Wigan Athletic - Beer, Birds & Football

Long Time No Post! You Can Now Download This Blog As A FREE E-BOOK

2009-04-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

Please accept my humble apologies for not updating this blog for A YEAR - and missing out the last few matches of the season!

However, I am delighted to announce that you can now download my first ever e-book, which is an heavily edited version of this blog, plus - lots of bits have been added to it – including the last few games of the season, which aren’t present in this blog! Its 50-odd pages of football, drinking and woman you can’t miss out on!

Description

This is the story of Wigan Athletic in the English Premier League in 2007/08, seen through the eyes of a twentysomething fan who can only think about his beloved 'Latics', having a 'few pints’ and trying to get in with women. Still 2 out of 3 ain't bad, as an overweight rock legend once sang!

Wigan went from top of the league to being threatened with relegation, a sacked manager, England-call ups, 5-3 wins, cheating players and referees - and not forgetting - seeing the Premier League trophy being lifted in the flesh!

And of course, along the way the author found himself pissed up in various Northern English drinking establishments, even going to a rave wearing corduroy and being molested by the living dead!

This is what being a real football fan is about. This is - Wigan Athletic - Beer, Birds and Football!

You can download the e-book as a .PDF here or alternatively here

Please note that you will need a .PDF reader, such as ADOBE ACROBAT or FOXIT to open the file. You can download a .PDF reader by clicking on any of the links.

I am going to close this blog now but feel free to browse and comment on any of the posts. I would also be delighted if you would be kind enough to leave some feedback about the e-book. Just click the comments link below this post, to post your feedback.

You can check out my other blogs which I regularly update

Caravan of Hate - A general moan at life, with moments of drunken madness!

The Diary of a Drunken Football Traveller - See above but replace 'life' with 'football', as I travel to many different towns/cities to watch football matches in every division!

Cheers!

That’s Right, Only One Team Was Playing!

2008-04-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Monday 14th April
Chelsea 1 – 1 Wigan

Ah, don’t you just love it? Latics have surely ended Chelsea’s title chances and the talk isn’t of how well Wigan played but how bad Chelsea were and how Man Utd have won the title.

Well that’s absolute bollocks! Latics competed for the full 90 minutes, even when we fell behind to an Essien goal and it looked like they would go on and score again, we never gave up.

Latics frustrated their millionaire hosts in the first half. Valencia had a decent chance that was saved by Cech, or Robocop as he should be called! Kirkland was in great form at the other end. A great save from the moaning Anelka was followed by a second half masterclass. If he isn’t at least on the bench for England, it’s a disgrace.

But as Chelsea brought Joe ‘Oddbod’ Cole on, they came at Latics and took the lead through Essien’s deflected shot. Not long before, Kirkland had made another great save and Terry hit the bar.

It was unbearable to watch at times but Bruce made a couple of subs and Sibierski came close to scoring with a shot, which Cech saved. Essien then was denied by Kirkland - then came the big moment. Latics came upfield and as the ball was passed from right to left, Jason Koumas put in a wonderful cross and Emile Heskey volleyed the ball at Cech, who couldn’t keep it out. Stamford Bridge fell silent!

It was a great moment, marred by all the pricks talking shite afterwards, but this is a great point towards our survival hopes. Surely one more win would see us safe?

Next up at the JJB is Spurs, a good side but they are blowing hot and cold at the moment, so it’s a game we can win!

See you later!

X

Three Points For Some Old Boys

2008-04-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday 5th April
Wigan 2 – 0 Birmingham

Latics returned to the JJB against relegation rivals and Steve Bruce’s former side, Birmingham, desperate for a win. Thanks to Ryan Taylor, they did just that!

After his penalty miss last week, it was great to see Taylor get his two goals. The first one was superb. A great run and cross from Valencia and Taylor volleyed in with his left foot. Birmingham then had Damien Johnson sent off, after a two footed lunge on Kevin Kilbane. That’s 3 players sent off in just 4 games that Latics have been involved in.

Wigan controlled the game from there. Birmingham rarely got forward. Kilbane hit the post with a powerful shot and the impressive Valencia was causing Birmingham problems down the right. The Birmingham fans’ booing of Mario Melchiot didn’t affect him, as he handed in yet another captain’s performance.

It was more of the same in the second half, Taylor finally sealing the points in a goalmouth scramble. As Birmingham failed to clear his shot, Taylor made sure he got in the thick of it and the ball went in off his shin! They all count, I suppose!

It was an important win, it now surely means, barring a disaster, Wigan will be in the Premiership next season. But you never know!

We celebrated in Wigan afterwards, money leaving my wallet as quicker as a Valencia cross goes into the box. But I had a good time, even though I got nowhere again!

Next up is Chelsea, a tough game but if we don’t panic and play like we know we can, then I’m sure we won’t be far off getting something.

Bye

X

Latics Are Fratton-ed By Defoe

2008-04-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday 29th March
Portsmouth 2 – 0 Wigan

It was back to listening over the Internet for me, as Latics made the long trip to FA Cup semi-finalists Portsmouth.

Wigan where without midfield duo Wilson Palacios and Michael Brown as they were both banned. Josip Skoko and Paul Scharner came into the midfield. Latics had a few chances in the first half, Valencia hitting the bar via a deflection, was one such chance.

Portsmouth only had one clear-cut chance and Defoe made no mistake to profit from bad Wigan defending, to make it 1-nil.

Latics had a great chance in the second half. Valencia was fouled in the box and won a penalty. It was a bit harsh, as Valencia seemed to have slipped. Ryan Taylor stepped up but David James saved his penalty and Taylor skied the rebound over the bar.

Wigan where to finish the match with 5 strikers on the pitch but we failed to score and as we pushed forward, it left Defoe plenty of space to clear the defence and put the ball past Kirkland to continue his amazing scoring run.

Another disappointing result, as we slip nearer to the drop zone. Can we get something against our relegation rivals and Steve Bruce’s former club Birmingham? Lets hope so!

See you later!

X

….Bollocks

2008-04-16T05:37:00.001-07:00

Saturday 22nd March
Blackburn 3 – 1 Wigan

After hearing about the cheap tickets for the Blackburn match, I decide to get my arse down there. It was to be a typical Latics away day – crap game but a cracking day out!

After arriving in Blackburn via Preston, I have a few in the pub, before trying to find the ground to pick up my ticket. After walking in the wrong direction, I finally get back on track! I wasn’t sure on some of the pub names, ‘The Infirmary’ for example. Not sure about that at all!

So after picking up my ticket I decide to head for the ‘away fans pub’. It turns out to be very expensive but I still manage to get a ‘few’ down and as the pub is packed to the brim I head to the ground. Once inside and after another expensive pint, it was on to the match.

The less said about it the better! Blackburn go ahead after a mix-up in the Latics defence and Santa Cruz puts Rovers in front. Not long after and Wigan are handed a golden opportunity. Chris Samba fouls Heskey, he is sent off and Marlon King scores his first Wigan goal from the penalty spot, to make it 1-1.

Unfortunately Latics didn’t get going and former Latics striker Jason Roberts put Blackburn back in front. Fair play to Roberts, as he didn’t celebrate after scoring in front of the Wigan fans. Erik Edman then went off with a bad injury, which will see him miss the rest of the season and the start of next. Get well soon Erik!

The second half was terrible. Santa Cruz scored his 5th goal in 2 games against Latics as he headed in from close range. Wigan didn’t really offer much and it was back on the train for yours truly and home to Wigan to get drunk.

A disappointing performance, against 10 men and I fear we are back in the running for relegation. Lets hope we can get something at Portsmouth next week.

Cheers

X

We’ve Only Got 10 Men….

2008-04-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday 16th March
Wigan 1 – 0 Bolton

The ten men of Latics got a well deserved win against the mutants from Horwich but it was tough going! The result lifts us further away from the relegation zone while Bolton are firmly stuck in the shite!

Jason Koumas was harshly sent off after just 5 minutes, after a two-footed challenge on Gary Cahill. However, Wigan dominated the game from then and it was no surprise when Emile Heskey volleyed us in front.

Bolton came at us in the second half and could have easily had a penalty after Michael Brown seemed to handle the ball on the line. Thankfully the ref didn’t point anywhere! Justice for the red card methinks!

Bolton continued to press, Erik Edman cleared off the line and Kirkland looked solid at every cross that came into the box.

Finally the ref blew for a well-fought three points for the Latics. We are now well on our way to staying up – but there is plenty of work still to be done. The Boltoners where treated to the ‘We’ve only got ten men’ chant from the Latics faithful, who where very vocal once again.

Celebrating in Wigan afterwards, where once again I failed to register what happened the morning after! Ah don’t you just loving winning?

Bye

X

Pitching Bitching

2008-03-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday 9th March
Wigan 0 – 0 Arsenal

Latics finally got a league point off Arsenal, something which they’ve been threatening to do ever since our first season in the Premiership.

Afterwards all the media attention was on how league leaders Arsenal were held by the JJB pitch and some cheeky journalist even gave the groundsman the man of the match award! If you’re paid £60,000 a week, you should be able to play on Blackpool beach! The constant moaning from all the ‘Top 4 bummers’ is proving that our game of football as gone, probably forever. Instead we now have whinging, overpaid, undeserving ‘stars’ (and ‘fans’) who can’t even play on a bumpy pitch!

Then again, if it weren’t for a bias referee, Wigan would have had an injury time penalty, after the cheating Fabregas handballed in the box.

Earlier, Latics had kept Arsenal at bay with some great defending. Kirkland making some great saves. Nigel Spink’s appointment as goalkeeping coach has certainly done the trick hasn’t it?

Latics had chances of their own, Wilson Palacios wasting two great chances. Jason Koumas had a shot deflected wide and Valencia brought a great save out of the Arsenal keeper. But it was Fabregas, who earlier had pushed Emile Heskey into a camera (no booking), who made Kirkland make a match-saving save, then the Spanish international handballed Jason Koumas’ shot, right at the death. Yet again, nothing from the ref. As Steve Bruce said later ‘What! Wigan get a last minute penalty against Arsenal, come on!’ And he was right!

So looking on the bright side, it’s a point towards our fight against relegation, a point that nobody expected us to get. So I’m happy!

Later, it was back into Wigan, where I drink large amounts of alcohol that didn’t agree with me, as I got pissed yet again! I still had a great time though!

Next up is Bolton at home, a relegation ‘six-pointer’ if there ever was one.

See you later!

X

A Great Night Out – Spoiled By A Game Of Football!

2008-03-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday 1st March
Manchester City 0 – 0 Wigan

So there I was at 1.30, boarding the train to Manchester for my first (and last!) away game of the season. It was to be a boozy affair of course, unfortunately I can’t remember much else!

We arrived in Manchester, had a few in the city centre, dodging all the weird people and got to the stadium. It was quite impressive but it still looked like it was made of Lego!

The next hour or so was spent drinking very reasonable (?????) £3 pints, I will never moan about beer prices in Wigan again! As for the match? I don’t remember too much, which is just as well! It was crap. Needless to say, we took the game to City and could have won it at the end, Wilson Palacios wasting two great chances. We played well and were good value for our point, I was quite disappointed we didn’t win!

It was a good point, City have been pretty good at home this season and the team looks pretty confident at the moment. Boyce and Scharner were great at the back once again.

We then made our way back, in the pissing rain, had more beers, something to eat, more beers and back onto the Wigan train. This is where most of the amnesia kicks in, because I can’t remember anything! This is a great report isn’t it! I do remember getting home at 6.30! My ‘bird card’ for this season has still yet to be stamped, I’m getting worried now!

Hopefully I can stay sober next week, I doubt it though!

X

Are You Watching Paul Jewell?

2008-03-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

Saturday 23rd February
Wigan 2-0 Derby

Latics did the double over Paul Jewell’s Derby, but for an hour it was frustrating! Paul Scharner and Luis Antonio Valencia got the goals that moved Wigan up to 14th.

The first half was a so-so affair. Wigan had most of the possession, without really creating anything. Paul Jewell got a good reception on his first visit to Wigan as the opposing manager. It’s a shame he has continued with his mindless comments, labelling this defeat as ‘one of his lowest moments in football’ and saying his team were ‘embarrassing’. I wonder if Man Utd had beaten them 2-0, would he be saying the same things?

Anyway back the match, as frustration was starting to creep in, Schraner got the vital goal. Heskey had two shots saved by former Wigan keeper Roy Carroll but the ball fell to the mad Austrian (not Hitler!) who volleyed it into the net from about 6 yards.

Wigan controlled the game quite easily, Brown and Palacios looking quite good and Erik Edman was solid on his debut. It was Palacios who had a hand in Wigan’s second goal. He won the ball in midfield, before playing a one-two and he put in a peach of a cross in for Valencia, who ran into the box and lashed in a shot, which Roy Carroll was helpless to stop. Edman went berserk on the left touchline, running and jumping up in celebration! God knows what he’ll do if he scores!

