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West Brom

Zeb2 said:
Thanks MiW....it’s a fair amount of theorising and whatnot....maybe it will prove to be the case ....or not..

I had separate conversations today with two blokes who as far as I know don’t know each other, one a Latics regular the other a more general football fan .....but I’d regard both as being pretty down to earth and both intimated that money was becoming scarily tight at the club and specifically in the case of the wage bill, which is of course THE biggest cost item at any club.....but one of them said that even general suppliers to the club are now being told that we are demanding extended credit well beyond normal or previously agreed terms. Very worrying ...IF....it’s completely true ?
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There was a discussion about Preston's finances compared to ours in another thread reccently and i posted a link to a article analysing Wigans finances from reccently and it was uncomfortable reading.

https://financialfootballnews.com/w...otballnews.com/wigan-athletics-2018-finances/

Significant player sales is now the be all and end all in keeping clubs at this level in the black as the tv / league money doesn't come close to covering even a modest wage bill (at this level). To put this into context Lutons wage bill in L2 was more than the tv money any Championship clubs recieves and our L1 wage bill was more than double.
 
9 points from 3 games when in reality we would of been happy with 1 win . The only thing we are doing now that we wern`t doing is holding on from winning positions if we had done that in only half the games we threw away we would be miles away buy now .
March is the month which will sort out the league with all the teams down there starting to play each other.
 
Before the Millwall match we were 22 points off the playoffs, now we're 16 points off with 10 games to go. #justsayin
 
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I'm no gambler, but I saw the odds of us making the play offs were 2000-1 ........... so I stuck a quid on us.

To go up, the odds are 4,500-1 .............. I thought this was a step too far. ;)

If we carry on like this, and do make mid table (forget play offs) then I really can't see Cook being released. Why folk think he might be is beyond me.

You don't keep a Manager through the bad times, then get rid when he may have worked things out.
 
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moonay said:
I'm no gambler, but I saw the odds of us making the play offs were 2000-1 ........... so I stuck a quid on us.

To go up, the odds are 4,500-1 .............. I thought this was a step too far. ;)

If we carry on like this, and do make mid table (forget play offs) then I really can't see Cook being released. Why folk think he might be is beyond me.

You don't keep a Manager through the bad times, then get rid when he may have worked things out.
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Many fans are fed up with him and have said they won’t renew (I’ve already said I am renewing). If his presence affects season ticket sales then surely the club will act, especially as I expect an increase in price next season.

We’ve won (deservedly and played well) two away games and suddenly folk think he’s now the messiah again. Given his performance over a sustained period of time it would be foolish to think he won’t return to the same piss poor standard of performance.

As it happens, if he was going to be sacked it would have already happened and won’t if we stay up with a good end to the season. Personally I disagree with that and would cut him loose regardless.
 
There was an implicit assumption in my post MiW that we carry on with similar -OK, maybe not quite as exceptional - form to the end of the season. If we end up up on 60 odd or even 70 odd points (ie not just a few points above the drop zone) then I just can't see:
a) why folk would still want rid, or
b) why they wouldn't renew for next season

I do take your point that there's always a chance performances and results could revert to what they were previously, but for me, he'd have earned a few months of next season (end October at least) to prove us all wrong.

I don't disagree that he should have been sacked. However, he wasn't. He's since turned things round quite significantly. That said, no chickens are being counted here. I totally accept that it's a big ask for us to keep going in the same vein. If he does though, and that means we have to do without a few folk who are too stubborn to cast off old gripes, then that's fine with me.
 
I think we risk getting ahead of ourselves after an epic week, like MiW said there is no guarentee this form will stick. Look at Boro they had 2 wins in 17 in the bottom 3 and Woodgate under huge pressure, then they did what we just did - had an unexpected excellent run. They won 6 and drew 1 in their next 9 and shot up to midtable safety miles away from danger and their fans must have felt 'we cracked it' but since then 9 without a win and back in the bottom 3. That could easily be us yet, especially if we don't buck our trend in the six pointers with the amount of them coming up. So we are miles away from safely assuming survival yet.

But for the sake of argument like moonay said if we stuck with Cook this far he managed to keep him up there is no way he'd go in the summer.

Whatever happen between now and the end of the season will be with Cook as manager so by the end of the season opinions could change for good or worse depending on how it goes. I suspect all those fans who weren't going to renewing if Cook stayed where not actually so much against Cook as much as they were against the type of football, performances, results etc he was delivering. If Cook over the next 10 games delivers the goods and it seems like the reasons they were agaisnt renewing will have gone and i'm sure they will end up coming back. It's not a weakness to change your mind as the circumstances change and if Cook can significantly change the circumstances for the better he will get the credit he is due for it - just as he got the critasism due for all he did wrong. Despite the false narrative / excuse that Wigan fans were creating a toxic atmosphere, not supporting etc - Wigan fans generally don't have particulary high expectations, they just want to see their team show some heart, work hard and try to win games - if you give them that win, lose or draw they will back you - the issue comes when we don't see that.

