Move on up

Football is most definitely back!

Not content with a last minute winner against Rotherham earlier this month so Latics went two better at Charlton with late goals from Tendayi Dawrika and the returning James MCclean to seal victory over Charlton.

A return of seven points from the first four fixtures. Especially when you consider who we faced in those opening four fixtures is a fantastic return.

Leam Richardson and the lads have hit the ground running, and although we still look light in certain areas the strength of the squad is there for all to see.

MCclean picked up where he left off with the Latics faithful. A much maligned and misunderstood player he’ll surely be an asset this season.

Don’t tell that to Bolton and Ian Evatt of course. Those men from Horwich who definitely didn’t want to sign the aforementioned MCclean.

The same Bolton fans who will tell you they care nothing about Wigan Athletic, that their true rivals are Manchester United (stop sniggering on the Stretford End) and couldn’t care less that they lost Tuesday’s League Cup encounter.

Even though they sold out their away allocation, told us they would take over the home ends and preceded to throw advertising hoardings from the back of the North Stand to the pitch when they lost the penalty shootout.

They definitely aren’t interested in us.

Away from our friends in Horwich the atmosphere around Robin Park hasn’t been this positive for a long time.

The club’s official Believe campaign was launched to great fan fare last week.

Modelled on a similar scheme that Aberdeen have successfully ran for the last few seasons the fans funder helps to raise regular funds for the club by offering subscription models to supporters.

The money raised in return for perks and benefits is ploughed directly back in to the club and in an area that the fans decide on.

Clearly it’s a lot of money and Wiganer’s more than most during the last few years have been hit hard. A decade of austerity, followed by a pandemic means that disposable income is in short supply in areas like ours.

Obviously not everyone can sign up to something like this. But it can help those supporters not local to Wigan, yet who want to contribute but have no need for a season ticket.

It also helps with the stated of aim of getting Wigan Athletic to become self sustainable again.

It’s something that was spoken of for many years and now with a strong academy (that would be a beneficiary of the believe fund) producing players we’ve a chance to make it happen.

Whichever way you look at it, Wigan Athletic are on the up once again. Quite the contrast to a year ago where we were a matter of days away from going out of business.

Sean Livesey

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