Tag Archives: wigan athletic

Throwing in the towel – Brentford 3 Wigan Athletic 0

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match reactions and tagged with , , , , , ,

Towel

When a boxer is too beaten up to continue, his coach throws a towel into the ring to signal that the fight is over.

Gary Caldwell might have wanted to throw in the towel at various times during an awful performance at promotion-chasing Brentford. The unfortunate deflection of a Pritchard free kick after 25 minutes was the precursor of the nothingness that followed. Latics had dominated the game up to that point, at least in terms of possession. But a team with such brittle confidence was unlikely to be up to the task of getting back into the game following such an unfortunate goal.

What was to follow was merely a replay of the football we have seen so often this season.  Toothless in attack, woeful in defence, passing awful

Gary Caldwell set up his stall with a 3-5-2 formation. It worked well for the first quarter of the game with the wing backs getting into advanced positions, particularly Gaetan Bong on the left.  The team pressed forward to harass Brentford’s passing game. Wigan’s passing was neat and their interplays led them into the Brentford box on various occasions. One had a feeling that something positive might happen, even of the incisive final pass was lacking. It looked like Caldwell had got the team playing the kind of football he was seeking.

But as the game progressed following that first goal one got the feeling that Latics could be in for a drubbing. The Latics back three looked like they had never played together before, fragile and vulnerable to the movement of the Brentford midfield and wide players. Wigan’s midfield was both pedestrian and predictable. The forwards found it hard to stay onside.

But then again, what did Latics have to play for in the last match of a catastrophic season? The majority of the players who made the starting lineup are unlikely to be at the club next season. But at least Caldwell had taken the opportunity to give Billy Mckay his first start, together with bringing the 18 year old Louis Robles and the 19 year old Jordan Flores off the bench for their first senior appearances after 64 minutes.

The breath of fresh air that Caldwell’s appointment has brought into the club was not enough today. The Scot has inherited a poor team that was never going to be good enough to beat promotion chasers like Wolves and Brentford in the last two games. But if that deflection had not beaten Lee Nicholls half way through the first half, perhaps a goalless draw might have been on the cards  today?

The social media and message boards have been packed with fans asking which of the players whose contracts are expiring next month should be offered new contracts. On the basis of today’s performances alone the answer would quite simply be “none” except the goalkeeper. The highlight of the afternoon for Wigan was Lee Nicholls’ late penalty save. With the impending departure of both Ali Al-Habsi and quite probably Scott Carson it is no surprise to hear strong rumours that the young keeper has been offered a contract extension.

It is a measure of how far Latics have fallen over the past months that Brentford could so easily carve holes into the defence as the game wore on. The kind of football they played today is something that Caldwell might well aspire to. The Scot has a mountain of a task ahead of him to get Latics back to that level of performance.

Meanwhile we will continue to play our guessing games as to who is to stay and who is to go.

It is going to be an interesting summer!

The financial side of a bounce back for Wigan Athletic

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Financial and tagged with , , , ,
Sharpe

David Sharpe offers the club new direction, but he has major challenges ahead of him.

 

“You will no doubt have heard the news by now that we will be kicking off next season in Sky Bet League One. Everyone associated with Wigan Athletic is suffering this morning but the reality is that this is where we find ourselves and I wanted to write to all of you with a personal pledge that nothing else but an immediate return to the Championship will suffice. We will bounce back.”

The words of David Sharpe after Rotherham had put the final nail in Wigan Athletic’s coffin by beating Reading on Tuesday night.

Since taking over as chairman Sharpe has injected a breath of fresh air into the morale of Latics fans. The unthinkable actually happened – from winning the FA Cup to League 1 just two years later. But Sharpe’s enthusiasm for the task of getting the club back into the top echelons is infectious. After the club drifting for months like a rudderless ship Sharpe has come in and provided not only direction, but hope.

He has installed a bright young manager in Gary Caldwell, insisting that it is a long-term appointment. During just four games in charge Caldwell has already turned the style of play from the hoofball prevalent under Malky Mackay to what Sharpe calls “the right brand of football”. Sharpe continues to reiterate the club’s desire to produce a top class academy. He also plans to put in place an effective department of recruitment, something the club was lacking even in the Premier League days.

Sharpe has been impressive in his dealings with the media. Rather than look like a 23 year old novice in the role of club chairman, he has clearly enunciated his vision for the club and looked calm and confident when interviewed. Moreover he is from a generation that is skilled in the use of electronic and social media.

