I wish to congratulate Wigan, and their magnificent achievement over the last few weeks. They remind me of our great struggle a few seasons ago,and a special mention to Martinez who when all was against him kept his dignity. I do so hope they stay up, "manager of the month M "
I'd like to echo this. Roberto Martinez has done a tremendous job at Wigan. If they stay up (which I think they will), they will more than likely lose Victor Moses and Rodallega. So they rebuild again... everything around Wigan seems to be what is right about football. Attractive football, manager longevity, team spirit. Long may teams like Wigan stay up at the expense of teams like Villa and Blackburn.
I think in Wigan's case, rosc, it's yet another 'great struggle'. But hey, you are absolutely correct about their play recently, and their manager. Tonight Moses and Figuero were terrific. Roll on Saturday.
Martinez has got them working as a TEAM, with motivated players putting loads of hard work - So many players willing to run. I would really like them to stay up. Saturday should be a good game.
Here here. Although I think Martinez is a good bloke, surely him and his team can't be taken too seriously until they have a season where they play well for more than the last couple of months? Is this the third season where they've been shocking until March then pull off a great escape?
Agreed with all of the above, it's nice to see teams rewarded for attacking football and team-work, they looked magnificent tonight and I hope they win 3 out of their last 4 games, no need to say which one I want them to lose. Victor Moses looks a real gem, I wonder if they were to go down could he be on our radar?
Well said, everyone. Unless QPR can beat Spurs this weekend, I think it will be them and Blackburn joining Wolves. If that's how it pans out, then its interesting that the two clubs where, at board level, people seemed more concerned with money than football at the start of the season (I'm talking about the old QPR owners, not the current one) are the ones going down, whereas properly run clubs like Wigan and Bolton look like staying up. Also, of the three newly promoted teams, the ones who have built sensibly and not paid stupid transfer fees and wages will finish comfortably mid-table, whereas big-spending QPR will either go down or escape by the skin of their teeth. Fair warms the heart, doesn't it?
Yeah as everyone has said I'm absolutely delighted for wigan's fans, squad and in particular Martinez and Dave Whelan who epitomise a healthy manager/chairman relationship. With Wolves gone and blackburn's position looking pretty bleak it looks like its between Bolton and QPR for the other place, and I think with the good news of Muamba being discharged from hospital that might just give Bolton the necessary boost to help them push on for survival. Be happy to see the likes of Bolton and Wigan stay up, Blackburn however is the one that gives me difficulties. For steve kean's sake I hope they survive as no-one should have to be put through what he suffered earlier in the season, and at one point it looked like he was really turning it around. However, their incompetent owners and the group of fans who continually took their frustrations out on Kean would more than merit relegation I'm afraid.
Don't Wigan always post losses and are bankrolled by Whelan? Nothing against Martinez's achievements but they are unsustainable at this level and owe everything to Whelan's passion and generosity to the club.
That's the only thing. I've never understood why Chelsea and City get so much stick when the figures show Wigan are more financially reliant upon Whelan than we are with Abramovich or City with the Sheikhs. Football fans really are strange.
In proportion to what other clubs in other leagues have spent to get out of divisions it isn't as bad. And Chelsea haven't spent hundreds of millions in a transfer window since Mourinho's first season and since then spending has gradually gone down. It's no different to what United have done but just in a shorter period of time, in terms of living beyond means Wigan and Villa to name a couple have done it far more than Chelsea or City.
Come on, it's the combination of becoming a superpower after being bought out and chucking loads of money at the team. I know Chelsea were up there just before Abramovich, but would they be title contenders without the money? City are an extreme example, and are only challenging for the title because of all the money spent. I'm not saying Fulham weren't the same after Al Fayed bought us, but I'm also not pleading ignorance as to why teams like yours get so much stick. It's obvious.
There are teams all across the Premier League and football league that spend with the protection of a benefactor but Chelsea are one of the most high profile and also are funded on a totally different scale to Wigan, Blackburn(pre Chicken Empire) and the likes of Crawley in the lower leagues. Not taking into account loans that Abramovich has written off(which I believe is most, if not all) then he has bankrolled you with interest free loans to the tune of nearly £800mill. I wouldn't want to be in Chelsea's position and I think one day we'll look on Abramovich buying the club as a milestone in the death of truly competitive top level football, much like the Premier League and Sky's involvement. That said for the time being they have, along with City, made things interesting at the top of the table.
We don't deny that. Most Chelsea and City fans are very level headed. City even have a banner at their ground thanking Sheikh Mansour for making their dreams possible. I've never met a Chelsea fan that thinks we'd have been genuine title contenders without the money. Title pretenders? Yes but not contenders.
The death of football truly happened A) When Spurs become the first club to float shares on the stock exchange B) When the FA sold out to Sky, TV companies and formed the Premier League. Football as it was 30 years ago would not have attracted the likes of RA and Sheikh Mansour. In fairness it has been proved there is little money to be made from football and I think RA and Mansour see football as a hobby, unlike Glazers and Hicks & Gilette who merely bled the club dry and used it as a cash cow. Club finance has always been the reason why clubs do well and has been that way since football began. Money has only become an issue now because the cartel (Arsenal, United, Liverpool) are no longer the dominant forces and challenges have come from Chelsea and City who are traditionally not as successful clubs.
Clearly that was an improvement on some of the sole owners that were running clubs to the brink of ruin before selling the club on for another to try. Ideally all clubs would have to give fans a big say but that wasn't happening before and hasn't happened since, other than a few smaller clubs and ones in Germany.
