‘He’s lost the dressing room and the supporters, it’s time to go’, ‘time to get rid, it’s not working’.
Really?
Is this how we’re going to do this? Has the town of Wigan had a collective case of amnesia?
Was the opening month of the season so good that it’s blinded us to the very real issues that the club are still experiencing ?
Last season Wigan Athletic, or rather Phoenix 21 failed to pay the salaries of both players and staff on time on not one occasion but five occasions.
This led to a 3 point points deduction that effectively relegated the club followed by a further 8 point penalty that is now seriously hampering our season.
Shaun Maloney was appointed in the midst of this and picked up a squad so demoralised following the sacking of Leam Richardson and the disastrous spell of Kolo Toure and very nearly kept us up.
Maloney as with Richardson before him acted, quite literally as CEO, DOF, manager and gatekeeper at the club before Mike Danson came along to save us.
The start to the season seems to have blinded many to what happened last season and we’ve returned to that favourite Wigan pastime of slagging off the manager.
Dave Whelan was a legend for this club and the ride that he took us on should never be forgotten but the short termism that was a mark of Whelan’s tenure has infected this club ever since and that stretches to the terraces and keyboards too.
A man who has completely re-built the squad, reinvigorated the club and ushered in a new structure where we have a proper director of football and are starting to look to the long term for the first time in a generation is not going to be sacked on {checks notes} October 3rd.
That’s not to dismiss the very real problems we have at the moment, Maloney needs to find a way through that and quickly but he isn’t going anywhere and neither should he.
Find me another manager willing to put up with the s*it he did last season who would then be willing to work with a salary cap of more than half what it was last time we were in League One.
Not to mention a reducation of over £15m from last season’s ridiculous figures.
We as supporters have spoke big during both disastrous spells of financial insolvency about just having a club to support, I remember the palatable relief when we re-entered the DW against Rotherham back in 2021 let alone this summer when we were once again saved again.
There simply has to be a focus on the bigger picture now. Thanks to the ridiculous financial decisions of the last regime we are paying not one ex-manager (and presumably his backroom staff) but two.
Why the hell would the club rip up well made (LONG-TERM) plans because we’ve hit a rocky patch. A rocky patch that Maloney himself spent all season warning about.
Listen we are a good side, we have exciting young players and I have every confidence that they will succeed in this season’s aim of staying up.
But our blistering start has changed expectations for some. Many drunk on League One success think we should be top of the league again, well that isn’t going to happen is it?
We made up the -8 in four matches but have struggled badly since then. But a lot of these players have played less than ten senior games before now becoming automatic starters for us.
It is going to take time for them to get up to speed. We need to stay up this season and that is clearly the aim of the management team.
Put all thoughts you had about promotion out of sight as it isn’t even a worthy discussion this season. Portsmouth (who incidentally we were un-lucky to lose to) have been together as a side for the best part of three seasons now.
Our squad of academy graduates, free transfers and loan signings are obviously not going to be up to that level yet. That doesn’t mean we won’t be but currently we’re not.
The last thing this young side needs in a run like this is to be dug out, they need sticking with.
Portsmouth was utterly frustrating, defensive lapses saw Pompey go ahead but the referee made so many poor decisions that cost us the game. Not to mention the clear handball at the end of the game which would have seen us get a well earned point.
If we had taken our early chances at Burton through Magennis and McManaman we would have won comfortably but we didn’t and a mistake and another iffy penalty later and we’ve lost a game we never looked in danger of losing.
When your luck is out it’s definitely out, one has to hope that lady luck starts staring down on us on Saturday as we’re desperate for a win.
Don’t lose the faith, things will improve and I’m confident we’ll stay up this season – whether that’s enough for some of our fans I’m not too sure.
Sean Livesey
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PIE AT NIGHT PODCAST
We promise you that it’s easier to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t have to rely on us to remind you when a new episode comes out.
Apple sorts can find it on iTunes here – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-pie-at-night-podcast/id1097853442?mt=2
If you prefer a different podcast app then just search for “The Pie at Night Podcast”.
You can also find us on Stitcher, here – http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-pie-at-night-pocast/the-pie-at-night-podcast
If you’re that way out, you can find and subscribe to our RSS feed here – http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepieatnight
And if you just want to take pot luck then you can find all our episodes on our Soundcloud page
