Tag Archives: whelan

Another European manager for Latics?

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Other and tagged with , , ,
Uwe Rösler. Thanks to Beesotted Brentford for photo.

Uwe Rösler.
Thanks to Beesotted Brentford for photo.

Less than 24 hours ago the bookmakers had Mike Phelan the odds-on favourite to be the new Wigan Athletic manager. Uwe Rösler is now quoted between 1/6 and 1/8 for the job.

With Latics in a downward spiral, after losing again at Leeds on Wednesday, Whelan is keen to get the new appointment finalized quickly.

Rösler has just been awarded the Sky Bet League 1 Manager of the Month for November. Brentford went unbeaten through November, with four clean sheets in five matches.

Uwe Rösler and his assistant Alan Kernaghan played together for Manchester City, during the mid 1990s. Rösler was a stylish centre forward and Kernaghan a central defender.

Originating from East Germany, Rösler played for leading clubs Lokomotiv and Chemie of Leipzig, Magdeburg and Dynamo Dresden. In 1992, at the age of 24, he went to Nurnburg in West Germany, but found the transition from east to west difficult. Rösler was unable to score in 28 appearances. The following year he went back to Dresden on loan.

Rösler’s career was to take off in 1994 when he joined Manchester City, where he made 150 appearances scoring 50 goals. He left City to go back to Germany in 1998, where he had brief spells at Kaiserslautern and Borussia Tennis Berlin. A return to England with Southampton and West Bromwich  in 2000-2002 was to be followed by a brief stay at Munich’s third club, Unterhacching.

In 2002 Rösler first moved to Norway. He went to Lillestrøm, a small town north of Oslo. His stay as a player was cut short by chest cancer, which he successfully fought.  Rosler took over as manager of Lillestrøm in 2004 and was to stay there for a couple of years before moving to the oil city of Stavanger in the south west. He stayed with local club Viking for three years before joining Molde on the west coast on a short term contract, during which he saved them from relegation.

Rösler took over at Brentford in June 2011. Last year Brentford were in third place in League 1 on the last day of the season. They needed to beat Doncaster to get automatic promotion. With the scores at 0-0 and in the 90th minute Brentford got a penalty, which they missed as the ball hit the crossbar. Doncaster immediately went to the other end to score the winning goal. Brentford were beaten in the playoff final by Yeovil.

Uwe Rösler is a fascinating character who has been through adversity and triumphed. He is well loved at Brentford, where his teams have a reputation for playing good football.

One of the greatest challenges for supporters will be to pronounce his name correctly. Uwe is pronounced ‘oover’ . The ö of Rösler is pronounced like the ur in burn.

If Whelan does appoint Rosler it will be a bold move, as it was when he appointed Roberto Martinez.

His brief would be to get Latics into the playoffs this season. Maybe he could even get them promotion?

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Five things the new man must get right

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

2013-who

It has been a whirlwind couple of days since the news broke that Dave Whelan had sacked Owen Coyle (sort of), and the rumour mill has been churning out names ever since.

Football certainly has both a sense of timing and humour, after the eventful week that led to Coyle losing his job also saw Rene Meluensteen accept the Fulham position and Steve McClaren supply the damage that ultimately sealed the former Bolton and Burnley manager’s fate.

There have been murmurs that Whelan regrets the short-term mentality of his latest appointment, after witnessing how little time it took Coyle to dismantle the three years of club ethos-building groundwork of his predecessor. One newspaper stretched this rumour to suggest he is specifically looking for his “next Roberto Martinez” — a young and ambitious manager with a long-term view and a twinkle in his eye. What seems more likely is the appointment of someone who, regardless of age, is thinking not just of how to get Wigan out of the Championship, but stay out of the Championship. The popular favourite at the moment is Mike Phelan — more on that here.

In the meantime, our top five recommendations for the new man:

1) No need for a revolution

Coyle could be forgiven for feeling that he was inheriting a disjointed squad after the relegation-fueled exodus at the end of last season. He acted swiftly and admirably to bring in a number of new faces, most of whom on paper, were excellent Championship signings. But it was a huge mistake to try and re-invent the club’s ethos and actively reject the work Martinez had done before him. Even if he felt the tikki-takka stuff wasn’t for him, there was simply not enough time to completely transform the way the team played, gel new signings, and obtain results. In Jordi Gomez, Ben Watson, James McArthur, Emmerson Boyce, Roger Espinoza, Callum McManaman, Jean Beausejour, and Sean Maloney before his injury, he had a set of players who performed key roles in an FA Cup winning squad. He also had Gary Caldwell, Ivan Ramis and Ali Al-Habsi to return from injury, and settled young talents Frazer Fyvie and Nouha Dicko ready to push for first team football. In the end, he rotated the squad so much that the established players at the club who knew each other and had chemistry on the pitch, were rarely in the lineup together.

