Big stage ... Can Martinez trump Mancini in the FA Cup final? Source: Martin Rickett / AAP
Many years ago - 1978 to be exact - I was, like many 11 year-old kids growing up in northern England, football mad.
Being a season ticket holder at Manchester City wasn’t enough for my fix, so, on the weeks City played away, I’d badger my dad to go to some of the many other lower league (and non-league) grounds that proliferated around the north west.
Most alternate weeks, that meant the short hop to see Altrincham FC, in those days a top non-league side, pressing hard for a shot at league football itself.
But one club from the region had already made it to the old Division Four. After years of trying, Wigan Athletic had been elected at the expense of Southport (automatic promotion was still some way off), and took their place for the 1978-1979 season.
Three games in to their inaugural league campaign, the Latics were yet to win, and even to register a goal. So, when Newport County came visiting on September 2, 1978, I persuaded my father to take me along to the rickety old Springfield Park to see if a little piece of history could be made. My dad knew the trip well, having been a policeman in the town in the ‘60s, my sister had even been born there.
The Latics weren’t able to find their elusive first win that day - losing to the Welsh outfit (who’ve just retaken their place in the league after defeating Wrexham in the Conference play-off final), but they did get their first-ever league goal, courtesy of Joe Hinnigan, with Ian Purdie adding a second in a 3-2 loss. I still have the match program, which cost a princely 15p (less than 10 cents).
Little did anyone think in those days that Wigan would one day become a Premier League club, let alone play in an FA Cup Final. But this weekend, they will run out at Wembley to play - strangely - Manchester City, in just their second major final, after losing the 2006 League Cup Final to Manchester United in Cardiff.
When people in England talk of great football stories, of teams rising through the leagues, the spotlight normally falls upon Wimbledon - many seem to have forgotten (or ignored) the story of Wigan Athletic, but it is a remarkable tale.
Lodged at the edge of the two major north west conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester, Wigan not only has a short league history, but has NINE established football league clubs within an hours travel, all competing for attention.
Then, there is arguably the most famous Rugby League club in the country - Wigan Warriors - right on its doorstep. The fact that the Latics average attendance (19,192) now outstrips the Super League outfit (16,043) is testament to its spectacular rise.
It’s true that Wigan has been bankrolled to a certain extent to the Premier League. Dave Whelan, an ex-pro with Blackburn Rovers actually played in the 1960 FA Cup Final against Wolves, and has invested large chunks of his personal wealth in transforming the clubs fortunes - and its facilities. Whelan took over in 1995 with the club still in the English fourth tier, and crowds down to below 2,000. He promised Premier League football - and delivered within a decade. During that time, the club left scruffy Springfield Park for the shiny new DW (yes, Dave Whelan) Stadium in 1999, and against the odds, have now survived for seven seasons in the cut-throat Premier League. One of Whelan’s first signings was Roberto Martinez - the first Spaniard ever to play in England, and now manager of the club.
Whether they will survive an eighth top flight season is debatable. Defeat against Swansea this week leaves them perilously close to the drop - but the Latics have pulled off miracles before. Realistically, they will need to win both their remaining games to have a chance - but before then, they can enjoy their big day at English football’s most famous home.
I’ll be there too, and clearly, given my personal allegiances, I hope it’s not Wigan’s day. But if it is, then I, for one, won’t begrudge them - and I’ll take solace in the fact that I saw Joe Hinnigan start them out on one of the most extraordinary journeys English football has ever seen.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét