Quite obviously, the game last night could have gone another way. Had their player not dived when he was past Rob Green, they may have gone 2-0 up. Had they not hit the post, or had that last second shot deflected a little less far, it would have been difficult for the R's. Likewise, we could have scored another, in either leg. I think it's fair to say that the margins were tight. Over the course of 400 minutes of football this year, Wigan mustered just one goal against us, and we managed just three against them. So with marginal difference between the two teams, there must have been marginal causation. I wonder if this is where the crowd make the difference. It must be hard as a player if your home crowd is paltry week in week out, and even the big games don't draw in a crowd. Especially when that crowd struggles to raise their voice. And then going away, to a ground that is rocking, without a spare seat in sight, aside from in the away end where your fans are sitting. One team has the energy and voice of a capacity crowd behind them, the other has a half empty stadium to content with. If you speak to a Wigan fan, they will tell you that crowd size doesn't matter, and that bums on seats don't equate to points. Well, I'm not sure they are entirely correct in their assertion.
One thing I noticed, no one hid after we went a goal down. We've had players in the past who you literally would not know they were on the pitch until the second half. Look at Hoilett, he must have run the ball out four or five times, kept on going and won the penalty. The crowd were relentless and so were the players, I also noticed the huddles before KOs which we've never done before. I never heard a peep out of the Wigan fans all night. It must be embarrassing to know you're going to get a small allocation if you get to Wembley.
It's almost like all the things that went against us last season and there were a lot despite the crapness of our mercernaries, the villa game springs to mind, are going our way this season. I can well see Derby dominating at Wembley but us nicking it! You Rsssssssss
talking of allocations we're getting 37,000 each according to sports mole for wembley http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footbal...r-get-37000-playoff-final-tickets_154965.html
Yeah but Wigan were only going to get 27 k if they got there which just shows how bad the support is.
It's a rugby town between liverpool and manchester - I think they've done very well to punch above their weight, and I've alot of respect for their fans given the rival distractions. To mock their crowds when they are the people who actually go - instead of being armchair united/liverpool fans is very mean spirited in my opinion. Comes a cross a bit like those twats that say to me, "why bother with QPR why dont you support a big(sic) team like Chelsea"
I'm saying why people support them but they should be in L1 or L2 and probably will be when Whelan dies. 11k for a champ playoff game is a disgrace. I'm not mocking the people who do go but the ones who don't.
Wigan and to a lesser extent QPR are living and breathing proof of how difficult it is to build a fan base and why the so-called financial fair play rules are anything but. Firstly, most of the 'big' clubs established their fan base during the 30s and 50's when attendances were at record levels. With football being very much a family affair we see under-performing clubs such as Leeds and Wolves still able to call on a huge catchment for the biggest games Secondly, the modern media is structured to ensure the famous get more so across all walks of life. Thirdly, the advent of the Premier League has ensure that the biggest clubs can leverage their financial muscle as never seen before. So now it is all but impossible to break that monopoly of fame and fortune. QPR are a borderline case with a fan base built on successes just after the golden era. Despite being the best London club for many years in the 70s and 80s we still often had the smallest crowds in the top division. And the sound of Spurs fans chanting 'you sent your tickets back' in the FA Cup final replay still bothers me to this day. We will hopefully sell out our play-off allocation but I think it will be marginal. And Fernadez and Beard need to be aware just how difficult it will be to fill that new stadium regardless of how successful we are. Wigan are Johnny-come-lately's of course and its much harder for them. Despite playing attractive football and achieving unprecedented success they simply can't break the barriers of tradition and fame. Surrounded as they are by the big Manchester and Liverpool giants they probably never will. But I have no idea why any QPR supporter would take any joy from that situation.
Wigan has a population of 300,000, and there are about 10 other clubs within easy driving distance of a town with no association football tradition. Real football fans may well have allied to one of these in the distant past. As it is the football team attracts higher support than the rugby league team (by a bit). There's no 'disgrace', they just have a small support base. The mistake was to build a 25k stadium and to be unable to fill it. On a separate point, if we sell out the 37k for Wembley quickly, whats the betting we'll go for a 40 -45k stadium? If its a struggle (I sincerely doubt it, though to my quiet fury I can't go) perhaps aim at 30 -35k. Looks like we posted much the same thing at the same time Aaaaagh, Except you said it better.
Fate IMO as Wigan were and are a seriously good football team. Derby the same but I am hoping the nerves get the better of them ... We have to watch out out for Martin Russell and of course Hughes ...null him out Derby could stop working ... cue Barton But i would play Henry on him
Thought I'd put my 2 cents into this debate Although I agree that Wigan, like us, do not have a large core support due to many reasons explained already, what annoys me is that they still had a fairly decent attendance in the prem, albeit rarely if ever selling out. My issue isn't that they're a small club with a small fan base, more the fact that their prem years as well as their recent wembley trips have shown that the support is there, they're just seemingly not bothered. If their attendances were like there were for their home leg when they were in the prem it would be a different story, but they were comfortably higher thn that, so you have to ask yourself, what wigan fan would watch a prem game but not a play-off final?
I suspect this OP might have been directed at a Wigan poster from earlier before the game. Interestingly, by his own admission, he was on our board because there was activity on it!
Their playoff game was the same as their average for the season which is weird. The people who'd go to PL games are the ones who are just there to see the opposition which I always found weird. I'd rather go and see a game we had a good chance if winning rather than one where there's a huge chance of us losing. They've also got a nice new stadium as well.
Can't understand some of our fans on the pitch given Wigan fans wa*ker hand gestures. Their team had just lost and I am sure they felt like s**t. They are supporting one of the smaller clubs up North which is not easy but admirable. No need for that abuse in my opinion.
I was in the X block last night so had a good view of the fans at the end giving it the big one by the goal It really infuriates me when fans do stuff like that, we're just our first wembley trip in many of our lifetimes, and your first reaction is to insult the away end? Why not celebrate our teams achievements instead of immediately laughing at anothers misfortune?
I saw 4 chavvy teenagers sprint from the lower loft to do just that, it was embarrassing. They'd have wet themselves if Wigan fans jumped down.
