Roberto will repay Whelan's faith

Following 48 hours of intense speculation over the Spaniard’s future, Roberto Martinez has opted to stay at Wigan Athletic, putting pen to paper in a 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.”

Dave Whelan

• Wigan Athletic Official statement

Roberto: Will he stay or will he go?

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.

Bob addresses his adoring fans

Roberto Martinez hosted his first fans forum as manager of Wigan Athletic in front of 350 supporters at the DW Stadium’s Fitness Lounge last night.

Unfortunately JWAW could not personally make it, but thanks to the wonders of the Internet (as in, the various Latics messageboards) we are able to bring you the general gist of the event.

If appropriating content is good enough for Rupert Murdoch then it’s sure as heck acceptable for a small-time weblog read by about five people (two of which passed away more than fifty years ago). Anyhow…

The evening was a chance for fans to pose questions about anything and everything to do with Wigan Athletic, and by all accounts Roberto was his usual honest self, answering all queries — which addressed a wide range of topics, from his style of play and tactics to Wigan’s status as a ‘selling club’ — calmly and with aplomb.

“There are no difficult questions” said Martinez to Latics Player’s Graham Lovett. “As long as everyone knows what we’re trying to do, it’s easy to find a real answer.”

“I’ve said it before, I want to know what the fans feel. All that we’re doing is for the fans. Unless we are together, we cannot share all our worries regarding the direction of the football club, and that’s vital.”

Amongst numerous other things, Roberto expressed his thoughts on Chris Kirkland and Titus Bramble, who, in his opinion, “should be in the England squad“. In the case of the former, he theorised it must only be a personal issue as opposed to lack of ability keeping Kirky out of the national setup.

With regards to potential signings, Bob revealed that he’s already got four new faces lined up for the January transfer window, one of which is pretty much a done deal. We can only speculate as to whether this is Jackson Martinez, who was seen at the Dee Dubya last week, but we’ve definitely got a juicy Colombian national partnership up front if this is indeed the case.

Roberto revealed that Maynor Figueroa personally turned down an offer from Sunderland in the summer, casting major doubts upon reports he is to follow Steve Bruce and Lee Cattermole to the Black Cats. Figs will also be fit for next weekend’s Premier League game against the North-East outfit, so you get the feeling Erik Edman will be going all out to grab that first choice left-back spot from him with a good performance against Tottenham on Sunday.

I think there’s a marked difference between Steve Bruce during his time at Wigan and Roberto Martinez. You got the feeling that, whilst Brucey was wholly professional about his job, there wasn’t that same spark, flair and passion for Wigan Athletic that Bobby brings to the position. There’s no doubting who the fans prefer, and on a personal level, I’d take Roberto over Bruce even if it did mean the club had to take what looks like a backward step.

Which brings me on to the subject of playing style. A well-publicised comment from the 90-minute session came from former WISH FM commentator Harold Ashurst, who asked Roberto whether we tend to overpass at times, citing the fact we made over 450 passes against Hull and still lost. An unabashed Martinez retorted “it was actually 527″ before eloquently explaining why that wasn’t the reason for the loss.

Talk about knowledgeable! He also brought up the point that Bramble and Boyce were making an average of ten passes per game last season but so far have been making over 150 this campaign.

Under Bruce, there seemed to be a general lethargy in the final months of the 08/09 season, a general ‘oh, we’ve already achieved what we’ve set out to do’ attitude (the exception, of course, being against Manchester United, but who wouldn’t get excited by such a prospect, especially with the pressure off?). Bob was keen to stress there won’t be a repeat of this as, unlike other managers in campaigns past, he has not set an upper limit on what he would like the club to achieve this season.

Roberto reiterated that he understands our position as a ‘selling club’, but denied that is always a bad thing, pointing to Spanish side Sevilla who have executed a similar business model with relative success.

When Martinez took over some months ago, he made a commitment to changing attitudes at the club from grass roots to first team. This has been evident in both the reserve and youth teams who haven’t always been that successful in terms of results but have definitely adopted a more European, passing style that we’ve got going — to pretty good effect — in the first team.

The Gaffer concedes it’ll take a few more months for the players to settle in to this new style and then we can really start going places with the team he’s moulded. All very positive stuff.

A few rungs down, though, he isn’t happy with the current state of youth football at the club. He intends to make it a personal quest to bring a Wigan-born player into the first team, the first since Gary Walsh and Colin Greenall some years ago. There are, however, one or two very good young players we haven’t had the chance to see yet. I would personally keep an eye on Joe Holt.

