Tag Archives: Graeme Jones

Too much change in the wind

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

It is time for change at Wigan Athletic with a new manager having come in, with a huge quantity of new players to recruit. It is exactly the situation Latics supporters would have wanted to avoid.

There are too many change parameters to cope with at the moment. What is going to happen to Roberto Martinez’s backroom staff? How can Owen Coyle bring in nothing but quality players when the number needed to make up the squad reaches outrageous proportions?

We have heard nothing about the likes of Graeme Jones and Graham Barrow going off to Everton with Martinez. In terms of stability it would be much better if they stayed at Wigan. Then again what is going to happen to Kevin Reeves, Inaki Bergara and those ex-Latics players who are scattered around the club, especially at youth level?

Owen Coyle recently said Latics had 14 senior squad members left. Soon after that he was talking about James McCarthy and Arouna Kone going if the price was right. Add to them Shaun Maloney and Callum McManaman and the squad decimates to 10.

Of the end of contract players Maynor Figueroa has already signed for Hull and Roman Golobart for Cologne. There is talk about Antolin Alcaraz going to Everton or into Europe. Latics have lost too many good quality players at the ends of their contracts over recent years.

Dave Whelan’s philosophy of giving players the chance to move to bigger clubs, if the price is right, is admirable in many ways. However, there comes a point when you have to stem the flow and require players to meet their contractual agreements.

The more players Whelan lets go – even at good prices – the more difficult for Owen Coyle to find adequate replacements, even with money to spend.  

It is a matter of sheer numbers. The club stands the risk of its heart being ripped apart in both backroom and playing staff. Coyle is going to be faced with employing journeymen to make up the numbers, rather than build on a strong base that was there before.

Whatever happens I ask Wigan Athletic supporters to bear these things in mind and not make instant assessments of Owen Coyle’s worth. He has come in and is already speaking about having to sell prized assets.

Let’s hope he does not make the Martinez mistake of bringing players from his former club. Thank goodness he has already insinuated that he will not be pursuing the 36 year old  Kevin Davies. However, he is already being linked with Burnley veterans Martin Paterson and Chris McCann.

Latics need to avoid a mass exodus. All that Roberto Martinez built could be gone within a matter of weeks.  It would be crippling for the club.

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Man U duo for Wigan?

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

Two of Manchester United’s championship winning trio to Wigan Athletic?

 

The Manchester United duo of Mike Phelan and Rene Meulensteen are the bookmakers’ current favourites for the vacant manager’s job at Wigan Athletic.

What chance them both being appointed as a double act? Presumably with Phelan as manager and Meulensteen as assistant/coach?

The bookmakers still consider experienced managers, Owen Coyle and Steve McClaren,  being in contention, together with Karl Robinson. Interestingly the odds on Gus Poyet have been steadily lowering.

A return for Steve Bruce has not been ruled out by the bookmakers, although he has just got his Hull City side back in the Premier League. On Tuesday the Daily Mail reported that Bruce has been contacted about a return to the DW Stadium, but Hull deny any official approach having been made.

Graeme Jones’ future at the club remains unclear. Given his four years as Martinez’s assistant at Wigan he surely deserves consideration for the manager’s position. However. we will have to wait and see if Roberto Martinez will lure him away to Everton. Less than a year ago Jones was a hot favourite for the manager’s job at his previous club, Swansea.

One recalls that Martinez’s unveiling as Latics new manager had to be delayed until a wrangle over compensation for Swansea ‘s loss of Graeme Jones and Kevin Reeves was resolved. Would Whelan request the same for Jones and/or Reeves to leave Wigan for Everton?

It is a nervy time for Latics supporters. All the candidates have their strong points and there is not one who stands head and shoulders above the rest. It will not be an easy decision.

It is understood that Whelan is due to start interviewing tomorrow, expecting to make up his mind by the end of next week.

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CONTEMPLATING LIFE WITHOUT BOB

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

After the joy and euphoria of recent weeks we are now rocked  by Liverpool’s approach to Roberto Martinez. How can we  contemplate a Wigan Athletic without Bob? What is going to happen if he leaves us for  Liverpool in the next 7 days?

