Category Archives: Fan Views

A Luton Town fan’s view of Christian Walton

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , ,

Wigan Athletic have announced the signing of Christian Walton from Brighton and Hove Albion on a season-long loan. The 6 ft 5 in tall goalkeeper is 21 years old and has represented England at U18, U19, U20 and U21 levels. He has recently signed a four year contract with the south coast club.

On signing Walton, Latics manager Paul Cook stated: “Following the departure of Matt Gilks it was clear we needed reinforcements in this area and Christian is one that we were keen to target. He had good experience in League Two and League One last season and has the potential to develop into a top goalkeeper.”

Christian Walton was born in Wadebridge, Cornwall, and came through the Plymouth Argyle youth system. He joined Albion as a 17 year old, going on to sign a professional contract in the summer of 2013. He made his senior debut in late October 2014 in a League Cup tie against Tottenham. Walton made his league debut against Uwe Rosler’s Latics less than a week later, to be followed by a start against Blackburn Rovers in the match following. He had to wait until the last game of the season to reappear when Albion played at Middlesbrough.

In summer 2015 Walton joined Bury on a season-long  loan, playing against Latics once more, this time at the DW Stadium in a League Cup match. However, the loan was cut short in early September, due to a groin injury. He had made 6 appearances. However, in November he was sent back to Plymouth on a short-term loan, making four appearances over a month.

Last season Walton joined Luton Town on a season-long loan, only to be recalled by Albion in January 2017. He had made 33 appearances for the Bedfordshire club, conceding the least number of goals in League 2 up to that point. In April he joined Southend United on a month-long loan, making 7 appearances.

In order to learn more about Christian we reached out on Twitter to fans of Luton Town, where he has played the majority of his first team football. Thanks to Danny B-D @dannybd85 and Andrew Kingston @treblethree for their responses to our questions that appear below.

Let’s start with Danny’s fan view:

What are his strengths and weaknesses as a keeper?

I’d say his strengths are his shot stopping, and one on one situations!

Weakness probably his distribution, his kicking was sometimes wayward from goal kicks if he went long, short was fine as we often played from the back last year! 

Sometimes he would come for a cross and either miss completely or get beaten to it in the air by an opposing player!

However I would say it was rare and I can only recall Stevenage and Portsmouth away where it cost us the game

How does he relate to the fans? Is he a team player? Does he show commitment?

He pretty much became a fans favourite very quickly! some saves he made early on went down very well with our supporters and a lot of us were gutted when Brighton activated the recall clause in his loan deal!

He was very much a team player and showed a good level of commitment whenever he played for Luton, and everybody was in agreement that he had improved massively over the 6 months or so he was with us.

We can expect possession football to return to Wigan under Paul Cook. How effective would he be building up moves from the back?

What you would need to remember is he is a young keeper and will make mistakes here and there, as mentioned above, his long kicking needs working on, and he came for crosses and didn’t always successfully catch the ball, but you will tell he’ll be a valuable asset to you.

As I said above he was used to playing out the back too, in fact we did vary the style a bit and as the season went on he certainly improved his overall game!

What kind of potential does he have? Would you have him back at Luton?

Well put simply, Brighton have just given him a 4 year contract so they clearly see a futurefor him, whether that be championship or premier league remains to be seen, I think premier league is achievable if he progresses as fast as he did with us last season.

I feel with regular game time at League One level will serve to improve him further and if he keeps moving up the divisions season by season I don’t see why he won’t be a regular in a premier league side, but there’s a longish way to go for him yet!

I would love to see him back at Luton one day, I am, like many town fans are, convinced we would’ve gone up automatically last season had he remained all season! 

No disrespect to Macey and Moore who were bought in to replace him but Walton was just a cut above both of them! 

You’ve got yourself a good young goalkeeper with bags of potential and I hope he continues to impress

Hope that helps, and good luck for the season!

 

Andrew’s fan view:

 What are his strengths and weaknesses as a keeper?

I must admit when we first got him I was worried about putting a young keeper in as our no.1 but he really surprised me at how mature his performances were, he is a good shot stopper and doesn’t let mistakes get to him, not that he made a lot of them. If I was going to be harsh I would say he could use his height better but that’s just looking for a weaknesses.

 How does he relate to the fans? Is he a team player? Does he show commitment?

He got on really well with the fans at Luton who took to him very early on, definitely a team player and was so committed to the club he even came back to watch our games after he left.

We can expect possession football to return to Wigan under Paul Cook. How effective would he be building up moves from the back ?

Nathan Jones likes to pass from the back which is one of the reasons he got Walton in at Luton, you shouldn’t have any problems with his distribution and he doesn’t tend to panic.