If there is a concrete lesson for the new man in charge, it is to embrace the strengths the club already possesses and tweak rather than rebuild. Swansea is fantastic example when it comes to such smooth transitions, from Martinez to Paulo Sousa, to Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup.

2) Get the fans back onside

Injuries or not, one got the sense that fan favourites such as Ali Al-Habsi and Sean Maloney were on their way out of the club. Add to this the limited playing time afforded to Roger Espinoza, despite repeated clamouring from the crowd to see him, and it was clear he was losing the supporters.

It would be a very good move to publicly talk up the returns of Al-Habsi and Maloney, give Espinoza a chance, and focus on getting the best out of the club’s established players such as Emmerson Boyce, James McArthur, Ben Watson, Jean Beausejour and the returning Ivan Ramis, who himself was gaining something of a cult following before that terrible knee injury at Fulham last January.

It would also be wise to praise the work of his predecessors. Coyle deserves immense credit for his work assembling a strong squad of players in a short period of time. Even more important, however, is public acknowledgement of what Martinez did, not only delivered the club’s greatest achievement, but investing hugely in the club’s long-term future. It is difficult to replace an icon, but acknowledging his work puts everyone on the same side.

3) Get the best out of Grant Holt

He was the marquee summer signing — the proven goalscorer at this, and just about every other level in English football — but it all seems to have gone wrong. An instinctive finish against Barnsley on day one promised great things, and he’s shown flashes of talent (his setup play for Marc-Antoine Fortune’s winner at Yeovil stands out), but it’s largely been frustrating for the big centre-forward, and in recent weeks, Wigan Athletic supporters. His confidence is clearly low, and he doesn’t appear fully fit after being rushed back from a knee injury several games back, but the biggest problem was tactical.

A striker who scores the vast majority of his goals from crosses was all too frequently playing with the wrong supporting cast. Beausejour — the finest crosser of the ball at the club — was rarely in the lineup at the same time. His starts seemed to coincide with matches in which Latics failed to control possession of the ball, limiting him to counter attacks for which his talents were ill-suited.

With the less-than-prolific Fortune and young, unproven Will Keane the other options in the striking department, it is clear that the new manager needs to get the best out of Holt if Wigan are to stand a chance of being promoted this season. That means providing service.

4) Fill the gaps

The other option, of course, is to spend time and money on another proven striker.

And a left-back, assuming Juan Carlos Garcia needs more time to adapt and Stephen Crainey doesn’t dramatically improve under new leadership.

If Graham Barrow’s 3-5-2 formation in yesterday’s loss against Leeds was anything to go by, neither is deemed one of the club’s best XI. If the new manager goes the same route, a backup for Boyce on the right flank will be a priority.

5) Improve away form

Another loss, this time to Leeds, means Latics have now lost five out of eight away games — the same number as Yeovil and more than Sheffield Wednesday, both in relegation places. Only Barnsley, bottom of the league, have lost more.

Think we missed one? Please leave us a comment below.

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Phelan for Wigan?

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

Mike Phelan

Mike Phelan is the bookmakers’ current favourite for the vacant manager’s job at Wigan Athletic.

The bookmakers consider Ian Holloway to be in close contention, followed by Paul Jewell and Karl Robinson.

Both Phelan and Robinson appeared in the odds with an outside chance of the same job in July.

Phelan is clearly a strong candidate. He had a hugely impressive record as assistant manager at Manchester United from 2008-13, when they won 3 Premier League titles, 2 League Cups, a World Club Cup and they reached two Champions League finals.

The 51 year old Phelan is a Lancastrian, being born in Nelson, starting his playing career at Burnley, before moving on to Norwich, Manchester United and West Bromwich. He played once for England.

The question is whether Phelan can be successful as a manager in his own right. However, similar questions were asked about Steve Clarke, who was one of the most highly rated right hand men in English football before successfully taking the reins at West Bromwich.

Were Phelan to be appointed it would be interesting to see who he would bring as his assistant manager, but it would be a surprise if it were not someone with an Old Trafford connection.