3 priceless points for the Latics who look strong but there is a long way to go before we can seal Premiership football for next season. Next up is Man City away and yes I’ll be going! Drunk but I’ll be going!

See you later!

X

When Thing’s Just Aren’t Going Your Way….

2008-02-15T18:58:00.001-08:00

Saturday 9th February
Sunderland 2 – 0 Wigan

You better call Scooby and the gang – there’s a mystery to be solved! I’m still wondering how on earth we lost this match. We had the better of the game, hit the post, bar, people in the crowd and their keeper made some good saves. Yet we lose 2-0!

For once Latics were on Five Live, so that was my choice of audio for the match. After a so-so first half, Sunderland (or Slumberland, which I have just cleverly made up, aren’t I wonderful!) scored from a free-kick, right on half time. Poor marking left former nob end player, Dickson Etuhu, the freedom of Wearside to head ‘Slumberland’ into the lead. Heskey should have equalised just a minute later but his effort went agonisingly wide.

Latics picked up in the second half, Kilbane hit the post after Craig Gordon had saved from Marlon King and Michael Brown’s bungled effort was cleared. With Melchiot off injured at half-time, his replacement at right back, Ryan Taylor, didn’t last long and Wilson Palacios was forced to play there.

Latics pressed more, Heskey should have scored, his header hitting the bar and Koumas went close with a shot. It just wasn’t to be as Daryl Murphy scored a great long-range effort, Kirkland couldn’t have done anything about it. Jammy bastards!

Slumberland now go above us but with Derby at home next, surely this is a chance to get some space between us and the relegation zone. Nothing but a win would do against Paul Jewell’s side, who looked doomed at the bottom.

C’mon Latics!

X

Killer Bursts The Hammer’s Bubbles!

2008-02-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday 2nd February
Wigan 1 – 0 West Ham

Latics finally beat West Ham at home and climbed out of the relegation zone. With Sunderland and Derby coming up, we have got two massive games ahead, which may indicate whether we stay up or not.

Marlon King made his home debut but new loan signing, Erik Hagen, didn’t make the 16. There was no sign of the two left-backs either. Emmerson Boyce replaced Bramble at the back. Bramble dropped to the bench for the first time this season.

Latics dominated the match, I lost count of the chances we had! Emmerson Boyce should have put Latics ahead but the ball went through his legs, when it seemed easier to poke the ball in! Ryan Taylor caused problems with his free kicks but it was only on the stroke of half time that we managed to score. Taylor whipped in a free kick and Kevin Kilbane looped an header over Robert Green. Whether he meant it or not, who cares!

It was all Latics in the second half. Michael Brown should have done better but Green saved his shot. Heskey went off injured, again, but his replacement, Marcus Bent, was put clean thorough only to put the ball clean over the bar. Valencia even hit both posts with a shot! He picked up a loose ball, from a corner, and sent in a viscous shot, which hit the post, flashed across goal, hit the other post and straight into Green’s hands. Hearts where in mouths when Craig Bellamy went clear, but his shot went high and wide and West Ham’s only real chance of the match, went begging.

Thankfully Latics held on, but with Sunderland up next, we need to avoid defeat, obviously, a win would be nice!

See You Later!

X

Latics Slip Up and Down!

2008-02-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 29th January
Middlesborough 1 – 0 Wigan

Wigan Athletic returned to action against Middlesborough, it’s a shame the team didn’t turn up! Boro’ outplayed Latics in the first half, Tuncay having a host of chances before Aliadiere shot past Kirkland.

A rare Latics commentary on Radio Manchester was my choice of listening and it’s an hour and an half of my life that I will never get back! As mentioned we where nowhere in the first half. New signing Marlon King, didn’t make an impact and Heskey was put on the left wing. After the game Bruce acknowledged his mistake, far play to the fella, Chris Hutchings and definitely, Paul Jewell, would never admit to such a thing!

Latics improved in the second half, Koumas shot over and Heskey had a great header saved by Schwarzer, in the Boro’ goal. It wasn’t to be and Latics slipped into the bottom 3, as Sunderland beat Birmingham at home. We now have a lot of work to do to get us out of this mess. Starting with West Ham at home on Saturday.

Before I slip off, my congratulations (and surprise!) goes to Chris Kirkland and Emile Heskey who have been both been called up by new England manager, Fabio Cappello, for his first game against Switzerland. Lets hope they can both do well, but more importantly, stay fit for Wigan’s fight against the drop!

See you later!

X

Inches Away…

2008-01-30T11:29:00.001-08:00

Saturday 26th January
Wigan 1 – 2 Chelsea

That’s right! Marcus Bent was just inches away from earning Latics an unlikely replay, against holders Chelsea, in our first televised match on terrestrial telly!

Played on the poor (and that’s putting it nicely!) JJB pitch, the game was scrappy at times, but Chelsea always looked like the better side. In the first minute, Joe ‘oddbod’ Cole almost scored, with a shot that flew over the bar. Cole and Bridge looked dangerous on the left-hand side. There was no Ashley Cole in the side. I wonder if it had something to do with his (now) crumbling (sham???) of a marriage to Cheryl Tweedy? Probably not, he’s just shite!

Speaking of left-backs, new signings Erik Edman and Maynor Figueroa didn’t play. Edman because of injury and I don’t have a clue why (or if ever) Figueroa didn’t play!

Latics got themselves back into the game, without threatening much. Half time came and went, and then Chelsea scored! Anelka looked offside, but replays later showed he was onside, and he put the ball past Kirkland and into the net. Chelsea then stepped up a gear and it wasn’t long before they went 2 up. Kevin Kilbane was pushed over, the ref did nothing and Anelka laid the ball to Wright-Phillips, who put the ball through Kirkland’s legs.

When all hope looked lost, substitute Antoine Sibierski took the ball on his chest, turned and unleashed an unstoppable volley into the net. With just a couple of minutes to go, surely we couldn’t get a replay?

Almost! Bramble, did what he does best and hoofed the ball upfield, Bent picked up on it and his volley crashed off the bar and over, with Cech beaten. So close but it meant nothing as Latics went out. To be honest, I was glad we made a game of it. We can hold our heads up high, as we almost made the FA cup holders look stupid!

Later I was to go into Wigan (again!) but the less said about that, the better. I got blind drunk (yet again) and I’ve not a clue what happened (which is very rare, for me!)

Next up is Middlesborough on Tuesday, lets hope we can get three points to shoot us up that league!

See you later!

X

A Pitch Battle – And I Missed It All!

2008-01-24T04:03:00.000-08:00

Sunday 20th January
Wigan 1 – 2 Everton

Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the match or even listen to it, so this is not much of a match report, I’m afraid!

But in short, Latics lost again to Everton 2-1, on the awful JJB pitch. Poor defending cost us again. Titus Bramble had another relapse as his (lack of) backpass was picked up by Andy Johnson, who put the ball past Chris Kirkland. Everton then got a second, when Jolean Lescott was allowed the freedom of Newtown as he stroked the ball into an empty net, after the ball was put into the box.

Latics did get one back in the second half. A scrambled set piece eventually found its way into the back of the net, via Everton’s Phil Jagielka. It wasn’t enough, as Latics couldn’t capitalise on the teams around them.

Next up is Chelsea in the cup, a match that will be our first live game on the BBC. Lets hope we can provide a ‘shock’ victory on a shocking pitch!

Bye

X

A Dented Jewell!

2008-01-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday 12th January
Derby 0 – 1 Wigan

Latics continued their great form as we beat former manager, Paul Jewell’s team, Derby. Antoine Sibierski scored with his first touch and Wigan moved 13 points clear of the rock-bottom Rams.

Wilson Palacios, who finally signed on Friday, made his debut on the left wing, replacing the injured Ryan Taylor. Palacios took Fitz Hall’s No5 shirt, with Fitz having buggered off to big spending QPR, last week. I would like to wish Fitz hall the best (get it!) for the future. Sadly it didn’t work out for him at Wigan, he had spent his spare time setting up the ‘A-Star’ project, which helps youngsters to stay off crime. I’m sure you’ll agree, a worthwhile thing to spend your spare time on, instead of going out and getting lashed and hitting kids, like some ‘professional’ footballers do.

With no salvation from any other radio station, I tune into the poor quality of ‘Wigan World’ and my constant ‘falling asleep spells’ come thick and fast. Not that the new commentator is awful, okay he’s not very good but the sound quality is terrible. I can’t believe the club charge people to listen to it! The Sheriff of Nottingham as got nothing on Latics!

Back to the match, where the Latics fans are in good voice as they give Jewell and er Gary Teale, a good reception. I can’t remember much to be honest, Bent had a few chances (as well as scoring an offside goal) and Valencia pulled a shot wide, when he should have done better.

The game and the poor commentary continued in the second half, as I sip my legendary half-time brew. Feeling like George Michael, while driving, after having a lovely Moroccan cigarette, I suddenly get excited as Sibierski fires the ball into the net, after a good knock down from Marcus Bent.

Latics closed the game out and we took 3 valuable points away from Pride Park. Things are starting to come together for Latics – at the right time! It looks bleak for Paul Jewell and Derby but I’m sure they will bounce back.

Up next is the difficult home match against Everton. A win isn’t impossible, we have looked good at home. With Ryan Taylor, hopefully, coming back from injury, we will be back at full strength and I’m sure we’ll provide Everton with a stern test!

See you later!

X

Up For The Cup!

2008-01-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

Saturday 5th January
Sunderland 0 – 3 Wigan

Latics continued pulling in the shock results – by going through to the FA Cup fourth round, which is very rare for Wigan! Not just that but we did it in style – beating Roy Keane’s Sunderland 3-0, away!

With the club’s ‘official commentary’ sinking to new depths, I tune into BBC radio Newcastle for the match. A much changed Latics, start brightly. However we suffer early injuries with Ryan Taylor and Sibierski limping off. Just as Latics were stamping their authority on the game, Josip Skoko sent in a free kick and Paul Schraner was allowed the freedom of the North East, to head Latics in the lead.

Half time came and went, Mike Pollit in the Latics goal, was just a spectator. As the game wore on, Aghahowa was allowed to run away with the ball and just as he was about to shoot, Paul McShane spoiled to all by kicking the ball into his own net! Aghahowa did his somersaults but will he ever score for Wigan?

Latics added a third not long after, David Cotterill ran with the ball and as the defence backed off, he stuck the ball beautifully in the top corner. Hopefully Steve Bruce will have a few selection headaches for the Derby match!

As I type this, Latics have drawn the holders, Chelsea, at home in the next round. With us looking revitalised and Chelsea having a number of players at the African Nations Cup, this is a great chance for another shock result.

Lets hope so!

See you later!

X

Big T Doesn’t Pity The Fools!

2008-01-03T17:56:00.001-08:00

Wednesday 2nd January
Liverpool 1 – 1 Wigan

Latics finally got a point out of one of the ‘big four’ and believe me – it’s about fooking time! We couldn’t have done it at a better time – the draw surely means that Liverpool’s ‘title challenge’ is all but over – and it couldn’t happen to a nicer club!

Emile Heskey came back into the side but he was upstaged by Titus Bramble, who is already a cult hero at Latics!

I decided to listen to Radio Merseyside instead of the pitiful sound quality and commentator from the official website. It was quite funny listening to the commentators, even funnier on Liverpool TV, but I’ll go into that later!

Latics had a chance when Michael Brown just flashed a volley wide of the post. Liverpool didn’t really threaten, a Torres offside goal was about it. Liverpool had all the possession, but you have to score goal to win you know!

The second half was a bit better and it was typical Latics – they fell behind just a few minutes after the restart. A good move involving Finnan and Gerrard was put away by Torres. The Liverpool fans thought it was going to be the first of many. How wrong they were!

Liverpool pressed but Latics held out. Bramble clearing from, almost, on the line after Kirkland had parried Gerrard’s free kick. As the clock ticked down, Latics had a free kick, which Landzaat put into the box. Gerrard’s poor clearance fell to ‘Big T’ Titus Bramble who controlled it and slammed it home. A fantastic goal from a player who everyone calls crap, do they not see his Wigan performances? He was magnificent YET AGAIN!

Latics even could have won it, a few minutes later, Valencia skied the ball over the bar when he really should have put it into the box. Latics had Kirkland to thank after his great double-save from Gerrard gave Latics their first point against Liverpool. Well deserved in my opinion and that point pulls us back out of the bottom 3.

Later I was to watch the game on the Liverpool TV channel, which comes with a Virgin TV package. The commentators where so biased they made my blogs look negative! Seriously, I don’t expect them to not want Liverpool to win but accusing Wigan players of diving, feigning injury and ‘not allowing Liverpool to play’ is absolutely ridiculous! The numpty commentators also reckoned that Bramble ‘just took a swipe at the ball’, for the goal! Yet again I feel proud to be a Wiganer, supporting MY TOWN TEAM!

