Wigan Athletic

So near, so far: Wigan to Newcastle, Lens to Lorient

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Another instalment of French Fancies, Salut! Sunderland‘s occasional dip into football as it’s played on the other side of La Manche – with a comparison of tight competition in the top flights of both France and England and news of the latest phase of David Bellion’s footballing career …

It is time for M Salut to take another glance at the French Ligue 1. And there is one striking similarity between what is going on there and in our own Premier League season.

Look at ninth position in the PL and eighth in Ligue 1: our friends up the road at Newcastle United on 36 points in England, Lorient on 36 in France.

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Clickety click: free tickets to see Wigan

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Wigan at home seems an awful long way away and it is, April 23. It is also – whatever our Lancashire friend Bernard Ramsdale might tell us – short on glamour. All the same, free tickets are free tickets and you can, if you support Sunderland or are neutral, try to win a couple from Sunderland’s kit sponsors Tombola by following this link.
We thought at first Tombola was offering the tickets as a Salut! Sunderland competition prize. Don’t tell Phil Cronin, SAFC-supporting boss of the company, that it was not quite like that; he’d only be cross with them for not seizing the opportunity. In any case, Phil’s people did supply the image of our home top, for which we are grateful.

And in the meantime, this is a report of the hoops M Salut had to go through to see a past SAFC v Wigan Athletic game, live on TV in the United Arab Emirates. Health warning: as written, back in Feb 2008, it was intended for a general, non-SAFC audience …

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Sunderland’s Hedley gets Tyne-Wear derby winner. Wigan win too

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Not too many rose to the bait of a modest prize for memories of, or thoughts on, past Newcastle-Sunderland encounters. Even fewer Mackems will have the least desire to remember anything from yesterday’s apology for a Sunderland performance.

But we launched a competition so there has to be a winner of one of the books shown.

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Soapbox: can we send Cattermole back to Wigan?

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“It’s becoming ridiculous.” When a manager says that about his captain, and he’s not defending him but describing his immaturity and indiscipline, you know things are serious. Pete Sixsmith chose the headline; it’s unforgiving but reflects the complete exasperation of supporters Lee Cattermole has again let down …

We are sitting tenth in the league, a position that would probably keep us happy if it were May. However, after four games, three of which were against sides we had hoped to beat, a return of five points is a little disappointing.

Of course, had we managed to keep 11 players on the field for 50 per cent of those games, there is every possibility that we would have had nine points and would have been sitting pretty in third place with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to come.

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Wigan Observed: guess how many out of 10 for Cattermole

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Pete Sixsmith‘s considered view – a point won, or two sacrificed? – should be up and running here by tomorrow. But before he even left Wigan, he was being pumped by Salut! Sunderland for his seven-word verdict – published here last night – and The Observer for a slight longer instant summary …


THE OBSERVER fan’s verdict:

It was very frustrating at the end because I thought we had done enough to just about deserve the win.

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Wigan 1 SAFC 1: Gyan’s magic not quite enough

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In the end, it was a disappointing result because, having shot ourselves in a foot now riddled with self-inflicted bullet wounds, we’d put ourselves in a winning position. But to gain a draw when forced to play with 10 men for three quarters of the game, as Pete Sixsmith says in his one-line verdict elsewhere, shows character …

Asamaoh Gyan cost an awful lot of money. He repaid a small chunk of it with a finish of delightful aplomb after magnificent play on the right from Jordan Henderson.

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HT: Wigan 0 SAFC 0. A shocking lack of maturity

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This posting has now been superseded by Wigan Athletic (0) SAFC (0): Gyan’s magic not quite enough. CLICK HERE


Asamoah Gyan on as a sub and off the mark with a superbly cool finish after Jordan Henderson’s sublime work on the right followed by a great cross. Sadly, despite Simon Mignolet’s great work in our goal, Wigan equalised late when a shot going nowhere was headed past him. Earlier, another depressingly familiar story: Sunderland a player down and needing a backs-to-the-wall second half performance ……

Make immediate allowance for the ridiculous harshness of the first Lee Cattermole booking.

Then remember that a man given the responsibility of Sunderland’s team captaincy is presumably aware that having been booked, he must now take care to avoid rash tackles or general indiscipline.

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Wigan v Sunderland: a game to define our season

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Image; Addick-tedKevin


We know our away from has to change. Steve Bruce knows it. Tomorrow, on his old Wigan stamping ground, would be an excellent time to start, with or without our new £13m star …

Which Sunderland team will turn out at Wigan tomorrow?

The question has less to do with the names that appear in the starting line-up, and on the bench, than with the way the players approach the game and perform once out on the DW pitch.

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The Wigan Athletic ‘Who Are You?’

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It could be subtitled “and how Sunderland missed out on N’Zogbia” – read on for a fascinating account of the aborted deal. We’ve said it before, or something like it. If Bernard Ramsdale* didn’t exist as an outstanding example of the (proper) Lancashire football supporter, he’d need to be invented. A past winner of our annual Who Are You? awards, he returns from a little rest – from Salut! Sunderland duties but not much else – with some more pearls ahead of Wigan v SAFC on Saturday. Bernard, landlord of Ye Olde Tree and Crown fan site, has tremendous humour and a refreshingly down-to-earth outlook. It really is a great read. But don’t expect a non-stop bundle of laughs; Bernard lives with the distressing consequences of an awful family tragedy …

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How the Salut! Sunderland jury voted

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Honourable mentions, too, are due to our other shortlisted candidates – read the full list by clicking here – but here are the citations from our judges for their Top Three choices in the annual Salut! Sunderland awards …

So the shortlist for the Who Are You? competition stretched to 10 entries, chosen by me from the dozens published at Salut! Sunderland – more than the number of teams we played since there were often two or more contributors – during the 2009-2010 season.

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