Tag Archives: John Sheridan

Social media reaction to an honourable defeat at Ipswich

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Social Media and tagged with , , , ,

Ipswich Town 2 Wigan Athletic 0

The signings of Josh Clarke and Danny Fox provided Wigan Athletic fans with a fillip approaching this game. With the departure of Nathan Byrne Latics were lacking at right back and it looked like Clarke would step in. Moreover, after starting the Fleetwood game with two 19-year-old central defenders, with no senior experience, we were hoping the return of Fox would stabilise a leaky defence.

However, in the event it was not to be, neither Clarke nor Fox deemed fit to play at Portman Road. When I looked at the team selection it was clear that Kal Naismith would play at the back. I was about to congratulate the Richardson/Sheridan selections, assuming they were giving Emeka Obe and Adam Long support by playing Naismith in between them in a back line of three. Sadly, that did not happen, and the end result was Obe being played at right back where he looked like a duck out of water. Ipswich repeatedly flooded the right side of Wigan’s defence which looked not only unbalanced but short of midfield cover.

Following the game John Sheridan commented:

“I thought we started the game very well. We possibly should have been two up, we created some great opportunities. The first goal changes the outcome of games so often, and who knows what might have happened. And their first goal is very disappointing…it’s a cheap foul, people switch off and it ends up in the back of the net.

But while we were disappointed to go into half-time 1-0 down, in the second half we just never got going. I know it’s the first day of the season, it’s a boiling hot day and the pitch was sticky, but we didn’t play with any penetration at all.”

Let’s take a look at how fans reacted to the match through the message boards and social media.

Our thanks go to the Vital Wigan – Latics Speyk Forum and Twitter for providing the media for the posts below to happen. Thanks go to all whose contributions are identified below.

Kendal Blue commented:

We saw last time at this level that there will be many more mistakes and you’ve got to be there to take advantage. Obi’s clearly nervous (2 foul throws, owch), but it’s to be expected. He has Naismith with him and Solomon-Otabor just in front now and they will settle him. Alternatively, Adam Long looks a natural and is ready for this chance. Definitely the right move to put Kal in the back 4 and Fox will also allow him to develop. Tired legs will factor today but we’ve put up enough to show we’re a decent bet at this level from a football side of things.

The_Pon said:

Obi, Long, Merrie. None of them have any significant experience in the league. It’s easy to forget that Tom Pearce has played less than 20 competitive games as well, since we know him already. I’ll take Solomon-Otabor on the chin. I didn’t realise he’d played as many games as he had before joining us; now I’ve looked him up then fair enough, he shouldn’t be overly nervy.

Obi is having a total mare, but to be fair to him, he wasn’t ready yet and we already knew that. Hopefully throwing him in the deep end as we’ve had to do will make him learn faster.

Obi was seen as a great prospect, and with more first team action, he may improve very quickly. Hope he does… Will need some of the older lads to put their arm round his shoulders and pick him up, because this performance can’t have done his confidence any good. I’ll reserve judgement until we’ve seen another ten games or so. Like I said, Dan Burn was embarrassingly bad in his first few games, then it suddenly clicked for him and we know the story after that. I hope Obi can do something similar.

Long looks ready. He’s played well today all things considered and he’ll only get better with more game time. Merrie is no cause for concern either.

I think we’ll be ok this year. No title run, but we’re good enough to stay afloat in this league from what I’ve seen. There are definitely enough worse teams in League One that we shouldn’t be in a relegation scrap. If new owners come on board in the next few weeks and put in a bit of cash, who knows? Honestly, I’d say we only need 3-4 players to be very comfortable at this level. It’s not a strong division.

Skem Tic commented:

I think without Naismith it could have been much worse, however we do look decent going forward, we just need much more time playing as a team. We have to remember that although a fair few players have had plenty of experience it’s only Naismith who would have been a first choice player last season. It’s going to be an up hill struggle for next few months but we have to stick behind them and sadly social media is the only way we can do this at the moment.
It’s certainly not all doom and gloom!

FrancosLoveChild added:

Obi just lacked Fox bo…cking him and keeping him focused, something young players with lack of experience has. Think if he is in the centre next to Fox, he will grow into a decent player, he has the physique for it. He had a howler, a terrible performance, that is reality, and everyone needs to accept that, he will only get strong from it when you learn from mistakes and bad games. Takes shocking performances to learn.

Arthur_Itis stated:

I’m mentally prepared to give all the young un’s a lot of leaway this season. Thought Long looked great today with Naismith at the side of him.
It’s very difficult to judge Obi IMO, out of position and stranded. As others have said, I’ll reserve judgment until he’s had an extended run in his natural position with seasoned pro’s around him.

My original score prediction was 5:0, I’m slightly less pessimistic for the season after today, but we need to pick some (probably scrappy) points up fairly soon just to give everyone a lift and that bit of belief that can work wonders.

 

Stats courtesy of WhoScored.com

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John Sheridan: the right appointment to keep Wigan Athletic in League 1?