The various radio phone-ins were no better. Although the BBC’s Mark Bright sounded pretty chuffed that Latics held the ‘Mighty Reds’! Its so much fun listening to Liverpool fans from various places down south venting their spleens over ‘their team’ drawing with ‘teams like Wigan’. Its utter quality! Just for the record, WE MADE YOU PLAY BAD BY GETTING INTO YOUR FACE FOR 90 MINUTES!

Next up for Latics is Sunderland away in the cup. I hope we go through but with our position in the league, its important we keep our players injury free. Hopefully some of the fringe players will get a chance and hopefully put us through to round 4.

See You Later and UP THE LATICS!

X

The Villain Of The Piece Strikes Again!

2007-12-30T15:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday 29th December
Wigan 1 – 2 Aston Villa

Latics lost when they didn’t deserve to and guess whose fault it was? I may sound like a broken record, but referees just don’t like Wigan! Too many pathetic 50/50 decisions went Villa’s way, as they came from behind to win.

Don’t get me wrong, Villa played well, but our first half performance alone was worth at least a point.

I probably would have took a point before the match, but when Titus Bramble headed in his first goal, for the club and with our first half performance, surely we could close the game out? No! We made too many mistakes and gave the ref plenty of chances to blow up and allow Villa more possession.

As Villa continued to keep the ball, we knew the inevitable was coming and it did. Villa had looked vulnerable at corners but when they won one, it was sent over and Curtis Davies headed in his first goal for Villa.

We had a couple more set pieces and corners, but nobody could get on the end of Ryan Taylor’s crosses. We also had a decent shout for a penalty, but with these ref’s, we’ll get nothing!

Yes, I’m biased, but you just have to see it to believe it. If this poor refereeing happened at any other Premiership club, you’ll hear about it. But because its Wigan, we just have to lump it.

Oh and Villa got the winner when Agbonlahor headed in after a great cross.

Frustrated, disappointed and back in the bottom three. Thankfully 2007 is over. It’s only Liverpool at Anfield next. In the words of one former Anfield favourite, I would love it, love it, if we beat them! We can all dream.

See You Later and Happy New Year!

X

Boxing Day Presents

2007-12-27T16:47:00.001-08:00

Wednesday 26th December
Wigan 1 – 0 Newcastle

Latics were handed a late Christmas present after Newcastle failed to turn up and it was hard think how they are higher up in the table.

Okay, the first half wasn’t great. But Latics pressed and pressed and made Newcastle to allow errors to creep in. All the talk, after the match, was about how badly Newcastle played. Yet again Wigan don’t get any credit for making them play bad!

So with Wigan’s annual, fancy dress, Boxing Day celebrations, starting at the game, the crowd were in good voice and for once, it felt good to be a part of it!

As mentioned the first half wasn’t great, a Paul Scharner shot was the only notable thing that happened! The game did spring to life in the second half, when Newcastle had their best spell of the match. A mix up in the Latics defence, saw Chris Kirkland kicking the ball at Scharner’s head (!) and Mark Viduka hooked the ball towards the goal, only for Titus Bramble to clear it off the line, with a great header. It wasn’t surprising to see how well former Newcastle defender Bramble played. Its amazing how quality players who play for Newcastle, suddenly look like rabbits caught in headlights, under the weight of the expectations of the fans.

Latics started to put their stamp on the match and when the fantastic Michael Brown was fouled, Ryan Taylor stepped up and scored a great free kick. He did the same in the corresponding fixture last season and before that, he broke his leg while playing for the reserves against Newcastle!

Taylor and Aghahowa both came close to extending the lead and despite a frantic finish, Latics held on to secure another welcome 3 points. With the January transfer window coming up, things look good at Wigan. Oh and how can I forget WE ARE OUT OF THE RELEGATION ZONE!

Just a quick mention to the fancy dress winner – a bloke dressed in a Borat thong!

So with the whole of Wigan turning up in fancy dress ‘up town’ later, I had to join in! I suppose coming as a tourist with a ridiculous shirt wasn’t wholly original, but hey it worked! It was a good night, I slipped on my arse for the second time in two days but had a laugh, nevertheless!

Unfortunately I could not get in with any women again, but I came within a whisker, so that’s something! New Years’ will be my last chance!

So with Villa at home next, lets hope we can extend our run and put space between us and the drop zone.

Cheers!

X

Frustration Fulham!

2007-12-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday 22nd December
Fulham 1 – 1 Wigan

Wigan’s last game before Christmas ended with no gifts at all for the Latics. We once again conceded in the last part of the match and our hopes of a second consecutive win were dashed.

Once again I listened to the commentary over the net and once again, it was awful! The commentator wasn’t great and the sound quality was crap. I can’t believe people pay for it!

As I was drifting in and out of the game, I had no idea what was going on, because of the commentator, Fulham, apparently, had the best of the match. They should have really put Latics away. However, it was Marcus Bent who put Latics in front. A cleared corner was put back into the box and Bent finished well to score his 7th goal of the season.

Just 8 minutes later, Clint Dempsey equalised for Fulham. Chris Kirkland was caught out of position and Dempsey fired the ball into the unguarded net. Typical Latics! If we are to stay up, we need to start to stop shipping soft goals.

Newcastle are up next at the JJB, on Boxing Day. With the fans ‘dressing up’, lets all hope Newcastle do what they do best and don’t turn up at all!

I later, yet again, went into Wigan. No ‘Corpse’s’ this time, so I had a pretty good time! Despite getting on ok with one bird (okay, I talked to her for more than 5 minutes!) my run still continues. Hopefully Christmas will provide an end to my ridiculous run!

See you later and Merry Christmas!

X

From Joy To Despair And Back To Joy Again!

2007-12-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

Saturday 15th December
Wigan 5 – 3 Blackburn

Who would be a football fan? Who would be a Wigan fan? This strange old season continues in its own unique style! Eight goals, a missed penalty, a sending off and more bookings than a Led Zeppelin concert!

But before I go into the match, I have some rather sad news to report. Last week, I reported that Matt McCann wasn’t available to do the commentary. This was because he has agreed to join Paul Jewell at Derby. Matt is a legend amongst Latics fans. His commentaries were absolutely fantastic and the club has lost a great guy in Matt. Matt could often be seen in and around Wigan, playing football and anyone who has met him, doesn’t have a bad word to say against him. During his time at Wish FM, he was always promoting Latics, better than the club could do. When we won promotion to the Premiership, he was offered a media job at the club and by all account, did that well too!

So the best of luck to Matt and lets hope we can get a decent commentator because the one at Bolton was awful!

Back to the match, where the cold weather didn’t stop 16,000 hardy souls from attending. Those who didn’t turn up missed out! You can keep your ‘Grand Slam Sunday’ and shove it up your arse, this was football and its best and worst!

Steve Bruce dropped Koumas to the bench and put Scharner in his proper position at centre-half, which allowed Brown and Landzaat to play in midfield. What a masterstroke that was! Landzaat just oozed class and Brown went around doing all the hard work that Scharner fails to do. Landzaat opened the scoring after Marcus Bent, cheekily, flicked the ball on. Landzaat ran clear and calmly put the ball into the Blackburn net. It wasn’t long before Latics got a second. Bent flicked the ball over a defender’s head and after a fortunate deflection, whipped the ball in the far corner.

We were in dreamland but it was far too good to be true. After Blackburn won a corner, it was put into the box and after Heskey tangled with Samba, the ref pointed to the spot. Everyone was stunned. It took the Blackburn fans 20 seconds realise what was going on! Thankfully, Kirkland saved McCarthy’s penalty.

After that let off, Latics scored a third. The brilliant Ryan Taylor drilled a free kick into the box and Scharner headed it in. That’s three goals in three games now for the Austrian. Okay, one was an own goal but it still qualifies on my goal scoring system!

I was looking forward to half time, until Santa Cruz scored a quite magnificent goal. Kirkland had no chance. Blackburn now had a foothold in the game. That foothold was to turn into an escalator, in the second half!

With just a couple of minutes of the second half gone, Santa Cruz scored again. Then came the red card. Brett Emerton, stupidly hacked down Taylor, when the ball was nowhere to be seen. Emerton was then shown the red card by erratic referee Mark Clattenburg. Our defence was nowhere to be seen again not long after. A Stephen Warnock cross was powerfully headed home by Santa Cruz, again!

The JJB was utterly deflated, but I needn’t have worried! Valencia did what he does best and caused havoc in the Blackburn defence and he sent in a great cross, which allowed Bent to head in his second. That relief was soon to be turned into joy as Aghahowa ran clear and put the across for Bent to score his hat trick. I wonder who kept the match ball?

Blackburn had a late rally but Latics held on for three vital points. Unfortunately, Heskey went off injured again and it looks like he could be out for a few weeks. It was a great win but our defence was shocking. We need to stop conceding because I can’t see us scoring 5 every week!

So with our first win for what seems like years, I celebrated by getting drunk in Wigan again. Not a clue what time I got home but I do remember some horrible old hag who I have labelled ‘The Corpse’ stalking me, trying to kiss me and trying to get me to buy her a drink. She would not leave me alone so I eventually hid amongst people! Think ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ but with more gore! It’s just my luck to get stalked by a nutter! Later she was to frogmarch another bloke to the bar. WHOOPS!

So with Christmas coming up, I’m sure I’ll be in with a chance of ending my barren run. Lets face it, I have more of a chance of doing that than Aghahowa scoring for Latics!

So this is me, now in hiding, signing off!

X

Back To Square…..Sod All!

2007-12-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday 9th December
Bolton 4 – 1 Wigan

Can I feel any lower than this? We’ve just been beaten by the mutants from Horwich, quite convincingly too! We didn’t even play that bad, okay we did!

After coming home this morning at 7am, after watching Ricky Hatton being beat up, I was in no fit state to have a shit, never mind go to Horwich. It’s very doubtful that I’ll go to an away game this season. To be honest, I’m glad. I feel sorry for those who do go, I just can’t afford it!

With Melchiot serving a three-match ban, Boyce took his place at right-back, while Andreas Granqvist came into centre of defence.

I wished I hadn’t switched the computer on, the boring match summariser who normally accompanies Matt McCann, took over the commentary as Matt wasn’t available. So after dozing off, I was awoken as Bolton took the lead. Spaceman, Headless Chicken, Tosser, whatever you call him, Paul Scharner made a balls up and instead of letting Kirkland grab the ball, he headed it into his own net. After his comments about Steve Bruce’s ‘long ball tactics’, I personally, would not have played him. Not because of the comments, he’s just shite!

I needn’t have worried though, the steady Denny Landzaat equalised soon after, with a good side-footed shot from the edge of the box. Not long after my celebrations had died down, Bolton got a penalty after Granqvist hand-balled in the box. Thankfully, Anelka was aiming for Blackpool Tower, as the ball rocketed over the bar. As the commentary continued to become more sleep inducing, Kevin Nolan scored a soft goal, just before half-time.

Gutted and well and truly pissed off, I grab myself a half-time brew. I wished I stayed in the kitchen, as Latics failed to get nothing from 7 (SEVEN) CONTSUCTIVE CORNERS. I’ve often said our set-plays are an absolute joke, now I have proof.

Oh and Bolton scored two more through Kevin Davies (who scored his first Premiership goal of the season) and Anelka.

Utterly depressed and not sure where our next point is going to come from, I’m signing off with the hope that Steve Bruce kicks ‘Spaceman Scharner’ back to earth!

See You Later

X

A Point Made?

2007-12-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday 1st December
Wigan 1 – 1 Manchester City

Wigan finally ended their awful run by drawing against third-placed City, but it should have been more, much more, in Steve Bruce’s first game in charge.

After Titus Bramble made an awful mistake, he totally missed his clearance and put in Giovanni who rounded Chris Kirkland and put City ahead after just 30 seconds. ‘Here we go again’ I thought.

I needn’t have worried. From then we were the better side. I can’t remember City having any other shots at goal. By contrast we had shots blocked, two blatant penalties turned down, the last of which being a ridiculous handball. We got nothing, again.

Thank goodness Paul Scharner equalised for the Latics on 25 minutes, because we would have got nothing otherwise. We are improving game by game, our passing seems better. We are just lacking that killer touch in the box.

The low point was Mario Melchiot getting sent off for a silly two-footed lunge on Stephen Ireland. Titus Bramble had his poorest game in a Latics shirt and Heskey went off injured again. On the flip side, Marcus Bent worked hard, Denny Landzaat passed well and Kirkland was dominant in the air.

So with local rivals Bolton, away next week, we need to be picking up a win. It’ll be difficult, but I really think we can get three points. We can’t afford to lose though!

In other news, Wigan’s FA Cup run will start and end with a trip to Sunderland. We are always poor in the cup and I expect that to continue!

After promising myself not to go out, I did! We went to the usual places, drank the usual stuff and ogled the usual women! It was a good night out, plenty of chat and some cracking birds out, but I had no chance to be honest. With Christmas coming up, I hope to be in with a chance to strike!

