Why so Adam.......because they cannot get more than 18000 for 1 Man u? Hmmm I seem to remember another club that couldn't get more than about 15500 for quite a few years in the premier......the name of the club just escapes me for a minute. At the time they too were a club not much bigger than wigan is now...but they managed to stay in the top division for 27 years I think it was.........Now what was that club again?????
Then there's the surrounding area (Winchester, Eastleigh, Romsey, Chandlers Ford etc.) which adds another couple of hundred thousand. When the incentives are raised or the prices are lowered, more people do show up.
I understand what you are saying but we only got 15,000 gates because that was our capacity.As for Wigan being a joke club i think that's a tad harsh,they obviously deserve to be there because they are there,simple as that really.Although one thing i would say is that i tend to switch over when they come on MOTD as they bore me,personal preference though.
Idiot. No they are not they are a Rugby League Town actually. Do your homework before posting rubbish.
The point I was making was that when we entered the top division our crowds were not much bigger and later were even smaller. There is no doubt at the time we were the smallest club in the top division. I am sure that some thought we were a joke side, even being nick named the Ale house brawlers by one Alex Ferguson. They soon stood up and to take notice when we started to knock a few off their high handed perch though. Wigan have held their own for 7 years is it.......they should not be considered a joke team by anyones imagination in my opinion.
Sorry Beddy, but it was Bill Shankly who said that Saints played "ale house football" back in the 1960's when we first went up to the old First Division. I agree though, that Wigan are nobody's fools, and in no way could be called a joke team.
Our reputation went a little further back than that johnny come lately, Beddy. Liverpool's Bill Shankly is the man you're looking for. EDIT: I have somewhat been beaten to the punch by Chilco. Certain things stay in the memory, don't they mate..?
If Wigan had someone who could score regularly they would be pushing for the top 10, they are a very good team with some good players and a very promising manager. As for the joke club, well I've got AdamBanana on my ignore list as he is either a troll or the biggest idiot I think I've ever come across, never seen a post from him on here that isn't ****ing stupid.
I think that Martinez guy needs more credit. He has little or no money and makes great buys, also they play the game the way it should be played and considering their precarious position that takes guts.
I bow to your superior knowledge guys......It will not be the first time that Dear old Fergy has been less than complimentary to the Saints only to eat his words after the game. Not recently granted....but none the less. These days I think he has learned his lesson to treat the smaller clubs with a hell of a lot more respect. You just do not get to the Premier (or 1st division) if you haven't earned it!!
Well seeing as Ferguson would still have been a player for probably Dunfermline, Rangers or Falkirk, around the time of the famous observation, I don't think he was even on the radar. Around about the late 60s-early 70s, I think Shanks came out with it.
In the end I had to google the quotation and it turns out it was made on 26 September 1970 after we had beaten Liverpool 1-0 at the Dell. During the game John McGrath (who else?) tackled Alun Evans "around the neck with his legs" and Evans was carried off. I don't know what alehouses Shanks grew up in, but they must have been good for a laugh!
You might like this little read of Saints players alehouse exploits back then. The Alun Evans incident is referred to, as well: http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/more-scottish-football/balls-of-steele-1.1028014
I started reading this thread out of interest and then couldn't stop reading the Wigan love in it became. I don't believe Wigan to be a 'joke club' but they consistently live above their station through the gift of Sky money, that is why I don't think much of them. Sure they have a decent manager and it cannot be argued they have a talented squad but I genuinely believe that if they go down and don't get straight back up then they will dwindle. We know well enough what a league of fallen giants the Championship is and without TV money Wigan won't be able to live beyond their means anymore and their means are very small attendances, little talent generation to raise revenue and being dwarfed by clubs around them and a city that loves Rugby league. They're not a joke but they are only a premiership club by the grace of Murdoch's wallet.
But one would suggest that we have a sustainable system being built around the club that doesn't depend on TV revenue. Also, Liebherr's wallet is fine, if anything it makes my point. Wigan have no sugar daddy anymore, certainly nothing like ours or Chelski e.t.c and no sustainable attendances/youth system.
Yes but the "sustainable system" is based on us being in the Premiership with the increase in revenue that brings (which includes TV revenue). So while it is good to have this sustainable system plan, we have to spend the Liebherrs cash to get to that stage, not just the money the club generates through attendances etc. Also Wigan are not the only team heavily reliant on the Sky money in the Prem, I'd suggest that the vast majority would be in financial trouble without it
Come on fella... are you a Saints fan?: We all know that the game that he moaned about shirt colour was when we won 3-1 in the April (the season before); The 6-3 battering they were already in the nice fancy blue and white kit from the start (October of the following season) Don't you just love pedants?
