Following Latics’ exciting comeback against West Ham at the weekend, many supporters took to YouTube to share their own piece of memorabilia from what could be an historic game, certainly one of the most memorable of recent times.

To start us off, here’s a superb view of Charlie’s first goal courtesy a West Ham fan who had the foresight to whip out his phone:

And now Sammon’s goal, which sparked 20 minutes of frantic football, as seen from ES1. Not the best quality, but I feel this captures the atmosphere wonderfully:

It’s no surprise most videos centre on the post-match pitch invasion, which is becoming something of staple in final home games of the season:

Here’s a (rather shaky) clip in which Ali Al Habsi becomes engulfed by supporters. “Poor Ali” indeed!

We’ve saved the best for last. This video captures N’Zogbia’s winning goal and the resultant chaos in a way Sky never could, and it’s all in glorious 480p:

I could sit and watch the last one on repeat for hours, though I’m sure I’ll enjoy it far more if Latics manage to beat the drop.

As an added bonus, try to watch the whole of this video, which sees Sky’s Charlie Nicholas going crazy over those gripping final ten minutes. It’s edge-of-the-seat stuff, even if you know the result:

The special ‘Meet the Players’ event held at the club shop last Thursday was only supposed to involve Maynor Figueroa and Hendry Thomas, but most of the Latics first team were also there to do some PR stuff.

I kept hearing the media dudes talking to Graham Lovett about Boyce and The Gaffer, plus I sneaked a peak through the DW corner gates and noticed there were some interviews going on in the West Stand. The usual Thursday afternoon media circus, maybe?

Anyway, it was about half an hour after the stated 1PM that Latics’ Honduran twosome appeared. Presumably they’d been inside the Players Lounge/The West Stand Bar doing some telly work – there was plenty of media presence so I think that’s what was going on.

Just before that, however, some autograph hunters managed to collar about half the first team squad including Hugo Rodallega, Victor Moses, Mo Diame, Richard Kingson and Antonio Amaya outside Rigaletto’s. They were pretty quick to scarper, dashing for their cars before the assembled group –including about twenty five schoolkids (pictured above)– outside the club shop noticed and pounced upon them like a pack of wolves.

After Richard Kingson almost ran us over John Terry style, James McCarthy (on orders from some Latics PR bloke) followed us over to the north end of the West Stand to sign a few kids’ programmes and flags.

Figueroa is engulfed by fans and TV crews. Note the BBC bloke in the background there.

Onto the main event, as Figs and, erm, Thommo(?) had arrived. After some photographs and some more signatures, both had a go at ‘recreating’ Maynor’s halfway line goal against Stoke outside the club shop. As it was quite a windy day, they had trouble getting the ball to stay still on the concrete surface, but neither had any problems sticking it into a training goal bout 25 metres away. This was despite Maynor’s attempt to put Hendry off by waving in his face just as he went to strike the ball… no wonder he’s currently in the first team ahead of Paul Scharner.

I don’t believe many of the attempts by the other attendees were quite as successful, but then they weren’t Premier League footballers paid to do that. Nevertheless, it seemed Maynor was quite enjoying it, laughing heartily as one poor kid’s effort was so badly skewed it careered off one of the DW guide railings. I’m sure Figs would have signed his blazer or something to make up for it.

It was time for the guys (and girls) from St. John Fisher to leave, but Maynor stayed to unveil a poster commemorating his Stoke goal. Things were quite cramped inside the club shop, but somehow everyone managed to squeeze in – including Hendry Thomas, who busied himself perusing some of the fine merchandise on sale.

After one or two shots for Premier League World, the two disappeared for some more media work, or perhaps some tea. This wasn’t before I politely asked Hendry to sign my shirt and pestered Maynor to autograph my £2 limited edition mini version of the big poster. The quotation reads:

If I tried it 1,000 times it may only come off once. But I’m always looking up, working on my vision, spotting runs. It’s that kind of preparation and training that helped me. — Maynor Figueroa celebrating his 63 yard goal against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium

So yeah, I’d probably say it was worth taking the afternoon to go and see what events were unfolding at the DW that afternoon.

Oh, and one more thing. I managed to catch Gary Caldwell buying stuff at the club shop, which proves the players certainly do not get any of that stuff for free! Or perhaps he was purchasing something for one of the schoolkids…

Maynor and Hendry at the Club Shop (Meet the Players Pt 1)

McCarthy, Moses, Rodallega and more of Figs and Hendry (Meet the Players Pt 2)

A couple of years ago, I started work on a short video to commemorate the Latics’ promotion. Don’t ask me why it took so long, but over the weekend I got the chance to put some finishing touches to it and have finally got it online.

For your enjoyment, Twenty Minutes in May.

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