Other topics that were brought up include:

• The second goalie position. Martinez heaped praise upon Pollitt, who’s still giving it 10/10 in training, but hinted that we’ll be looking for a young keeper to fill his position because, of course, Polly can’t go on forever.

• Jason Scotland just needs to “break his duck” and he’ll be scoring freely once again, but could do with the backing of the fans.

• Remember the Spanish newspaper incident a couple of weeks ago? Well, apparently the club is getting extensive coverage in Marca, which a rival newspaper was not happy with. Bob agreed to do an exclusive interview for the latter, which, as we know, was pretty sensationalist and not massively accurate.

There are a whole load more issues which will perhaps be expanded upon in even more detail in a later post, but these are the main points I can glean from the general talk of the town. Sounds like it was a wonderful evening and I really am kicking myself for not buying a ticket before they all sold out. “Get one next week”, I thought to myself.

The fact the event sold out so quickly is testament to how much Roberto is loved at the club, and indeed he received a standing ovation before taking 45 minutes to mingle with the assembled supporters.

As a player, I always had that relationship with the fans, so it hasn’t been a surprise… We’ll make sure that Wigan Athletic is a club to be proud of and the football we play is recognised everywhere. — Roberto Martinez, interviewed by Graham Lovett for Latics Player

Arsene Wenger, you’d better watch out.

Cheers to Batch_wafc at Wiganer.net, Worbo at VitalLatics and the Official Latics website for their reports on the evening, which were heavily used as a base for this post. Image is courtesy the official Latics website.

Now, where's me ink gone?

I’ll come clean: I wrote the following passage at around 1PM in anticipation of another Latics defeat. I wanted to try and get this post out of the way as soon as possible, as I predicted I would be too depressed to write it at 6PM. How wrong was I, eh?

Dear bloke on the radio (your name escapes me, please forgive me),

I write in reply to your opinion that ‘Wigan will go down this season’. Whilst there is a very good chance we shall be fighting in the lower half of the league – in fact I’d say it’s a certainty – we at the club are wholly and entirely behind our manager and understand that it will be more beneficial for us in the long term if we could, under Roberto Martinez, develop a style of play that will be more effective against the best the Premier League has to offer.

It is painfully evident that right now we do not have the resources to achieve said results, hence our recent drubbings at the hands of Manchester United and Arsenal. Given time and patience, however, I am hopeful Roberto can turn Wigan from also-rans to European competitors at the very least.

I’ll admit we aren’t likely to trouble said top six this year, however. Our season resumes against Hull next week, and a win from that game would put us on twelve points. Bearing in mind we have played three of the big four, Everton and Aston Villa in our first seven games of the season, I’d say this would be something of an expected outcome for a club in our position.

I accept that your opinion is a valid one, especially on account of recent results. But please bear in mind that there are a couple of teams still riding their luck in mid-table that will be in the mix for relegation come May. There are more than thirty rounds of matches to come yet, so things are far from resolved.

Yours,
Person who, on the whole, does not represent the majority of Wigan Athletic fans. Maybe.

I think the above ‘letter’ accurately sums up my thoughts at this moment in time. As for the match today, well, who saw that one coming? 3-1 Latics was 17/2 before the game — at least according to the Daily Mail (spits) — and I’m sure a Titus Bramble first goal longer odds than that at around 25/1.

Latics looked a completely different team from the one battered by Arsenal, as in the first half they dominated in terms of chances and shots on target. ‘There’s only one’ Titus Bramble managed to stick one in from a set piece on 16 minutes following a decent spell of possession for Wigan. It could have been more, had Petr Cech not made a top-notch block on an Emmerson Boyce shot, and Paul Scharner been slightly more composed in front of goal.

From hero to villain: Petr Cech

Cech turned from hero to villain five minutes into the second half. After Didier Drogba somehow managed to knee one past Chris Kirkland and into the bottom of the net, the game changing moment came on 51 minutes. Rodallega found himself through on goal once again, but had his boot clipped by the Chelsea keeper, who was unfortunately the last defender and saw red. After a protracted period of appealing and complaining, Hugo smashed the resulting penalty past sub keeper Hilario and Wigan were on their way.

But it was not all plain sailing from thereon in – Chelsea kept pushing forward, but were left open at the back on numerous occasions. The nail in the coffin came two minutes into stoppage time, as Paul Scharner managed to poach one at the back post from a Figueroa cross. By this time, Chelsea were actually down to nine men as Ashley Cole was stretchered off and Ancelotti had no substitutes remaining.

Then it was party time at the DW, an atmosphere not reached at the ground since its renaming. Yes, we may have had a sliver or two of luck, but as those Match of the Day types always say, you have to capitalise on it. Speaking of which, second on Match of the Day, anyone?

