Ahead of tomorrow’s League One match versus Wigan Athletic at Sincil Bank, we have done a Q&A with one of their supporters. Thank you to Barry from the PWU Podcast & Blog for answering the questions! Tomorrow’s referee is Craig Hicks and the kick-off is at 12:30.
GET INVOLVED: You can discuss what has been said in this article here, and many other topics on our 100% Imps forum! Also, have a go at both of the quizzes below (click the graphics).
How long have you supported Wigan Athletic?
All my life, I attended my first game on the 20th November 1971, an FA Cup 2nd round tie against Halifax Town at Springfield Park, we won 2:1, scored a 25-yard screamer for the first goal and direct from a corner for the second, it had snowed heavily for three days prior to the game and there were banks of snow swept up against the perimeter wall around the pitch, the game was played with an orange ball, due to the snow and there was a huge crowd on packing out the ground, of course back then we were in the Northern Premier League and Halifax were a Football League club, the journey had begun.
What are your hopes and expectations for the 2024/25 season?
Hoping for a slight improvement in the league standing on last season, we finished 12th with an 8 point deduction, add them on and we’d have been 10th, so a top-ten finish and a little flirtation with the playoffs would be my hope and expectation for this season.
What are your thoughts on your manager?
Shaun Maloney is a club legend, as a player he is immortalised, he took the 90th-minute corner in the FA Cup Final in 2013 from which Ben Watson rose majestically to head the winning goal and write our place in history. He won Player of the Season whilst with the club and is remembered as one of our finest-ever players.
As a manager, he took over following the dismissal of our worst-ever managerial appointment of Kolo Toure, we were a shambles and he steadied the ship almost saving us from relegation but unfortunately we were too far gone, both on the field and off it, as it transpired we were not paying staff or players and suffered points deductions as a consequence. He worked for free in his initial period, from his appointment in January 2023 until our takeover in June that year, he has an obvious devotion for the club and is involved on many community imitative.
On the pitch, Shaun Maloney is a very modern coach, he has studied at the Johan Cruyff Institute in the Netherlands, worked at the Belgium National side with his mentor and our former boss, Roberto Martinez and as such plays a very patient possession-based style, this requires good technical ability from the players and as such due to being in League One we are heavily loaded with young players starting out in their careers, but it is great to watch, have a think back to the Jonny Smith goal at Sincil Bank in April last season.
One(s) to watch?
Thelo Aasgaard is always a threat, has silky skills and can finish from anywhere, he loves nothing better than curling one into the top corner from 25 yards. We also have possibly the best left-sided defender in the division in Luke Chambers, back for his second stint on loan from Liverpool and still only 18, a quality above League One and we are both lucky and surprised to have him back for another campaign.
Which of your new signings are you most excited about?
The return to the club of Jensen Wier, our youngest player in the league when he made his debut for us, just 15 years of age, he was sold as an emergency measure to Brighton when we went into administration in 2020, his sale helped save the club in the early stages of one of our darkest periods. Four years later he has returned on a permanent transfer, coming in at the end of the window and he appears to be the missing link in our midfield, he compliments our quarterback, Matt Smith, so well and gives us real progressive options in the middle of the park.
I’m sure he will be known to your fans having had loan spells in League One, notably at Cambridge, Port Vale, Blackpool and Morecambe, but I think you will see a different Jensen Weir with us as we complement each other so well.
Random fact about your Club?
The only club to win the FA Cup and be relegated in the same season. We are a Phoenix club, Wigan Borough went bust in 1931 and were kicked out of the Third Division North, and Wigan Athletic were formed out of that demise and played at the same ground as Borough for the next 66 years. Wigan is the pie capital of the world yet the pies that are sold at the ground are not Wigan pies but actually shipped in from, of all places, Accrington!
Which were your favourite and least favourite matches involving Wigan Athletic?
