muttywhitedog

Not living in NW England – dont know.

The concept however is a cracking idea, and if we are brutally honest, one most negative posters on here wish Brenda had done to fill up those empty seats over the past 3 years. Maybe your new CEO will be a bit keener to sell your product rather than naively believing that being in the PL will mean that folk will walk through walls to come to a game.

We should be applauding any initiative that is aimed at getting the armchair fan out of his armchair and down to the DW, regardless of which sport it is.

And how much did the extra 5000 that attended Wigan v Arsenal and Wigan v Hull pay for their tickets?

Answer is exactly the same as the Heinz/Worthington employees paid to watch Wigan v Harlequins, because the tickets were, in both cases, purchased from the respective clubs by 3rd parties and then given to whoever they chose to.

Whether someone pays the club directly for a ticket or whether a ST holder or a company pays a few quid for the seat it doesnt matter – its a bum on a seat that would have otherwise been just a seat. That bum may well buy a programme, a drink, a snack, and maybe, just maybe, a ticket for another game. No doubt the marketing dept at the latics will be hoping that some of the 5000 that took advantage of the £4 a seat for a ST holder will buy a ticket in their own right.

Whilst we are on the subject of marketing, it shows how far the town has progressed when an advert for a Wigan sporting fixture is shown on prime-time tv. The only recollection I can have of the blue marketing strategy was my late father receiving a phone call from Steve Bruce begging him to buy a ticket for the Chelsea cup game – he’d not been to a latics game since about 1980!

Of course not. I was doing what Mr 32 does and avoid answering for as long as possible when the answer isnt what I’d like it to be. :D :D :D

err. That would be Darren Bent against Japan on 30 May 2010.

But of course if you meant Sunderland-born, then it would probably be Jordan Henderson who represented England U20s on 11 Aug 2009.

But back to your question as to why Wigan has not produced an international footballer since 1995….

Its 15 years on, and there should be someone lurking in your youth team that is of international standard. Its 9 years since you bought your way into the Championship and 6 years since you entered the premier league. That means you have been relatively high-profile for 9 years. So the talented 8 year old in 2001 will now be a very talented 17 year old about to burst onto the stage with Wigan.

Except we wait and wait, and meanwhile money is spent on other clubs’ talented youngsters (Moses).

Wigan is a football town that simply doesnt produce footballers. In its 80,000 population, there is not a single top-flight professional player of any note that hails from Wigan, yet there is one of the largest and longest running youth leagues run from Wigan (The one that Burnley-supporting vicar founded). I remember him from when I was growing up, and in all that time, the best that has come from Wigan is Andy Bloody Griffin and Gary Walsh.

Why doesnt it produce quality footballers? In my opinion its because the kids in Wigan are not “hungry” enough to want it. The “better yourself” society that the rest of the country has embraced seems to have bypassed Wigan, leaving it in a time-warp. Is that good? Is it hell.

I’d hate to be bringing my kids up in Wigan in the 21st Century.

and of course, crowds are fantastic for the world’s most famous cup competition in the world’s most popular sport:

5519
5335

and therefore based on the made-up figures above, the crowds should be much higher.

Thankyou – an answer at last. So the last local lad to represent his club and country was in early 1995.

Although I would have expected someone who claims to have supported WAFC for 32 years to be able to have come up with a name.

Sorry for the late response but I was out yesterday watching 3 local lads playing for their town within 21 hours after playing for their country.

My daughter tries to blame my son for things when she wants to distract me from her misdemeanours. Replies about Mick Hogan are all well and good, but they dont answer the question posed:

I’ll make it a bit easier…Include the 2nd tier too.

How many Wigan-born players have represented England or Wigan Athletic in the premiership or League 1 in the last 10 years?

(Here’s a helping hand….People born in Leicester dont count).

I think it was Gary Walsh.

But he’d spent his prime years at Man Utd & Bradford before possibly playing for Wigan. I think it was about 9 years ago when he may have played, if indeed he did.

Also, Andy Griffin was born in Wigan and enjoyed a successful career playing for Newcastle & Stoke in the premiership. I think the closest he came to wearing a Wigan shirt was when he swapped his for one at the end of a game against his home town side.

No need to go as far as England. How many Wigan-born players have represented their home-town side in the past 5 years?