Wigan

The Wigan ‘Who are You?’: (2) better off with Martinez than Bruce

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Bernard Ramsdale (far left), and others, meet the Wigan boss Roberto Martinez

Yesterday, a lot of readers came this way to read a tremendously moving article by our old friend and Wigan Athletic stalwart Bernard Ramsdale on the struggles he and his wife have made, ably backed by an army of professional and lay supporters, to give quality of life to their brain-damaged son. Somehow it seems inconsequential that when our two clubs kick off at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, both teams and arguably at least one manager should be striving for somewhat lesser aims, those of Premier and job survival. Even so, Bernard agreed to answer a slimmed-down version of the “Who are You?” questionnaire …

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Titus Bramble: canny signing, or a mark of lowered ambition?

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No one likes to be honoured by a clip like this. A year from now, we all hope to be looking back on the season’s glories from Titus Bramble, if join us he does, and not a new bunch of calamities. Scroll down for a much-respected Wigan fan’s warm commendation. And Titus: the clip is meant in fun …

What we wanted was John Mensah back. What it looks as if we are going to get is Titus Bramble, for a reported £750,000-£1m from Wigan (have we simply given up on Mensah? Tragic if so).

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Who are you? Calling all Premier League clubs

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Wigan wh hires

Before each Sunderland game, a fan of the opposing side previews the match. Sometimes it is an uphill struggle to find one supporter willing to do it; other weeks we end up with two or three and feel dutybound to use them all. Now for the limited payback: our annual awards for the best of them (and read on if you want to take part in the 2010-11 season) …

Salut! Sunderland announces its second annual Who Are You? competition, in which we honour fans of other clubs who have contributed the best answers to the questions we set ahead of each game.

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Soapbox: the day St Ives proved a bigger lure than Wigan

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soapbox

In which Pete Sixsmith, who rarely misses a Sunderland match, explains his worrying truancy. It’s all to do with the attraction of the FA Vase and a need to get himself, and his blood pressure, away from the Stadium of Light …

A win and a draw. That’s how it went for me on Saturday and it is a combination of results I would have been delighted to take had it been a win for Sunderland and a draw for Shildon.

Alas, it was the other way round, as the Railwaymen triumphed 3-1 at St Ives, while the Black Cats could manage no better than a 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Wigan Athletic.

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Wigan or Wembley? A genuine dilemma

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After Stoke,we welcome another footballing giant in Wigan Athletic. Pete Sixsmith may well give that one a miss for a ride on a potential Wembley bandwagon..

The ground at St Ives. Picture courtesy of St Ives Town FC
The ground at St Ives. Picture courtesy of St Ives Town FC

 

After the display we were  forced to sit through on Monday night, only the most devoted followers of the Marquis de Sade can be looking forward to the visit of the Wigan pie eaters with any enthusiasm or expectation.

Wigan had an even worse result than we did, losing at home to serial bankrupts Notts County in an FA Cup replay, which prised 4,000 Latics out of their armchairs and into the DW stadium to watch open-mouthed as their team were dumped on.

That should reduce the Wigan following from the tiny to the miniscule, and should lead to a huge number of empty seats in the South Stand. Add to that the fact that there may well be an empty seat in the East Stand (Row 34, Seat 404) as I am caught on the horns of a footballing dilemma.

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Who are you? We’re Wigan Athletic (2)

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wigan1

Steve Halliwell*, from the estimable Wigan Athletic fans’ site Ye Olde Tree and Crown, concludes his answers to Salut! Sunderland’s questions and repays all our kindness by predicting at least a draw for his team against us at the Stadium of Light tomorrow …


Right. Say whatever you want, within the usual bounds, about Steve Bruce.

Managed us twice, left us twice so he mustn’t like the pies, mind you it does look like he ate a few.

He got us sorted second time around ( the first time he was with us wasn’t long enough to change the name on the manager’s door ) especially at the back, joking apart he certainly got the best of Titus Bramble, Player of the Season last term.

He does have an eye for a decent player BUT he also signs absolute rubbish, Kapo & De Ridder to name but two of many, he never tends to get anything in-between good to crap.

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Soapbox: on Kenwyne, Ryan and a chilly night at Hetton

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soapbox

Hard as nails. That’s Salut! Sunderland’s star writer Pete Sixsmith. Viewed from afar, the North East looked as if cut off from the rest of the world by snow drifts. That must have been a picture of Tow Law. But it was cold enough as Pete saw Sunderland Reserves take on Wigan. Hadn’t we seen as much of Wigan as we’d want for a while? …

Tuesday night and outside it’s cold and the wind is blowing. Inside, the heating is on, the gas fire warms the room, there’s a welcoming bottle of Macallan open and a good book on the coffee table. So, what do you do but dig out the thermals and woolly socks, put on a warm coat and head for a reserve game at Hetton?

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Down to earth with a thud at Wigan

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Somehow, when Steve Bruce said after the Arsenal game that he’d warned the team “play as like that at Wigan or else”, the longer serving pessimists among us knew what was about to happen.
And happen it does. We fail to score even one against a team that concedes shedloads, and lose 1-0. Before what I expect to be a severe rollicking for Sunderland when Pete Sixsmith expands on his seven-word verdict, here is an idea of today’s debacle from these comments at the Blackcats list. It starts with a dreadful first half and manages to get worse …

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Soapbox: Wigan, Sunderland and a sobering history of bouncebacks

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soapbox

How much of a beating do you have to take before it can be called a thrashing? Four, five, six? Nothing to do with the headmaster’s study of old; we’re talking about goals conceded. Pete Sixsmith worries about the backlash that sometimes awaits the walloped side’s next opponents after such drubbings as Spurs 9 Wigan 1 …

We Sunderland fans are very pleased to have Steve Bruce as our manager. He has made an excellent start. He has brought in good players and moved on players who had gone past their time at the Stadium of Light. He looks a winner.

Imagine my surprise then, to read that he was to blame for Wigan Athletic’s 9-1 defeat at Tottenham. It was his entire fault, according to Dave Whelan. He had left the club with a poor selection of players which new manager Roberto Martinez was desperately trying to sort out. Bruce should take the blame, Martinez was faultless.

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