Another week passes by, another week full of conjecture and misinformation surrounding the future of Wigan Athletic.
Late on Friday evening confirmation that we could indeed begin the season was announced by the club after the football league had granted the administrators request. Thanks Rick we’re truly humbled that you’re letting us play again {roll eyes emoji} later that evening John Sheridan was confirmed as Latics new manager with Leam Richardson staying on at the club presumably in the assistant manager role he took under Paul Cook.
The summer to end all summers was complete as Paul Cook joined the pundits in the Sky studio to preview and report on Latics opening match with Ipswich. If we felt it strange seeing Cook reporting on Latics whilst John Sherdian stood in the dugout spare a thought for the manager who had finally got Wigan Athletic to click in the Championship and still couldn’t help but refer to his former club as ‘us’ and ‘we’.
Before the match we finally heard from Dean Watson, the seemingly silent partner in the trio of administrators from Begbies Traynor, this despite the Supporters Club being informed that no administrator would be travelling to Ipswich.
In fairness Sky’s line of questioning was excellent and showed a decent level of knowledge of what has happened at Latics throughout the summer, Sky showed the player departures through the summer and asked Watson whether the fire sale was ‘absolutely necessary?’
Watson managed to trot out the same line that Krasner has for the last eight weeks saying that “four or five bidders are interested” and that we could be in a position to exchange contracts this week or they could all walk away.
Some fantastic clarity there eh? The waters were further muddied this week as MBuzz Sport a Saudi linked investment firm were set to conclude a deal for the club and then twenty four hours later weren’t. Krasner confirmed in his weekly chat with Barry Worthington that he hadn’t spoken to any Saudi group interested in taking the club on. He also said he ‘didn’t expect any movement for the club this week, but they could sign contracts on Friday.’
Once again some startling clarity there, and if hearing from two administrators wasn’t enough for you we got the whole trio on Wednesday evening as Paul Stanley spoke to the Guardian. Who managed to imply that Latics could go the way of recently wound up Macclesfield. Stanley also commented on the fire sale and explained that he meant there would be no fire sale if we remained in the Championship.
I mean of course, who would have thought that – Paul Stanley also said it would be easier to sell the club in League One back in July so y’know. Once again, confusion reigns supreme at the DW Stadium – we all know it’s a game but it’s a game that I’ve tired off. A game that needs to end as soon as possible to allow Wigan Athletic to have any chance this season.
On the pitch on Sunday a Wigan Athletic side that was literally a shadow of the side that finished the season against Fulham just seven weeks before performed admirably against Ipswich. With seven full debutants it was never going to be easy but apart from two defensive slip ups Latics could well have earned a point and in the first half were far the better side.
That won’t be enough across the season but if we do manage to bring in some players soon and resolve the ownership saga we may have a chance of at least staying up this season. But like everything, time is of the essence, and we’ve very little of it left.
Michael Jacobs along with Samy Morsy became the latest players to head for the exit door, and as disappointing as it was to see Morsy go I feel the departure of Jacobs is even more damaging. Morsy was always going to leave once we were relegated, there was no way he would play in League One but Michael Jacobs is perfect for League One and after being part of two League One title winning sides previously he could have been so important for us this season. The fact he’s moved to a rival in our division makes it that more frustrating. It’s five years since we signed Jacobs and his departure along with Morsy’s feels like we’ve closed that chapter in the club’s history now.
So it’s on to Gillingham on Saturday, a still supporter-less DW will welcome John Sheridan for the first time as manager. With a full week on the training pitch with his new players it’ll be interesting to see what kind of style we play on Saturday. Sadly until the ownership situation is resolved it just feels like we’re sat in limbo on all fronts.
Sean Livesey
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