Following 48 hours of intense speculation over the Spaniard’s future, Roberto Martinez has opted to stay at Wigan Athletic, putting pen to paper ina contract that will keep him at the club for three more years. It is thought Martinez rejected a deal with Aston Villa worth around twice his current contract because of the faith chairman Dave Whelan has placed in him over the course of his time at Wigan.
In a crunch 12pm meeting at the DW Stadium, Martinez confirmed his decision to Whelan, who has remained confident the Balaguer-born would stay. Prior to the meeting, Sky Sports News briefly spoke to Whelan, who said of Martinez:
“Roberto is not a greedy man. Managers have a reputation for greed, but Roberto has sentiment, he has feeling and a great admiration for Wigan Athletic.”
Aston Villa did not enter into extended talks as Martinez “wanted to honour his contract” with the Lancashire club, according to an official statement. The Midlands outfit will now be forced to look elsewhere to fill their vacant managerial position.
“Given that he had one year remaining on his contract at Wigan, we made an official approach through the proper channels, though we were aware of a commitment he had made to his Club to agree and sign a new contract following the final game of last season.” — Aston Villa club statement, avfc.co.uk
We can assume the Latics boss made a verbal agreement with Whelan immediately following the season’s end to remain at Latics. However, we all know this would mean little if the right contract came along. The precise details of Villa’s offer can only be speculated; perhaps the Spaniard is holding out for a better contract further down the line? More likely, the fact he “did not meet” with Aston Villa representatives seems to suggest he is staying staunchly faithful to the club that brought him to British football, for the moment at least.
Whelan: "Roberto is showing football is not about greed, there's loyalty in it"
“Roberto is staying, that’s the great news. I had a gut feeling he wanted to stay at Wigan. He’s signing a new 3-year contract; we’ve had to give him an increase in basic salary, but money is not what this has been about. Villa will be disappointed, but I’m over the moon and I’m sure Wigan supporters will be too.
“Roberto is such a straight guy, honest and easy to deal with. Money is an afterthought to him. We got a quick agreement.
“I don’t think we were really close to losing him. We all know he’s going places, Aston Villa are a big club, and when you have a club like that coming for you, it’s something to be proud of. But had he gone to Villa I wouldn’t have blamed him. The supporters in Wigan look at this and think, Roberto is showing that football is not about greed, there’s a loyalty in it. He has been so loyal to me in all this.
“One of the big clubs in Europe will inevitably come for him, and then I would be resigned to losing him. I’m just relieved my gut feeling was right. I could feel the loyalty coming out of Roberto, it bubbled to the surface as soon as our meeting started. When they said Jesus is a Wiganer, Roberto is now a Wiganer.”
As soon as it became clear Gerard Houllier would not return to manage Aston Villa, rumours about who should replace him began to fly. One of those in the running was Wigan’s own Roberto Martinez, who was immediately instated as the bookies’ third favourite when chairman Randy Lerner expressed an interest in the Spaniard.
It has emerged today that Dave Whelan has given Martinez the opportunity to speak to the Villans, placing his future in the balance. On the one hand there is a contract extension offer from Latics, which he has been mulling over for some time, while on the other, the Midlands outfit will no doubt table a tempting proposition to bring Bob to Villa Park. Will he remain at the club that introduced him to British football or opt for a new challenge? Though Whelan reckons he’ll stay, I estimate the situation to be 50:50.
Despite Roberto’s strong affinity with Wigan, I very much doubt his decision will be clouded by nostalgia, and creative freedom may well be the determining factor. However, should Villa stump up the cash, I find it hard to see any other outcome than him leaving. It’s a nasty thought, as minds will be cast back to just over two years ago when Steve Bruce opted to leave for Sunderland. The Latics foundations began to crumble as a result, even if you could well argue that deterioration started as early as Christmas; whatever the case, his successor did a decent job of steadying the ship.
Big Brucey’s immediate departure after the 2008–09 season was somewhat inevitable. Roberto is in a different situation, having revived Wigan’s fortunes in the latter part of the season and finishing on a real high. Ever the professional, he may feel an obligation to honour his contract at the DW.
