I lived in Wigan for 5 years, married a Wiganer and her Dad is a season ticket holder there. Those saying it's not a "proper" club are being a little rude. They may have a smaller fan base than a lot of teams and be in an area that is more into Rugby League than football, but they are still a football club. I do think their days are numbered in the Premier league though. Some people forget that not so long ago, we nearly didn't have a football club at all and so maybe a little humility is called for.
wigan are a joke club. the ONLY reason they are where they are is because they have a super rich chairman bankrolling them. a couple of seasons ago their wage bill was 90 odd % of their turnover.
didnt say that. but i think you'll find the majority of clubs, even those with rich owners only spend about 45-65% of their turnover on wages. people are saying they deserve to be there, but the people in the town dont even care that their team is in the premier league.
Fair enough Jen, point taken. Didn't know about average turnovers. That does make 90% look quite insane.
Wigan will fall back into the Championship, no doubt about it. They've had a few good years in the Premier League, but it's clear to see, the money has dried up.
Overall, with regards to the nature of this thread, i.e. arrogance or humbleness in relation to Saints success (so far) I prefer to be happy and humble. Like someone else said, wasn't long ago when we were in the ****. I'm just about getting the confidence to say, yeh, were gonna beat that team! Poyet can piss off though
Any club which has huge amounts of cash injections and spends beyond its means is a joke club. It needs to be stopped because it's ruining football.
I have to agree this is a little disrespectful for two reasons firstly Dave Whelan is a true football fan who hasn’t spent beyond his means, always selling to balance the books and not paying over the odds for players, for this I think he deserves some credit as they are there on merit alone. Secondly, who is likely to read this article? Only fans of these mentioned clubs, who are as loyal supporters of their team as you or I am. How would you feel about Southampton fans if you read this from there perspective? Arrogance is something we saints have been branded with over the last couple of seasons. this doesn’t apply to the majority of us. Listen to how our players conduct themselves lets go about our business in the same vain, keep our feet on the ground as we are still a long way off where we want our club to be, let alone telling established PL clubs where they should be!
I'm sure every year since Wigan have been promoted, they've looked nailed on certainies to go down. But every year, they survive. So all credit to them, and I'd suggest it's slightly foolish to write them off this season already. Whilst I do think they are punching above their weight in the Premiership, and it is disappointing to see a Premiership stadium only half way every single week, I admire them for constantly surviving. After all, it used to be us who were the side that avoided relegation from the Premiership by the skin of our teeth each season.
I agree. But this is not the fans fault, and know you didn't say this. We have probably been called a joke one man team in the past playing in a tiny ground. In fact I know we have. I just feel lucky that we have the set up we have at the moment and the potential that we have. Basically, doesn't make me feel better belittling other teams.
I see no evidence of arrogance or belittling in this thread. I think people are just speaking with honesty and a level of realism. I can understand how some people would interpret the comments made by others to be of an arrogant and belittling nature, but if you think about it from another point of view, they are merely just honest truths.
Sorry but I think there is. Look a bit farther back. Fine its peoples honest views, no problem we've all got them, thats why we on the site. People are calling other peoples clubs a joke, not proper etc, and without getting into semantics (which gets a bit silly) that is a bit belittling. If people believe that to be the truth, then fine.
No, it's a perfectly logical point. Replace the relatively smaller teams in the Premier League with the larger teams from the Football League and you'll probably have a more exciting league, and possibly more competitive. I see no evidence of anyone proposing that this actually forcibly happens or that anyone is of the opinion that these smaller teams like Wigan don't deserve to be up there, because obviously they have earned it. I'd be delighted to see teams like Saints, Leeds, Forest, Derby, Wednesday, etc. back in the Premier League. It doesn't mean I think they have some divine right to be there, and I don't think anyone on this thread has claimed otherwise. Okay yes there have been a couple of stupid posts about Wigan not being a proper club, but just ignore that. It's a good post by CBK.
