J-Rob MBE

Former Wigan striker Jason Roberts has received an MBE for his work encouraging young people in Britain and the Caribbean to play football.

The Jason Roberts Foundation was formed in 2007 to provide opportunities for young people to take part in sporting and cultural activities and to participate in learning programmes enhancing educational achievement.

Roberts bagged 37 goals in 93 games for the Latics and helped them to achieve promotion from the Championship in the 2004/2005 campaign. He went on to score Wigan’s first goal in the Premiership from the penalty spot against Sunderland the following season and steer the Latics to mid-table safety.

He is perhaps best known for his winning goal in the 2005/2006 Carling Cup semi-final second leg, which sealed his team a place in the final of the competition for the very first time. The following season, he signed for Blackburn in a £3million deal, and has since gone on to score seventeen goals in 86 appearances for the Lancashire side. He came on as a sub in Saturday’s match against his old club, whereupon he received a polite round of applause from the Wigan crowd.

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Rooney calls Martinez an ambulance. Or maybe the pizza place?

Even the most hardened of Latics fans will admit there was an air of inevitability over this fixture. If we’re being honest, we all knew Manchester United were going to play some excellent football, in all probability leading to a comfortable win over the Latics.

In fact, you didn’t exactly have to be Stephen Hawking to predict the result of last night’s game:  I believe we’ve only ever managed to score a handful against The Red Devils in all our time in the Premiership compared to their 30+ in the same fixture.

Yep, they’re not just a bogey team, but a whacking great blob of phlegm that engulfs Little Wigan in a sea of yellowy-green mucus on a twice-yearly basis (sometimes more, if we’re unlucky enough to draw them in the cup).

I apologise if I put you off your tea, for that was a bit disgusting. It shall act, though, as an apt metaphor for Wigan’s performance on the night: clunky and not very pleasant to witness. Of course, few teams go to Man U and win, but at least many of them put up a fight – we didn’t even manage to do that yesterday as the Latics side of Chelsea and Aston Villa earlier this year looked to be at home watching The Great Escape. Is it me, or does that film get seven minutes longer each year?

Don’t get me wrong: Wigan were outplayed and outclassed, and even if Latics brought their A-game to Old Trafford they would still have struggled to get anywhere close to ‘Ze Champions’. However, it would have been good to at least have seen some pleasant footy on the big stage in front of 75,000 people. I suppose it was not to be, and the lads will no doubt be drowning their sorrows with extra training on New Year’s Day.

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