The clock is ticking

Last week I wrote about signs of life, I apologise. I don’t know what came over me, for any signs of life in Wigan Athletic have surely been choked out of us in the last seven days.

Let’s tackle on the pitch matters first shall we?

That last minute winner from Scott Wootton already feels a life time ago, in fact it was only ten days ago. So much of the last year for Wigan Athletic feels like a lifetime. So on to Peterborough last Saturday, as with the previous Saturday Latics outplayed the league leaders for long periods of the match.

It was no surprise to see Latics go ahead through Thelo Aaasgaard but it was even less surprising to see Latics capitulate and concede two goals in a crazy three minutes.

Leam Richardson’s side had been far the brighter side, the side more interested in playing football the side who looked most dangerous but until we cut out individual mistakes and begin to take our chances at the other end of the pitch then we’re never going to be favourites to hang on to a lead.

No one expected us to go to London Road and come back with three points but the fact is until the 82^nd minute this was the outcome we were looking at.

To come away with nothing, not even a point is yet another dagger to the heart. It’s also another game down and unless we start putting some form together there is only one way this season ends and it might mean trips to Harrogate, Crawley and Newport next season.

Tuesday was another ideal opportunity to get a win under our belts, especially at the Dave Whelan Stadium where we have been in truly terrible form in the last few months (last win at home came over Accrington way back in December) but once again a defensive mix up conspired to hand three points to Charlton and another defeat for Wigan Athletic.

It’s so much more than another defeat though, it’s another dagger to those survival hopes. Be that in terms of the League or as a club regardless of league.

So on to another week in the Big Brother house with Begbies Traynor. Last week we had the laughable situation of the administrators using a weekly update to inform us there would be no update this week and no update next week either.

Some people of a more optimistic nature than myself took that to mean the takeover with our mysterious Bahrainian suitors was close to completion but as with every proposed takeover of Wigan Athletic since July rumours were abound that the Bahrain consortium had pulled out.

This doesn’t seem to be strictly the case but they certainly don’t seem to be in any rush to complete a takeover, which doesn’t help us in any way shape or form.

This was complicated by subsequent announcements of bids from Australian investment groups and a Malaysian backed bid on Wednesday and Thursday morning respectively.

Paul Stanley muddied the waters further saying he hadn’t heard anything of an Australian bid and that although there still hadn’t been a takeover there wasn’t much he could do about it.

That kind of approach wore thin a long time ago, we have now been in administration since July 1^st – eight months now. To be no further on from the day they walked through the door is a terrible indictment of this whole process.

Begbies say there will be a positive resolution and the EFL say we won’t be allowed to fail, neither party point to how that can actually be achieved. Time is quickly running out, we will not be allowed to start a second season still in administration.

The next EFL season is due to start in August. Less than five months away, I genuinely worry for our future. Gone are any hopes of staying in League One this season the aim now is simply to keep league football in Wigan.

The Supporters Club may be reluctant to discuss the possibility but they may need to step in to at least take the club out of the administrators hands – even if that means taking the penalties and all the other destruction that goes with it.

The clock is ticking and I have no faith in Stanley, Krasner and Watson to heed the sound of that ticking.

Sean Livesey

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