The 50 year old Bristolian Ian Holloway is well known, not only for his wacky quotes, but also for taking two clubs through the Championship playoffs into the Premier League. He took Blackpool up in 2009-10, and although they could not stay up he made lots of admirers through his positive footballing approach. He actually took the Tangerines back into the Championship playoffs in 2011-12 where they were beaten by West Ham.

Last season Holloway’s Crystal Palace were to defeat Brighton and Watford in the playoffs to reach the Premier League. However, he left by mutual consent on October 23rd.

Like any experienced football manager in England Holloway has had his ups and downs. He started his managerial career in 1996 as player manager of Bristol Rovers. He suffered relegation with Queens Park Rangers in 2000-01 and Leicester City in 2007-08. In between he was manager at Plymouth, whom he left under acrimonious circumstances for Leicester.

There have been rumours that Paul Jewell – now 49 years old –  might return to Wigan on a short term contract. Dave Whelan brought back Steve Bruce for a successful second spell at Wigan in November 2007, so there is precedent to suggest that a return for the ex-Latics icon is a possibility.

Karl Robinson is the 33 year old MK Dons manager. He played non-league football and was a bustling centre forward. However, at the age of 29 he was the youngest ever to get the UEFA Pro coaching licence. His Dons teams are known for their good football.

In the meantime Dave Whelan has been less than generous in his comments about the departing Owen Coyle.

Whelan is quoted as saying that “You can be lucky and get a great guy and get the right man like I got Roberto (Martinez) or you can be unlucky and get somebody who doesn’t get on with you, doesn’t get on with the team and doesn’t get on with the fans and that is actually what happened with Owen.”

Moreover the Daily Mirror alleges that Graham Barrow was told he would be taking temporary charge before Whelan and Coyle met for their fateful meeting in which the Scot offered to resign.

It is to be hoped that the new manager will receive the kind of support from the Chairman that Roberto Martinez received.

Owen Coyle certainly did not receive that level of support. He took over a playing staff that was decimated at the end of the Martinez era, having to keep transfer fees to a minimum. Moreover he was given a one year contract.

This is not to suggest that Coyle was the right man for Latics, but the dice were loaded against him from the start. Being an ex-manager of local rivals Bolton Wanderers was certainly not in his favour.

The new manager needs to be given adequate time and resources to be able to prove himself.

A couple of good signings in the January transfer window might suffice in bolstering up the current squad into making a genuine challenge for promotion.  That will depend on Whelan trusting the manager’s ability to make good decisions where largish transfer fees are involved.

Dave Whelan is like any other club owner in that sometimes he gets things right in his appointments, but other times he gets them plain wrong.

Paul Jewell, Steve Bruce and Roberto Martinez all did a fantastic job for Latics. Chris Hutchings and Owen Coyle were less successful.

Let’s hope Whelan gets it right this time around.

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Manchester United 2 Wigan Athletic 0 – Latics go down

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

James Perch was unlucky in deflecting Van Persie’s shot into his own goal.

Two goals from Robin Van Persie – a spectacular header after 6 minutes and a lucky deflection in the 59th minute – were enough to give United victory.

Scott Carson in the Wigan goal had no chance with either goal. Despite the bad start Wigan gradually clawed themselves back into the game and Scott Carson was underemployed most of the match, apart from a fine save from a Welbeck shot as half time approached.

Wigan started the game with six new players on the field, including James McClean who joined them in midweek. In contrast United fielded only one new face, that of Wilfried Zaha.

Dave Whelan had pronounced in the week that it was a game for Wigan players to enjoy, without the pressure of having to fight for league points. Maybe that would explain the distinct lack of competitive edge from Wigan in the first 20 minutes as United were allowed to caress the ball round in midfield without physical challenges coming in.

If Roberto Martinez were still manager he would have been enraged by the way Wigan defenders wasted the ball with hopeful long punts which were meat and drink for the Reds defence.

However, as the second half wore on Wigan started to pass the ball around from the back, denying United possession and looking a much better team. Had McClean shown a cool head when put through by a long ball from Stephen Crainey, Wigan could have equalised. However, instead of pushing the ball back to Grant Holt who could have slid the ball in, he shot from the narrowest of angles and it went wide.

A few minutes later Emmerson Boyce had a good opportunity from a free kick, but he headed across the box when a direct header on goal would have produced better results.

Grant Holt and Nemandja Vidic were involved in a series of physical tussles, with the big Serb not coming out on top. It was revealing to see him apparently appealing to referee Mark Clattenberg as the teams were going off for half time.

