s a breath of fresh air to see a manager trying to play the game the right way”

This “trying to play the game the right way” is really starting to get on my wazz
For me tryign to play the right way is by winning, scoring goals, not conceding many & playign with guts & passion
For the vast majority of the season what I witnessed was turgid & dull. Performances devoid of passion, creativity, fight & pace and replaced with slow, plodding, gutless, sideways football that created little in the way of goal scoring opportunities & when it did there was no-one there to get on the end of it coz he didn’t have the personnel to make his 4-5-1 formation work
I’d love to know if “trying to play the right way” includes getting your worst points tally since entering the top flight, turning one of the best defences in the league into the worst within months, having our worst ever goals conceded & goals difference record since entering the top flight???

No matter how many people say & how often they repeat it, nothing will convince me that what i witnessed for the vast majority of last season was “trying to play football the right way”

Do these facts take into account what goals/chances created were done so from open play as opposed to set pieces such as corners, free kicks etc..?
Not that I’m denying the goal scoring figures under Bobby hold up well against those from 3 other seasons but I seem to remember us scoring alot of goals this season from set pieces. I also remember numerous games of us having loads of possession but little to show for it at the end of the day – I’m sure at one point against Chelsea Latics had had 60odd% of possession without having a single strike on target

It could all be down to personal taste. I like fast & furious, blood & guts type football and the “style” Bobby seemed to be trying to introduce (IMO with players who weren’t of a high enough skill level to carry it out) last season, for the most part bored me rigid. The same is true of my mates, even some contractor I deal with at work & alot on here too so to say he is trying to play “the right way” when stated as fact as it was in the thread I replied to is (IMO) a load of guff