Does the town deserve a team ? | Page 2 | Vital Football

Does the town deserve a team ?

Diehards go week in week out. But we all know Wiganers. Will only watch a winning team been like that for years. You only have to to look at the rugby they are the same. Only way you will get improved crowds is to take sport of tv never happen
 
I agree with the comment about converting the kids. I started taking my son to matches when he was about 5. He’s 29 now and a more fervent fan of WAFC than I am. He has been feeling the pain of what has happened over the past few weeks as keenly as me
Converting youngsters is definitely one of the good things Latics have done in the last 20 years.
The number of youngsters who now go is heart warming to see. Agree there is further to go and it is a difficult job but a big well done to Latics in the Community.
 
I travel down from Glasgow as often as possible to watch the Latics. Made it 8 times last season and would have been more had it not been for covid. The thought of there not being a Wigan Athletic is just torture for me. Whether or not someone thinks the town deserves it or not it was a dream that Whelan made a reality and we are where we are now and need to survive. The 8 or 9k that attend every week deserve it to continue as do those who attend when they can. I'd love the numbers to be double that and a fuller stadium but for those who put time, effort and emotion into following Wigan it means the world
 
This is not something I've thought about just in the last few weeks its a question I've asked for years. Even when we were beating the cream of the land we just couldn't tempt them out the boozers and I've lost count of the number of times my heart has sank as I entered the stadium and seen the vast open spaces of empty seats and God only knows what the players thought looking at this scene ?

I'm not going for this or that, because DW or Malky made a joke or because I'm going to the Trafford Centre or because I hate Lenaghan and the Warriors blah, blah, fucking blah.

There are a belting core of about 9k who 100% deserve a side to cheer on...the rest of the town, no chance.

While I'm on a roll can I mention the stadium ?... i hate the fucking soulless, lifeless place..it's too big for us and the rugby now. A 15,000 stadium would fit the bill to a tee...but we have more pressing matters now. Will we have a team to play anywhere ?...do enough care to get off their arse if we do continue ?

I think the pertinent question at the moment is do the players deserve our town.

Every one of those lads gave their everything to get us out of the shit we found ourselves in to the extent that we failed by a single goal. They battled hard to get off the bottom of the table and when they eventually did they were kicked in the knackers by an unscrupulous owner who put the club into administration.

They did all that despite being unceremoniously criticised on this forum and booed off the pitch on occasion by certain parts of the so called fans. They have put up with the half empty stadium, a stadium built for the Wigan people, most of who can't be arsed coming down to home games because of limp excuses. They have been blamed for all the ills that beset this club before Christmas and yet have shown enough dignity and respect to turn in performances that should have seen us clear of the drop.

So I ask again, do the players deserve our town.

In my opinion they don't. We are lucky to have them.
 
Excellent question, but so long as people want it, they have a right to it. For us, those that love Latics have recently gone above and beyond to show it. The size of fan base may determine what level the club finds itself at but that doesnt mean that the passionate supporters don't deserve the right to have their dreams realised. Besides, football isn't just a local thing anymore. It's about family, passion and belonging - as we're currently experiencing. Hoffenheim are based in a small village but deserve their status. Back when I was a kid the joke was all United fans lived down south. Nowadays even clubs like us have a global fan base that are passionate about us but can't make every game. I moved from Wigan a long time ago and am still lucky enough to make it, but I wouldn't love us any less if I couldn't. My kids will follow suit despite having little connection to the town, and so on, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve their football club to exist and prosper
 
Even when we was in the Premier League, when me and the missus went away for a short break, i went to watch the local team whilst the wife went shopping.

Teams like Bridlington Town, Penrith, Kendal Town, Whitby Town,
Ilfracome Town etc, these clubs will probably never see the success we have had, yet week in week out, the few fans that turn up are glad to have football club no matter what league they are in.

Closer to home teams like Ashton Town, Ashton Athletic, Daisy Hill,
Atherton Colls and Atherton LBR, rely on volunteers to keep the club going on a pittance, no matter how bad things have got.

We was lucky to grab DW tailcoat, who brought us a lot of very good times,
but, we knew it couldn't go on forever, we just didn't expect to be dropped in the shit by foreign poker player.
 
Of course it deserves a team it doesnt need the stadium it has or can sustain the wages it pays but of course it deserves a cub.