Wigan started the second half quite well but the deflection off James Perch from Van Persie’s shot left them an uphill task. Owen Coyle wisely made a raft of substititions in the final half hour, saving key players for the more important immediate task of a league match next weekend.

Dave Whelan’s quote that he saw it as “a show game, a bit of a friendly game” was reflected in the tempo of play. There was a real pre-season feel to the match and Wigan really did not too seem too worried about the score.

The Good

Up until the second goal Wigan were in with a chance of leveling the match. After the initial United onslaught they held firm and did not fall apart in the way that they have too often done in the past against the Manchester team.

With so many new players in the lineup it is going to take time for the team to gel. However, the defence looked firm and when they built up moves from the back Latics looked a much better team.

The Bad

Wigan were awful in the first 20 minutes. You simply cannot allow a team of the quality of United so much possession of the ball.

Three out of the back four are new to the team and are adjusting to the concept of passing the ball out of defence, rather than playing a long ball. The goalkeeper Scott Carson was also guilty of kicking too many long balls, when he could have passed to a defender in space.

Player ratings

Scott Carson: 6 – could not be faulted for either goal. Needs to work on his distribution

Emmerson Boyce: 5 – not at his best. Patrice Evra gave him problems in the second half.

Leon Barnett: 8- excellent throughout. Made a memorable sliding clearance from a dangerous low cross from Evra in the second half.

James Perch: 7.5 – so unlucky with the deflection for the second goal. Otherwise played well.

Stephen Crainey: 6 – very involved with a lot of touches on the ball. Needs to work on his distribution.

Ben Watson: 5 – worked hard to stem the flow of United attacks, but not at his best. Substituted after 71 minutes.

James McCarthy: 5 – not at his best. Substituted after 86 minutes.

James McArthur: 5 – together with Watson and McCarthy could not wrestle the midfield out of United’s grasp. Substituted after 60 minutes.

Shaun Maloney: 5 – worked hard to no avail. Substituted after 71 minutes.

Grant Holt: 6 – gave Vidic a torrid time, but had no opportunities for goals. Substituted after 60 minutes.

James McClean: 6 – fast and skillful, but lacking in judgment, not only when clear through on goal. Substituted after 60 minutes.

Substitutes:

After 60 minutes – Chris McCann, Callum McManaman, Marc-Antoine Fortune.

After 71 minutes – Roger Espinoiza, Jordi Gomez.

After 86 minutes – Nouha Dicko.

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Moyes has more to lose than Coyle – Community Shield preview

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

The FA Community Shield

Dave Whelan is well known for supporting his managers and his comments during the week have already taken pressure off Owen Coyle ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield match at Wembley.

Whelan said that he regards the match as “a show game and a bit of a friendly game”. He downplayed its importance in comparison with league games adding that “It is the game in the football season that our boys can enjoy. Every league game is something where there is a lot at stake – three points – and we’ve got to fight for every single point.”

Coyle will be leading out a team that has his stamp on it. He has made ten new signings and at least half of those are likely to start the match.  He has already adapted the tactical system in an almost seamless transition. His players – new and old – are united in the aim of getting Wigan Athletic back into the Premier League. Moreover he has already won over the fans, many of whom were initially leery about his appointment.

For Moyes it is a “no-win”, no matter what the result. Manchester United have beaten Latics in 15 out of the 16 times they have met. Nothing short of an emphatic win is expected by their fans – any other result would be unacceptable. If United do win it will merely be a step forward to the start of the Premier League season. After all what is a win over  a Championship side worth to fans who are expecting their team to win at least one of the Premier League or Champions League?

Moyes has already been under intense media pressure and his progress in the transfer market is under scrutiny. He will be leading out Ferguson’s team at Wembley, not having made any major signings up to this point.

Wigan are likely to go into the match with the same starting lineup that played in the 4-0 win at Barnsley last week. With up to 6 substitutes allowed Coyle might well take the opportunity to give squad members a taste of the Wembley experience. Providing he is fit we can expect Callum McManaman to come on at some time and he will be anxious to impress. The occasion provides dynamic young players like McManaman and James McCarthy a stage upon which they can show their talents in front in front of a large TV audience.

Manchester United won the first Charity Shield – now known as the Community Shield – in 1908. They have won it 19 times – more than any other club.

Just like in the FA Cup Final the odds are stacked against Wigan Athletic and a win for the Reds is by far the most likely outcome.

But Latics fans will continue to “Believe”  –  Wigan have nothing to lose and an upset remains possible.

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