Dave Whelan too started off with a vision when he first took over as chairman some two decades ago. His was to propel Latics out of League 2 into the Premier League in ten years. His achievements are legendary. However, Whelan was already in his late fifties when he took over, with huge business acumen and experience. During those twenty years he was to pump around £100m into the club for them to hold their own in the upper tiers of English football.

DW is a hard act to follow. Does the young chairman not only have the vision, but also the business acumen and sheer determination needed to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps? More importantly is the Whelan family still willing to help support the club financially?

Sharpe is by no means alone in dealing with the financial side of the football club. His grandfather remains the owner and will surely be in regular contact with him. Moreover he has the capable Jonathan Jackson, a Chief Executive with a strong business background, steeped in the tradition of the club since birth.

However, the two of them, together with Head of Football operations, Matt Jackson, have a huge task on their hands over the coming weeks. No less than 13 players left the club in January. A comparable exodus is impending as Latics need to cut their cloth according to the financial realities of League 1 status.

In their last season in the Premier League Wigan Athletic had a staffing budget of around £50 million. Relegation and a huge drop in TV revenues meant that wages had to be drastically reduced, despite a parachute payment of £26 million. To keep a team in mid-table in the Championship typically involves a wage bill in excess of £20 million. Whereas to get into the top six  comes to around £30 million, which is precisely what it cost Latics last season.

With parachute payments dropping to £16m this season that the club once again needed to reduce its wage bill. The departures of ex-Premier League players Jean Beausejour, Jordi Gomez and James McArthur helped. However, manager Uwe Rosler was to bring in nine new players over the summer. Although some were younger players, not on high earning contracts, the competition in the transfer market forced the club to offer more tempting salaries to the rest. The result was a squad that was larger than the club needed with a wage bill close to that £30 million of the previous season.

The January fire sale, in which 13 players left the club, helped to put Latics back on track financially. Apart from the transfer fees received the wage bill was reduced significantly, to probably around £20 million on an annual basis. Sadly the selling of much of the family silver left Latics with a threadbare squad, short on quality. Only two permanent signings were made, coincidentally both being players who had prior experience in League 1. The squad was supplemented by young loanees and players on short term contracts.

For the coming season Latics will receive £8 million in parachute payments, plus around £2.5 million from TV money. The rest will need to come from gate receipts and commercial revenue. The club will have gone from a wage bill of £50 million to £30 million to around £10 million in the space of just three years.

Assuming the current wage bill approximates to around £20 million on an annual basis it means that it will need to be halved over the summer.

Wigan Athletic currently have 19 players under contract until 2016 and beyond. None of those were previously on Premier League contracts. However, having been signed when Latics have been in the Championship division many of them will be on salaries that are way above the norm in League 1.

Excluding loanees there are 8 players out of contract in June. The list includes goalkeeper Lee Nicholls, although rumours suggest that he is being offered a contract extension.

Given the situation Sharpe will look at selling off those contracted players on the highest salaries. Many of the most saleable assets departed in January, but players with prior Premier League backgrounds remain who will be targeted by other clubs. The most likely to attract sizeable transfer fees are Scott Carson, James McClean and James Perch. Moreover Oriol Riera has already shown in his return to Spain that he is a player who will be in demand, likely to bring in a transfer fee.

So many players have been tainted by the low morale and low confidence among the squad this season and their performance levels have dipped. With a fresh start next season and playing in a lower division, many of them are capable of significantly raising those performance levels. However, the financial reality is that around half of them will need to be persuaded to find other clubs, with their contracts terminated by mutual consent.

A few weeks back Sharpe mentioned that Latics were going to need at least ten new players for next season. With around ten retained from the current squad, ten new additions and a handful of players brought up from the development squad it would bring the club close to the squad size of 24 stipulated for League 1 clubs. Up to half of the new additions are likely to be players on loan.

Persuading such a large number of players to move on, helping them to find them new employment, is no easy matter. It will be easier in some cases than others. Some may need to move to clubs offering lower salaries, but in higher divisions than Latics. Players who have been in the Premier League not so long ago will be reluctant to damage their future career prospects by dropping down to League 1.

Caldwell will know which players he wants to retain. However, he might not be able to be so selective. Those returning from long-term injury are unlikely to be sought out by other clubs until they have proved they are fit again. Emyr Huws, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair and Grant Holt fall into that category. Holt is not only recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury, but will be 34 years of age when the season starts. Moreover he is one of the highest earners. Caldwell’s hands will most likely be tied and he will need to find ways of enabling the big Cumbrian to fit into his style of play.

