Latics may be out of the UEFA Cup, but the opportunity to play abroad still exists in the form of the good ol’ FA Cup. If you don’t count Wales as ‘abroad’, consider this: why was I approached by a Passport Inspector when travelling through Wrexham last year? I’m still waiting for that nice chap…
Football Association, you’ve just missed an opportunity more golden than an overpaid striker’s £500 Adibok boots. If you were small time internet bloggers, you would certainly have spied the chance of a quick laugh and scheduled this re-rescheduled contest for a Wednesday. See, Sheffield Wednesday on a Wednesday evening, because they’re named after a day…
Please excuse the amusingly Edvard Munch-esque expression on my face, but I believe I just experienced deja vu. Almost a year to the day, Latics returned to the site of their spectacular FA Cup victory over the very same opponents… and lost. But is this seasonal fixture synchronicity simply coincidence, or does destiny hold a…
In many ways, the transfer window is like a train journey through a busy city centre. Once January is over, the doors are securely locked for safety and the next and final stop is End of Season Station. I’m not sure how this metaphor accounts for free agents, but let’s pretend they’re either stowaways or…
Phew, crank that electric heater all the way up to 4! When last Latics and The Smoggies met, you could barely make it halfway to your DW seat before your rapidly melting mulberry ice cream was ruining the sleeve of your best summer shirt. Long-sleeved, of course – this *is* Wigan we’re talking about. Today, the…
Cancel everything this instant – Wigan Athletic have already been presented with the FA Cup! Yes, I know it’s only a three-quarter replica to replace the real McCoy (McClean? McManaman? McArth…) next to those oversized whisky bottles in the DW’s pleasingly populated cabinet. But few if any other clubs can claim they have witnessed their…
Agh, back to the day job it is, then. Why can’t every day be FA Cup day? Oh yeah, because the media would be even less bearable than usual – if I hear Gary Lineker utter the phrase ‘magic of the FA Cup’ one more time I will crush my final remaining Garibaldi biscuit with…
It was with great disappointment I learned that Sir Ben Watson had been harshly overlooked for the much-vaunted Ballon D’or (literal French: ‘accurate ball-kicking’) award. It is understandable that he could not attend the ceremony in person due to 10 hour-long negotiations for a new 45-year contract including a lifetime’s supply of Uncle Joe’s pie…
There is no reason why video games can’t be a force for sporting good – Formula One drivers, for example, play XBOX racing titles to familiarise themselves with that weekend’s Grand Prix circuit. However, there are two equally valid reasons why footballers shouldn’t prepare by booting up their copy of Football Manager. Firstly, they are…
As Latics were cruelly consigned to the Premier League’s less wealthy ‘concrete car park training league’, there were concerns that it would be boring. “The football, and referees, are awful,” they said. While the latter is undoubtedly true (ooh, controversial? Nope), the former can be classed as utter nonsense – we have witnessed half a…
Aww, is 2013 *really* over now? I didn’t want Wigan’s glorious FA Cup winning year to end. Hmm, this is far too positive, so let me rewind that statement… Unintelligible backmasked speech: Ckkt… [Satan has a smelly bottom] Pshhkt. [Turn me on, dead man] *Click* Ahem. Good flipping riddance to 2013, the year Wigan Athletic…
Thanks to the ever-growing pile of hate mail accumulating in my dog’s bed, I am once again forced to apologise, this time for my vaguely scatological assessment of the other weekend’s footballing events. I now understand this ain’t no Saturday morning kids’ TV show, so the cheap and thoroughly disgusting toilet humour must cease. By…