Category Archives: Reflections

Relegation takes centre stage as United clinch title

Posted by Ned in News, Other, Reflections and tagged with , , ,

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As Manchester United players confirmed the club’s 20th league title with a 3-0 triumph over Aston Villa on Monday night and five games still to play, the race at the other end of the table was thrust into the limelight.

For United followers, who were 3-0 up after a mere half an hour, another goal or two might have been icing on the cake. For Wigan supporters, each of Robin Van Persie’s strikes was celebrated as though Emmerson Boyce had donned a red shirt and scored it himself.

If the result mathematically confirmed the title race, then it also brought clarity to its relegation equivalent. While Champions League places are still up for grabs, the battle of the underdogs has always been a fantastic spectacle at the end of each Premier League season — as of today, surely the biggest question left is “will it be Wigan or will it be Villa?”

The triple whammy of a crushing defeat at West Ham and victories for Sunderland and Stoke in tricky fixtures meant Wigan needed things to go to script today if they were to keep themselves within a win of leapfrogging Villa into safety. While it is possible that Stoke, Newcastle, or Sunderland could be hauled back into the fight, their six point advantage plus superior goal difference means it would take a major collapse. In all likelihood, they each need just one more win.

The fixture list has drawn up a remarkable finale. As things stand, Villa are three points ahead, but Wigan have a game in hand and a four-goal advantage. If theoretically, this gap were to remain the same until the last match of the season, a win for Wigan against Villa at the DW would secure safety for the club. Of course, there are five and four league matches for each club respectively between now and that epic scenario. Here’s a quick look at the run-in:

April 27: Wigan vs. Spurs

April 29: Aston Villa vs. Sunderland

May 4: Norwich vs. Aston Villa, West Brom vs. Wigan

May 7: Wigan vs. Swansea

[May 11: Wigan vs. Man City — Cup Final]

May 12: Aston Villa vs. Chelsea

May 14: Arsenal vs. Wigan

May 19: Wigan vs. Aston Villa

On first glance, survival certainly looks achievable. Villa face a resurgent Sunderland side that has kept clean sheets in its last two matches against tricky opposition. They then travel to Norwich, where few teams win but plenty draw, and face Chelsea at home before the showdown with Latics. While they would have been licking their lips at the prospect of Sunderland at home two weeks ago, that outcome is anyone’s guess now. Likewise Norwich, who will be eager to end their involvement in that bottom pack. Meanwhile, Chelsea are fighting to remain in the top four and the riches of the Champions League, a year after winning it.

Wigan, meanwhile, may struggle with fixture congestion and the injuries it brings. Tottenham arrive at a tough time with their confidence high after a remarkable win against Manchester City and key players returning to fitness such as Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon. But at least Roberto Martinez’s charges will have enjoyed a full week of rest by the time they play, after three games last week. Then come the two key fixtures, fast and furious ahead of the FA Cup final. West Brom away is by no means an easy fixture, but with Steve Clarke’s side safe in mid-table it presents an opportunity. Same with Swansea, at home. The trip to Arsenal is unlikely to yield points, particularly if the Champions League qualification battle remains tight.

Neither club is in an enviable position, but in a league whose victor has been known for some time, the contest between Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa at the other end is as tight as they come.

Another FA Cup Final for Whelan

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , ,

dave whelan espn

My first visit to a professional  football ground was in 1960, when my father took me to Springfield Park to watch a schoolboy game. My mother never really understood my dad’s obsession with football and why he would want to walk 40 minutes across town to that windy ground in Springfield, often in awful weather. Sometimes he would get a lift from Dick Smith, who ran the Darlington Street post office. Dick had a very upright stance and my Dad told me that it was from his time in the Royal Guards. That ride across town was a real treat for my father, but it was the matches against teams like Prescot Cables and Leyland Motors that kept him in awe of the ground and the club that played there.

During my childhood my father would reminisce of his first visit to that eccentric old home of Wigan football. The year was 1932 and times were tough for people in the depression. Despite the economic crisis a new football club had been launched in the town. It played its first competitive game at Springfield and a crowd of over 5,000 witnessed  that Cheshire League defeat to Port Vale’s reserve team. Seeing Latics playing in red in the FA Cup semi final yesterday brought back memories of my father telling me that this very first Wigan Athletic team had played in that red and white shirts.