See you later and bring on ‘The Trotters’!

X

Steve Bruce’s Blue and White Army!

2007-11-30T07:59:00.001-08:00

Monday 26th November

After a delay over er ‘image rights’, Steve Bruce has finally been installed as the new Wigan Athletic manager.

His job description is simple – keep us in the Premier League! We have lost 8 games on the bounce. That run as seen us drop from the top of the league, to second bottom.

Chris Hutchings was unlucky to be sacked. Earlier in the season we were playing some good football. We just suffered injuries to key players, most notably, Emile Heskey. We then started playing poorly and unfortunately ‘The Hutch’ ran out of ideas.

Now we have raided Birmingham for Steve Bruce. ‘Brucie’ is no stranger to the JJB, he was in charge for a couple of months in 2001. He took us to the play-offs, where we were cruelly beaten by Reading, in the last couple of minutes.

Now he’s back! The majority of Latics fans seem happy. He has proven he can bring in quality players and help them improve. Something, which we have been lacking, for a year or two. When he was in charge before, he got the team playing good football and almost got us promoted. If Dave Whelan does indeed give him the £15 million to spend, then I’m sure we’ll be okay! Lets hope we don’t have to win on the last game of the season, again!

Lets all get behind Steve and the lads and let’s show the rest of the country that ‘Little Wigan’ are here to stay!

See You Later!

X

Corduroy Dreams

2007-11-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday 24th November
Arsenal 2 – 0 Wigan

With new manager Steve Bruce watching in the stands, the Latics players needed to hand in an impressive performance. They did just that.

Okay, we lost the match in the last 10 minutes – again! But we showed that we are no pushovers and that we are ready for a fight.

With Melchiot out with flu, fellow sufferer Chris Kirkland was needed to provide cover on the bench for Mike Pollitt, who was handed his first Premiership appearance of the season.

Goose Green labour club had the match on the big screen, that and the reasonably priced ale, tempted me to go!

We worked hard in the first half and created chances of our own. Marcus Bent scored, but he was offside! Scharner and Bent both had headers, which went just over. At the other end, Pollitt made a couple of great saves. Surely he’s worth a starting place, Steve?

With Latics being Latics, we had to defend well and then concede late on. And we did! With less than ten minutes to go, Gallas headed Arsenal in the lead then just a couple of minutes later, they killed the game off, when they scored a second.

It was disappointing, but there is now renewed optimism for Latics. With Man City at home next, this presents a great chance of getting some points on the board. One win and we could be out of the relegation zone!

Hopefully the fans will get behind the team and we can get out of trouble, sooner rather than later.

On a personal note, I got blind drunk! After leaving the club, I went off to another pub. Then a change of shoes and jacket later, I found myself, quite bizarrely in The Pier!

I don’t know what possessed me to go in, I don’t like the music at all! My corduroy jacket only attracted the attentions of one young lady, who said something but I can’t remember what! I’ve never seen as many tracksuits in all my life though!

But, it was okay. £8 to get in though is ridiculous! I don’t think I’ll be doing it again! Later, I was to go into Wigan but I can’t remember much, I was drunker than George Best ever was and yes, my ‘barren run’ still continues!

So I’m hoping to take at least a week’s break, the strains on my wallet would have Dave Whelan fainting!

See you later and COME ON WIGAN!

X

Fun? Who For?

2007-11-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 14th November
Wigan Reserves 0 – 1 Manchester United Reserves

To be honest, if this reserve match, played at the JJB, was not free to season ticket holders, I would have been pissed off with myself for paying £5. In short, it was frigging boring! A bitterly cold November night, coincided with an awful game as Utd scored a jammy goal to win 1-0.

On ‘family fun night’ (complete with clowns, balloons and busty ladies knocking about!) Latics started with senior players, Salomon Olembe, Julius Aghahowa and Rachid Bouaouzan. Of the three, I though Olembe was class. Aghahowa was poor and Bouaouzan, despite showing some glimpses of promise, is struggling to adapt to the English game.

After finishing the first beer of the night, we entered the stands just as Latics suffered an early injury to goalkeeper Russell Saunders. His replacement, first year trainee Neil Postlethwaite, was superb. He made a few good saves to deny Utd.

Bouaouzan had the best chance for Latics, in the second half. He took the ball past a Utd defender, before chipping Utd’s (also a substitute) goalkeeper. Unfortunately the ball clipped the bar and went over.

Utd’s goal was farcical to say the least. A good move resulted in a good save by Latics keeper Postlethwaite before a defender dallied on the ball and a Utd forward just tackled him and the ball went in.

It’s getting frustrating for the reserve side, who now lie second-bottom in the table (just like the senior side!). The other players that impressed were midfielder Lewis Montrose and striker Craig Mahon.

Later me and a few mates went out for a pint and a laugh. Despite it being bitterly cold, it’s always nice to go out! It’s a shame we lost (again)!

Next up for the Latics is Arsenal away. Will we have a new manager? Who knows, Dave Whelan certainly doesn’t!

See you later!

X

Switched Off

2007-11-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

Sunday 11th November
Tottenham 4 – 0 Wigan

I do not know your name, but I know you died I do not know from where you came, but I know you died

Your uniform, branch of service, it matters not to me Whether Volunteer or Conscript, or how it came to be That politicians failures, or some power-mad ambition Brought you too soon to your death, in the name of any nation

You saw, you felt, you knew full well, as friend and foe were taken By bloody death, that your life too, was forfeit and forsaken Yet on you went and fought and died, in your close and private hell For Mate or Pal or Regiment and memories never to tell

It was for each other, through shot and shell, the madness you endured Side by side, through wound and pain, and comradeship assured No family ties, or bloodline link, could match that bond of friend Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end

We cannot know, we were not there, it's beyond our comprehension To know the toll that battle brings, of resolute intention To carry on, day by day, for all you loved and hoped for To live in peace a happy life, away from bloody war

For far too many, no long life ahead, free of struggle and pain and the gun And we must remember the price that was paid, by each and every one Regardless of views, opinions aside, no matter how each of us sees it They were there and I cannot forget, even though I did not live it

I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died and we are forever thankful.

R.I.P

Wigan returned to action at White Hart Lane on Remembrance Sunday, with caretaker manager, Frank Barlow, in charge. To be fair, Ken Barlow could have been in charge after we got a hammering!

I listened to the match over the internet and it was the same Latics we have had to endure over the past two years. Poor defending, poor players and poor tactics. Apparently a ‘bug’ had struck in midweek. Jason Koumas, Luis-Antonio Valencia and Emmerson Boyce all being struck down.

We didn’t start off too well and we went two down rather quickly. It was at this point that I switched off, I really could not be arsed. I felt sorry for a few mates who had gone down to the game. After hearing that we went 3-0 down, I just sunk further into the ‘post-match depression’, which had haunted me for the last two months.

I tuned back in for about two minutes, but really could not be bothered. Scharner was still swanning around the place, Spurs were taking the piss and I needed a piss!

I ignored all the post-match reports, but I may bring myself round to listen to all the Shylocks on the 606 podcast proclaiming ‘Spurs for the Champions League’. Yeah right!

So thank god there’s an international break! Hopefully we will have a new man in charge, by the time we visit Arsenal. Will it be Paul Jewell? Who knows, he is being constantly linked with Latics. Either way, we are a shambles and the players need a kick up the arse!

Bye

X

Bye Hutch

2007-11-06T05:05:00.000-08:00

Monday 5th November

It is with a little bit of sadness that I write about the departure of Latics manager, Chris Hutchings, today. Following our terrible losing run, which as seen us drop into the relegation zone, Dave Whelan as decided to wield the axe on ‘The Hutch’

Chris Hutchings joined Wigan Athletic as assistant manager to Paul Jewell in 2001, just like when the pair were at Bradford. Like Bradford, Hutchings took charge when Jewell resigned. Like then, he was sacked after just 12 games.

Hutchings wanted to take Latics ‘to the next level’. Bringing in players such as Jason Koumas, Mario Melchiot and Titus Bramble, backed up that claim. After losing the first game of the season against Everton, we won our next two against Middlesborough and Sunderland. These victories saw us go to the top of the Premiership for the first time. Defeats against Hull in the Carling Cup then in the league against Newcastle, were sandwiched between draws against West Ham and Fulham. This then saw us go on our losing run, now spanning 6 games, which as proved to be the Hutch’s downfall.

This was obviously too much for chairman Whelan, who only last week publicly backed Hutchings. Then this morning around 10am, from the comfort of his Barbados home, Whelan brought an end to Hutchings’ reign. Says a lot about the man really.

I would like to thank Chris Hutchings, if only for taking us to the top of league for those few glorious hours. It was clear in the end, that he didn’t have the required attributes to manage a Premiership club (i.e. his tactics and substitutions). By all accounts he is a lovely fella and I don’t doubt that. Perhaps being too nice won’t cut it as a top manager. So cheers Chris, I’ll miss those nice suits you used to wear. At least he can say he was the best-dressed manager in the Premiership!

Now it’s on to the search for a new manager. Frank Barlow will take charge for the next game, away to Spurs. Early rumours surround Graeme Souness and Chris Coleman. To be honest, I would prefer Souness, he did a great job at Blackburn, who are a slimily sized club to Latics. Although I wouldn’t say no to Coleman either!

When the new manager is in place, hopefully Whelan will back him to the hilt. We need to bring someone in with experience and contacts in the game, if only to bring in some quality players.

So lets hope Frank Barlow can get the team up for the Spurs match. Who knows, the new man could be in charge by then. I doubt it though, Whelan would want to continue sunning himself for another week!

See you later!

X

The Hutch Is Well And Truly Breached

2007-11-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

Saturday 3rd November
Wigan 0 – 2 Chelsea

Another day and yet another defeat, from the top of the league into the bottom 3, things have gone all ‘tits up’ at Latics. However, this time I don’t have much to moan about, well that’s a lie!

Steve Bennett, of ‘sending off Kilbane for nothing’ fame, was once again sticking up for the glamorous club and denied Wigan two penalties amongst other things.

Chelsea, apart from diving all over the place, feigning injury and wearing a ridiculous luminous kit, were just too good. The pass that put Lampard through for the first goal was just superb. Wigan were awful in the first half, they just seemed to let Chelsea play. Chris Hutchings’ ‘tactics’ didn’t help, one man up front, at home and it stayed like that until the 80th minute!

Latics then let Belletti score a great goal, but again, we should have closed him down. Feeling utterly depressed in my seat at half time, I was dreading the second half. However, Latics came out and just hammered Chelsea, without threatening too much. I’ve criticised Paul Jewell, in the past, for his lack of tactical ability, but with Chelsea winning 2-0, with 45 minutes to go, surely Hutch would bring on another striker to help out Bent? No, it took him until the clock had ticked past the 80 minute mark, to bring Sibierski on, when the match was more or less over.

As mentioned, the ref was a disgrace (again!), ‘fair play’ should be looked up by ALL referees in my opinion. Not giving decisions against a team because they don’t contain the world’s best players and because they (the referees) won’t get hammered by the press.

Chris Hutchings? Sorry but I think its time to go. With Spurs and Arsenal, both away, up next, it looks unlikely that we will get any points. If we can’t get points against Reading and Birmingham, how do we expect to get any off the ‘bigger’ clubs? His ‘tactics’ today just summed him up – not a clue.

I thought Bent worked hard on his own up front, Brown and Bramble were superb, Kilbane was constantly turned inside out by Shaun Wright-Phillips and Scharner was just awful. Sibierski came on and had two good chances, so what would have happened if he had more time on the pitch?

Fair play to the Latics fans for getting behind the lads in the second half, it’s a shame that we can’t do it at every match. Fair play also, to our captain, Mario Melchiot, who threw his shirt to the fans after the match. God knows what he’ll do when we win a game!

My depression sunk to new depths later, as I stayed in! Whoever said ‘football is just a game’ wants their head kicking in, because it isn’t. Thankfully I’ve got a few things planned, nights out wise, so hopefully I can forget all about the football! I doubt it though!

See you later!

X

Surprise, Surprise

2007-10-28T09:21:00.001-07:00

Saturday 27th October
Birmingham City 3 – 2 Wigan

Another match, another defeat. At least we’re back scoring goals now but our defence is an absolute shambles. After this defeat, against a side expected to be near us at the end of the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if the clock on Chris Hutchings reign as started ticking down.

This was supposed to be my first away match of the season. What with the ridiculously cheap tickets both to get into ground and on the train, I was getting excited about going. However my ‘mate’ let me down with a very feeble excuse, with a week and a bit to go. I was going to go on my own, but decided that the money was better off being saved, I may get a ‘few’ beers before and after the Chelsea game!

So I consolidated myself with listening to Matt McCann – again! As my thoughts drifted on and off, I gathered that Birmingham had the better of the match but we should have had at least a point.

