‘It’s never dull’ they say, I wish it was. Just one normal footballing season for Wigan Athletic Association Football Club, that’s all I ask … Will never happen.
Tuesday felt different, I don’t know why. Same line-up, same decent first half, same end result. Same as it’s been for a while but the end result felt like a turning point. I didn’t have the heart to read twitter after Tuesday but the bits that I did see represented a sea change in the fan bases opinion.
In plain English the collective had turned from ‘back him’ to ‘sack him’, of course it’s ridiculous that we should be having this conversation. We know that successful football clubs are stable football clubs but you only need to cast a glance across the leagues to see football clubs desperately searching for that next manager that can achieve their aims – promotion, avoiding relegation.
We felt different though, or at least you thought we did. Here was a manager who achieved the unthinkable over the last two years. People forget just what a hole we were in mid administration when Richardson took over from the hapless John Sheridan.
He had stayed at a club that had been destroyed from within, somehow managed to start turning results around all whilst Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and the other one lined their pockets and told us how wonderful they were. The Spanish experiment (well a British based Spaniard and a Rugby Union PR officer) failed spectacularly and for a long time it looked like if somehow we were saved it would be as a League Two club.
Instead some shrewd January arrivals managed to turn the tide and somehow despite it all we managed to retain our League One status. Then Phoenix 21 happened and the season of our lives, cup runs and a title win that felt like salvation. A title win that was a huge two fingers up at those who tried to kill us. Leam Richardson was central to that.
The board have spoken about a plan, and about running Wigan Athletic in a sustainable way. With how everything ended with IEC I’m sure that’s something we can all agree about but Wigan Athletic being sustainable also means there not being much money to spend.
Sadly there aren’t thousands of extra supporters waiting to bang down the door to get in to the DW of a weekend, we have we what have and in a town that is increasingly struggling economically – disposable cash is at a premium. I wonder whether seeing this first hand has made the owners reassess where we are financially, and how much they’re willing to spend.
If that means that at worst we become a League One club and at best a Yo-Yo club between League One and the Championship then so be it, it’s better that than the fate that we faced after Au Yeung and Stanley Choi had got their grubby mits on us.
That being the case, did anyone expect anything different this season? A relatively quiet pre-season on the arrivals front gave way to some strong early performances. The draws against Norwich and Preston seem a lifetime ago now. But we began to pick up wins and at the end of the summer we looked like we would be ok this season, despite the lack of strengthening.
What has followed since that Hull defeat I doubt anyone would have predicted, we’ve gone from being among the early season pace setters to the foot of the table. If we had beaten Hull who knows what would have followed.
Back to Tuesday and it was clear this is a side running on empty, they look shattered both mentally and physically. Have they given up playing for the manager? Not for me. There was a clear downing of tools, both under Malky Mackay and Warren Joyce.
I don’t think we can say the same about these players this time around. Those same players who fostered such a team spirit last season haven’t just given up the ghost now. But the board have decided differently. There’s no getting away from the form of the last few weeks, it’s been a horror show of a month. Blackburn apart the performances haven’t been strong enough and the results have been getting worse.
The style of play has been difficult to cope with, despite our lack of resources and injury blows it does feel that at times we are playing within ourselves. Can a new manager get more out of this side? We certainly have to hope so, relegation is unthinkable but sadly will quickly become a forgone conclusion if we don’t get the right person in.
Whoever takes over from Leam will have to get limited players playing at 100% to have a chance of avoiding relegation and he will have to be backed in the transfer market. But with persistent (as of yet unproven) rumours of financial issues mixed with a team spirit built last year torn apart it won’t be an easy job.
Managers come and go, football clubs will continue but the sacking of Leam Richardson brings to an end an era that began back in the summer of 2017 with Paul Cook. Took us through the worst times as a football club and through two promotions the best of times.
Cook and Richardson should be remembered for the legendary figures they were for this football club. It’s sad that the era couldn’t end on Leam’s terms but so is the game.
The World Cup and subsequent shut down can’t come at a better time for us.
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