My father developed a lifelong love of football – and Wigan Athletic in particular – following that first visit to Springfield Park. It was to be imparted to me and his grandson, Ned, whose life has been spent overseas but who has remained obsessed with Wigan Athletic. As a kid there was nothing he wanted more than a visit to Springfield Park.

1960 was to prove an eventful year for the future of the Latics. In those days you were starved of football on television. It was to be four years later that the BBC put out the iconic “Match of the Day” programme. However, there was one exception – the FA Cup final – which was broadcast live, albeit in black and white. It was in early May of that year that I was to see the sad sight of Wigan’s most successful home –produced player, Dave Whelan, being carried off the Wembley pitch with a broken leg. Ten man Blackburn went on to lose 3-0 to Wolves. Wigan had been very much a rugby town in Whelan’s youth. It was a significant achievement for him to make it in the First Division and play full back for Blackburn in that FA Cup final.

If Whelan had not broken his leg in that cup final, where would Latics be today? The broken leg that damaged  his football career, was to prove the catalyst for him to build up huge business empires, making him one of England’s richest men. Many wonderful stories have been written about Whelan’s rise from the ashes and his incredible achievement of establishing Wigan Athletic as a Premier League club. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.

Wigan Athletic have always had to fight against the odds. For so many years they were shackled in their attempts to get into top league football. The archaic system of Football League clubs voting whether clubs should be promoted or relegated kept them out until 1978 when they got into the old Fourth Division by the skin of their teeth. It had taken them 46 years to get out of the semi-professional leagues, despite being consistently among the elite in that sphere.

With Whelan’s guidance and considerable financial support Wigan were able to make the jump between League 2 –the modern day equivalent of the old fourth division – and the Premier League in only 10 years. Crowds when he took over the club in 1995 had dipped below 2,000, basically on a par with what they would get as a non-league club.  Latics average attendances since joining the Premier League have averaged around 18,000, well above that of Wigan Warriors. Let it be no longer said that Wigan is a rugby town. No matter how die rolls this season, to stay in the Premier League for 8 years has been a remarkable achievement.

Springfield Park is now no more. Fans no longer wander up First or Second Avenue – what great names evocative of New York – to watch Latics play there. So many Wiganers will have fond memories of Latics  games at the old stadium during the eras  in the Lancashire Combination, Cheshire League and the lower divisions of the Football League. However, Whelan ensured another shining achievement for the club and the town with the construction of the excellent JJB Stadium, housing its first league game in 1999.

Since 1960 Dave Whelan and Wigan Athletic have come so far, against the odds. Let’s hope that Roberto Martinez will allow the chairman the chance to walk out again on the Wembley turf with the team on Cup Final day. Dave Whelan has had to wait 53 years to repeat history, but who could begrudge him that privilege, given what he has done for the club and the town?

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The Canals of Alcaraz

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles, Reflections and tagged with , , , , , , ,

antolin-alcaraz300

In May of 2010 Wigan Athletic supporters were to hear that their club had made a ‘Bosman signing’ of a Paraguayan centre half from a club in Belgium. A month later, on June 10, Antolín Alcaraz was to make himself known on the world stage when he scored a headed goal against Italy in Cape Town. The 1-1 draw helped steer Paraguay into the World Cup quarter finals. But who was Alcaraz and how did he get into his national team despite never playing at senior level in his own country?

Aveiro is a prosperous coastal town in central Portugal. It is often called the  ‘Venice of Portugal’ because of its canals and boats. It aveiro3is home to SC Beira Mar whose crowds rarely reach five fugures. One of their claims to fame is that the great Eusebio played for them for a brief time in 1976. When the 21 year old Antolín Alcaraz joined them in January 2003 they were in the first division, although the club has oscillated between the first and second divisions since then. Alcaraz was to spend four years in Aveiro, cutting his teeth as a professional footballer, becoming Beira Mar’s defensive lynchpin and captain. He was to pick up the first of his 22 caps for Paraguay in his final season at the club.

Antolín Alcaraz comes from a humble background. He was raised in the south of Paraguay in San Roque González, a town of around 12,000 people, some 100 km from the capital Asuncion. After joining Racing Club of Argentina as a teenager he was snapped up by Fiorentina, but at a bad time since the ‘Viola’ were to be relegated to Italian lower leagues because of financial problems. He left, and after a trial with Palermo, headed for Aveiro.

