After a brief hiatus for the international break, Things We Learned is back with a bumper two-week edition. Quite a lot has happened in the 16 days since last we met, though you have to drive that drill just a bit further into the crust to unearth noteworthy discussion points. Or, as I did, slob…
Wigan Athletic, “relegation candidates” once more. Sigh. Just for once I would love to take my seat in the East Stand, fizzy beverage in hand, and enjoy a month of Latics matches without the lingering thought that a loss could send us spiralling towards a WWF-esque relegation fistfight. Just for once I would like to…
Exciting news, pie men. I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in the latest edition of Vital‘s Progress With Unity Podcast. Actually, I was on last week’s as well, but neglected to notify you of this event in time. I have retrospectively added a post for that, which you can find here. In…
Check out this week‘s PWU Podcast for ruminations on the Stoke game, their tactics in general and the forthcoming international break. This edition is especially interesting because I’m a guest. I’m the one either chuckling away inanely in the background or forgetting the names of first team players. 😛 Never miss an episode! Grab the…
Most teams sign footballers on transfer deadline day. Wigan Athletic sign sports stores. A long-awaited DW Sports shop opens in Wigan town centre the day we play Manchester United, Saturday 15 September. In related news, former sponsor JJB is close to biting the dust, but hey, at least Bulldog Tools and Heinz are still going…
It happens just prior to the closure of every transfer window: supposedly highbrow, intellectual publications transform into glorified versions of those 99p gossip magazines that usually end up covering the windows of abandoned houses. Renowned commentators become facsimiles of Jeremy Kyle; spendthrift clubs become bigger impulse buyers than a shopaholic on payday; online blogs become……
After years and years of being the underdog in cup competitions, I still find it hard to adjust to the tag of ‘giant’. Mostly because it’s one of those media terms used, often erroneously, to glorify the Midweek Floodlit Trophy. In reality, Latics are as much giants as Nottingham Forest are ‘minnows’: in fact one…
At our primary school, we would all sit down at 2:45 each Friday to answer the teacher’s question, “what have we learned this week?” Naturally, none of us would be remotely engaged in such an activity due to the lure of an impending two days off. Hopefully this new and (like Roberto’s Capital One Cup…
Certain sections of the mainstream media seem to be under the impression that football is all about superstars. Sure, it might be watching Cantonas and Zolas that gets you into the game in the first instance, but the longer you watch, the more you realise it’s about much more than that. In the past month,…
The football season is back, and I don’t know what to think. On the one hand it is one of the few things that give my sorry life meaning, while on the other it is the source of much frustration and tension, not to mention the primary reason for my receding hairline. I will, however,…
With the eyes of the whole world on the city of London last night, it’s no surprise that broadcasters chose not to screen Wigan Athletic’s clash with Spanish ‘giants’ Celta Vigo at the Balaidos Stadium. I should think that’s the only reason, however, and that such a high profile friendly would normally have ESPN scrambling…
It’s almost here, folks, and you can already smell the tabloid bull poop. In less than ten days’ time, Wigan Athletic will once again take to the pitch in that most dramatic and intense of leagues, the English Premier Division. Take a deep breath, for it’s time live the dream all over again. This coming…