Well done Wigan!

[Gavlar]

We were 10 points above relegation after we beat Spurs, but that was on 10 Feb. At the time though, people were saying that gap would inevitably be eroded as we had a hard run of games coming up - Liverpool A, Everton H, Chelsea A and Bolton A were our next four. As expected, we only got 1 point from those games and the gap had dissolved to 1 point by the time we met Newcastle at the Lane on 7th April. Losing that game really put us in the shit, but the follwing 4 games - a 3-0 home win over WHU, a good performance in the 0-2 defeat at Man Utd, a battling draw at Charlton and a 1-0 home win over Watford, made us all think we would do it - I think the bookies were giving odds at around 10-1 against us being relegated at that point....

it all comes flooding back to me like a bad curry.......

 

[judge]

Yes well done wigan a real fairytale story
Well if fairytales are all about getting what yiu want by throwing enough money at it .no different to what city and chelsea have done for me but I dont mind ,thats the modern gane

 

[Bladesman]

I think what someone said the other day was right.

Can't remember if it was on here or elsewhere but since Dooley passed away in 2008 things have gone to shitter since because we haven't got anyone at the top with a good understanding of football. That is probably the year when McCabe started making bad decision after bad decision appointing Robson was the start of them. If Dooley was still here I am sure McCabe wouldn't have made half of the crap decisions he has made. I am sure Dooley would have said you are not selling James Beattie our top scorer mid season when we are aiming to get promoted.

 

[SwissBlade]

Ben Thatcher.

Ahhh that's the lad!

 

[oldblade]

I was thinking about that watching the final yesterday. Over the last 20 years, we have been involved in 12 "crunch" games or series of games - 6 play offs, 3 FA cup semi finals, 1 league cup semi final and the 2 relegation deciders in 1994 and 2007. We have failed in all of them.

We can also perhaps add seasons 1994-95, 1998-99, 2003-04 and 2004-05 when we had a good chance of getting into the play offs as the last few games of the season came up and we messed up. In that 20 years we have never managed a late run to get in the play offs against the odds - we have either just missed out on automatic (2009 and 2012), been favourites for the play offs all season but never looked realistically like getting automatic in the latter part of the season (1997 and 2003) or stumbled into the play offs narrowly having looked like certs for them all season (1998 and 2013)

On the credit side of the ledger,we can put the 3 wins at the end of the seaon in 1993 to guarantee safety and the getting our act together after a poor run in the last few games of 2006 to get promotion.

So, in total we can give 16 examples over the last 20 years of where we messed up when the pressure was on:

6 play off defeats
4 failures to make the play offs
4 semi-final defeats
2 relegation decider defeats

( you can potentially add in the Palace game in 2009 and the Stevenage game in 2012 when we failed to get the resul we needed to give us the best chance of automatic though, of course, in the former case it would not have made a difference in the end).

compared to 2 definite examples when we didn't mess up (1993 and 2006) and 2 more dubious examples where we did just enough to avoid messing up (1998 and 2013 play off qualifications).

No wonder we are all so miserable....

On the credit side we also won 5-2 at Leicester in 1990, and in 1984 won our last game of the season 2-0 against Newport which ultimately secured promotion. But those matches seem a long time ago!

 

[Wapping Blade]

Although why the final is at 5:15 is beyond me

Read an interview with David Bernstein yesterday and he finally admitted that the TV economics comes first and sod the fans. ITV gets a far bigger audience at that time rather than 15:00 and therefore more advertising and therefore more money to the FA.

 

[SwissBlade]

Read an interview with David Bernstein yesterday and he finally admitted that the TV economics comes first and sod the fans. ITV gets a far bigger audience at that time rather than 15:00 and therefore more advertising and therefore more money to the FA.

Seems strange though as we're constantly told that it gets broadcast to hundreds of countries around the globe...

As soon as you get to Asia (a clearly huge market) the game is on late when it's a 5:15 kick off, surely 3pm plays into the hands of the USA and Asia so everybody wins... Or have I missed the point

 

[alcoblade]

I think what someone said the other day was right.

