Wigan Athletic - Great To Hear The Whingers

Good grief, there’s not half some whinging and belly aching from rival League 1 clubs’ managers, supporters and even one club’s owner regarding the activity of Wigan Athletic over the past few weeks in the transfer market.

 

“Globetrotters”, “buying the league”, “ruining football” etc, etc, etc.

 

Where were all these concerned individuals a year ago when the club was getting pillaged, didn’t hear any “you can’t allow Kieffer Moore, Cedric Kipre, Jamal Lowe, Sam Morsy, Joe Williams, Antonee Robinson, Joffy Gelhardt, Nathan Byrne, Jenson Weir, Alfie Devine, David Marshall, go for that paltry amount”

 

Where were all these concerned individuals a year ago when we got told that we couldn’t sign any players on contracts over £1,500 per week and our squad was at its limit due to the kids having played in Mickey Mouse cups sometime in the previous two seasons, this cost some of our kids a future in football, but where were they then with their indignation?

 

They didn’t care back then because the situation we were in made us favourites for relegation, yes we got an occasional condescending pat on the head, but that was quickly followed by a moan about not being able to have a bottle of wine at a game that we had no licence to allow consumption of alcohol at.

 

We finished last season with six senior players contracted to the club, we now have a squad of 24, including 4 players who we negotiated with and persuaded to stay after their deals ran out, three teenagers and three loan signings, one of which was with us for the majority of last season.

 

We’ve paid money for just three players and managed to show a profit on the transfer budget via ‘add-ons’ and the Kyle Joseph fee.

 

We have rattled a few because we have gotten up of our arses and stood tall, we have rebuilt, we have brought in quality by selling the club to the players, the dream of where we want to go and where we can go, the new lads believe, they want to be part of that journey, just like the fans do.

 

To be honest, I’m pleased that all these rivals are rattled, that they think ‘we’re ruining football by building the new globetrotters’, I’m pleased because it is confirming what I suspect, we are genuine title contenders, we have the squad to challenge the best of the rest, we’ve gone from a team that scraped survival by the skin of its teeth, to one that has an opportunity to take this division by storm.

 

It’s good to be up off our arses, to be standing tall and to be smiling.