Don't look back: A hole too large for Martinez to fill?

You may well say I am not qualified to comment on yesterday’s game considering I wasn’t there and didn’t even watch it on telly or listen to it on WISH.

And you’d be right, especially since I have yet to watch any highlights or take in any post-match reaction save for Martinez’ brief comments for Ceefax. To tell you the truth, I’m dreading doing so, and will wait a few days for my disappointment to wane (if it ever will) before bringing myself to watch any sort of match action.

Still, in the interests of playing devil’s advocate, let’s go ahead and offer some sort of critique based simply on the scoreline.

Well, I tend to think a 4-0 loss would say it all, really. Kind of glad I wasn’t able to see the game to save myself from yet more embarrassment along the lines of last season’s defeats at the hands of Notts County, West Ham, Wolves and Portsmouth.

You can’t help but analyse yesterday in the light of results from the preceding season. The ‘long term plan’ Martinez and Whelan have set out sees the two campaigns merge into one, big ordeal (and yes I will call it that) whereby the club takes numerous blows to the solar plexus in the hope it gets in one or two telling blows of its own. The main problem lies in the fact our opponents need to be absolute pants for that to even threaten to happen.

If, in the long term, such tactics save the club from total extinction and keep us afloat for a few more years, then fine. After all, you never know the extent of what’s going on behind the scenes, and as a mere supporter, you don’t necessarily expect to be made privy to the inner workings of your football club.

Read the rest of this entry »

Past Forward Issue 55, 'Football Fever' special

Issue 55 of Wigan Heritage Services’ own in-house publication, Past Forward, features a selection of Latics programmes from yesteryear on its front cover.

Sadly, however, it doesn’t really live up to the promise of Wigan Athletic related content, with just a single two-page story on Golborne’s own World Cup winner Roger Hunt. And, the last time I checked, I don’t think he ever played for Wigan.

The whole thing is made much worse by the fact that, for a so called ‘Football Fever’ special, there’s equal (if not more) coverage of rugby league, with a story on the Northern Union’s first tour Down Under.

Nevertheless, that story is relegated to the later pages, and what football stuff is there is at least engaging. The front cover is highly attractive, and the Hunt story informative – I had no idea one of the heroes of ’66 was born so close to home.

A pity, though, that there are no articles on the history of Wigan Borough or even Springfield Park. Maybe I should have cobbled something together myself, and that’s a consideration for the next issue, due out in December. I could do with a few more badges for the ‘As Seen In’ section in the right hand column there.

Read the rest of this entry »

Latics’ new club shop, imaginatively titled the Latics Club Shop, was unofficially up and running this morning. Stocking such merchandise as Wigan Athletic branded golf tees, babies’ bibs and cuddly teddy bears, it’s already looking a bit more promising than last year’s Latics WN1 trial run.

This time round, there were no photographers or guest appearances (at least not when I was there, about 10ish), rather a selection of half price Latics merchandise so we could all be ripped off by 50 rather than 100 percent. The glitz and glamour will be present on Tuesday afternoon as a selection of the Wigan squad and backroom staff officially launch the new Wigan Athletic home kit for the 2010 season.

And it’s certainly an improvement on the previous incarnation, with a much brighter atmosphere and better ‘shop’ feel. The one next to Ryman’s felt as though it was run by Arkwright from Open All Hours or something, a dark (and slightly smelly) cave in the deepest depths of the Galleries.

Latics’ marketing gurus seem to have learned from the WN1 experiment, and there’s no doubt the more spacious location across from BB’s Cafe is a lot more welcoming and professional.

As for the volume of stock, there’s just about the same as there used to be, but it’s all laid out in a more pleasing and accessible fashion. No comfy sofas though, sadly.

That didn’t stop the punters piling in, though. Things looked quite busy while I was there, so maybe the stock clearout gimmick was somewhat successful – there were three assistants on the counter so I’m guessing the big cheeses expected a hectic opening day.

Speaking of big cheeses, guess whose book was displayed rather prominently by the checkouts? That’s right, the Mighty Gorgonzola himself, Dave Whelan. He was nowhere to be seen, though. Think he might be on holiday in Barbados or something.

It’s been announced today that Olivier Kapo will finally leave the club after two relatively unsuccessful seasons. He scored his only league goal towards the end of the 08-09 season in a defeat to Chelsea, and quite a good one it was too. Unfortunately it takes more than a single goal to make a good player, and on too many occasions Kapo, or ‘Krappo‘ as I liked to call him, flattered to deceive. A shame, considering he cost Steve Bruce more than £3 million back in 2007. I think we can chalk that up as a net loss.

Jason Koumas: On his way

Also seemingly on his way out is Jason Koumas, who shall spend the forthcoming season on loan to Cardiff City, where I am sure he shall do extremely well. He seems to thrive in the Championship environment, but struggles for consistency at the higher levels these days.

At an initial price tag of £5.2 million, I would say Jase also failed to live up to expectations in the long term. He did score one more than Kapo, though, and will be remembered for his goal against Aston Villa in the first game of last season. At least his time at the club wasn’t a complete failure, more of a disappointment.

Read the rest of this entry »