Roberto Martinez came back as club manager in 2008, having been an old favourite of those fans who saw him play 188 matches for Latics from 1995-2001. His assistant was to be  Graeme Jones, who scored 44 goals in 96 appearances for Latics from 1996-1999. Another ex-Latics icon – Graham Barrow – was brought in as  coach. Barrow scored 35 goals in 179 appearances for Wigan Athletic from 1981-1986, not bad for a defensive midfield player. He later came back as manager in 1994-95, saving Latics from relegation to the Football Conference.  If you look at the backroom staff at the club you will find the names of other familiar names from yesteryear. Alex Cribley –  club physiotherapist – made 268 appearances for us in the 1980s and has been at the club for 30 years . We even have an executive manager, Jonathan Jackson, whose father was a great servant for the club at board level.

That all these people with strong previous associations  with the club are on the payroll is no coincidence. It is part of a concerted effort to recruit people who love the club. Roberto Martinez has been the orchestrator, melding together his staff to provide an infrastructure for the future. The model is not unlike that of Liverpool in the 1980’s when Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan moved up from the “bootroom” staff to take over the club after the departure of Bill Shankly. It was an incredibly successful model. Paisley won 6 league titles and 3 European Cups during his 9 years as manager.

Roberto Martinez might be offered the Liverpool job this week. If he does he might well take it. No Latics fan would begrudge him such an opportunity. Liverpool FC is not the club it was in the 1980s but its fans still often have unrealistically high expectations. Not an easy place to work, especially if John W. Henry wants instant success. Henry took over as principal owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team in 2002. They won the coveted World Series in 2004. It is unlikely that Roberto Martinez – or any other manager – could perform a parallel feat at Liverpool FC in two years, given the squad of players currently at the club. What Martinez would do is build for the future and have the team play aesthetically pleasing football, something Liverpool have not been able to do for some time.

If the Liverpool thing does not work out – and we Latics fans have to admit we hope it doesn’t – we will probably have Martinez for another year. The problem is that the more success Wigan Athletic have under his direction, the more likely it is that he will be poached away by another club. We therefore need to think ahead. Are there people on the “bootroom” staff who are capable of replacing him? The obvious candidate is Graeme Jones, but we seldom get a glimpse of him through the media. Does he lack eloquence or is it that Martinez is a control freak and likes to deal with the media? Eric Black was a very well-spoken assistant to Steve Bruce and we saw more of him. If Martinez did move would he take Jones with him? Graham Barrow remains a capable force within the club and might even be a candidate. After the Heysel disaster in 1985 Kenny Dalglish took over as Liverpool player-manager, going on to win three league titles. Would it be within the realms of possibility that Gary Caldwell could perform that same dual role for Latics?

So let’s think ahead. Roberto Martinez will leave sometime, whether it be during the next week or the next year. He has built an infrastructure that we need to keep. If he were to leave he should not be allowed to take away key members of our coaching and backroom staff. The players he has recruited now know how to play the kind of champagne football we could not have dreamed about three years ago when he took over. We also have a tactical formation that really suits the players we have. We do not want a new manager to come in and put us back to square one. Let’s not revert to the physical, long-ball stuff that characterized Steve Bruce’s teams. Very few managers in England could step into this situation and build on what we already have. Only Swansea and Brighton come to mind as teams that play our style of football. Brendan Rodgers has done a great job at Swansea because he has built on the structure that Martinez provided during his time in Wales. Like Martinez he is now in the shop window, with the big clubs admiring the kind of football his team are playing. Gus Poyet has done a fantastic job in bringing Brighton to midway up the Championship playing our kind of football. He might well be a possibility for Latics.

Let’s hope that Roberto Martinez does not go to Liverpool and stays with us at least one more year. It is an exciting prospect! If he does go then we need to make the right appointment. Let’s not bring in somebody who tears apart the coaching and backroom staff to bring in his own men. We don’t need upheaval, we need continuity. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to keep it rolling. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.