Can't remember if it was on here or elsewhere but since Dooley passed away in 2008 things have gone to shitter since because we haven't got anyone at the top with a good understanding of football. That is probably the year when McCabe started making bad decision after bad decision appointing Robson was the start of them. If Dooley was still here I am sure McCabe wouldn't have made half of the crap decisions he has made. I am sure Dooley would have said you are not selling James Beattie our top scorer mid season when we are aiming to get promoted.

I've posted this a few times before, and I don't take pleasure speaking ill of the dead, but I had a meeting with Dooley years ago, and I came away incredibly disappointed that he was responsible for any decision making at the club. I'd never come across such a small minded attitude to our ambitions.

I think Dooley being a nice bloke, and warm words being easily and often thrown around about him, have turned a few myths into fact.

UTB

 

[secretchief]

I had a meeting with Dooley years ago, and I came away incredibly disappointed that he was responsible for any decision making at the club.
UTB

Can you expand?

 

[Bladesman]

I've posted this a few times before, and I don't take pleasure speaking ill of the dead, but I had a meeting with Dooley years ago, and I came away incredibly disappointed that he was responsible for any decision making at the club. I'd never come across such a small minded attitude to our ambitions.

I think Dooley being a nice bloke, and warm words being easily and often thrown around about him, have turned a few myths into fact.

UTB

Never met him myself just it does seem a little coincidental that since his passing McCabe has failed to get anything right. Obviously Dooley was probably never someone who had the final say but I am sure gave some advice to McCabe over the years.

I am no doubt reading too much into it but lets face it since 2008 we have hardly been on the up.

 

[alcoblade]

Can you expand?

I've forrgotten so much of it, but it went aongt he lines of;


"Why can't you buy our shirts around town"................"Nobody wants to buy our shirts"

"Why do we have to get rained on in the kop bogs"..........."One day we will rebuild the kop, so it would be a waste of £1,000"

...........and other such completely visionless and un inspirational answers.


Credit to him for giving us an hour of his time, but my word that day popped a bubble.

UTB

 

[TAMUS]

I went to the final yesterday [in the Wigan section ] and the Blade fans went wilder when we equalised at Scunthorpe , than the Wigan fans went on winning the cup , would our hearts be able to take success ? the NHS would be busy .

 

[Bladesman]

I've forrgotten so much of it, but it went aongt he lines of;


"Why can't you buy our shirts around town"................"Nobody wants to buy our shirts"

"Why do we have to get rained on in the kop bogs"..........."One day we will rebuild the kop, so it would be a waste of £1,000"

...........and other such completely visionless and un inspirational answers.


Credit to him for giving us an hour of his time, but my word that day popped a bubble.

UTB

To be fair no body wants to buy our shirts not even me but that is more down to the quality of them and the price.

Back then we were looking to rebuild the KOP but lets face it that aint going to happen anytime soon so true they may as well fix it.

 

[grafikhaus]

I've forrgotten so much of it, but it went aongt he lines of;


"Why can't you buy our shirts around town"................"Nobody wants to buy our shirts"

"Why do we have to get rained on in the kop bogs"..........."One day we will rebuild the kop, so it would be a waste of £1,000"

...........and other such completely visionless and un inspirational answers.


Credit to him for giving us an hour of his time, but my word that day popped a bubble.

UTB

On the 'United' documentary shown in 89-90, some bod. (think it was David Capper) was shown knocking on Dooley's office door wanting two grand to advertise on local radio. Dooley's dour, small-minded response was worthy of any Monty Python sketch about Northerners.

 

[Bladesman]

On the 'United' documentary shown in 89-90, some bod. (think it was David Capper) was shown knocking on Dooley's office door wanting two grand to advertise on local radio. Dooley's dour, small-minded response was worthy of any Monty Python sketch about Northerners.