When Martinez was appointed Latics’ boss, one had the feeling his relative inexperience at the highest level could possibly mean disaster for Wigan. Dave Whelan placed total faith in his man, sticking by Roberto 100% through the tough times and never once intimating his position was in any danger. Even as other, seemingly more successful Premier League managers fell by the wayside, Roberto remained. This could edge the decision in Wigan’s favour, as he may never again find a chairman as patient as Uncle Dave.
Personally, I’m looking forward to another season under Martinez and am confident we can improve on our 16th place finish this coming campaign. Hopefully we shall see the continuation, or perhaps the culmination, of two years’ hard work rebuilding the team from the ground up. If Roberto leaves, we’d better get a decent replacement in there sharpish or else a mass exodus may result and we could be back to rebuilding once again.
Some big news straight from the world wide web. Representatives from [Thas] Not a Patch on Harry Lyon, Ye Olde Tree and Crown and the Mudhutter have clubbed together to form a new, all-encompassing megasite entitled ‘This Northern Soul‘, the intended successor to said sites. This does mean NAPO, YOTAC and Mudhutter will be closed, but once things are ironed out much of the old content will be transferred over so you won’t be missing much. Members of all three former fanpages were notified towards the end of last week with the official launch on 1 April.
Since the closure of the Official Wigan Athletic Forums (what, four years ago?), I feel there’s been something of a disharmony with stalwarts moving on to separate sites. The launch of This Northern Soul is a good move, bringing the fans together once again to start afresh on a new venture. It might not be as popular as the fantastic Cockney Latic just yet, but it certainly has the potential to be. The guys from (sole remaining?) paper fanzine the Mudhutter and various Latics publications are on board, lending a certain amount of credibility to the project.
VitalLatics and Wiganer.net continue to be essential sites for the Latics web contingent, but there’s a new(ish) kid on the block which I’m sure will prove a worthwhile addition to your bookmarks.
Latics fans everywhere hope they will be cracking out the fish-based puns for months to come with the arrival of Ireland Under-21 striker Conor Sammon on a reported 3 and a half year deal just minutes before the close of last night’s transfer deadline. The spiritual –perhaps eventual– successor to Ten Million Dollar Man Mauro Boselli, I should think this arrangement would carry a more sensible price tag, but he looks a bit grumpy in his Official Latics snapshot so you can bet he didn’t get quite as much as he wanted.
Scottish Premier League watchers will be familiar with Sammon, who has 15 goals in 20 league games for Kilmarnock this season. I should think Roberto, who has strong links to Scottish football, has had his eye on the man for a while now and simply kept the thing under wraps until the last minute to avoid rival bids. Or maybe not, with Derby also putting their hat into the ring for the striker. Anyways, we’ve snaffled him now so let’s hope he gets a few more than Boselli or Scotland. I think it’s fair to say Bob hasn’t had much luck in signing attackers, but hopefully all this will change and Sammon leaps at this chance. Ooh, sorry about that, it just came out.
In other transfer deadline day news, young keeper Lee Nicholls has gone out on loan to Shrewsbury Town. Looks like Mike Pollitt is well and truly the #2 keeper at the DW again, and thank goodness he signed for another year at the end of last season. Al Habsi, meanwhile, is certainly one of, if not the, best signing Martinez has made in his time at the club. Seems we have the goalie situation well under wraps, and with our goal difference not looking too healthy, thank goodness for that.
According to Sky Sports News, Newcastle put in a last-minute £10million bid for Charles N’Zogbia, which was promptly rejected. Somewhat surprising that this was the only approach we received for the man during the transfer window considering how many teams were keen on him before the start of the season proper, but you won’t find us complaining.
Sammon won’t be available for tonight’s showdown with West Brom, but should be in contention for a start against Blackburn at the weekend. In fact, barring a fantastic Franco Di Santo performance this evening, I reckon he’ll go straight into the team alongside Hugo. We need the goals, people, and strikers who can finish!
Oh, and if you want some more fish puns, check out this Cockney Latic forum topic.
Dan Farrimond 2008-2011. The views expressed on this site are those of biased northerners and should not be taken entirely seriously. Jesus Was A Wiganer is in no way affiliated with Wigan Athletic, Jesus Seba or the Wiganer Pub, Hindley.
