Category: Comment
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Euro 2016: The Final Word
AKA a sublime chocolate box of random observations from the 2016 European Championships. Will you pull out a Turkish Delight coconut abomination or the triple caramel supreme with double cream? Why not stick in your hand and chance your arm? Oh yeah, because I put my pet gator Grant in there… Things overheard during Euro […]
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Players of Euro 2016: Alternative Edition
So Portugal took the Euro 2016 trophy. So the limping Ronaldo took all credit as he wept, partially through pain but mostly the joy of victory. So far, so utterly predictable, humdrum, run of the mill, ordinary, beige and any other semi-descriptive term callously ripped from the ancient stone tablets of our prehistoric thesaurus (rex). […]
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50 Years Can’t Hurt: 1966 World Cup Exhibition at the National Football Museum
I stand, utterly transfixed by the (presumably) deliberate contrast of imagery. As ‘Three Lions’ provides a bittersweet soundtrack to England’s nut-crushing defeat at the hands of Germany in World Cup 2010, I’m reminded of that pertinent and oft-cited lyric: ’30 years of hurt never stopped me dreaming’. It’s no coincidence that co-writers of said melodious […]
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101 more of the funniest and best Euro 2016 fantasy football team names
They’re an ambitious lot, that bunch at All Gone Latics. Upon reading 101 Goals’ list of the funniest Euro 2016 fantasy football team names, they instantly boasted they could defeat the nation’s collective wit at this punny little game. As for how successful those narcissistic website editors have actually been, we’ll let you, the esteemed […]
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He’s on fire… no he isn’t… yes he is! The Will Grigg Wikipedia Edit Wars
Beatlemania, Henmania and Pottermania. All genuine crazes of generations long past, but nowhere near as widespread as the Griggmania rapidly infecting our planet via those there burning Internet tubes. When an association football player’s Wikipedia page is constantly being wiped and replaced with the text ‘HES ON FIER NANANANA’, you know you’ve stumbled upon a […]
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Hack From the Future Part II – Were his predictions correct?
Football journalists are seldom right. Not that your ‘reporter’ is anything close to a football journalist, but that didn’t stop him getting his (admittedly tongue in cheek, nay, flippant) predictions wildly incorrect. Hack From The Future Part I Since a good writer should learn from their mistakes, let’s take a closer look at why your […]
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Alternative moments of the season 2015/16
You may well recall Yanic Wildschut’s heart-stopping added time winner at Walsall in February – it did, after all, spark wild celebrations and lift Latics into the automatic promotion places. And of course, you have an equally vivid memory of the 5-1 Shrewsbury-smashing that began an extended chorus of ‘We Are Top of the League’ […]
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Turning Wigan’s air blue: Paul Scharner and Arjan de Zeeuw’s colourful return
“To all the kids present, I am sorry for the foul language,” compère Martin Ode apologised through an uncomfortable half-grimace. It was too late – the Q&A session had already ended. At least a dozen kids had already asked their mother what ‘volk, volk, volk, volk’ could mean in English. But no-one complained. When you’re […]
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Wigan Athletic’s 2015/16 season in numbers
1 – Position in League One Pie Championship Wigan Athletic finished. 3 – Number of heavy metal umlauts Jussi Jääskeläinen is cool enough for. 6? 6! – Average minutes of second half injury time in matches featuring Wigan Athletic. 8 – Trees sacrificed to power Gary Caldwell’s in-match paper memo communication system. 11 – Actual […]
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How to settle your nerves during the promotion run-in
Oh my, the promotion battle is getting rather tense, isn’t it? Against Southend on Saturday, the entire DW Stadium will be wracked with anxiety as that 90th minute mark approaches, a place in the Football League Championship potentially at stake for Wigan Athletic. But you’ll be cooler than Doncaster Rovers during a typical Yorkshire April […]