You know that's not what I asked you Craig. Is the question to hard for you or are you just ashamed to admit you used to post with another name
 
Bang on the money Zeb...Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley were dragged kicking and screaming into Wigan Borough in 1974 and have no loyalty to us whatsoever. Ethnic Wigan disappears tuther side of Hindley Green and Bicky.

Greater Manchester my arse...THIS IS AND FOREVER WILL BE

LANCASHIRE.
If the ground had 25000 in very week from Greater Manchester Mersyside London i couldnt care less
 
Every town deserves a football club. It's whether that town deserves the success that their football club has given them and as a town Wigan certainly doesn't deserve it, although the 8k die hards who have stuck by the club absolutely deserve it.

As per the stadium, like the majority I dislike it as well. But not as much for the size. More for the fact that it simply doesn't feel like home. We are unable to decorate the exterior and interior of the place and truly make it feel like ours due to the groundshare. That makes a massive difference, as a result it feels characterless and soulless. If not for that horrible faded Latics crest at the top of the west stand, a passer-by could not tell that a football club plays there. Go to any other away ground in the country and you see the stark difference between our ground and the rest, why opposition fans commonly refer to our ground as soulless.

The only way that will ever change is if the rumours are true that the long term ambition of the Warriors is to turn Robin Park into their own stadium. But of course that will financially hurt us, not just losing rent but also having to handle all the running costs of the gaffe ourselves.

In regards to fanbase, it gives me a glimmer of hope seeing that we do have a relatively young fanbase thanks to our Premier League days. We've also got a lot more fans based outside of the town as well, again due to the Prem. If those kids stick by us growing up, they will take their kids down the line and our club will organically grow it's support. We're starting behind everyone else as most of our dads supported other clubs. Not to mention being arguably the most unluckiest club in the country when it comes to location, slap bang in the middle of arguably two of the top five biggest clubs in the world. The current English, European and World champions are thirty minutes away from our doorstep. That puts into perspective just how hard it is for us.
 
Don't agree that Wigan is a rugby town. If so, then Leeds, Huddersfield, Bristol and others are, too. The key problem is the other football teams in the area, not just the big teams,either. The borough is full of Bolton supporters, for example. I went to school in Leigh, and most of my mates were Wanderers fans.

In my opinion, if we could've retained our Premier League status for a couple more years, our fan base would've started to multiply, as more kids joined in. We went down at precisely the wrong time 😕

Like it or not Nottingham, Wigan are perceived as a rugby town. Leeds, Huddersfield and Bristol have had league football clubs for over a century so plenty time to have their own identity, Wigan are still creating their footballing identity. In a way you’ve also made the point in your comment about people in areas like Leigh going to Bolton but of course they will because they probably did before Wigan entered the league. You’re right though, you have to get the kids on side, they are your future.
 
DW stadium capacity 25000

Springfield Park capacity 33000
Record gate v Newcastle 30000 plus
27000 gate for a non league game v Hereford

On what planet then is the DW too big when on occasions we have filled it.

Our trouble is geography always has been. We are in the middle of Liverpool and Manchester and most of our townsfolk have traditionally supported one of the four big clubs from seis cities.
 
Like it or not Nottingham, Wigan are perceived as a rugby town. Leeds, Huddersfield and Bristol have had league football clubs for over a century so plenty time to have their own identity, Wigan are still creating their footballing identity. In a way you’ve also made the point in your comment about people in areas like Leigh going to Bolton but of course they will because they probably did before Wigan entered the league. You’re right though, you have to get the kids on side, they are your future.

Many Wigan RL fans live in Bolton, Manchester and Liverpool, ironically. In terms of participation many more people in the Wigan area play football not rugby. No, you could be right about perception, but it is only perception. WIgan is a football town with a rugby team.😉
 
I worked with Leythers for years....their venom was directed at Wigan RL team and rarely the Tics.
I live in Leigh but I'm not from the town and have to say that a lot of Leythers dislike most things that emanate from Wigan. There's nothing rational about it.
 
I have no idea what the question was

I asked you the same question directly a few times, ZAKKY asked you directly the same and every time you deflect and dodge. You insisted never do that so add that to the list of nonsense things you say.

Are you ashamed to admit you are the former poster Craig after the rep you previously got? Is it embarrassing to leave in a strop then return under a different user name pretending to be someone else before rumbling yourself? Whatever the reason it's now so obvious why won't you just admit?