Why Wigan Athletic Shouldn’t Be Looked Down Upon
One of the many intriguing plots of this year’s premier league has been the battle to survive relegation this year. At this moment of time with the way that the teams in the lower half have played the whole year, it’s very unpredictable to say who will be the 3 teams that will go down to the Championship at the end of the year.
One thing that isn’t predictable, is that the one team who fans wouldn’t mind to see go down this year is Roberto Martinez’s Wigan Athletic. I am not taking a cheap shot at Wigan here but when listening to radio shows and scanning the web’s various football message boards, there’s a feeling amongst people that they are a team who do not bring a lot to the league.
That point of course is backed up by the view that with them being a struggling team, who often fail to sell out home games and who don’t have a big travelling support for away games, that, they would not be missed in the Premier League should they go down.
Whilst that’s a view that I can understand, what with Wigan having the second lowest attendance in the league – I do feel that in terms of their play and character they’re an interesting team to look at and should be commended for that.
With entertaining players like James McCarthy, Victor Moses, Charles N’Zogbia and Hugo Rodallaega, Wigan perhaps are not that bad of a team to watch when you consider those flair players involved. Yes they have been struggling this season and look unlikely to remain in the Premiership, but they are battlers and must be credited for that.
After all despite being financed by their flamboyant chairman Dave Whelan for the past 16 years, in terms of history and size they are not as big as the clubs around them. However as important as history is, in modern day football what matters is of course the present and for Wigan what matters to them now and in the near future which they are rightly focusing on.
Yes many people do look down on them and say that they’re just a football team from a rugby town. However since getting promoted to the Premiership in 2005, they have battled valiantly for 6 seasons now to keep their place in the league.
In their first season in the big-time, they finished a staggering 10th and reached the Carling Cup final losing to Manchester United in the final after beating Arsenal in the semi-finals to reach their first major final.
It will always be hard for them to attract more fans than people expect to, as a vast amount of people in and around Greater Manchester will more than likely support the two big Manchester clubs as well as teams like Bolton, Blackburn and even Liverpool.
That’s something Wigan will always struggle with, but as long as they stay in the Premiership and hang onto their best players the more likely it is that they will attract more fans in the future and get a strong fanbase.
On the face of it, Wigan probably are overachieving by remaining in the Premiership, but as I’ve said above they should be praised for just how far they’ve come. Whilst it can be easy to criticise teams, the Wigan-model has certainly worked and whilst clubs that do have greater histories are languishing below them, Wigan for once should be given the praise they deserve.
Adam Dennehey – http://twitter.com/ADennehey87
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