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

I first saw John Sheridan play in March 1987 when second division Leeds United visited Springfield Park for a 6th round F.A. Cup match. Under the management of Ray Mathias third division Latics had knocked out first division Norwich in the previous round. However, on a wind-swept day, in front of a crowd of 12,479, they were beaten 2-0. The Leeds side was workmanlike with Sheridan adding class in the centre of midfield.

A year later, after seven years at Leeds with 230 appearances and 47 goals under his belt, he moved to join Brian Clough at first division Nottingham Forest for a fee of £650,000. Sheridan only made one appearance for Forest before he joined Sheffield Wednesday, where he was to spend seven years making 199 appearances, scoring 25 goals, including a scorcher which helped the Owls beat Manchester United in the 1991 League Cup final. After spells at Bolton and Doncaster he completed his playing career at Oldham Athletic where he spent six years, retiring in his fortieth year. Born in Manchester, of Irish parents, Sheridan made 35 appearances for the Republic of Ireland.

It was at Oldham where Sheridan began his long managerial career.

Stats courtesy of Wikipedia

John Sheridan has not been the kind of manager to take charge at a club high-flying in its division.  His relationship with Oldham Athletic has been remarkable, spending different five spells there, so often steadying the ship. He won the League 2 title with Chesterfield in 2010-11, followed by the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy in 2012, but so many times he was brought in to help a struggling club.

After leaving Chesterfield he joined Plymouth Argyle in January 2013 on a short-term contract until the end of the season. Argyle were two points off the bottom of League 2 and had only won one of their last 16 games. Sheridan helped Argyle to avoid relegation by winning 8 and drawing 4 of their last 19 games.

In October 2015 he took over at Newport County who were bottom of League 2, with only 5 points from the first 10 matches. They got only one point from his first three games, but then went on a 10-game unbeaten run. They finished in 22nd place, nine points clear of relegation.

In February 2016 he joined Fleetwood Town who were 20th in League 1 having lost their last eight games under Uwe Rosler. By the end of the season they finished in 14th place seven points above the relegation zone.

Sheridan has certainly had his ups and downs as a manager. But he has experience of working under relegation pressure and producing results.

There will be Wigan Athletic fans who are less than enthused about his appointment. But given the instability of recent months at Wigan it is important to steady the ship and avoid a further relegation. Sheridan will work on a low budget, his team likely to be a mixture of youth and experienced professionals who have become free agents in the era of Covid-19.

Although the majority of last season’s squad has departed it would be no surprise to see more of them leave over the next couple of weeks as the club continues to cut back its wage bill. Sheridan will then have the opportunity to bring in some of his own players.

John Sheridan may not be a marquee appointment, but he could prove to be just what Wigan Athletic need at this moment in their history.

Grayson, Sheridan, Leigh, and the Grievance Society: what is going on at Wigan Athletic?

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

These are turbulent times for all those concerned for Wigan Athletic.

Yesterday was a particularly depressing day when we heard that the departures of Nathan Byrne and Sam Morsy are nearing conclusion. Should the two stalwarts be gone by the weekend only Kal Naismith will remain of the team that started the final game of the season, providing he does not depart in the meantime.  A team that might have challenged for a play-off place has been dismantled for paltry financial gains.

Although most fans understand the reasons why the team has been dismantled there was an anger and frustration airing itself in the general direction of Gerald Krasner and Paul Stanley.

The possibility of  Latics playing their home games at Leigh Sports Village has caused consternation and outrage among the fan base. If the stadium were to be sold separately to the club it would be necessary for the new club owners to negotiate a rental agreement for a stadium. Were the terms offered by the DW Stadium owners to be unacceptable to the club they would seek alternative arrangements. The option of a move away from the DW is unpalatable to most Latics fans, but may be more of a bargaining chip to be used in negotiating a deal acceptable to both sides.

The situation was soon to be exacerbated when The Sun published an article “Simon Grayson set for shock return to management with crisis club Wigan with administrators drafting in experienced boss”. In it Alan Nixon stated that Grayson was to step in to help and should be in the dug-out at Ipswich on Sunday.

Were the administrators really going to bring in a new manager before the club had been sold? Or was the sale about to go through to new owners who favoured Grayson for the position?

Today’s tweet from Nixon stirred the waters even more. Like Grayson, John Sheridan is a very experienced manager and would merit consideration. But if it is true it asks questions about the administrators’ role and what is happening with their search for new owners.

The Wigan Athletic Grievance Society consider that “From the minute the administrators entered the club on 1st July, we have had nothing but false promises, contradictory statements, a fire-sale of players, and what appear to be worrying signs of growing mistrust between Begbies Traynor and everyone else involved.” They outlined their concerns about the actions of the administrators in the article published on The Pie at Night site. They are arranging a demonstration outside the Begbies Traynor headquarters in central Manchester tomorrow.

Opinion will be divided as to whether the demonstration will help get the club back on an even keel. There are concerns that the picketing could get out of hand and that the demonstration could provoke a negative reaction from the administrators that could be seriously detrimental to the future of the club. However, as the Grievance Society quote in their statement “Wigan Athletic is dying, we cannot sit back and let that happen.”

In the meantime we can only hope that the club can back on track and these turbulent times become a thing of the past.

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