Wigan have released an official statement thanking Latics’ fans for their support during Sunday’s match against Fulham. This comes less than 24 hours after the BBC’s slightly dubious editing on their Match of the Day 2 programme, which some claim portrayed Wigan Athletic fans in a negative light. It is unknown whether the two are related, as it could be argued that the club were going to release the statement regardless of what Match of the Day claimed.
Whatever the situation, Latics’ Commercial Director Paul Hunt was quick to heap praise on the home support:
It was a great effort by the fans with so many taking up the various offers. The real plus point was that supporters are supporting the Club in pushing attendance with so many new, and in particular, young faces at the game. It bodes well for the future. — Paul Hunt, wiganlatics.co.uk
From a personal point of view, attendance and atmosphere-wise, the game was a marked improvement on some other matches this season. It has been pleasing to see the South Stand in particular fill with each home game that has passed, to the point where it was visibly packed for Sunday’s match. It was also good to see some of our armed forces lads attending the match on Remembrance Sunday, and perhaps in future we could think about letting some of them in for free. After all, I should think they’ve earned it.
The atmosphere was excellent, and although it didn’t quite reach the highs of Chelsea in September, it did come a close second as fans tried their best to push Wigan towards a second goal.
You should be proud of yourselves for the support you are giving to the team and it may be a cliché but you really made a big difference. I for one am looking forward to the next home game versus Sunderland for another great performance from our supporters – thanks again. — Roberto Martinez, wiganlatics.co.uk
Once again I must stress that none of this is meant as a slant at Fulham’s fans in any way whatsoever. Though there were only around a hundred of them, they were a credit to their club, getting behind Fulham whenever they could, and in the end were rewarded with a handy away point.
Plus, they got the North stand concourse all to themselves. That said, I don’t know what’s in there – they could have changed everything since they converted it to the away end. Perhaps there are riot police and torture devices? Dunno, a Fulham fan will have to inform me on this.
If any of you souls that braved the Wigan weather this weekend are reading this blog, I would very much appreciate a comment! That goes for both Fulham and Wigan fans, by the way.
- See the full club statement here.
- Additional thanks goes to VitalLatics, who could front a campaign to boycott Match of the Day.
I am Fulham fan who came up on Sunday. The first time I did the trip was in 1996-7 when you pipped us to top spot in Division 3. That was Sprinfield Park in the snow. You had Jones sent off for GBH and I think Martinez scored yours. We got a late equaliser. Quite a memorable day. I think it should also put all this into perspective. You just have to get used to these sorts of things from Match of the Day. Us smaller and less fashionable clubs will always face it.
I don’t think the whole attendance thing should worry you. Some Fulham fans get wound up about digs on that front, but I just don’t see the point. Be proud of the dedication of the fans that do go and so what if the crowds are low. It’s inevitable for clubs that have made a quick rise from the bottom. I think we had maybe 200 in our end on Sunday. We had more packed in behind the goal in the 1996 game, but so what. But it was a little daft that some of your fans decided to try and sing the old ‘is that all you take away’ ditty.
As far as the atmosphere was concerned, I thought it was generally pretty good in both the home and away ends. Seems like a tough ground to get chants going, maybe due to accoustics. Chants were generally inaudible from where we sat, but the crowd ‘roar’ if you like could be heard quite well. Better atmosphere than from the city fans at Wastelands a few weeks before and that was with 44 odd thousand.
Well said that man, agree with everything you say. Funny how Jones and Martinez are now the management here at Wigan, isn’t it? Small town clubs and that? Still, Fulham and Wigan are in the Prem and teams like Newcastle and Leeds aren’t. Weird.
I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about Fulham fans, not just the guys that made the trip north at the weekend, but I do feel they, too got a bit of a raw deal with the MOTD editing.
As you say, we’ve come to expect this sort of thing from the BBC. I usually keep schtum about it all, but this time they really did go that little bit too far, hence my complaint to the BBC (in ‘moaning old codger mode’). There’s quite a substantial campaign growing around this, bigger than any of the others I’ve experienced in the past few years. I just felt like jumping on the bandwagon…
I’ve always felt the acoustics at the JJB/DW really don’t do us any favours. I think they need to wall off the corners so the sound doesn’t drift out of the stadium like it generally tends to. A bit like an alternate universe Craven Cottage, you might say. 😉
Regarding the ‘is that all you take away?’ chants, ignore the East Stand drunkards! They seemed particularly juiced up on Sunday.
The reason clubs like Fulham (whom I have supported for nearly 50 years) and Wigan regularly get criticised is because some commentators deem us too small for the “big time” of the Premiership and would prefer to have the likes of Newcastle, Leeds and WBA there because historically they have been more successful at the top level.
But both Fulham and Wigan are where they are because of the outstanding personal commitment of their owners, and a lot of hard work by their managers, and compete well with the very best. In the last year or so Fulham have beaten Man. United, Liverpool and Arsenal and have drawn twice against Chelsea, and I have seen Wigan more than hold their own at the Emirates only to lose because of a dire refereeing decision.
It can’t be difficult keeping a side in the Premiership when you can spend money like water as Chelsea, Man. United and currently Spurs do. But keeping clubs like Fulham and Wigan there is a tremendous achievement, and no question last Sunday’s game was a great deal more exciting to watch than the over-hyped Chelsea v Man. United. A bit more respect is appropriate. After all, if it were not for the Fulhams, Wigans and another dozen clubs like Portsmouth, Bolton, Blackburn etc the Premiership would resemble the Scottish situation – two top clubs who rarely lose to anyone else. As things stand, the “top four” usually win but they know they can’t beat the likes of Fulham or Wigan easily, will normally have a tough game, and not infrequently don’t collect three points.