Hopefully between now and the end of the season Cook will produce the results and performances to regain everyones faith - as in the end i doubt anyone really cares if it's Cook improving or someone else coming in as long as what is happening on the pitch is of the standard of the last couple of games / recent run of form. But this run of form will mean nothing and considering we went 14 without a win, 10 games to go is a hell of a lot of time for things to fall apart again, Boro and Hull are both on horrendous winless runs - will they put a run together like we did? We are all only a win or so apart at the bottom so much can change so quick.

Playing Luton on the back of the week we had is going to be the type of game where complacency sinks in and what should be a massive step in the right direction becomes a bannana skin that we slip on and undo so much good work. It's a crucial 6 pointer and we need to break the habit of Cooks reign and make sure we put them well and truly to the sword and if possible sort our our goal difference.
 
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moonay said:
There was an implicit assumption in my post MiW that we carry on with similar -OK, maybe not quite as exceptional - form to the end of the season. If we end up up on 60 odd or even 70 odd points (ie not just a few points above the drop zone) then I just can't see:
a) why folk would still want rid, or
b) why they wouldn't renew for next season

I do take your point that there's always a chance performances and results could revert to what they were previously, but for me, he'd have earned a few months of next season (end October at least) to prove us all wrong.

I don't disagree that he should have been sacked. However, he wasn't. He's since turned things round quite significantly. That said, no chickens are being counted here. I totally accept that it's a big ask for us to keep going in the same vein. If he does though, and that means we have to do without a few folk who are too stubborn to cast off old gripes, then that's fine with me.
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I’ve no problem with reassessing my view should we end up with 60 odd points (don’t think we will but hope I’m wrong). Plus it’s amazing how a few good victories can change the emotion so maybe folk will reassess - but given the dire shite we’ve seen I understand reluctance to commit again faced with the prospect of a repeat.

Should Coronavirus virus take hold and sporting fixtures etc cancelled/league annulled then given this uncertainty continuity may well be a sensible decision regardless of anything else.
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
I think we risk getting ahead of ourselves after an epic week, like MiW said there is no guarentee this form will stick. .............. So we are miles away from safely assuming survival yet................
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I absolutely agree KDZ, but after the miserable few months we've had, if we can't get carried away after the events of the last week, then when can we? ;)

king_dezeeuw06 said:
....... It's not a weakness to change your mind as the circumstances change and if Cook can significantly change the circumstances for the better he will get the credit he is due for it - ........
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This.

king_dezeeuw06 said:
.....Playing Luton on the back of the week we had is going to be the type of game where complacency sinks in and what should be a massive step in the right direction becomes a bannana skin that we slip on and undo so much good work. It's a crucial 6 pointer and we need to break the habit of Cooks reign and make sure we put them well and truly to the sword and if possible sort our our goal difference.
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That's my worry, and hope too.
 
After being out of the country with very limited access to the internet for the Cardiff, Millwall and Reading games I'm chuffed to bits that having arrived back at 6:30 am Saturday I made the effort to get to West Brom.
At last I can use a 3rd character in my championship away record since March 2015 now:
LLDLLLLLLDLLLLLDLDLLDLW

Spent Sunday watching the full 90 minutes of the 3 missed games (Yes, I know, I'm sad Norm) and thoroughly enjoyed trawling through all the posts on here. Some of the pre match comments are priceless when you have the benefit of knowing the actual outcome :LOL:
 
moonay said:
I absolutely agree KDZ, but after the miserable few months we've had, if we can't get carried away after the events of the last week, then when can we? ;)
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I'm all for everyone savouring this past week, absolutely. I'm more saying let's not count on this form sticking for the next 10 and staying up yet. Long way to go yet and as this past week has shown things can change very fast in football. We should obviously all be a lot more optimistic than we were thanks to the 9 point swing in a week but this is Wigan - are we really going to beat Luton and then smoothly and easily ease away from relegation and have a univentful end of season? You know we don't do straight forward things like that!
 
moonay said:
What a terrible outcome that would be for a the current league leaders ........ and oh, how we'd piss ourselves laughing.

;)
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I was thinking that - if we are going to abandon remaining fixtures for fear of virus containment and say the table stands as it is - make sure they do it before next Satruday to guarentee we wont be in the bottom 3!
 
moonay said:
Good point bro.

I should have referred to the "Premier League" leaders. Now this might piss off our Manager, but I'm sure that wouldn't worry too many on here.
;)
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I would love Liverpool to win the Premier League, always had a soft spot (no remarks please bro) :giggle: for the Reds.

Even more so if it pisses off City and United supporters!
 
moonay said:
Good point bro.

I should have referred to the "Premier League" leaders. Now this might piss off our Manager, but I'm sure that wouldn't worry too many on here.
;)
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Give them another 30 years wait, that would shut the wah wahs up.
Thought that they were the Merseybeats and ending up morphing into the Easybeats.
 
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