Caldwell might want to keep at least some of the players whose short term contracts are about to expire. Harry Maguire is on Premier League wages at Hull and the salary expectations of ex-top flight players such as William Kvist, Kim Bo-Kyung and Jermaine Pennant will be high. Caldwell also needs to make a decision on his old teammate Emmerson Boyce. At 35 years of age, Boyce does not have the pace of before. However, Caldwell could choose to use him in a back line of three, where his experience could be useful. But then again, it would also depend on his wage expectations.

Despite Sharpe’s assertions about producing a top class academy the club has not made any recent statements about the development of the Charnock Richard site. There are fans who remain skeptical about whether the project will be brought to its conclusion. We await further news.

The framework governing Financial Fair Play in League 1 differs greatly from that of the Championship. Clubs in Leagues 1 and 2 have to operate under the Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP). It limits the wages that a League 1 club can pay out to a maximum of 60% of its turnover. There is no consideration given to clubs coming down from the Championship except that the salaries of players signed before September of the previous season, on contracts of three year or more, are not included in the calculations.

That would be the case of those signed by Owen Coyle prior to the 2013-14 season. However, although the retention of those players would not be contributory to breaking the SCMP protocols, the club will be reluctant to continue to pay salaries of approaching £1 million per year to the higher wage earners. In certain cases, such as that of Holt, its hands may be tied.

Over the coming weeks we will discover which players are moving on. Caldwell faces a tough decision whether to retain a handful of high earners, who would take up around half of the total wage bill, or whether to ditch as many as he can to sign up-and-coming players from the lower divisions or maybe Scotland. It could be argued that if he were to keep some of those high earners they would provide a strong backbone for his team. It could also be said that so many of those players underperformed this season and the club is better off without them.

Sharpe has made it clear that he wants promotion this season. In reality it might be too much to ask of a rookie manager in his first full season with so many new players to bed-in. However, the parachute payments only continue for two more years and after that Latics will compete on an even keel with the other clubs in the division. Promotion in the second year would become a real priority.

Turnover usually includes not only match day revenues, TV money and sponsorship deals. But interestingly the Football League also includes donations from the owners of clubs and the injection of equity. It basically leaves the door open for a rich owner to take over a club and pump money into it in a bid for promotion. Moreover there is no direct restriction on the amount of money the club can spend or receive in transfer fees.

Unlike so many clubs Wigan Athletic have been well managed financially in recent years and made profits in the past three seasons. Whether they make one this year remains to be seen, although the transfer fees received and staffing cuts made in January will help. However, the long term question is whether the Whelan family, through Sharpe, is willing to inject further funds into the club. Funds will be needed for the foundation of a top class academy and if Latics cannot gain promotion in the next couple of years the parachute payments will be gone and they will have no financial advantage over the general morass of clubs in League 1.

Sharpe has made an inspirational start to his tenure as chairman of Wigan Athletic. But the coming weeks are going to test his abilities to remain calm and level-headed, whilst being determined in realizing his vision for the club.

Then there remains the big question about injection of further funds into the club by the Whelan family, which has already given so much.

Mackay sacking – a month too late.

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Specials and tagged with , , ,
Sharpe

David Sharpe announced Malky Mackay’s departure tonight.

 

What a sad day.

The loss to Derby County puts Latics with practically no chance of avoiding the drop. The thought of relegation is hard to bear but what is even more depressing is that the two Davids – Sharpe and Whelan – did not remove Mackay at least a month ago. The lack of vision and decisiveness from above is worrying.

Less than 18 months ago Owen Coyle exited Wigan Athletic as a much derided figure. By coincidence his last game in charge had been a home loss to Derby. Coyle was sacked because it looked like he could not get Latics into the playoff zone. Moreover the stylish, if not always successful, football of the previous era had lapsed towards ‘hoofball’.

Uwe Rosler came in and enjoyed considerable success in his first season. His services were dispensed of when it looked like he was losing player support and failing in the quest to make Latics a serious candidate for promotion.

Little did we know what depths the team would plumage towards under his successor. Mackay’s appointment did great damage to the club’s image as portrayed by the national media. Moreover the team did not rise on the bounce effect of a new manager, as is so often the case. In fact they got worse. They did not win a single home game during his tenure and he might well go into Wigan Athletic history as their least successful manager.

When Mackay took over he stuck by an “old guard” who had clearly been underperforming under Rosler. Neither did they perform well under him. His revenge was sweet, with no less than thirteen players dispatched out of the club in the January window. Given the departure of so many players who had proved themselves in the Premier League it was no surprise that the standard of football was to plummet close to rock bottom. The hoofball that had become evident under Coyle, which Rosler could not eradicate, soon became the order of the day under Mackay.

