I can just leave it at that three letter word can’t I? The last week has been the stuff dreams are made of for Latics fans and we are winning friends and respect all the way. We have only been one incompetent linesman away from mustering up a complete clean sweep of the “traditional” Big Four teams in the last month.

For a small town team like Wigan to take on and beat the best in the game is something that can simply not be imagined. To beat one, well that’s a shock but to beat all of them (including one moral victory), well I never. When the Premier League fixtures computer lined them all up in a row it felt like we were in front of the firing squad but what they didn’t realise is that we were the ones holding the ammunition all the time and have picked them off one by one.

The by product of this is that we now find ourselves in a much healthier position whilst still having a bit of work to do. Craven Cottage isn’t exactly a happy hunting ground and Newcastle are challenging for a Champions League place. Play like we have been doing and we can beat anyone though. Whether we’re relegated, stay up or stay in limbo till the final game again, one thing is for sure, we as fans need to get behind the team even more than ever. They are doing their bit now so let’s do everything we can to get them over the line and we might yet have that party in a few weeks on top of all the stunning performances we’ve put in recently.

As I wrote these notes I heard about the news that Jack Sudworth had passed away. Jack was a club stalwart who fought against the then chairman Bill Kenyon who was looking into moving Wigan Athletic to Skem or Warrington. Of course Whelan deserves massive credit for putting us where we are but without Jack, we may not have had a professional football club in the town at all. It hit me hard to think that could ever happen, a very sobering thought and all the more poignant given our amazing form of late.

We should cherish the dream come true of beating the biggest clubs in the world because we could have faced the nightmare of not having a football club at all.

First published in the Wigan Evening Post 12th Man column Wednesday 18th April

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