Never seen a Latics game that I haven’t enjoyed for one reason or another, if not the result, then spending time with family and friends at the game, my favourite game was the best day of my life, without a doubt, I have two kids, 8 grandkids but I have never felt emotion like I did when we won the FA Cup, from my first involvement with the club, back on 20 November 1971 with that tie against Halifax the FA Cup always had a special place in my heart. To get to the final was enough, I remember standing whilst Abide with Me was sung, tears running down my cheeks, looking around I couldn’t see a dry eye anywhere, everyone was there with disbelief.
We were playing Man City, the richest club in the world, I remember thinking keep it tight for ten minutes, don’t concede early, as the game grew on and it was obvious we were doing more than keeping it tight we were actually taking the game to them and looked to be the better side, we had chances, played with style, typical Martinez, and then hit the winning goal on 90 minutes, my heart nearly burst!
I still get emotional thinking about that game, it was Martinez at his tactical best, we had players missing with injury, but the tactics were spot on, the best day of my life.
Which sides do you think will finish in the top six and the bottom four?
Before the season started I went for Huddersfield top and Lincoln 2nd with Charlton, Wrexham and Rotherham in the playoff mix, and obviously Birmingham too.
Bottom 4, Crawley, despite their good start, Cambridge, Bristol Rovers, who are awful, and Shrewsbury.
What are your thoughts on Lincoln City?
My son lives over in Linc’s so I like to keep my on the Imps, great manager, good squad of players and apart from the games against us, I hope you have a brilliant season
If you could steal one Lincoln City player for your team, who would it be and why?
This might appear a strange one, but Pauddie O’Connor, an experienced centreback who is enjoying a golden patch at the moment with yourselves, never too far away from the action and start the season off filling all the stats columns with goals, challenges and of course the red card. Lincoln’s defence was outstanding last season and no doubt O’Connor was a big part of that.
What is your prediction for this match?
I’m going for a dour goalless draw, what with it being on the TV and all, similar to the one at our place last season, a game to forget.
There are usually goals, we’ve met 31 times down the years and only had to blanks and in fact just three draws too, but I’m going for a nil-nil.
After all the turmoil of the last few seasons, how does the club stand now financially?
We are now running on a sustainability model, last season cost the new owners £17m to clear debts and pay legacy contracts of previous ownership, even though Mike Danson is a billionaire he has stated that for the long-term health of the club that sort of running cost cannot continue, I believe this season we will be around £3.5/4m putting us in the bottom half of the financial League One table, but in all honesty, most supporters are happy with this, we have come extremely close to losing the club on two occasions in the last four years alone, something that we just don’t want to go through again.
Shaun Maloney and our Head of Football Operations, Gregor Rioch have used the market really well on recruitment and loan signings, we are also seeing lots of academy graduates make their way through to the first team squad, local lads, supporters of the club putting the shirt on and not only is this a sensible approach financially but it is also creating strong ties with the supporters and makes you feel very proud, during the summer we sold Charlie Hughes on for around £5m, 19-year-old centre back with huge potential, been at the club since he was 10 and from Wigan, stars in the team at the moment include goalkeeper Sam Tickle, Thelo Aasgaard, Baba Adeeko, Scott Smith, James Carragher, all come through the ranks and are regular first teamers, plus we have a new batch about to breakthrough.
There are other ways of being a successful football club than chucking millions of pounds at it, we’ve learned this the hard way, Dave Whelan was great for us but he wasn’t going to be around forever, we have now instilled a blueprint for the future and it feels much more sensible and sustainable.
I do worry for Birmingham if I am being honest, their fans say “We’re different”, so were we and so were Reading, Bolton, Bury etc, I hope they are for their sake.
So to answer the question ‘How does the club stand financially now?’ sound, it stands sound, we just need the support to be patient and keep behind the team as it develops over the next couple of seasons.
“We were a shambles and he steadied the ship.” (Q&A):https://t.co/xZ4hxwzuj0
Thank you to @WorthingtonBaz from @PWUPodcast for answering the questions!#WeAreImps #WAFC #SkyBetLeagueOne #EFL
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) September 20, 2024