Alcaraz was to leave Aveiro in July 2007 to move to another place famous for its canals, Bruges. Club Brugge were a more well known club than Beira Mar, having reached two European finals and won the Belgian league 13 times. During Alcaraz’ time in that beautiful city the club finished in the top three each year. In the 2008-09 season Alcaraz made six appearances for Club BrugesBrugge in the UEFA Cup, when they were knocked out in the group- phase, although overall they had only lost one match in the competition. He made seven appearances in 2009-10 in the newly formed Europa League. Brugge qualified through the group stage but were to be undone in extra time at Valencia.

Alcaraz has been a regular member of Paraguay’s side since the World Cup, his team reaching the final of the Copa America in 2011, beating Brazil on penalties in the quarter final.

Strangely enough the Leeds-Liverpool canal runs right next to the DW Stadium. It might lack the beauty of those in Aveiro and Bruges, but certainly played its part in the Industrial Revolution and today offers pleasant walks along its paths. Not that Antolin Alcaraz will be too concerned about that. He will be focusing on two things: helping Wigan Athletic avoid relegation and finding himself a new contract for vnext season at 30 years of age.

One has often felt that the best has been yet to come with Alcaraz. He has had his ups and downs with the club, including a controversial red card in December of 2011 for spitting at a Wolves player. He made 34 appearances in his first season, but only 25 in his second due to injury. However, his return to the team in April last year was crucial in providing a solid defensive backbone alongside Gary Caldwell and Maynor Figueroa . A defence that had been leaking like a sieve was to concede only 10 goals in the final 11 league games.

This has been a frustrating season for Antolín Alcaraz, with 6 months out through injury. However, once again his return to the team has stabilised the defence. His partnership with Paul Scharner promises to be something special. For once Wigan have height and pace in the centre of their defence. The way the two players have gelled in the Everton and Newcastle matches has been quite remarkable, given that Scharner had left Wigan when Alcaraz arrived in 2010.

There is no certainty that either Antolín Alcaraz or Paul Scharner will be at Wigan next season. At the moment they are both playing the best football of their Latics careers. If they can continue to do so until the end of the season it could mean Wigan achieving the double goal of Premier League survival and playing in the Europa League.

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Towards Europe and Survival

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , ,

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Roberto Martinez is indeed a brave and unusual man. Who else would turn down lucrative offers to manage Aston Villa or Liverpool to stay with a club that is continually fighting relegation? Who else stays calm and optimistic in the darkest of times when it just does not seem possible for Wigan Athletic to succeed?

The 4-0 home defeat to Liverpool was hard to bear for Wigan Athletic supporters. It was not only the result but the manner in which the team had performed, or one might say, not performed. Then a week later Martinez puts out the most attacking starting lineup we have seen during his tenure, with only one genuine holding midfielder in James McCarthy. The resulting 3-0 victory at ‘Fortress Goodison’ was a revelation. The Everton players must have been shell shocked by not only the result, but in Wigan’s command of the game. A match that will be remembered by Latics fans for years to come.

Sometimes a team struggling in the league does well in a cup competition. So it was to prove on Saturday, when Roberto Martinez took a gamble by putting in most of his first choice players for an FA Cup tie at Goodison Park. Some would say that he risked injury to his senior players at a crucial time and that the FA Cup is an unnecessary diversion in Wigan’s fight against relegation from the Premier League. Better to concentrate on the league and let the second string side deal with Everton. In the event Callum McManaman limped off after 40 minutes and Ryo Miyaichi is now out for the rest for the season, following a tough challenge from Kevin Mirallas.

Whether Martinez was right or wrong to take that risk is a question that would be best answered at the end of the season. The 3-0 win has created a huge amount of interest among Latics followers and has sent shock waves to the other teams embroiled in the relegation battle. Latics face a potential banana skin in the semi final against Championship rivals, but if they can play to their potential then they will not only reach the final, but will probably also qualify for the Europa League.

It is only two years ago since Birmingham City qualified for the Europa League by beating Arsenal in the League Cup final. Three months later they were to lose their final Premier League fixture at Tottenham, condemning them to relegation. They had only won 2 of their final 12 league matches after lifting the cup.