Mackay’s tactics involved having two big strikers who could fight for those long balls. The most successful at retrieving those long balls was Marc-Antoine Fortune. Without him Latics seemed lost. With him they had a player adept at chasing seemingly lost causes and gaining possession. They also had a striker with an appalling goalscoring record. Forwards of lesser physical stature, such as Billy Mckay and Martyn Waghorn, were never going to be included in Mackay’s system, despite their proven career record as goalscorers.

The conspiracy theorists will say that Mackay was brought in as a short-term alternative, with his main task being to cull the dead wood within the playing staff. It could be said that he did that. Perhaps some of the players from the Martinez era had become complacent and were causing divisions within the camp. But the cull, together with a reluctance to provide Mackay with sufficient cash to find adequate replacements, left the club so short of quality players that relegation was always going to be a possibility.

Mackay was to replace the departed players with those on short term contracts or young loanees green behind the ears. It was a recipe for disaster.

So many fans will be relieved that Mackay will not be at the club next year, even if it is in League 1. But it should not hide the lack of foresight and decisiveness by Sharpe who has surely left it too late for hope of salvation in the Championship division.

It is to be hoped that Sharpe will also take a look at the coaching staff. Too many players have been written off this season despite arriving at the club with good credentials. There has been a disconnect between recruiting and coaching. The former has taken the brunt of criticism and Sharpe has enunciated his reorganisation of recruitment services. In the meantime it defies belief that the coaches could not have done more with so many of those new signings.

The challenge for Sharpe is to emulate his grandfather in appointing a manager capable of lifting the club out of this trough. Moreover lovers of good football will hope that he does not go for someone of the ilk of Coyle or Mackay. Between the two of them they caused so much damage.

It is to be hoped that the departure of Mackay will lead to a successful new era for the club.

Much of that will depend on Sharpe’s vision and leadership. It is a lot to expect from such a man so young.

Latics can beat Bolton if…..

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

Defeat to Wigan Athletic is something that Bolton Wanderers supporters find hard to bear. After all their local rivals are nothing but young upstarts compared with the glorious history of their Trotters.

Wanderers were founder members of the first Football League in 1888, one of the 6 Lancashire clubs that formed that initial division of 12. Since then they have spent more time in the top tier (Premier League/First Division) than out of it, 73 seasons to be precise. Their highest placing in the top tier was 3rd in 1920-21 and 1924-25 seasons. By the time Latics entered the Football League in 1978, Bolton had won the FA Cup four times, being runners-up on three occasions.

Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers had their first-ever encounter in the Football League on Boxing Day in 1983. That was in the old Third Division and Wanderers won 1-0, but Latics went on to win by the same score in the return match at Burnden Park. Things have remained fairly even ever since. Bolton have won 17 and Wigan 16, with 11 draws in league and cup matches between the two clubs.

No matter what situation of either club the result of the derby is always of paramount importance. But a win it is so much more important to Latics than Bolton this time around. The 2-0 home defeat to Watford in midweek was depressing in that it was a repeat of what has happened on too many occasions this season. Wigan seeming to match their opponents, but once a goal has gone against them they have not been able to get back into the game.

However, the 2-0 defeat of Rotherham at Nottingham Forest and a 3-0 home reverse for Fulham against Leeds United means that Latics remain at 6 points behind the two. Moreover the London team’s collapse continued with Leeds scoring with the only genuine chances they had.  Fulham strikers Ross McCormack and Matt Smith, who had a combined total of 42 goals for Leeds last season, just could not find the net. Like Wigan, Fulham were among the bookmakers’ favourites for promotion this season. They are caught in a downward spiral, having won only one of their last thirteen games.

Latics’ miserable home record – their last win was against Birmingham City on August 30 – will surely come to an end soon. The pundits have tried to explain how a team can win four consecutive games on the road, but lose their last six at the DW Stadium. Their approach to matches appears similar, be they home or away, but they have so often been caught by surprise at the DW.

The away victories have been characterized by them getting goals relatively early in the proceedings and hanging on to their lead with grim determination. Most of those goals have come from set pieces, which clearly have not worked at home where they have not scored a goal for four matches.

However, football is rarely as scientific as we sometimes think. The difference between winning and losing games in the Championship can so often depend on a slice of fortune – a deflection or a misplaced pass finding a teammate for whom it was not intended. Latics have enough height to be a danger at set pieces, but too often the delivery at home games has been found wanting.

However, the law of averages tells us that you are more likely to score goals if you have players in the penalty box. Even better if they are in the right place at the right time. Some players have a knack of being in such positions. Some do not. Given Mackay’s choice of strikers over recent months it is sadly no surprise that Latics have not been scoring goals.

Latics can certainly beat Bolton tomorrow if…………….

