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Now it is said that football, like life, comes full circle. The good is followed by the bad, which again is followed by the good. It is a cycle to have haunted all and every team or player to have played the game. There is no fixed time scale to these events, but inadvertently they happen.
Wigan Athletic can be seen as a classic case of such pathos. To those who are not familiar with English football, they are a small club with a small fan base based in Greater Manchester. They shot to worldwide prominence and recognition with their David like win, in their David vs Goliath clash with Manchester City. It gave them the first major trophy (the FA Cup) in their history and was indeed the zenith of their existence as a football club. But three days later, they suffered their nadir. After 8 seasons of survival in one of the best leagues in the world, Wigan Athletic were relegated after being bashed 4-1 by Arsenal.
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But this is just the end to a very interesting story, a story which began in 2005. In 2005, Wigan Athletic earned promotion to the Barclays Premier League. They were the typical lower league imports; hard working, gritty and gutsy. They were dour and a bit like a present-day Norwich, except without the creativity. All this changed when an atypical manager was brought in at the beginning of the 2009-10. Brought in from Swansea, Roberto Martinez was a man who wanted to play football the right way.
The problem was that unlike clubs like Barcelona or Arsenal, he had players who were unsuited to his vision. But he started, slowly evolving tactics and bringing in new men. He brought in Maloney, Gomez, McArthur, Di Santo, Caldwell, Beausejour etc. during his previous seasons and Arouna Kone this season. With these men, he built a unit. A unit of players who understood his vision. A unit which followed it and a unit which generally punched above its weight. The guts, heart and determination were still there. Added to them was tactical finesse, technical skill and an ever evolving style of play.
Throughout Martinez’s reign, there have been innovations aplenty at the DW stadium. A former player for the Latics, Roberto Martinez very quickly moulded a ragged bunch of players into efficient footballers. He laid an emphasis on possession and its retention. He understood the importance of the midfield area in a match, and perfected the 3-5-2 formation. Indeed, another Roberto (in this case Mancini) tried to copy it but more often than not failed miserably. It was not a case of personnel but a case of the commander. This was a commander who won them three deadly relegation battles.
In his first season, after a shaky start and mid-season, Wigan started to show late season form and finished a respectable 16th. The next season again they started well, but form began to slide down with frequent injuries and Wigan found themselves in the relegation spots for a lot of time. Another late season surge saw them shoot upwards and stop at the mark they had achieved last season i.e. 16th. But their 2011-12 season was one of the most wondrous ever seen from any club. Even Hollywood could not have created it better. For most of the season, Wigan were the punching bags of the league. They did gain some victories but were erratic at best. Going into the final two months, they looked a dead-set bet for relegation. Suddenly they turned it around. They won 7 of their last 9 games, propelling them up to 15th with 43 points. In the whole of their season they managed only 11 wins, and that 7 of them came right at the end showed the team’s strong character.
These struggles are indicative of two facts. The first that the unquantifiable qualities of heart and passion were abundantly present in and around the DW stadium. The second was that not only was their manager a brilliant tactician, but also that he was an excellent man-manager. Most importantly, for the world, he showed how to build up a team. David Moyes at Everton gets high praise for efficiency on a shoestring budget. Roberto Martinez is another man who deserves praise. And deserves it more, I believe. While Everton’s budget can be called small, Wigan were positively paupers in an overinflated football market. They are in reality a team of olden times of football. They are a team built on bargains, rejects, failures and occasionally a fading star.
And as such, their win at Wembley to take home the oldest competition in the world is more poetic than most. They displayed a tenacity and obstinacy rarely seen these days. The match of their FA Cup campaign of course was the 3-0 drubbing handed to erstwhile ‘serious’ candidates Everton. They scored their goals in a 103-second blitz which showcased the best of values instilled by Martinez. Their dream night at Wembley for everyone, brought back the ‘soul’ into the FA cup.
Maybe they will bounce right back up into the Premier league, maybe they won’t. Maybe Martinez will continue to be at the helm or maybe he will shift to greener pastures. But whatever happens, Wigan Athletic’s place in a true football fans’ heart will be undisturbed. They will be remembered as a team that played above their designated station. A team that dared to play beautifully, a team that fulfilled their own prophecy of success. They are a relic from an age gone by, and I for one, want them back in the Premier League.