What kind of potential does he have? Would you have him back at Luton?

I think he has a lot of potential, to play as many games as he did and consistently perform so well is a great indication to the standard he is already at and I’m sure he will get even better. I would have loved him back at Luton and given how worried the fan base was when he left speaks volumes.

 Hope that helps, if he performs for Wigan like he did at Luton then you will love him.

 

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A Leyton Orient fan’s view of Gavin Massey

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , , , ,

 

Wigan Athletic have announced the signing of Gavin Massey from Leyton Orient. The 24 year old forward, 5 ft 8 in tall, was a free agent following the London club’s relegation from the EFL.

On signing Massey, Latics manager Paul Cook commented on the club’s website that: “Gavin is a player we feel can do really well for us. He played against Portsmouth twice last season and scored a great goal at Fratton Park. He’s quick, strong and committed and can operate anywhere across the front three. For a player of his age, he has a lot of experience and has played a lot in this division. He adds great competition to the squad.”

Gavin Massey was born in Watford and is a product of their Harefield Academy. The Watford manager at the time, Malky Mackay, gave him his first team debut as a 17 year old in May 2010 at Coventry, soon after which he signed his first professional contract. In March 2011, he was loaned out to Wealdstone. He went on to make 6 appearances for the Isthmian League side in the 6 weeks of the loan period, scoring one goal. After making an appearance for Watford in mid-August 2011 Massey was sent on loan to Yeovil Town in September. He went on to make 16 appearances for the West Country club, scoring 4 goals before returning to Watford in mid-January 2012. However, just over a week later he joined Colchester United on a one month loan.

After returning to Watford he was to be released on a free transfer to return to Colchester. Massey went on to make 158 appearances for the U’s, scoring 20 goals, in four years with them. In the summer of 2016 Leyton Orient paid Colchester an undisclosed fee to sign Massey. He went on to make 36 appearances, scoring 4 goals, last season.

In order to find out more about Massey’s performance over the last season we contacted Matt Simpson of the Leyton Orient blog View from the West Stand, who put us in touch with David Thompson (@DavidTh64301889).

Here are David’s responses to our questions:

What positions has he played in for Orient? Which is his best?

He started off playing right midfield and did quite well early on, even scoring 3 minutes into his debut.  He then had a slight knock and sort of disappeared in games for a little bit.  To be honest I think that was more to do with the complete circus surrounding the club at the time and him suddenly realising what he had got himself into!  Around Christmas time he came back into the side and was playing as a number 10, off of a front man and at times as a more advanced forward.  He was superb at this point and scored some great goals (check out his goal away at Portsmouth on YouTube).

What are his strengths and weaknesses as a player?

He’s actually quicker than he looks – he’s not a jet healed type winger but is quite fast.  He can put a decent cross in and has a decent touch.   He scored a few goals for us, a couple of which were crackers from distance.  It’s hard to call him out on weaknesses, as at times he was playing in a terrible side, put together by whatever sucker / idiot / victim was selected as manager that week.  He’s not the most defensive player you will see and can go missing a bit.

How does he relate to the fans? Is he a team player? Does he show commitment?

He was popular with the fans, especially around Christmas when he was putting on a one man show at times to try and keep us up. Personally, I think losing him around April time to injury was one of the major nails in the coffin of our relegation as he had been playing so well and teams were scared of him.  His effort from Christmas on was excellent and cannot be faulted.  If I was being cynical I could say he was playing for a move as he could see the writing on the wall for Orient, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was getting stuck in.

What kind of potential does he have? Would you have him back at the O’s?

He has a lot of potential.  He’s only 24/25 I think and could play at least Championship in my opinion.  He needs a decent run of games and a team that’s going to go on the offensive in games, allowing him to get in and around the box where he is a hand full.   Would I have him back?  Absolutely.  The rumour is we paid out around 200K for him.  On a free he’s a bargain.

 

 
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Another Oxford United fan’s view of Chey Dunkley

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views

The arrival of Chey Dunkley at Wigan certainly has the fans talking. Some initially thought of him as a squad player, but is a player who played over 50 games last season likely to be merely warming the bench?

Dunkley was usually employed on the right hand side of central defence at Oxford, with ex-Plymouth defender Curtis Nelson on the left. Craig Morgan too is more of a right sided central defender, as is Jack Hendry. Last season the position on the left side of Wigan’s defence was usually taken up by the left footed Dan Burn, with Jake Buxton also able to perform comfortably there. Burn was excellent last season and that, together with a wealth of experience in the second tier, could make him a prime target for Championship clubs. It has already been rumoured that Burton Albion want Buxton to return there eight years since he left to go to join Nigel Clough at Derby County. With Clough now at Burton and the player’s salary being a factor, Latics might well release the 32 year old.

We have had mixed messages from David Sharpe in recent weeks about keeping the nucleus of last season’s squad together. However, David Perkins has since signed an extended contract for another year. It could be viewed as a gamble, since Perkins is now 35 and had injury problems last season. However, the experience of players like Perkins and Morgan will be important if Paul Cook decides to build for the future by putting the accent on youth as far as new signings are concerned. Latics have also been linked with Remy Streete, a 22 year old central defender from  Port Vale, a free agent.

There has been no news from the club about an agreement with Wigan-born Jordan Flores over a new contract. The new Wigan Athletic website was put up yesterday, but Flores did not appear with the other names in the first team squad.

Yesterday we published fan views on Chey Dunkley, but since then we received another one through the fan site Yellow Army (www.yellowarmy.co.uk). We have Thom Airs to thank for his comments below:

Chey was signed from Kidderminister Harriers and was very raw when he arrived. However, under the guidance of Michael Appleton he quickly became one of our key players.

He is athletic, brave and very good in the air. For a long time our attacking corner routine revolved around trying to tee up one of his bullet headers. He was slightly unlucky not to have scored more goals from attacking set pieces. 

Off the pitch he’s clearly intelligent, hard working and very driven to improve.

That said, he’s not an elegant ball-playing defender. His distribution and control can let him down at crucial moments.

I think almost every Oxford fan would’ve preferred to keep him, but he was obviously intent on leaving for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.

 
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An Oxford United fan’s view of Chey Dunkley

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , ,

 

Wigan Athletic have announced the acquisition of central defender Chey Dunkley from Oxford United. Dunkley is a free agent and will formally join Latics when his contract expires at the end of June. The 25 year old Dunkley is 6 ft 2 in tall and made 52 appearances in all competitions for an Oxford side that finished 8th in League 1.

Cheyenne Armani Keayu Dunkley was born in Wolverhampton and was part of the Crewe Alexandra academy. As an 18 year old he was sent out on loan to Hednesford Town in 2010, going on to being signed on a permanent contract when Crewe released him. Dunkley went on to make 86 appearances in a three year stay at the Staffordshire club in the Northern Premier League.

In June 2012 he signed for Kidderminster Harriers of the Conference Premier League for a fee of £5,000 plus add-ons. He made 92 appearances, scoring  12 goals before going on loan to Oxford United in November 2014. Dunkley went on to sign for Oxford for an undisclosed fee. In April 2016 Dunkley scored an unfortunate own goal in the Football League Trophy final at Wembley when Oxford were beaten 3-2 by Barnsley. But in the next month he went on to score the first goal in a 3-0 victory against Wycombe Wanderers that gave United promotion to League 1. Dunkley went on to make  a total of 78 appearances for the Yellows, scoring 7 goals.

On announcing Dunkley’s arrival, Paul Cook said: “Chey has continued to develop his game year on year since he left Crewe after coming through their academy, learning the hard way in non-league and having his best season to date with Oxford United last year and playing over 50 games. He adds more quality to a strong defensive department.”

In  order to find out more about Dunkley’s time at Oxford we contacted Mark Lambourne of the Yellows Forum (yellowsforum.co.uk), together with fans David Mitson and Jamie Bowler through Twitter.

Mark commented that:

Dunkley is a great young player, still learning his trade. He is prone to mistakes, but can make up for these with some great challenges. He is a pretty good target in the box from set pieces, scoring some goals from these and also clearing the ball when defending.

Good luck to him, looking forward to seeing him play against us next season!

David Mitson @CrazyMitto said:

What can you say about Chey Dunkley?

Big heart,  big head and a big right boot. Old fashioned centre half. Chey only has one gear and its first gear. He may lack pace but you’ve got to get past him first. Always gives 100%. Chey will be missed. His header v Wycombe in the last game of the season when we gained promotion will always be remembered. Yes he can pass. He can also hoof it into row 67. He loves to score (7 for us) and gets v excited when he does.

Jamie Bowler @J_Bowler07 added:

Big centre back who would win headers all game as well as being a good defender all round. Struggled when the ball was at his feet and would often look the go long when pressure was put on. But as a person was in my opinion one of the most respected players and have back to the fans. Going to miss the lad.

 

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A Portsmouth fan’s view of Paul Cook

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , , , ,

 

 Paul Cook – the right man for the job

As expected, the announcement came yesterday of the appointment of Paul Cook as manager of Wigan Athletic. He joins the list of ex-Latics players who have managed the club in recent years along with Gary Caldwell, Paul Jewell and Roberto Martinez, together with Graham Barrow in short term stints.