I am talking about the footballing decisions really when I highlight our freefall from 2008. More players sold and managerial appointments etc rather than whether we can flog more cheaply made replica kits in town.

Although it sort of highlights my point that McCabe and Dooley must have worked well together. McCabe is the business man and Dooley was the football man. Now we are left with businessman making footballing decisions and fucking up everytime.

 

[JohnDenver]

Now we are left with businessman making footballing decisions and fucking up everytime.

Is Julian Winter the man to bring the football nous we miss? He's a better bet than Kev, but his remit of cutting to succeed means that unless he's an absolute bloody genius it'll be more than hard to say.

 

[alcoblade]

I am talking about the footballing decisions really when I highlight our freefall from 2008. More players sold and managerial appointments etc rather than whether we can flog more cheaply made replica kits in town.

Although it sort of highlights my point that McCabe and Dooley must have worked well together. McCabe is the business man and Dooley was the football man. Now we are left with businessman making footballing decisions and fucking up everytime.

But he couldn't raise a few grand to put a 10 foot roof on the bogs, he was hardly going to fight off sales that were for no other reason than to raise cash.

UTB

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

wigan have got nearly as little chance of reaching the premier league again as we have.

we'll probably end up playing each other in division 4 within the next decade

 

[Selly]

We were 10 points above relegation after we beat Spurs, but that was on 10 Feb. At the time though, people were saying that gap would inevitably be eroded as we had a hard run of games coming up - Liverpool A, Everton H, Chelsea A and Bolton A were our next four. As expected, we only got 1 point from those games and the gap had dissolved to 1 point by the time we met Newcastle at the Lane on 7th April. Losing that game really put us in the shit, but the follwing 4 games - a 3-0 home win over WHU, a good performance in the 0-2 defeat at Man Utd, a battling draw at Charlton and a 1-0 home win over Watford, made us all think we would do it - I think the bookies were giving odds at around 10-1 against us being relegated at that point....

I think we were actually 40-1 at one point. Remember we had goal difference in our favour (until we got dicked by Villa) and some team or other had to go to Old Trafford....

 

[Darren]

On the credit side we also won 5-2 at Leicester in 1990, and in 1984 won our last game of the season 2-0 against Newport which ultimately secured promotion. But those matches seem a long time ago!

Indeed, which is why I limited it to the last 20 years

In the period 1980-92, we actually had a reasonably good record in "crunch" games or series of games. Successes were:

1982: Winning at Crewe with an injury time goald after they equalised on 90 minutes to make promotion highly likely
1984: winning v Newport in the last game to keep our promotion hopes very much alive
1988: winning at Huddersfiled to ensure we were not automatically relegated
1989: getting a draw at Wolves that virtually guaranteed promotion
1990: winning at Leicester to get promoted
1991: that 7 game winning run to more or less secure safety
1992: our record in March and April that more lor less secured safety.

On the debit side are:

1981: The loss v Walsall
1988: Losing the play offs to Bristol City

So very much a positive balance in that period.

 

[Darren]

I think we were actually 40-1 at one point. Remember we had goal difference in our favour (until we got dicked by Villa) and some team or other had to go to Old Trafford....

Surely it wasn't as good as that with 2 games to go? I stand to be corrected though.

On a tangential point, at HT on Sat, those in-play betting ads with Ray Winstone came up and they were offering 4-1 on a Wigan win, which I thought were insane odds. I was sorely tempted (but not enough)...

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Indeed, which is why I limited it to the last 20 years

In the period 1980-92, we actually had a reasonably good record in "crunch" games or series of games. Successes were:

1982: Winning at Crewe with an injury time goald after they equalised on 90 minutes to make promotion highly likely
1984: winning v Newport in the last game to keep our promotion hopes very much alive
1988: winning at Huddersfiled to ensure we were not automatically relegated
1989: getting a draw at Wolves that virtually guaranteed promotion
1990: winning at Leicester to get promoted
1991: that 7 game winning run to more or less secure safety
1992: our record in March and April that more lor less secured safety.