Twice the ‘Yesssss’s’ rang out, loud and proud, in WN5 but three times the ‘For fooks sake!’ rang out with them! Marcus Bent redeemed himself with two goals, both giving us the lead. The first being a powerful finish, when put one-one by Melchiot (who was booed all game by his former Birmingham fans). The second was a tap-in after a mix up between a defender and the goalkeeper. To be honest we should have defended better for all their goals, Paul Scharner gave away a blatant penalty after he handled the ball. Match of The Day proved that our defence was poor but Lineker and co. said nothing about Latics - again. Kirkland saved us on many occasion, during the match. Were you watching Steve McClaren? No, probably not!

Its all gone wrong for Latics, with Chelsea, who beat Man City 6-0 as Latics lost to Birmingham, next up at the JJB. Lets hope Chris Hutchings and the boys can start producing miracles now, or else I can’t see us getting out of it this time.

Bye

X

Awful, Just Awful

2007-10-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday 20th October
Wigan 0 – 2 Portsmouth

The memories of euphoria, after beating Sunderland 3-0 and going to the top of the Premiership, have been utterly destroyed after yet another ‘performance’. Although we were arguably the better side in the first half, we were just simply pathetic in the second. Antoine Sibierski went off, again, injured and I said ‘we are going to lose’, the score at this point was 0-0, and what happened next?

Before the game, I was fairly confident of getting at least a point, despite Portsmouth’s great form. I also kept a lookout for the infamous bell ringing and general scary-looking Mr. Portsmouth Football Club, or whatever his name is!

I took my seat in the east stand and the majority of the match was spent shielding the sun from my eyes, as I couldn’t see anything! Latics hit the bar after just a couple of minutes, Paul Scharner’s header rebounding off the upright. To be fair, that was our only clear-cut chance of the match.

As the match got more boring, I would have took a point. But with just 10 or so minutes left, Benjani flicked a cross into the back of Chris Kirkland’s net. With our forward line looking as lightweight as a bulimia suffers XI, we had no hope of getting an equaliser. Low and behold, Latics allowed Glen Johnson (a right-back) to skip past a number of players and slot the ball past Kirkland to make it 2-0. All of a sudden, about 7,000 or so Latics fans got up and left. I wanted to stay behind – to hear the chorus of boo’s!

The finger as got to be pointed at Chris Hutchings. He has brought in players who have no passion, in Bent and Koumas. Latics fans may love Koumas (why?), but all I’ve seen is a player who doesn’t pass, can’t cross onto his own player’s head and disappears during games. Bent is just Simon Haworth, without the talent. It pains me to say it, but Aghahowa is about as useful as a glass hammer!

Dave Whelan may sleep soundly in his Barbados home, but where as our £20 million ‘war chest’ gone? Instead we bring in players on the cheap, whilst clubs like Portsmouth and Fulham are spending it on ‘up and coming’ players, both domestic and foreign.

Our whole club is infested, and it needs cleaning out from top-to-bottom and if that means a few sackings, I’m all for it. In short, Wigan Athletic are a Premiership club, managed like a conference side, and that’s no disrespect to the clubs in the Blue Square Premier!

My disappointment was going to grow, as I watched England unluckily lose in the Rugby Union World Cup final. Players playing with passion, heart and for each other and their fans, footballers could learn a lot from these lads.

After the match, I went out into Wigan, and I wished I hadn’t. Needless to say I didn’t have a great time, we went to the same old boring places, my mates are looking and sounding like dickheads, the beer is getting dearer and I’m a million miles away from getting in with a lady. Or I’m having a mid-life crisis in my 20’s, either way, I’m not feeling too good!

Next up is a trip to Birmingham, a match that could provide us with our first away win of the season, but I doubt it.

See you later

X

Punk Football - Reviewed

2007-10-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Friday 5th October

According to The Clash, there was “No Elvis, Beatles or The Rolling Stones in 1977.” Maybe not – but there was a Silver Jubilee, The Sex Pistols, Rock Against Racism, Buzzcocks, Pigeon wars, Space Invaders, Bluto’s and Wigan Athletic’s final season as a non-league football club.

With no Latics game (to worry about!) this weekend, I decide to spend my ‘spare’ time reading a new Latics-related book – PUNK FOOTBALL by Andrew Vaughan. ‘Vaughanie’ is a local writer who set up the ‘Cockney Latic’ newsletter and later a fanzine (of which I have a lot of copies of, clogging up my shelf’s somewhere!). Later he was to set up the ‘Mudhuts Media’ website, which brings together all sorts of talents to produce a number of Wigan-related magazines and media, both electronic and paper! So after hearing that the new book was having a ‘launch’, how could I resist not going down?

The book itself is similar to what I’m doing here, but better written! It is written from the view of an 18-year old Vaughanie in what was to be Wigan Athletic’s last season as a non-league club. The same year, 1977, was the height of the (in)famous punk music scene. Needless to say, the book is a treat! As a fan of a couple of punk bands, beer, birds and that game which involves kicking a ball around, I could (sort of) relate to it, 30 years on!

Playing in the Northern Premier League, Wigan Athletic were considered to be one of best non-league teams in the country. After a disappointing season in 1976/77, the football league looked a million miles away, especially after Wigan were criminally denied a place, in division four, in 1971. That was all to change in just 12 months.

The book is like stepping into David Tennant’s TARDIS in 2007 and getting out of Tom Baker’s in 1977. The book transports you back in time with ease, its so good that people from Burnley will think its describing modern day life! As I wasn’t born yet, I’m always interested in finding out what the world was like, especially Wigan, when members of family were young(er). Needless to say, the book meets that requirement easily! From pissed up Rugby players, late licences, bricks being thrown at coaches, green goddesses, people looking like they got dressed in the dark…okay its not that different but I’m sure you get my drift!

But what I get most from the book, is Vaughanie’s passion for music. From writing with fond affection about his favourite bands and singers, seeing gigs in the Wigan Casino, Manchester, Liverpool and London. To spending his last penny of his weeks wage on records, taking them home and listening to them for weeks on end. It’s a testament to his taste in music, as you always hear bands such as The Clash, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Jam (and many more), in the pubs and clubs today. I’ll wager that nobody will be playing the ‘power pop’ of bands like ‘McFly’ in 30 years time!

The book also contains interviews with a couple of local DJ’s, promoters and of course, some of the players from 1977/78. With some cracking stories from the Observer and various other people. They are done superbly and they really add another dimension to the book, making it not as self-opinionated as this blog!

But seriously, if you’ve got a tenner spare, buy the book – its well worth a read! Even if you’re not a big football or music fan, the book paints a picture of a country not lost in the PC madness we have to endure today.

You can order the book from MudhutsMedia here:http://www.mudhutsmedia.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=377&mode=&order=0&thold=0 or alternatively pop into Smiths bookshop in Wigan.

Back to the night itself, I arrived at the ‘Brick’ in good time and got myself a copy of the book. The next hour or so was spent having a chat with Vaughanie, (who signed my book!), who was very friendly, maybe because he can afford that holiday home in Barrow now! After watching Wigan rugby being hammered by Leeds, I meet up with a few mates at the Tavern. Most of it is spent chatting about our chances against Man Utd tomorrow, I go for a 1-0 to Latics. WHOOPS! The next few hours is spent in The Boulevard, watching a crap band. One of their Mam’s comes round selling C-D’s. Naturally we didn’t buy any. I then, for some bizarre reason, swapped jackets with my mate. So I was wearing a hoodie, with a variety of sewn on rock badges and he was wearing my expensive jacket!

On the way to our final port of call, I got called a ‘Sweaty’, whatever that means, by some young scamps. I questioned their eyesight as I was wearing clothes that would not have looked out of place on King Street, apart from the hoodie! Had a cracking time in the last pub, as my mate nicked a poster ‘its got the A-Team on it!’ And I end up on ‘date’ with some young girl whose mate’s asked me, only for her to laugh and turn round. This barren run is getting beyond the ridiculous!

So with Portsmouth coming up, lets hope this current team can capture the sprit of 1977/78 and win some fooking games!

Bye

X

The Same Old Story

2007-10-07T02:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday 6th October
Manchester United 4 – 0 Wigan
(Pub Attendance: 65)

After holding the ‘greatest team in the world’ 0-0 at half time, I was confident that we’ll get something, especially as United suffered injuries to two key defensive players. However, it was the same old story. We did the same thing last season but United had a three goal blitz in the second half and we ended up losing 3-1. This time it was far worse.

It could have been different if Evra hadn’t have made a superb challenge on Scharner, as he was about to pull the trigger, with only the keeper to beat. That was our chance, but we didn’t take it and it was same old Man Utd afterwards. We worked hard during the first half, Bramble yet again showing what a fantastic player he is, even when Rooney studded him. Everything was totally undone by a fifteen-minute spell in the second half, with the player everyone loves to hate, Ronaldo, being the main instigator.

Like most Wigan fans, I watched the game in the pub. As I stated earlier in the season, I’m unable to afford to go to many away games, but at £39+ to watch your team get hammered at OT is fooking ridiculous! Like always, there are the usual pricks who are ‘United till I die’ despite being from Beech Hill! One such ‘fan’ I wanted to smack, his ‘United till I die’ song and ‘I’m a Rugbee fan and a red’, got my back up but I resisted the temptation to shove his head in the door and continuously smash his head with it, among other ideas, which including throwing a tub of honey on him and letting Fat Harry (of Wigan bus station fame) loose, to have a feast!

Back to the match, where United had an early chance, debutant Salomon Olembe was spared his blushes after Kirkland clawed out his mid-directed header. Apart from that, they had most of the ball, but nothing to show for it. Latics started to get into the game and apart from Scharner’s chance, we didn’t really do nothing to threaten.

Less said about the second half, the better. Needless to say we were awful. After our captain, Mario Melchiot, went off with an injury, we just collapsed. Ronaldo started to run the game, fatty Tevez had a blinder and Rooney continued to mouth off (should he have been given a second yellow card?). Fatty Tevez gave United the lead, Ronaldo got two and Rooney headed a fourth.

It was a fifteen-minute spell that destroyed us, we put five men in midfield and left Bent up front on his own. Scharner had the beating of Evra on the right but we didn’t utilise that in the second half. We should have put the inexperience of United’s defence under pressure, we didn’t and we got what we deserved.

Chris Hutchings needs to get his finger out, we are just not scoring at the moment and our final ball is an absolute joke. Valencia came on and showed his class, almost scoring with a great shot. Which begs the question, why didn’t he start? We had Aghahowa on the bench so why didn’t we go for it when we were 1-0 down?

After getting pissed off with the inhabitants of the pub, I made my way home via the pie shop to watch England’s great victory over the Aussies in the Rugby Union world cup, which cheered me up a bit!

So next up is Portsmouth at home in 2 weeks, a game in which we desperately need to get something. If we don’t, you can really start worrying!

See you later!

X

Daylight Robbery – Again!

2007-09-30T03:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday 29th September
Wigan 0 – 1 Liverpool

Gutted. That’s all I can write. We should have had at least a point, but yet again the officials stuck up for the MASSIVE club and Wigan are left with nothing yet again. If this poor officiating continues, then Wigan will not be in the Prem next season. Saying that, we should have scored right at the end, Aghahowa somehow missing with his head from 3 yards.

My self-inflicted sober period kicked in so I arrived at my seat early and after hearing that Sibierski was out, my confidence went through the floor. Even though I like Aghahowa, he has really struggled to perform. He has shown all the attributes to be a very good player, but unfortunately not at the same time.

When the game started Liverpool had a free kick after a minute, why? I’ve no idea. Thankfully nothing came of it but that was beside the point! We didn’t really have a great number of chances in the first half. Watching Match of The Day later, Wigan should have had a penalty when Carragher took out Aghahowa. Torres was good on the ball, but £20 million? Kirkland made a good save from him, but apart from that, the magnificent Boyce (in for the injured Granqvist) and Titus ‘Big T’ Bramble kept him quiet.

We performed much better in the second half, Scharner did fantastically well to get into the box, but couldn’t keep his feet to provide the touch to put the ball in and it trickled agonisingly wide. Liverpool’s passing was good, a Gerrard shot going wide and Kirkland making a good save after a goal-mouth scramble.

Then came the talking point of the match. A Latics corner was half cleared and then it was put back in and Marcus Bent put the ball in the net. However the linesman put up his flag, very, very late. At first I was shouting at everyone to SIT DOWN! (Matt McCann style) because I thought it was clearly offside. Later on Match of The Day, Bent was onside, with Aghahowa, who was not involved in the play, offside.

Liverpool made us pay and Yossi Benayoun superbly showed his skill and scored a good goal. We had one last chance, right at the end, Koumas with a great run and cross and Aghahowa somehow missing when it seemed easier to score. It was not our day.