Cook’s  impressive track record as a manager is reflected in his stats:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Following Cook’s appointment, chairman David Sharpe commented on the club’s official site that:

“Paul was the man that I felt was best to take this club forwards after looking at the jobs he has done at Chesterfield and Portsmouth in the last four seasons.He has won two promotions, has never been outside of the top six, has a 50% win ratio and also plays the brand of football that I think is the best for this football club. Moving forwards, I’ll be delighted to see Paul’s work in progress and I have a good feeling about it.”

Adding that:

“The man I met, in terms of his character and how lively and energetic he is, makes me believe he will be a lift for the whole place and I think we need that sort of character.He’s very bubbly, will have the boys playing with a smile on their faces and I am looking forward to what he will bring it.”

The social media and message boards have been awash with comments from Pompey fans regarding Cook’s departure with one year still remaining on his contract. The Portsmouth FC official site stated that:

“Paul Cook has stepped down as Pompey boss to take up the vacant managerial position at Wigan Athletic. A financial compensation agreement was reached with Wigan over the weekend, resulting in permission being granted for the Latics to speak to Paul. Assistant manager Leam Richardson has also left Fratton Park. Cook arrived at Pompey in May 2015 and led the club to the League Two play-offs in his first season in charge. There was even more success at the end of last term, with the Blues earning automatic promotion and securing the title on a dramatic final day. Portsmouth Football Club would like to thank Cook and Richardson for their service to the club. “

The likelihood is therefore that Richardson will be joining Cook at Wigan as his assistant.

The 37 year old Richardson, born in Leeds, began his playing career at Blackburn Rovers as a right back. He signed for Bolton Wanderers in July 2000 for a fee of £50,000. Loan spells followed at Notts County and Blackpool before the Tangerines signed him on a permanent contract. Richardson went on to make 71 appearances for Blackpool before joining Accrington Stanley in August 2005. He was to stay there for 8 years making 133 appearances. He took over as caretaker manager in January 2012 until Paul Cook took over a month later. When Cook left Accrington in October 2012, Richardson took over as manager. However, he was to join Chesterfield in May 2013 as Cook’s assistant manager, subsequently moving on to Portsmouth with him.

In order to get an overview of Paul Cook’s time at Portsmouth we contacted Jim Bonner  (@FrattonFaithful) of the Fratton Faithful fan site.

Here’s over to Jim:

There can be no disputing that Paul Cook is a good manager. After all, he won Portsmouth the League Two title by sticking to his principles and winning games in the right manner. However, it should be remembered that he delivered this league title when Pompey were favourites to win the division on goal difference from Plymouth and including an inexplicable collapse by Doncaster who lost all four of their final matches when they required just one.

Cook will have your team playing attractive, possession football and his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation means that the back four are well protected whilst the attacking midfield trio are free to attack and create chances for the lone striker. He is also an excellent motivator as rarely did Pompey lose more than a single consecutive game under his management and any bad performance was usually followed by a good one.

 His record in the transfer market was mixed. He has the eye for a quality player as proved in his first season with the Blues as he virtually rebuilt a poor squad and moulded it into a good one with signings like Christian Burgess, Enda Stevens and Gareth Evans proving to be shrewd. However, his second season saw him sign many players who either couldn’t get into the team or had their stays abruptly ended by either having their contracts terminated or being shipped out on loan. Milan Lalkovic must be secretly delighted that Cook has gone.

The negatives of Cook’s management is that whilst Plan A can work extremely well, he doesn’t have a Plan B. His stubborn attitude meant he would rarely stray from his 4-2-3-1 formation and when he did, the results and performances were worse! He also struggles to work out how to break down teams that will “park the bus” and play for a draw on home turf. Thus, you should prepare yourselves for grating post-match interview soundbytes such as “All credit to Shrewsbury, they’re an excellent team and had a gameplan which stopped us scoring. We go again next week.”

Whilst he may be good enough to get a squad of Wigan’s quality back up to the Championship, there is a feeling amongst people that he isn’t tactically smart enough or indeed professional enough to succeed at a higher level.

Cook also seems to struggle under pressure as he felt the heat with 16,000 expectant Pompey fans constantly scrutinising him as he occasionally lashed out at the media whilst having indirect digs at them. The crowds at the DW Stadium may be half the size of what he was used to at Fratton Park, but the expectation will be exactly he same and he may well feel the heat if the Latics fans aren’t happy with performances next season.

In a nutshell, it should speak volumes that the reaction of Pompey fans is anger at the manner he left rather than any kind of sorrow that the event even took place. He’s a good manager but there are arguably even better bosses that Portsmouth can attract to replace him with Kenny Jackett rumoured to take his place.

 

 

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