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I agree with VAT, the club should have just let his comments wash over them like water off a duck’s back
By responding in the way they have its just made them look petty & drawn even more attention to the very issue most opposition supporters hit us with anyway
And yet people claimed the likes of Hodgson wouldn’t come to Latics if he was offered the post if Martinez was sacked/resigned
West Brom are probably the only club (apart from Blackpool) other than Latics who are as stringent when it comes to their transfer & wages policy & it aint stopped him going there
For my money its probably the best appointment they could have made – I think he’s a very good manager in terms of getting the best out of average players or getting them into a system that suits them. Its when he goes to bigger clubs & has to set his sights higher that he seems to struggle
His appointment has just made the relegation battle that little bit tougher me thinksBeing a captain in a cricket team & being a captain in a football team are 2 completely different things.
In cricket they are much more involved in team selection, deciding the order of batting, deciding where to put fielders & when, when to have “power plays” in ODI, what bowlers to put on and when depedning on weather conditions, pitch conditions, batters they’re up against.
In football they are little more than a figurehead. I remember Peter Atherton getting appointed captain at Latics at a very young age & people saying he was too young but he took it in his stride & if anything it helped develop him as a player – although I acknowledge that it was at a much lower level
A captain in football needs to be someone the other players look up to in terms of application, effort & skill. Experience can also help but I don’t think its essential – it shouldn’t (IMO) be gaff laden players like Gary Caldwell & Alcaraz.
If he stays I’d give it to Al Habsi although giving it to McCarthy if we stay up might encourage him to stayThere’s no doubting that Bobby talks a good game but then so do many people down the pub & it doesn’t make em good managers.
I would just pick up on a few points though which stick out through the back slapping & rallying calls:
“Well, the third of those windows has just closed” – technically its been 4 windows since Bobby arrived but if we’re taking it as 3 windows since his initial interview was given then the club is in a more perilous league position that it was prior to those 3 windows so I don’t share his optimism or his claims that he has a better squad – or if he has then he aint got them performing well enough
“Last season, we were very inconsistent….. This season has been very different, with much more consistency” – Last season at this stage Latics were 16th with 25 points. This season we’re 18th with 26 points. I’m not sure how that qualifies as being “much more” consistent
“next 12 games are vital and, I can guarantee, once we’re through them we’ll never look back” – not sure how he can possibly “guarantee” anything but surely with that comment he’s made a rod for his own back?? If Latics go down & struggle a bit then he’s nto upheld his guarantee. If Latics stay up & next season is the same mainly tepid, struggling, drivel we’ve seen this season then again he’s not upheld his guarantee
All in all I think the man has many flaws as a manager which get exposed most match days. he aint dumb though & in his interviews with the fanzines he knows exactly the sort of stuff to say to wind up coming out smelling of roses i.e. “my love for the club” etc…
I’ve seen Whelan do exactly the same thing at fans forums in the past when there’s been a bit of grief flying around the room & a few “come on we’re wigan, lets take this club forward” & everyone’s joining in & chanting his name
My only advice would be not to walk – especially with a 9 year old child with you.
Me & a mate attempted to walk back after on eof the games there a few seasons ago. Despite following the crowds 20 minutes later we were still feckin miles from the city centre, gave up, went in a pub over the road (full of Irish & Norwegian scousers watching United on the telly), had a couple of drinks, ordered a taxi & got back to the city centre that way – & it was still at least a 5 minute drive
If I can remember what i was like when i was 9 then your child will just start moaning they are tired, where are we? Are we nearly there yet? when are we going to get home? – unless they really like hiking through the dark & dingy streets of inner city liverpool
Jimmy has been consistently one of our best players since he started getting a run in the team around a year ago.
He is going to be a fantastic player, i just hope we can hold onto him for a few years to come!Yes cant remember the manager that signed him though and didn’t throw him in streight away but let him adapt and make the impact that he has :angry-banghead: [/quote]
To be fair, I think Bobby’s handling of McCarthy was dictated to him as opposed to it being some great masterstroke to let him adapt gradually.
He was injured when we arrived & missed the whole of the pre-season & by his own admission (in an interview on wignatoday.net at the time)wasn’t physcially or match fit until around November & he spoke about maybe needing to go out on loan to get that match fitness
As it was he got an appearance in the FA Cup, proved his match fitness, and has then played virtually every game since then when he has been fitIts a completely different situation to his handling of Moses, McArthur (& to a lesser extent now) McManaman who get given sub appearances, cup games, get their praises sung by the manager & then rewarded with being put back on the bench or dropped altogether – one of em for the last 12 months
:angry-banghead:Well, it will be even more so now that those two herberts Gray and Keys have joined “the nations favourite talk radio station”.
This will only be a good move if they bin that idiot Irani as part of the re-shuffle
:angry-soapbox:
Ronnie Irani is a Bolton, Man Utd & Wigan RL fan.
Surely this is the perfect identikit for a figure of hate for Latics supporters.[/quote]
Not forgetting of course that he’s from Leigh!!!
Coz Mr Clough is in no way shape or form responsible for derby’s current slide down the table is he.
Bloody hell, Bobby infuriates me at times with his endless positive spin on everything in the media but in my opinion a manager should never highlight individuals or in the manner that he has done
the words end & bell spring to mind
Wigan RL – Couple of million in debt when he took over granted. How did he wipe the debt. Sold all the players then the stadium to tesco leaving them homeless and playerless.I’m not even gonna go into some of the other “points” you make but if you’re gonna have a rant like that at any individual you need to make sure that all your points are absolutely flawless when it comes to stating facts
And the quote I’ve copied above is just plain incorrect.
Jack Robinson was chairman at the RL when he announced they had negotiated a deal with Tesco to sell central park
Whelan, as latics chairman at the time, made a counter proposal to buy central park & turn it into a 20-25k all seater stadium for use of both Latics & the rugby. It caused a bit of a to doo at the time amongst Latics fans coz he stated that you couldn’t let a historical ground like central park be bulldozed whilst ignoring that Springfield Park would be sold & bulldozed despite being the older ground of the 2
Anyway he took that proposal to Wigan RL shareholders & they voted in favour of it but Jack Robinson went behind the shareholders backs & signed the deal with tesco anyway
He bought the RL club later when they were in danger of becoming homeless (deal with tesco was signed & a moving out date set & they had nowhere to go) & according to independent media reports at the time were in danger of going bust – if memory serves me right the RL board used to set its wages budget having included a trip to Wembley in the challenge cup & the money that brought in. When they got knocked out by Salford one year that was the cause of their financial problems
As for selling their players too – it was my understanding that the warriors had to reduce their bloated squad to get within the salary cap that was introduced & even then they broke those rules virtually every year Whelan owned them so I don’t think he can be accused of scrimping their eitherAs I said if you’re gonna have a rant like that you really need to check your “facts” first & those facts were anything but
I’m not even gonna start on the stuff relating to Latics coz its just your own personal take on stuff – none of which could even remotely be proved
Yes, if my auntie had a nob, and all that.I agree about the morale thing but it doesn’t alter the fact that we could still win the four games I suggested and would have 38 points.
Neither is there anything to say that many of the teams around us will suddenly start stringing a run together when the form table says that most of them (Blackpool, WBA in particular) are slipping backwards rather than the other way around.
I’ll hang onto my optimism for now.
Hold on. You said last week that you’d accepted 6 weeks or so ago that in all likelihood Latics were going to get relegated this season and now you’re hanging on to your optimism??? :crazy: :crazy:
Some optimism ;)With regards to the morale. It plays a big part in sport & if teams around us do pick up points & Latics look a bit cut adrift it’ll play a big part in the results beyond that. But yes I do realise that the saying “if my auntie had balls” applies to particular point of mine but then it also applies to the 4 games you suggest we may win
I do also accept that there’s nowt to suggest that any fo the teams around us are likely to pick up any more points than us in the run in. Although having said that i don’t know which teams they are all up against. However logic would suggest that they are all likely to pick up some points in the next 6 games & it is more than probable Latics won’t pick up any – again aunties & balls & all that
I also agree with tini in that when the side plays direc & with tempo we can cause problems, i just think its case of whether Bobby has the guts (or foresight) to see that.
Hopefully he doesI don’t see how the next 4 are crucial at all. If you were budgeting for points at the start of the season you would surely have had us down for zero out of the next three. So anything at all out of those is a bonus.The Birmingham game at the end of that run is one of the ones we should be targeting I grant you but I won’t be getting too worried if, as expected, we draw blanks in the next three.
Use the force, Bicky
I know you were talking to Bicky Griff but for once I agree with you there.
When the fixtures came out I did a prediction of each game & have been checking how I got on against those predictions.
I had us down for the remaining games as losing against Liverpool, United, City, Chelsea, Sunderland, Everton & Villa. Wins against Brum, Blackpool & West Ham & draws against Spurs & Stoke which would give us 37 points and probably safety – just
So in that respect I’d agree that he results against the “big” clubs are probably not that important in themselves
That said in the cold light of the end of the back end of the season I’m not sure we’ll get the draws against Spurs or Stoke and I feel a bit iffy about Brum & West Ham to be honest!!Where i think teh results against the “big” clubs are important are what it could do for moral – if we lose 5 of our next 6 games & some of the clubs around us win some of their games in hand, as well of some of their next 6 games, Latics could very well find themselves at the foot of the table & playing catch up. Which will be very difficult psychologically for them if the club starts to look at bit stranded at the bottom of the tableAs a fully paid up member of the darkside who thinks that we’ll go down & that Bobby is not by any stretch of the imagination the right man for the job (based on what I’ve seen since August 2009) I’d just like to chuck my twopenneth in regarding Saturday’s game & some of the statements regarding the darkside since then:
1) A good entertaining game. That’s what I look for first & foremost from latics. Over the years I’ve got used to seeing us lose or chuck away winning positions but as long as I’ve been entertained I’m not particularly bothered
2) A much more direct approach from latics on Saturday. By that i don’t mean lumping it forward at every opportunity but that there was much more pace & urgency about the team when they had the ball and more pressing when they didn’t
3) Hallelujah. 2 pacey wingers played & it stretched Blackburn’s defence. Well played to Bobby for switching them round at every opportunity too
4) Getting men into the box. I don’t think I can remember the last time that not only was our right back having a shot but that there were 2 or 3 other latics players in the box & a midfielder was first to the rebound
5) The 2 central defenders looked all over the shop at times. Figueroa continues to get sucked in from his flank throughout the game. To let in 3 at home is not good (although i couldn’t care as long as the team continues to score 4 in a match) but I think a better team would have taken advantage of that. Hopefully it was just down to a bit of ring rustiness with Gohouri & Alcaraz not having partnered each other at the back for a while
6) We’ve seen good performances before, sporadically, during Bobby’s reign but they’ve never been followed up with any sort of sustained run of good performances. Hopefully this time will be different & hopefully Bobby continues with that team that played at the weekend – although personally I’d still replace Watson with McArthur, drop McCarthy into the central midfield & put Cleverley into “the hole”. I just hope that as our next fixture is a toughie Bobby concentrates on what is his strongest line up rather than worrying too much about the opposition & bringing in too many defensive midfielders & dropping Moses back to the bench & starting with Stam in midfielde which seems to be what he’s favoured away from home alot this season
7) to accusations that the darkside disappear when we have a good performance. probably, but to be fair that’s not very often & what exactly would be the point in posting a negative comment in the aftermath of a good result? If the negative posts are to stop then it needs a sustained run of good performances & I’d like nowt more than to see that. I should also point out that in the aftermath of an extremely dire performance many of the lightside are also conspicuous by their absence. In fact the lack of posts from either camp following a good/bad performance are almost as predictable a the glut of “Where are the darkside posts now?” which follow in the light of a vicoryYeah and that second rovers goals was awful, no tracking back from Diame and Figgy was out of position….Oh yeah the game hasnt happened yet…
Well It was their first goal & I don’t think Diame could be blamed but other than that you weren’t far wrong Edinburgh!!!! ;)
I think you’re getting mixed up between sheep & dogs in that last paragraph Scholes
Also, whereas my wife my agree with your comparison of me & a pig, contrary to popular belief pigs are very clean animals who do not roll around in their own filth!!!
On your other comments, I fully except I don’t come on here offering any answers to the problems but just know in my own mind that Bobby is not the person to take this club forward & I think there are managers out there at present who could do a better job with the same funds & players than Bobby is doing – In truth I don’t know whether they’d accept the job but in truth you don’t know whether they reject it either. Just as neither of us really know what exactly the “financial restrictions” are at the club