When will this ‘conspiracy’ stop? It seems just because we’re Wigan and they are Liverpool or Arsenal or Man Utd or even Reading, they get all the decisions. I know I’m biased, but you’ve got to see it to believe it. Can you imagine all the stick the officials will get if they give a penalty or a (correct) goal to Wigan, to beat mighty Liverpool? (5 time European cup winners btw). The officials need a good talking to and not be so biased for all the top teams and players.

Overall, I thought we played okay. We looked a little lightweight upfront, Bent played well but still looks lazy, Aghahowa tried, but failed to do anything of note, apart from being fouled by Carragher, in the box. As already stated, I thought the two centre-half’s were superb, Kilbane played well and always looks a danger going forward. If Heskey and Sibierski played, it would have been a different story and maybe our first win against one of the ‘Big Four’

Needless to say there were some plastic Scousers who celebrated when they scored. That may sound normal, but they were in the home end! Apparently they got a slap or two, personally I hate violence at football games but I’ve no sympathy for these men, if they are so stupid to celebrate in the home end, they deserve a slap.

Walking back from the game, via the away end, I’ve never heard as many Oxbridge accents in my life! Where have all the proper Liverpool fans gone? Some people need to look long and hard at themselves for not supporting their local team. That goes for the ‘Wigan Reds’ you see knocking about, too.

As I sit typing this, I’m listening to the 606 football phone-in podcast, with Chelsea fans moaning about the fact they drew 0-0 with Fulham, they want to try supporting Wigan! A Liverpool fan moaning about Steven Gerrard being injured, he looked fine to me he just played shite!

Next up is a trip to Man Utd, where at £39, you can watch your team lose 4-0 in the last 10 minutes! Seriously, we need to have a go at them, we was unlucky against Liverpool but with a bent referee in our favour (which I very much doubt, especially at Old Trafford) that luck may change. So it’s in the pub – at 12.45 for me!

This Friday (5th October) sees the launch of a Latics-related book - ‘Punk Football’. Its written by a Latics fan who’s involved in the ‘Mudhuts Media’ website. It tells the tale of Wigan’s first ever league season, through the eyes of an 18 year-old supporter at the time. The year, 1977, also saw the height of the (in)famous punk music scene, so it should be quite a good read! I’ll be doing a book review as well as a report on the night, when I finish the book! So that could be a long wait!

So lets hope we can nick something at OT next week!

Cheers.

X

I’m Worried And Its Only Early

2007-09-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday 22nd September
Reading 2 – 1 Wigan

What is it with Reading? Every time we seem to go there we always lose in the last minute. Our away form is looking awful, our defence is very leaky and the normal reliable Kirkland, made an error that cost us a goal.

I tuned into my favourite dodgy website to listen to the match, confident that we’ll get the away win we really needed. With Heskey out, Marcus Bent came in for his first start of the season and got his name on the scoresheet. We had the best of the match for the first 10 minutes, then Reading seemed to come into it a lot more after that. No team seemed to be threatening to score, when Reading did. A Kevin Doyle shot was smothered by Kirkland, only for him to spill the ball and Dave Kitson put it in.

Gutted was an understatement, especially what happened just a few seconds later. Straight from the restart, Latics played the ball up the left and Jason Koumas went on one of his mazy runs, he went past 3 players before he was hauled down. The referee pointed to the spot, I shouted YES! Then, however, the linesman had a word with the ref and he ‘cancelled’ the penalty. The foul was committed outside the 18-yard box. After seeing the replays, the foul was just outside the box by a one or two centremeters at least! But once the officials give a decision, I thought the rules were that they couldn’t change it?

After half time, we played better. We started to have a few more opportunities, winning the odd free kick or corner. It was thanks to a corner that we got our goal, Koumas with a great delivery and Bent powerfully headed it in. I always moan that we don’t take advantage of corners, so hopefully this will be the first of many goals from the corner flag!

Aghahowa came on and made a great impact, he put through a great ball for Bent who went one-on-one with the keeper, he was about to shoot when Michael Duberry made a great tackle to deny him. Aghahowa also had a run of his own late on, he rounded Marcus Hanhemann, the Reading keeper, who tripped the Nigerian. If he went down then Hanhemann would have been sent off, but Aghahowa stayed on his feet and the ball was eventually cleared.

More frustration (and anger!) crept in, when a hopeful ball from Reading, somehow found its way into the back of net via James Harper. We certainly did not deserve to lose, but these are very worrying times for Latics. We may only be in September, but no disrespect to Reading, we should be taking points off sides that are struggling at the bottom end of the table. With Liverpool (at home) and Man Utd (away) our next two games, it doesn’t look good.

So later, I drowned my sorrows at a mates ‘birthday beers’ session in Wigan. This was to be my last boozy night for a while, so I tried to make the most of it. Hence I didn’t, but still enjoyed myself. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t seem to be really as motivated for going out now as I did a year ago, hopefully I will be back to my best in a month or two!

So next up is Liverpool, so I’ve got a feeling that I’ll need to be drinking something stronger than alcohol after that match!

So this is me, starting to feel more depressed than Kurt Cobain ever did, signing off for another week!

X

Taking Vows Doesn’t Mean A Thing!

2007-09-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 19th September
Wigan Reserves 0 – 3 Liverpool Reserves

I attended my first reserve game with hope of seeing a couple of senior players impressing and a look at how our youth system is getting on. Well, after being totally outplayed for 90 minutes by a young Liverpool side, things look very worrying.

Salomon Olembe was pretty solid at left back, he showed a few good touches on his debut at the JJB. Rachid Bouaouzan looked okay but perhaps could have got himself into the game a bit more. Only Tomasz Cywka, Craig Mahon and Luke Ashworth, looked any good from the youth prospective. Cywka was out on the left-hand side and despite him drifting inside a few times, was showing some quality touches. Mahon looked sharp and quick up front, but no one seemed to be helping him. Finally, Ashworth was solid at the back, it’s a shame no one else was.

The Liverpool side were just simply brilliant, their passing, running and tackling was far better than Wigan, who really struggled at times. I missed the final goal, after I went to the toilet, but I wasn’t really surprised to be honest!

The reserves usually play their home games at the nearby Robin Park Arena, but after a good crowd of 1,200 attended this fixture surely the club will think about staging more reserve games at the JJB?

A Latics game would not be a Latics game if something strange hadn’t happened! So thanks to the 50-something man who came down to watch the match wearing his Latics training kit (inc. shorts), which helped us to cheer up during the match, just shave them next time mate!

Personally after vowing to ‘take it easy’ on the beer, I found myself having a few at the game and then later on in Wigan, where I must of went into about 8 kebab shops, each time walking out, because of either the ridiculous prices or the lack of choice!

This weekend will see the last time (for a while) that I’ll be getting drunk, lets hope I can stick to it, because I don’t really feel too good at the moment!

Next up is the Reading report, so (hopefully) here’s to our first away win of the season!

X

I’m Feeling Low, Which Is Something I Can’t Explain!

2007-09-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday 15th September
Wigan 1 – 1 Fulham

Not because of the result, nor our rubbish performance or not even Emile Heskey suffering a broken toe after just 9 minutes which resulted in a 6 week injury layoff. I just feel low for some bizarre reason I can’t explain!

Before the match I was quite confident of getting three points, against a side that everyone said would be fighting relegation with us. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fulham looked lively and always looked a threat, Wigan on the other hand couldn’t get the ball down and play and had to rely on a penalty to rescue a point.

To make things worse the referee was Rob Styles, a man who had come under the national spotlight after he awarded Chelsea a penalty against Liverpool for no reason at all. Even more importantly he has had previous with Latics. The division two playoff final in 2000, where he gave a number of baffling decisions against us. The play-off semi final against Reading, where he gave a penalty for a nothing challenge and in various other games, most notably one against Stoke, where he made a number of ‘mistakes’, which cost us points. So what happened in the build up to Fulham’s goal? The linesman gave a throw-in the wrong way and Styles did not see what everyone else in the ground saw and allowed Fulham to carry on!

The main talking point, however, was Heskey’s injury. After running for a ball, he seemed to turn his ankle, it wasn’t until later that the England striker was diagnosed with a broken metatarsal and will be out for at least 6 weeks. He will be sorely missed by Latics, who really struggled to score in his absence.

Fulham had most of the chances and they showed their prowess as Clint Dempsey was put clean through and he calmly put them ahead after just 11 minutes. Latics really struggled, they had many corners but none could find anyone in a blue and white shirt.

I drowned my sorrows at half-time, leaving before the whistle and I wasn’t confident of us getting back into the game. I sunk in my seat for the second half as Fulham, again, were the better side, with Dempsey forcing Kirkland to make a great save.

When all hope seemed lost, Melchiot was scathed down in the box and Styles gave a penalty to Latics. My surprise was short-lived as I wondered who would take the kick. Jason Koumas, who took an age tying his bootlaces, stepped up and sent the Fulham keeper the wrong way. Latics could have won it late on, Paul Scharner hit the ball straight at the keeper when he should have scored.

I was quite happy with a point, hopefully that will be our ‘bad performance of the season’ over with! But despite scoring, I wasn’t feeling great. I didn’t say too much in the second half, nor when I had a pint in the club afterwards. I even went out later (after promising myself not to) but still couldn’t put my finger on it. I enjoyed myself, but I wasn’t feeling ‘up to it’. It’s my ‘Borat high-five’ mate’s birthday beers next week, so hopefully I will be back on form, before my rest from getting drunk!

As for the players? Cotterill was awful, Boyce looked uncomfortable at left-back, Brown tried but kept losing the ball, Koumas was below par and Bent was even worse than Cotterill, after coming on to replace Heskey. Only Kirkland, Bramble, Sibierski and Skoko can hold their heads up high in my opinion.

Next up for Latics, is a trip to Reading. Reading haven’t had the best of starts this season so hopefully we can capitalise on this and get our first away win of the season.

During half-time, at the game, the club announced that the reserve game against Liverpool this Wednesday, would be played at the JJB and free to season ticket holders. So I thought ‘what the hell, I’ll go to that!’ so watch out for my report on the ‘stars of the future’, possibly being hammered by Peter Crouch or whoever!

See you soon!

X

An Evening With Mr. Tea

2007-09-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 12th September
England 3 – 0 Russia

After forsaking the lure of either joining the majority of Wigan’s alcoholics on ‘cheap pub row’ (regulars to Wigan will know what I mean!) or getting 2-4-1 on bottles of REEF with the rest of the deadheads on King Street, I decided to stay in with my good friend – Mr Tea! Even though I love beer as much as the next man, I’m going to be cutting down for the next few weeks, but I’ll be still going out and getting drunk, but not as frequently as before. So for now I’m fine with a good stack of biscuits and a nice brew!

So to the game, where once again Emile Heskey was fantastic! His flick-on helped Michael Owen to score the second, but his hard work and ability to hold up the ball, again showed why he had been called up and why he’s so well thought of, in the sport.

England started brightly and took the lead after just seven minutes, sat with my brew, I was pleasantly surprised when Gareth Barry’s cross was struck home superbly by Owen, with Heskey causing Russia all sorts of problems with his height and strength. Later, Heskey had a chance but the Russian keeper made a great save, the ball fell to Owen and with the goal begging, slipped on his arse!

Just after, Russia put the ball in the net, only for it to be ruled out for a handball. Later, replays showed that the decision was a bit dubious and the ball may have hit the player’s chest. England took full advantage, with the ball being pumped forward and the man whose one of his middle names was taken from a children’s story (Ivanhoe!) flicked the ball on for Owen, who superbly volleyed the ball past the keeper, who got nowhere near it. Owen may have got the goal, but my cheers were for the big No9 in the white shirt, who had flicked the ball on – Wigan’s very own Emile Heskey!

England were cruising, the second half was just about keeping the ball. Heskey at one stage looked like he was going to take on the whole Russian back line, when he received the ball out wide! With just 12 or so minutes to go, Emile was taken off. Chants of ‘Emile Heskey’ had been ringing round the 84,000 crowd, much deserved in my opinion! Needless to say his replacement, Crouch, did nothing but lose the ball. Steve McClaren as got to call up Emile for the next few games, he looks a far better target man than Crouch, if only he can get into the box more, maybe he’ll get a couple of goals as well?

Rio Ferdinand lashed in the third with a quite good finish after a ridiculous ‘step-over’, but hey, it worked! Overall it was a great performance from England, but it did make you wonder - what if the Russian ‘goal’ had stood?

Barry was quite impressive, he definitely gets the nod over Lampard for me. Gerrard kept losing the ball all the time, Ashley Cole was just awful but it was the right-side combination of Micah Richards and Shaun Wright-Phillips, which looks the most impressive and these two have got to be the way forward, not 30-something has-beens like Gary Neville and Beckham.

I’ve been very proud to be a Wigan supporter for the past few days and we can hold our heads up high, as one of our very own had showed that Wigan players can cut it at international level, next for a call-up as surely got to be Chris Kirkland?

Next up this Saturday is Fulham, with the ground expected to be as empty as Russell Brand’s head, it should be quite easy to get a pint!