  1. Mackay plays strikers who have track records of goalscoring.
  2. They are organised, work hard and “win that second ball”, as ex-Latics captain Neil Rimmer says so often in his Wish FM commentaries.
  3. The rub of the green goes their way.

This is the least accomplished group of players the club has had for at least a decade. Most are loanees or on short term contracts. They lack the mutual understanding gained through playing as a collective unit over a long period of time. As a result the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

However, Mackay has largely succeeded in getting levels of commitment that were not apparent earlier in the season. He has stabilized the defence. The central defensive pairing of Harry Maguire and Jason Pearce is rugged and determined, well suited to the division. Mackay will look towards playing with a solid defence and scoring from set pieces.

However, Bolton do not have a particularly good team. They are out of the relegation zone due to the “new manager effect” after Neil Lennon was appointed, something that Latics crucially missed with Mackay. That effect has since faded and their squad is not overburdened with talent. They have lost their last six away games and have difficulty scoring goals. Their leading scorer is Zach Clough with just 6 goals, although Adam Le Fondre has scored 5 in his 10 matches so far.

Wigan Athletic fans have learned to keep their expectations low for results in home games over the past six months. Maybe the time has come for them to see the victory they have been waiting for so long. It would be particularly sweet against a local rival which considers itself a step above.

Believing again with Malky and Sharpy

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Reflections and tagged with , , , ,
Photo courtesy of fansonline.net

e Photo courtesy of fansonline.net

Situations can change quickly in the football world.

Three weeks ago I published an article “Can we believe under Mackay?” Latics had lost badly at Nottingham Forest and Malky Mackay’s record at Wigan was W1 D3 L10. Moreover the club seemed to be drifting with its talismanic leader, Dave Whelan, nowhere in sight. It was a club where leadership appeared noticeably absent. “Believing” was not easy.

The weekend later Latics did inspire some momentary confidence with a 1-0 win at Reading. There were two home games coming up, so the more optimistic of supporters raised their hopes that it could be the start of a revival, although the battle-hardened contingent warned us to beware of a false dawn. The darksiders proved to be right as Latics lost to both Charlton and Cardiff. A failure to get three points in the next match at Blackpool would nail the relegation coffin for Latics, psychologically of not mathematically.

The 3-1 win at Bloomfield Road was certainly a tonic, but unsettling rumours were starting to spread about the club being sold to Thai buyers. Still no word from Whelan. Moreover the next match was away at Norwich, who had won their last six games and were challenging for promotion.

Within the space of a few days the future suddenly seems much brighter. DW stepped down as chairman, but made it clear that the Whelan family and Chief Executive Jonathan Jackson would continue to run the club. There would be no sell-off. Fans were debating the idea of Whelan’s 23 year old grandson, David Sharpe, taking over as chairman although the more savvy pointed out that Jackson was the pillar upon which the near future of the club would largely rest.

The 1-0 win at Norwich, gained with just 32% possession, was precisely the kind of performance that many of us expected when Mackay was appointed. A gritty, backs to the wall display, based on strong defence and a moment’s inspiration from the excellent Kim Bo Kyung. Sharpe will surely have enjoyed overseeing a hard fought victory on receiving the reins from his grandfather.

The mood is much more positive among the fans now. The team has won two consecutive games for the first time this season and people are seriously thinking whether they can once more “Believe”. The manager remains unpopular and Sharpe has a hard act to follow as future chairman, but there is at least something to look forward to now.

The pundits tell us that Mackay’s current record of W4 D3 L12 – a winning percentage of 21% – lifts him above the level of being statistically the club’s least successful manager. He has certainly transformed things since his arrival. Not one of Uwe Rosler’s ten signings started the game at Norwich and only four of the eleven have contracts at Wigan beyond summer. At last he has succeeded into motivating the players to wear the Wigan Athletic jersey with pride, willing to give their all on the pitch.

But there is a hard road ahead for both Mackay and Sharpe.

After those consecutive wins the manager has regained some degree of credibility. However, he has incredibly still not won a match at the DW Stadium. He will be anxious to notch up his first against Leeds tomorrow. Can he lift his players to the same levels of energy and passion that they showed at Blackpool and Norwich? It will be a challenge to do so for the third time in a week.

David Sharpe has been active at the club for over a year now. He worked with Mackay on the January clear-out and is likely continue to support the manager at least until the end of the season. Questions remain whether relegation can be avoided and if Mackay is the right manager for Latics in the long term.

However, there suddenly seems much more purpose at the club, following Dave Whelan’s announcements and a couple of good results.

Let’s hope we can “Believe” in the Malky-Sharpy partnership.