sacking the spaniard

It obviously won’t surprise many to learn that I am pro-Martinez. This is not necessarily because I believe him to be the finished article as a coach, far from it in fact.

One of the reasons I give him my support is because I have no great expectation of this club ever having the financial muscleambition to attract the really top players and managers. “Ever”, in this case, meaning as long as Whelan is in control – not a criticism of Whelan, by the way, just a fact.

That being the case, I personally think it unrealistic to except this club to be a regular top 10 team. I think we will always struggle, regardless of the type of football we play, and that being the case I would like to see us fail trying to play football rather scrapping like dogs. That’s just my preference.

Under the not-so-rash assumption that our budgets and transfer strategy will remain the same as in recent seasons, ie buy raw and cheap and sell-on where possible, I would be interested to hear the views of those who want Martinez out to answer the following:-

1) – realistically, approximately what league position do you think Wigan as a club should be aiming to finish on a regular basis?
2) – which manager/managers do you think would/could come in to achieve the level of success you picked in 1)?
3) – how long would you give your preferred manager to achieve the target set in 1) given that you have only given Martinez one season to achieve his given target of surviving.

This is not a loaded or antagonistic question. I am genuinely intrigued to know what people’s expectations are and how they expect them to be achieved.

For me, I would be broadly happy with anything from 16th-10th every year, although obviously the success of one season’s 15th, for example, can be viewed differently to another’s depending on how that particular season panned out. I’d like to think that Martinez can achieve that over the coming years. That said, a few more 8 and 9 drubbings next season might make me change my mind.

Answers on a postcard please.