Despite now being in the second tier of English football Birmingham were to perform well in the Europa League, being unlucky to be eliminated in the group stage after winning four, drawing two and losing two matches in the tournament. Their gates averaged 24,431 in the four Europa League games played at St Andrews, compared with 16,451 in the Championship division where they finished in 4th place.

The possibility of Wigan playing in the Europa League is mouth-watering to their loyal fans who have stuck with their club through thick or thin. It would represent the next level of achievement for a club that has come so far since joining the Football League in 1978. At this stage it is only a possibility, depending largely on beating Millwall, but also on whether the other team that reaches the final also qualifies for the Champions League. Given that the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea are the candidates it looks a strong possibility.

In that same 2010-2011 season Bolton Wanderers reached the FA Cup semi final, only to be undone 5-0 by Stoke City. Following that defeat Bolton slid down the table, losing 5 out of their last 6 games.

The experiences of Birmingham and Bolton following big cup ties serve to highlight the knife edge that Wigan Athletic are currently perched on. The main priority has to be Premier League survival, but a win in the FA Cup semi final would provide some icing for the cake and push Wigan into new pastures. The worst case scenario of achieving neither would be a hammer blow for the club.

Roberto Martinez is a shrewd manager and if anyone can guide Latics through the coming weeks it is he. The win at Everton showed the talent he has at his disposal. Despite their lowly league placing Wigan Athletic have the best quality squad they have ever had. Martinez’ main task will be to ensure that such quality continues to shine through consistently in the matches that remain.

A place in the Europa League would be fantastic. But avoiding relegation is what Martinez will have in mind above anything else.

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Fergie, Wigan and Referees

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , ,

referee

“We’re going to play the 12 men.” So said my friend Edward on Boxing Day of 2011 when Latics were due to play a league match at Old Trafford. He recounted the many controversial refereeing decisions that had gone in United’s favour aganst Wigan over the years.This match was to end as any kind of contest after Conor Sammon was sent off after 40 minutes, with Wigan 1-0 down.

The ESPN Soccernet match report later in the day stated that “There is no doubt Sammon’s arm did end up in Carrick’s face, offering referee Phil Dowd the opportunity to send him off. However, it did appear the Wigan man was attempting to use it as a barrier to shield a bouncing ball from his opponent.There was no malice, and very little force, behind the action and Latics chief Roberto Martinez was not on his own in believing his side had been harshly treated.And, as good sides do, United quickly exploited the situation.”

My friend was angry, but not surprised, at the sending off. United did exploit the situation, beating a demoralised Latics 5-0.

Last night the tables were turned and Manchester United had a man sent off against Real Madrid. The Spanish team duly exploited the situation and knocked United out of the Champions League. Reports suggest that Ferguson was so distraught that he did not attend the after match press conference, sending his assistant in his stead.

There will be debate for years to come as to whether Nani’s high kick in the chest of his opponent merited a red card. The cynic might say that an English referee would not have had the bravery to give the red card, even if he believed it to be appropriate. Foreign referees are not intimidated in the same way by Ferguson and United’s huge home support.

I have not been in touch with my friend, Edward, for a while. He has a long list of those refereeing decisions that have plagued Wigan in their meetings against the Red Devils. He has some legal training and if asked what he thought about Nani’s red card he might change the context. For example, if it were a Man U-Wigan match and a Latics player did the same as Nani – what would have happened?

Most Wiganers will feel sad that another English team has been knocked out of the UCL. By the middle of next week the Premier League will almost certainly have no representation in the last eight of the competition. Ferguson tends to polarise public opinion. Love him or loathe him, he continues to behave in the same way as he has done for years.

I don’t remember Roberto Martinez failing to attend a post match press conference. His Wigan teams have been so unjustly treated by referees for so long, particularly highlighted when they have played the Red Devils. If Ferguson were to take over at Wigan – most unlikely of course – would referees look more kindly on the Latics? Would he be muzzled to the same degree that Martinez has been?

Maybe Ferguson was right not to attend the press conference, where he might have said things that could get him into trouble with UEFA. However, I find it hard to imagine Roberto Martinez backing out in a similar situation.

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