• Official Latics site match review

Whilst the England cricket team were rolling back the years over at Headingley with a performance more reminiscent of 1995 than 2005, Latics fans had their own bout of nostalgia on Saturday as the Three Amigos were once again reunited at the club that made their names. Well, probably.

As Isidro Diaz, Jesus Seba and of course Roberto Martinez emerged from the tunnel to the strains of Fatboy Slim’s Praise You, it was as if they’d never been away. After a warm reception and brief photocall with Dave Whelan, Issy and Jesus stayed on to sign some autographs while Bob retreated to the dressing rooms to gee up the Latics players for his home managerial debut.

The two non-managing Amigos returned at half time for pleasantries with the Springfield stand, signing shirts and autograph books and prompting questions of ‘are you Jesus?’ from the younger Latics fans. You get the feeling they would have stayed all afternoon had they the chance, but before you knew it half time was over and the second half of the match imminent. Match? What match?

For one day, once again, Jesus was a Wiganer.

• Photographs available via the Illarterate Flickr account

There was a distinctly pre-season feel about this game: maybe it was the empty South and East Stands or the slightly below Premier League standard opposition that betrayed the match’s warmup status. But it was a game worth paying attention to for a number of reasons, not least the small but significant fact it was Roberto Martinez’s home managerial début.

There was a vociferous, if not rapturous, reception for Bob in his appearance as part of the reunited Three Amigos as an emotional pre-match presentation involving Bob, Issy, Jesus and Uncle Dave was met with warm applause. It was worth the five pounds entrance fee alone, and many would have been forgiven for forgetting there was actually a game about to take place.

Latics got off to a roaring start, hitting the post early on and causing the St. Mirren defence some real problems in the first half. A couple of tasty challenges involving Lee Cattermole got the crowd warmed up, and on 25 minutes, Jason Koumas capped a decent personal pre-season with a free kick slotted nicely into the top corner of Paul Gallacher’s goal.

Koumas struck first for Latics

Just minutes later, though, a slip from Emmerson Boyce allowed Craig Dargo in on goal, and thanks to a shot that glanced off Titus Bramble’s leg and into the back of the net, The Saints were back on level terms. In truth, it was an almost comedic equaliser against the run of play and one they probably did not deserve, but all credit should go to the Scottish side who managed to make it to the half time break level.

This did not last for long, however, as Hugo Rodallega sliced another free kick into the St. Mirren goal just after the halfway mark. Not long after, a spectacular scissor kick from captain Mario Melchiot gave Wigan a two-goal cushion in athletic fashion from just inside the six yard box.

St. Mirren showed more attacking prowess as the second half progressed, and managed to draw a comfortable save from Chris Kirkland. But the Latics’ defence continued to look just a bit suspect, and it was not long before Tom Brighton was through one-on-one with the Wigan goalkeeper. It seemed easier to score, but Brighton could only manage to find the St. Mirren fans in the North Stand as the ball sailed harmlessly past Kirkland’s left post.

All in all, it was a day enjoyed by everyone, even the St. Mirren fans who delighted in proudly displaying their flags, and even engaged in a bit of banter with the Latics fans towards the end. They sang and cheered throughout the match, only stopping to give a great big boo to Jason Scotland as he was introduced into the attack. In truth, their side could have scored a couple more thanks to one or two big hiccups from the Latics defence, and on the whole gave a decent account of themselves.

In the end, however, Latics proved just a little bit too much for the SPL side. And I’m sure they would not begrudge Roberto his first home win, albeit in a non-competitive match.

• Official site match report

Is the cancellation of Almeria’s pre-season tour of Britain a sign of things to come? Will further fixtures, perhaps competitive, be postponed or even cancelled as the deadly disease takes a grip on the country?

Well, if you believe everything you read in the press, then yes, but I stopped taking tabloid filler as fact a long time ago. There’s a likelihood that the flu will bring some disruption to football (hopefully devastating the Arsenal squad the very week we are scheduled to play them), but let’s not be too negative about these things, eh?

At any rate, the upshot is that officials have lined up St. Mirren to fill the Spanish side’s place for the friendly on 8th of August. As far as I can gather, the game will go ahead as planned at the same time with the same ticket prices, only with new opposition. It will not, as Teletext page 517 still claims, be away to Motherwell – always check the official website for confirmation.

Well, at least we’ll still have a chance to see some Spanish style football at the DW this season under Bob Martinez. Of course, I suppose that ought to be ‘Big Bob’, in keeping with the long-standing British tradition of prefixing all managers’ first names with ‘Big’, but that’s a thought for another day.