Before I finish, let me send my congratulations to Scotland who beat France 1-0 in Paris. I’m not a typical ‘Ingerland’ fan, I genuinely want all the British nations to do well and seeing as the current Scotland squad contains two former Wigan Athletic players, it makes you feel that little bit prouder!

So lets hope we can put our season back on track against Fulham on Saturday!
X

Its Out Of Sync – But I Like It!

2007-09-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday 8th September
England 3 – 0 Israel

Before I begin, may I welcome Salomon Olembe to Latics. We signed the Cameroon left sided defender/midfielder on a free transfer after he was released by Marseille in the summer. He has had a spell at Leeds and a trial at Derby, so hopefully he already knows all about the ‘rough and tumble’ of the English game! We were able to sign him because the transfer window is only for players who are employed by another club, Olembe was unattached so we were able to snap him up outside the transfer window.

So now, this is me taking a break from my usual report on Latics, as I cheered on Wigan’s first ever (full time) player to play for England – Emile Heskey, from the comfort of a pub just outside Wigan town centre! I arrived, full of anticipation, desperate for Emile to prove all the doubters wrong and play well. When it was announced that Emile got into the England squad, it was met with surprise all round. Many ‘experts’ proclaimed the call up as a ‘disaster’, while other football fans (mostly Man Utd ‘fans’ from Cambridge or Chelsea ‘fans’ from Kent) simply came out with absolute drivel about how he keeps falling over etc. At the end of the day, Emile isn’t a prolific striker, but he does so much work around the pitch. I think the best way to describe him is that he is an ’18 yard box player’, every time England hoofed the ball forwards, who was on to it? Heskey every time! His performances for Wigan have just simply been fantastic, yes he could score more goals, but I’m sure he already knows that and doesn’t need some toff calling him ‘Bruno’ or whatever.

So to the game, where I didn’t have a clear view of the BIG screen, but that soon changed, when the other BIG screen, in the other room, was opened. But in true ‘for fooks sake’ style, the sound (which was for the other screen) was 4 seconds out of sync, so it was quite comical to hear the words ‘Goal!’ when the ball went out for a throw-in! The first half was pretty good, Heskey having two great chances, his hold-up play was absolutely superb and was showing England what they’ve been missing. Shaun Wright-Phillips put England ahead with a great finish after a good cross from Joe ‘Oddbod’ Cole. I was deeply impressed with England’s right side, I thought Wright-Phillips and Micah Richards linked up well. Who needs Gary Neville and David ‘USA’ Beckham?

Half time came and went, with Mark Lawrenson taking every opportunity to belittle Heskey, thankfully Shearer, Ian Wright, Lineker and Hansen was watching the right game and agreed that Heskey had been superb.

I moved my arse over to the in-sync screen for the second half and England totally ripped Israel apart. Michael Owen scored a fantastic volley just a few minutes into the second half and Richards towered above everyone to head England into a 3-0 lead. The recently dodgy Robinson did fook all, he could have put a deckchair out and put some factor 45 on! Wright-Phillips was the man of the match, but I was really impressed with Richards, who’s original call-up lead me to boycott England games, as well as Leighton Baines being criminally overlooked time after time, when he played for Latics.

As for ‘Big Hesk’? He went off after 71 minutes, after picking up a slight knock. Overall, he played really well and is great foil for Owen. He just needs to get into the box more and be a bit selfish. Hopefully he’ll get the nod over Peter Crouch for Wednesday’s ‘crunch match’ with Russia.

Afterwards I went to a mate’s house party, under the illusions of ‘there’ll be plenty of birds there.’ But as usual it was Wigan’s version of ‘Sex In The City’ (Sex In The Mudhuts?), as NO women turned up. Despite this, I had a great time, surprising myself by drinking Magners and having some Tequila! The rumours of my homosexuality continued, after I feel asleep with my feet on another lad’s legs! Just to get something ‘straight’, I’m NOT a gay!

So that’s me going into hiding for the next few weeks! With funds a little low, I’m hoping for at least a 2 week rest, but the beer will continue to flow at the Latics! But next up is the game against Russia, if we were to lose, I’m sure the Russians would declare a national holiday as a ‘victory for mother Russia against their western aggressors’, judging by their recent shenanigans!

So see you soon and lets hope Heskey continues to play well!

X (not in a gay way)

Spacemen, Martians and Drunken Bastards!

2007-09-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday 1st September
Newcastle United 1 – 0 Wigan

In a week where, apparently, Paul ‘Spaceman’ Scharner was chased from a farmer’s field, whilst being filmed reading poetry, surely it couldn’t get more baffling? Well you’ve got to ask Kevin Kilbane that! After being booked earlier on, in the match, he went up for an aerial challenge with Alan Smith and a clash of heads later he was sent off and it was more-or-less game over.

Friday’s transfer deadline day came and went, with Latics signing Marcus Bent on loan for the rest of the season and Dutch winger Rachid Bouaouzan for around £400,000. Caleb Folan moved to Hull for £1 million and Herni Camara went to West Ham on loan, also for the season. Of the two new signings, Bent was on the bench, while Bouaouzan didn’t feature. To be honest, I wasn’t happy with Latics signing Bent, but I’ll always give players a chance and hopefully he’ll come good. As for Bouaouzan he’s best known for getting a suspended prison sentence after a ‘horror challenge’ in which he broke another player’s leg in two places and ended his career. I’ve seen the footage, it was an awful challenge but nowhere near as awful as Roy Keane’s challenge on Alf-Inge Haaland, which also ended his career. Hopefully he can show us what a good footballer he is, rather than how good he is picking up soap in the showers!

I was quite disappointed we didn’t sign a left-back, hopefully Chris Hutchings will have something up his, really dodgy shirt(s), sleeve!

My thanks and best wishes go to Caleb Folan and Herni Camara. Caleb came in when we were struggling last season and scored two very important goals. Camara was absolutely superb in our first season in the Premiership but his injury problems and his recent disinterest meant he was surplus to requirements and allowed to leave, albeit on loan.

Before the match I again opted to listen to Matt McCann over the Internet and I was confident that we’ll get a good result, even with Antonio Valencia out injured. Valencia for Brown was the only change to the side that drew with West Ham a week ago, with Sibierski getting over his injury. From the first whistle Newcastle came straight at us and had a few chances with Owen being put thorough on goal, only for Kirkland to make a great save. Latics did have the odd flurry at goal, a Jason Koumas free kick almost sneaking into the bottom corner. At half time I was confident we’ll get into the game and sneak a goal. But it wasn’t to be, after just 30 seconds into the second half, Kilbane went up for the ball with Alan Smith. After a clash of heads, Kilbane emerged, only to be shown a second yellow card. It was scandalous, after seeing it on Match of the Day, it seemed, yet again, a referee as cost us points. From then it was ‘backs to the wall’ as Newcastle wasted some great chances to score. The fresh legs of Marcus Bent up front did little to improve our chances, as with 4 minutes to go, Owen scored. It was typical Wigan Athletic! After defending so well for 86 minutes, 40 with just 10 men and an injured Paul Scharner (we had already made 3 substitutions, when he picked up a injury), we conceded at the last knockings to a player desperate for a goal. Overall Newcastle did have the most chances and really should have won by more, but if Kilbane had stayed on, the score would have been, without a doubt, different. With Fulham at home in two weeks, hopefully we can pick up another valuable win.

For me, it was back to Manchester for one of the biggest parties I’ve ever been to! With me also being a fan of the BBC television show ‘Life on Mars’ (Latics come first of course!!!) I’m a member of a fan site and they where having a meet-up slap bang in the middle of Manchester, with a dinner at the BBC broadcasting house – how could I resist! I arrived in Manchester around 7 (after yet again, not paying on the train!) and drowned my sorrows in The Salisbury, but I cheered up when I realised that I could have been a student, judging by the pub’s clientele!
Not long later, I headed off to the party and I was pleasantly surprised at now friendly everyone was. I was invited to be in a quiz team with four very lovely American ladies. Despite me being very worldly wise (stop laughing!) they were the first Americans I’ve ever talked to and I was really shocked that they could tell what I was saying, normally my own Dad doesn’t have a clue what I say at times! We didn’t win the quiz, but coming in a respectable position was better than coming last! More drinks later, where this greedy bastard had almost half a cake, at the ridiculously cheap BBC bar (should be, the amount of money we have to pay for a frigging TV licence!) and it was nearing the time in which I had to head back. Unfortunately I had to go right in the middle of a raffle, in which you could win some signed memorabilia (how daft would I have looked wearing that!), I gave my tickets away and if one of them won, I would be very cross indeed! I had a fantastic time and thanks to everyone and of course the organisers. I wish I could have stayed for longer and perhaps stayed for the full weekend, where they were touring the filming locations of the show. But being a professional drunken bastard as its downsides, as I had to get back home and meet up with some mates. I will definitely stay for the whole weekend, if there is a next time!

So after saying my goodbyes, I head off to the train station, only to turn back round, because I was heading in the wrong direction! Finally I get to the train station and guess what? The train is delayed, meaning I’m going to miss my connection at Bolton! With no more trains and buses I reluctantly get a taxi and pay a £23 cab fare to get back into Wigan! Not impressed, thanks a lot!

When I finally met up with the lads (where I have a moan about the game with my ‘Borat high-five’ mate), I actually quite enjoyed myself, even if I did spend too much money! Loads of beer later (where my cultural tour continued with meeting some people from Tokyo!), no ridiculous dancing for once and although I got a few ‘smiles’, my barren run continued. Finally I found myself home – at 5.30! Cheers, again, to everyone that was out, I’m having some brilliant nights out at the moment, hopefully that will continue! It would have been even better if we had got something out of the game, though!

Finally, can I just send my congratulations to Latics striker, Emile Heskey, who has been recalled to the England squad for the first time since Euro 2004. ‘Big Hesk’ deserves his chance and anyone who really knows anything about football will agree that he is a superb player and all the abuse he as had during his career is total bollocks. For further evidence, watch the Sheffield Utd game from last season, he was fooking everywhere!

Can you see David ‘I got myself booked because I wanted to go shopping with the wife’ Beckham, doing that?

Thanks to Heskey being called up, my own personal ban on myself watching England games will be lifted and I will be reporting on them! So watch out for the England report and another drunken account on me at another party, trying (but ultimately failing!) to chat up some 17 year-olds!

Cheers and if you want to leave any comments, just click on the ‘comments’ link that appears on each blog.

See you later!

X

Cup Run…………My Arse!

2007-08-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 28th August
Wigan 0 – 1 Hull City

After being fairly confident after the 2nd round draw and the way we are currently playing, most Latics fans expected us to go on yet another ‘cup run’. Despite making some changes to the starting line-up, we still looked strong. As I stood in the concourse prior to the match, drinking a type of lager that if given a chemical test, would be banned in most of the world’s developed countries, my thoughts drifted back to the cup run of 2005. Our reserve team more-or-less got us to the semi-finals that year and then we got to the final, where we were cruelly beaten by Man Utd.

When the game started we had the ball for long periods and looked the most likely to score. But after a mistake by the often-reliable Granqvist and a lucky deflection, allowed Stuart Elliott to volley the ball over Mike Pollitt, in the Latics net. Hull before then had a great chance to score with Michael Bridges (I think!) being put through on goal, only for Pollitt to make the save. The travelling Hull fans thought they had a second when they had another shot from the edge of the box only for it to hit the side netting and roll behind the goal. At half time, I was confident that we’ll get back into the game, we had a number of chances in the first half, the closest was a header which was magnificently saved by the Hull keeper. As I stood with another chemical pint and cursing myself for paying £2.00 for a 26-page programme, most of which was taken up by adverts for Scary Mary’s Boutique or something, I thought ‘Yes, we can get back into this’, how wrong was I?

After spending most of the second half with the ball, it wasn’t to be. Hull defended fantastically and deserved to win. Even if we had carried on playing for a week we would still not have scored, it was that type of game! We came close with a couple of shots and then a corner in injury time, but that was it. As for the players? They played okay, apart from the exception of Cotterill, who in my opinion was awful, he just didn’t seem to be able to take on the full-back and get the ball into the box. Someone told me Camara was playing, maybe he was but I didn’t see him do anything! Aghahowa came on and should have scored with a shot, which went horribly wide. With him looking like he’ll start at Newcastle if Sibierski isn’t fit, he’ll need to get his shooting boots on and quick!

So all in all I’m very disappointed, we should have won, with the amount of possession we had, but if you don’t score then you obviously don’t win anything! Fair play to Hull. On the lady front, I think I’ve fallen for a girl a few rows in front of me, I’m sure that I’ll be able to make a better judgement when I can see something else rather than the back of her head!

So with the Newcastle game coming up on Saturday, let’s hope we can turn it around and keep our place in the top 3! I’ll also be ‘tripping the light fantastic’ in Manchester at my attendance at a party. Read of my attempts to order Malibu and Ice Cream at a cocktail bar, laugh at me trying to catch a train and finally cheer when I finally learn how to dance properly!

