Ordinarily, one looks to FA Cup Third Round Day as a rare chance to relax and enjoy a break from the ‘day job’ of the Football League, a sideshow, if you will. ..Ooh, I’m only fooling myself with that nonsense. Was the 2013 FA Cup Final a dodgy juggling act with cream-filled water balloons? Can…
Agh, I don’t need those blasted ‘year in review’ talking heads shows on Channel 5! Every New Year’s Day, I lie back in my rocking chair and replay events of the previous year in the tatty old VCR box that is my brain. It may be plagued by bad reception and serious tracking issues, but…
‘Tis the season to rejoice, for the false 9 as we know it is dead! Though Rotherham got the official killshot, it had been lumbering around like a listless zombie far longer than the director’s cut of Ben Hur on Movies 24/7 that ran from yesterday afternoon to the early hours of this morning, so…
On Christmas Day 1914, amid the hostilities of the Great War, soldiers put down their guns and wandered across no man’s land to share gifts and a song or two with opposing forces in what would become known as the ‘Christmas Truce‘. For one day, these gentlemen set aside the differences dictated by polarised political…
I have to admit – I had no idea what ‘false 9’ meant. Was it a parallel universe version of Real Madrid, or maybe the correct answer to a multiple choice quiz with no questions? In hindsight, the latter was unlikely as it raises almost as many queries as your typical website editors’ forum. Was…
Wake up, JWAW, you’re dreaming again. It’s not 2013, and it’s not 2010. You’re not sat in London cheering a Ben Watson header, you’re not watching Maloney put Man U through the shredder. You’re stuck in Wigan on a bitter December afternoon contemplating a loss to flippin’ Sheffield Wednesday. You can tell I’m a Wigan…
At times of extreme drama I tend to retreat to a self-constructed bubble of peaceful ignorance, JWAW’s very own meditation chamber free of hype, over-excitement and the general madness manufactured by those entrapped by their own monstrous newsprint. Namely the mainstream media, though I get the feeling I didn’t need to tell you that. Here…
Well, thank goodness for that, eh? Normally we are grateful of an international break, but I have never been more relieved to see some actual footballing action than this afternoon. Forget the blatant hypocrisy of such a statement from one who revels in the minutiae of Henry Blofeld-esque off-the-pitch distractions – if it weren’t for…
What’s this, eh? I thought the only Friday in professional football was Lillestrom’s Nigerian striker Fred Friday, but apparently this most revered of pre-weekend days hosts matches now. Hmm, let me consult the archives… Aha! My resident expert tells me Latics lost to Oldham in what was previously Lancashire’s biggest fixture on Friday 7 January…
It’s only on a bitterly cold south coast Tuesday evening you realise that winter has truly struck. Not that I was anywhere other than Wigan tonight, but if the Falmer Stadium is anything like my house I’m sure they’d have been cursing the lack of cavity wall insulation. Apparently mud huts aren’t eligible for British…
Here’s a scary fact for you: Wigan Athletic have failed to beat Fulham since the first Halloween… or at least 2006, which amounts to the same thing considering my BBC Micro-esque short term memory. I am informed Emmerson Boyce was in the starting lineup that day, the only surviving member of the Latics squad for…
A common criticism levelled at Wigan Athletic in the post-Martinez era has been a perceived lack of ambition among staff and supporters. “Oh, we’ll be happy to scrape a top six spot. We’ll be content with lukewarm half time pies and half-eaten Krispy Kreme bagels for tea.” Trust me, I am the last person that…