At 7.45pm tonight Wigan will take on Swansea in a massive game at the DW stadium. Then again, Wigan fans have become accustomed to watching these sort of games at this stage of the season over the last few years.
Every year, Wigan Athletic almost deliberately seem to put their fans through the mire as they slip into an inevitable relegation battle, before somehow performing great escape after great escape under the management of Roberto Martinez. Should they lose to Swansea tonight though, the Championship bells would be ringing in their ears a lot louder. Currently they sit on 35 points with a game in hand on the sides above them on 38 points; Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland. A win for Wigan tonight and suddenly Newcastle are in the bottom three on goal difference. But if Swansea manage to beat their old manager's side, then surely Wigan will be joining Reading and QPR in the Championship next season.
However, I really hope that Wigan remain in the Premier League and not just for this season. I should point out that I am not a Wigan fan and never have been. Instead, I have merely developed a liking for a club that I believe are one of the most attractive in England's top division.
One of the main reasons for this is the aforementioned Martinez. Still only 39, the Spaniard is an extremely affable man who is nothing but charming and honest in his interviews before and after matches. He has even shown himself to be a very knowledgeable pundit whilst working for the BBC and ITV among others over the last few years. Of course, there is more than one way to set up football teams and managers such as Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis have proven that filling your team with 'big men' can work, but Martinez has always wanted to play football the 'right way'. And this has been the case since he started managing at Swansea in 2007, whom he would lead to the League One title. In many ways, he laid the foundations for the Welsh club's success that they've had since he left under Brendan Rodgers and now Michael Laudrup.
Another reason to admire Martinez and Wigan is his (and therefore the club's) ability to scout new markets for players to bring in on the cheap. And they also tend to take a chance on players others wouldn't. Just look at Martinez's record of looking at players in the SPL. Whilst Scottish fans recognised the young talents of James McCarthy and James McArthur at Hamilton whilst they were in the top division, there were more than a few eyebrows raised when they were brought to the club in consecutive seasons. However, they are now mainstays in the team and McArthur scored a goal against West Brom on Saturday that may yet prove vital to their survival.
And what about Shaun Maloney? He may be frustrating to watch as a Scotland fan, but right now he is genuinely one of the most in-form players in the Premier League. He has been the catalyst for Wigan's latest battle to survive after scoring a tremendous free-kick against QPR a few weeks ago and played out of his skin against West Brom on Saturday. Martinez took a gamble on the former Celtic man because he had failed in England before with Aston Villa but he has certainly got the best out of the little Scotsman.
Martinez has also used his contacts in Spain to brilliant effect for Wigan. Whilst it is hardly an unknown league, not many would have heard of strikers Arouna Kone and Jordi Gomez as well as defender Ivan Ramis who have all played their part this season before they came with Kone scoring an impressive 13 goals in his debut season in England.
I also love Wigan for the way they continually punch above their weight. If we were going on attendances alone,Wigan would always be in the bottom three. This season, their average attendance is currently 19,192, which is only good enough to beat fellow strugglers QPR. Last season on average, they only filled 74% of their ground for their 19 home matches. This is a team which regularly sees its attendances beaten by teams in the Championship and even League One. Many feel this shows they don't deserve to be in the Premier League. What nonsense. Wigan are a great story of a team rising through the leagues and they have rightfully earned their place to fight against the 'big boys', just as they will do when they take on Manchester City on Saturday in the FA Cup final.
And their continual survival is made all the more remarkable when you consider Wigan is historically and in many respects to this day, a rugby town. The people of Wigan love the rivalries against St Helens in Rugby League and a lot of them wouldn't dream of going to the DW Stadium for a football game. Every other club in the top league (with perhaps the exception of Swansea) plays in a place where football is king.
My final reason for my growing love affair with Wigan is the fact that everybody writes them off season after season. On Saturday night, Alan Hansen claimed on Match of the Day that "everyone had written them off". I have news for you Alan; I hadn't consigned them to relegation and I bet those words will have fired Martinez's men to avoid that fate even more now.
Every underdog has its day goes the saying but perhaps Wigan have had theirs already considering their past escapes. But I hope that they are going to play up to another animal cliche and use up another one of their nine lives and take their place in the Premier League next season.
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