So see you soon for the next instalment of Wigan Athletic – Beer, Birds & Football!

X

The Return of the Matt

2007-08-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday 25th August
West Ham 1 – 1 Wigan

It was with shock and surprise as, thanks to a ‘dodgy’ website, I tuned into the commentary for the West Ham game. With funds a little bit stretched at the mo, it seems like I won’t be going to many away games this season, if any. So in the meantime I will have the dulcet tones of the world’s best commentator – Matt McCann, to listen to. Anyone who’s heard Matt will agree that he is a cult figure in Wigan Athletic folklaw, so much so they gave him a job when we won promotion to the Premiership in 2005! He used to work for a local radio station – Wish FM, to provide sports commentaries and sometimes the news. It was his sheer enthusiasm that made people instantly warm to him, his madcap jokes, like at an away game in the days when the radio station did score updates. He came on saying “Oh no, it’s a disaster, it’s a travesty”, as all the Latics fans groaned, Matt finished “they’ve ran out of pies!” He also had many arguments with opposing fans while doing his commentaries, most famously at Derby, where a fan jumped in the press box and confronted him, thankfully he handled the situation well! Most famously was the Leicester away game in 2005. With Matt a Leicester fan (as well as a Wigan fan!) he had spilt loyalties for the match, it would have been fun to hear his commentary, but I was at the game! As for the game, we won 2-0 and around 2,000 Latics fans singing, “Are you watching Matt McCann”, the Leicester fans just looked bemused! Anyway thanks to the club, Matt McCann is back, providing away commentaries exclusively for the club this season. Check out the official website for details, and may I take this opportunity to NOT endorse any ‘dodgy’ websites, I just use them!

So to the game and after last season’s shenanigans over the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano signings and lack of points deductions, it was sure to be a fiery encounter for players and fans alike. After taking the lead through a spectacular Paul Scharner overhead kick, a perfect way to celebrate his new blonde Mohican haircut! However, just a few minutes later Lee Bowyer equalised.

As the game started, the West Ham fans sounded in good voice and their team responded. They sounded like they were the best team for the first 25 minutes. Then Latics came back into the game, most notably, Jason Koumas hitting the post from about 25 yards. West Ham also had a shout for a penalty and scored two offside goals either side of half time (with Matt shouting “Calm down! Sit Down!” to the West Ham fans). I was confident that we’ll get something from the game, we seemed to be defending well and looking dangerous going forward. My assumption was correct when Scharner scored, but my ‘Get in there!’ was short-lived, as Bowyer put West Ham back on level terms. It was the same old Latics that I love, always conceding after we score, but unlike previous line-ups, we always look dangerous going forward and always likely to score.

Overall, I was happy with a point, West Ham did have more possession but it sounded like we had the more clear-cut chances, with Aghahowa blazing one over the bar, when he should have really done better. We are playing really good football at the moment and with the games coming up, we can establish ourselves comfortably in the top ten. One bad note is that our top scorer, Antoine Sibierski, went off injured early on. I don’t know the extent of the injury, but with a week’s break until the trip to Newcastle, hopefully he can be fit enough in time.

After the Middlesbrough game, I reported that a Boro fan got attacked by a group of Latics youths on the retail park. Although the last part of that is true, the fan was in fact a WIGAN FAN. This makes the attack even more sickening and just underlines the current situation in this country. The 60 year-old man suffered serious facial injuries but thankfully is now okay. As a gesture of goodwill, the man and his son have been given a free season ticket by the club. Five youths were questioned and released pending further enquires. My best wishes go to the man caught up in this sickening attack and I hope that this doesn’t happen again.

So as the Latics bandwagon rolls on, its Hull City at home in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. With this a chance to give some of the fringe players a run out, it should be a good game against the Championship side. Hopefully we can win through and who knows, maybe start another cup run?

Cheers and see you later!
X

We're Gonna Win The Leauge! We're Gonna Win The Leauge! La, La, La-La-La, We're Gonna Win The League!

2007-08-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Saturday 18th August
Wigan 3 – 0 Sunderland

Maybe not! But what a performance, what a day and what a momentous occasion in the history of Wigan Athletic! I have now seen them go top of every single division in English football, a feat, which I believe, no team as ever achieved before. It may have only lasted the night, but it was fun while it lasted and who knows? With the next games both away at West Ham and Newcastle respectively, we could find ourselves stuck in the top four after 5 games! Before the season started, everyone at the club was just hoping not to have a season like last season and anything else would be a bonus. However the way Latics ripped through Roy Keane’s Sunderland, I’m sure we can be forgiven for singing ‘we’re gonna win the league’, because the performance that we produced was the best I’ve seen Wigan play for a long time.

Before the game me and my mate (the one of Borat ‘high five’ fame) had a couple of beers in the club, along with Latics and Sunderland fans both enjoying the pre-match banter. My mate reckoned that Latics would only come away with a point, whereas I was confident of a Latics win and guess what? I was right again! Oh and we saw a Rod Stewart look-a-like in a Sunderland top!

We arrived at the stadium in anticipation of a bumper crowd for the first Saturday match at the JJB this season. Despite a healthy attendance in the East Stand and Sunderland bringing around 5,000, thus more or less filling the North Stand, the West and South stands remained barely half full. Again it was disappointing, but at least the fans were in good sprits!

As the game started, Sunderland looked quicker off the blocks, as they had to make Kirkland make two great saves, from Chopra and Murphy, respectively. But Latics always looked sharper up-front and then Heskey put Latics in the lead and we just didn’t look back! Half time came and went, my mate afraid that Roy Keane will get his players up for the second half and that they’ll come back from the goal down. But we needn’t have worried! After being denied two penalties in the first half (as well as a ‘offside’ goal), Siberski was hauled down and we were awarded a penalty. Denny Landzaat stepped up confidently to put Latics 2-0 up. A few minutes later, Heskey was fouled in the box and the ref, again, pointed to the spot. Sibierski smashed in his third goal in three games to give Latics a well-deserved 3-0 win.

To be fair, we should have won by more. The way in which we passed the ball was a joy to watch and my £250 season ticket is already looking like a better bargain than the fee we paid for Sibierski (£0), who was magnificent again! Chris Hutchings is proving to be an excellent appointment as manager. We are playing entertaining football AND winning games!

After the game, we celebrated back in the club, where the news filtered through that we were TOP OF THE LEAUGE! Later, Newcastle’s draw with Aston Villa, meant we would be top for the whole night! Not bad for a club who is only 75 years old and only entered the football league in the 70’s.

Later me and some of the boys celebrated with a night out in Wigan, I would tell anyone who would listen about the match and to be honest I think they were getting a little bit bored with me! No birds again this week, but I’ve ‘bookmarked’ a girl for later, so watch this space (to be fair I’ve got more bookmarks than a library)! I rounded off the night by visiting the nearest doggy kebab shop and abusing the take-away owner for having a Phil Collins LIVE concert on his telly. Whoops!

So what a day (and night!), I’m going to take a break from getting ‘more drunk than a chav on alchopops’, but I’ll be back with a vengeance as I’ll be reporting from (hopefully) watching the Newcastle game from a dodgy pub and my attendance at a big party in Manchester which I’m heading to! Up next week, though, is the 'grudge' match against West Ham!

So see you later and UP THE LATICS!

X

Back Home To The Place Where We Belong!

2007-08-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 15th August
Wigan 1 - 0 Middlesbrough

Finally we get to see Latics back at the JJB after what seems like years! We are up against the team that played us last at the JJB - Middlesbrough. Boro were suffering injuries at the back and already low on confidence after being beaten by Blackburn 2-1 at home on Saturday. If we had a chance to get our season off and running, this was it, and boy didn’t we take it!

Before the match, a mate and me had a couple of cans, quietly confident that we’ll get three points. He went for a 2-1 win while I went for an ambitious 3-0! We arrived just in time to take our seats, my new season ticket giving me a superb view from the east stand.

For the first 10 minutes or so the game was evenly matched, with both teams cancelling each other out. But it was Wigan who had the early chance, Siberski with a snap shot that just went over. From then on it was more or less one-way traffic, but we badly lacked that ‘fox in the box’.
At half-time I used all of my charm (!) and sneaked my way through the bar queue like Pink Panther (the cartoon not the film!). But £2.60 for a pint of lager? Its fooking ridiculous! I’ll try to have a few more beers in the pub on Saturday rather than pay that fooking price! Anyway, we remained confident that we’d win in the second half and not concede, which is what we always did at home last season!

Just ten minutes into the second half, we did! Valencia’s shot being parried by the Boro keeper, which Siberski reacted to the quickest, and put the ball into the net! I think my mate was either pissed or mad (or both!), because he went round giving everyone ‘high-fives’ Borat style!

To be honest we should have won by more, Heskey and Scharner wasting good chances. Boro hit the post and we had to endure long balls into the box at the end as well as a ridiculous 4 minutes injury time! But we did it! 3 points and we’re off and running!

As for the players? I thought Granqvist was superb, Bramble did okay and Kilbane was also pleasantly surprising! As I mentioned earlier, we just need that player who can turn the game on its head and get us a couple of goals. Herni Camara is fit now, so we’ll have to wait to see if he is in Chris Hutchings’ plans. Sibierski scored again and looks like a great bit of business, but he went off injured late on. Lets hope he recovers quickly.

We celebrated in a rather empty Red Robin after the game, which reminded me of the attendance tonight. 14,000 was poor. Okay Boro didn’t bring a lot and it was a Wednesday night, but I’m sick of all the abuse Latics get because our crowds aren’t the biggest. Hopefully Saturday’s match will (hopefully) break the 20,000 barrier.

Unfortunately I will have to end on a sad note. Apparently a Boro fan was attacked by a group of Latics youths on the retail park, after the match. If this is true then I hope they get apprehended as soon as possible and my best wishes go to the man who was attacked. There is no room for it, we already get a bad (false) reputation and a gang of spotty chavs drunk off special brew, hiding behind their Latics shirts have spoilt it for us proper fans.

So here’s to 3 more points on Saturday, where I will be definitely drunk!

See you later!
X

A New Beginning: Latics losing and me getting pissed and feeling men’s arses!

2007-08-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

Saturday 11th August
Everton 2 – 1 Wigan

A new era for Wigan Athletic, as Chris Hutchings took charge of his first competitive game at the club. New players, new kits new attitude – surely the only way is up? Well, no! The press have been doing their usual work, which involves not much work at all. Tipping Latics to go down, quicker than Kerry Katona on a drug dealer, ridiculing our signings and the usual bollocks about crowds, Jewell, Rugby town and Whelan. At the end of the day we have got to ignore these pricks and get behind the lads AND THAT MEANS A COLD WEDNESDAY NIGHT AGAINST FULHAM OR WHOEVER!

So to the game, which like the majority of Latics fans (although if you spoke to the press or other ‘fans’, they would tell you that the following at Everton was our hardcore fan base!) I didn’t go, instead trying to get it on the radio. Hence, no luck! Wish FM no longer do commentaries, which now means I have stopped listening to it altogether, because it was only the games that I used to tune in for. Now no games and an absolutely abysmal music policy made the decision easy! But after getting ‘this station is not available due to contractual reasons’ (meaning that the station could not broadcast the game over the net because of the obvious deals that the Prem has over broadcasting rights) on another station, I was more pissed off than a homeowner in Gloustershire! So I had to keep up-to-date with the score via the BBC sport website’s live score feature.

So after they got the first goal, I was confident that we would turn it around, especially at the amount of possession we had. Obviously I wasn’t there, so I didn’t know how well we were playing! But after they got their second and Latics’ Sibierski got one back I was cheering on the lads to get an equaliser from in front of a computer screen! But unfortunately it wasn’t to be, I was disappointed, but all-in-all Everton are a good side and I’m sure, given time, the new players will settle in and start playing the football we fans have been crying out for this past year.

For me it was on to Manchester to drown my sorrows! Thankfully one of lads went to the game and was optimistic about the season despite the defeat. After somehow not being charged on the train, the lads and me enjoyed a few beers and chat about Latics. From there we made our way to Jilly’s, after first walking into the wrong bar! From then on, everything went downhill! I thought I spotted one of the lads on the dance floor after we became separated, after I went to the bar. I gave him a playful slap on the arse (in a male bonding type of way, of course!) and starting dancing like Stephen Hawking. It slowly dawned on that the bloke who’s arse I felt was NOT HIM! So I ran away as quickly as Herni Camara does from learning English! Needless to say the mate who’s arse I was suppose to slap fooked off with a MILF at the end of the night, while us three that were left, went home and paid almost £20 each for a taxi home! So my barren run in the lady department is getting as bad as a Neil Roberts scoring drought!

So with the match with Middlesborough coming up on Wednesday, I’ll be able to insert more detail and hopefully our first three points of 2007/08!

Bye for now!
X