On the debit side are:

1981: The loss v Walsall
1988: Losing the play offs to Bristol City

So very much a positive balance in that period.

So what you're saying is for anyone who has supported us for the last 30 years, we're pretty much 50/50 on 'big' games

 

[Selly]

Surely it wasn't as good as that with 2 games to go? I stand to be corrected though.

On a tangential point, at HT on Sat, those in-play betting ads with Ray Winstone came up and they were offering 4-1 on a Wigan win, which I thought were insane odds. I was sorely tempted (but not enough)...

They were 9-1 before kick off...

...and thinking about it, it may have been my friends that had £40 on at 25-1, rather than the other way round...

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

They were 9-1 before kick off...

...and thinking about it, it may have been my friends that had £40 on at 25-1, rather than the other way round...

Yep, I'm sure we were 25/1, there were a few on here (or was it on BU then) that had a dabble.

I managed to talk myself out of a Wigan 1-0 win on Satdi, as people have said, they were a ridiculous price all things considered.

 

[Grecian2000]

If we had beaten Wigan several years ago there is nothing to say they would not be in the same brown smelly stuff that we find ourselves in now.

Oh yes there is.

We both ended that season with no manager (Jewell having walked out after beating us). What happened AFTER that is what has put us firmly in the brown stuff. If Dave Whelan had "tempted" Terminator Robson to the DW Stadium instead of some twat inviting him to us, then who knows what would have happened but we'd have dodged the biggest bullet ever fired!

 

[oldblade]

Indeed, which is why I limited it to the last 20 years

In the period 1980-92, we actually had a reasonably good record in "crunch" games or series of games. Successes were:

1982: Winning at Crewe with an injury time goald after they equalised on 90 minutes to make promotion highly likely
1984: winning v Newport in the last game to keep our promotion hopes very much alive
1988: winning at Huddersfiled to ensure we were not automatically relegated
1989: getting a draw at Wolves that virtually guaranteed promotion
1990: winning at Leicester to get promoted
1991: that 7 game winning run to more or less secure safety
1992: our record in March and April that more lor less secured safety.

On the debit side are:

1981: The loss v Walsall
1988: Losing the play offs to Bristol City

So very much a positive balance in that period.

A couple of games before beating Newport in 1984 we did lose the crunch home promotion 6 pointer against Wimbledon and then followed that up with a 3-1 defeat at Bolton. If we hadn't messed up in those games we wouldn't have needed anything from the Newport game.

And in 1990 with games running out we lost the crunch game at Leeds 4-0.

 

[Guesty]

Yep, I'm sure we were 25/1, there were a few on here (or was it on BU then) that had a dabble.

I managed to talk myself out of a Wigan 1-0 win on Satdi, as people have said, they were a ridiculous price all things considered.

If like me on the other hand you've supported them for the last 20 years (to the week) it's a non-stop cavalcade of disappointment and despair.

Edit: Sorry Jim I quoted the wrong post, obviously.

 

[Darren]

A couple of games before beating Newport in 1984 we did lose the crunch home promotion 6 pointer against Wimbledon and then followed that up with a 3-1 defeat at Bolton. If we hadn't messed up in those games we wouldn't have needed anything from the Newport game.

And in 1990 with games running out we lost the crunch game at Leeds 4-0.

Indeed. I thought about putting the Wimbedon game in

In 1990, we seemed to be going into meltdown when we lost 3 out of 5 in early to mid April, culminating in that 4-0 defeat, but credit to the lads (as they say), with the pressure on they pulled in around and took 10 points fron the last 4 games.

 

[Bladesman]

Indeed. I thought about putting the Wimbedon game in

In 1990, we seemed to be going into meltdown when we lost 3 out of 5 in early to mid April, culminating in that 4-0 defeat, but credit to the lads (as they say), with the pressure on they pulled in around and took 10 points fron the last 4 games.

Isn't that what Wigan did last season to stay up?