Wigan chairman Dave Whelan and the fans will be delighted that in demand manager Roberto Martinez has committed his future to the club, but the Spaniard faces his toughest challenge yet to save the club from yet another relegation scrap.
Martinez has been a loyal servant at Wigan, rebuffing the speculation of taking over at Liverpool this week and rejecting an offer to take over Aston Villa a year ago. However, he faces a number of problems at the club, including losing his right hand man, Graeme Jones, who looks set to take over Swansea City, the Spaniard’s former club.
With Jones set to move he is likely to be followed by a number of key players at the club. Mohamed Diame and Hugo Rodallega, £7 million pounds worth of talent will be walking out the door of Wigan for free. Although both players haven’t had the best of times last season, they have scored some valuable goals over the last few years, keeping them in the top flight.
So with Jones, Diame and Rodallega leaving the club, the likes of talented Victor Moses must be looking at the direction of the club and be concerned. The club will have to replace these players and hope to have the same impact, but the problem is time is scarce in the Premiership, and unless Wigan spend, they are doomed.
Martinez has worked wonders at the club, every time they seem down and out and look like being relegated they survive. When pundits and fans alike could only see relegation last season, they got some incredible results when it mattered, winning away at Liverpool and Arsenal and winning at home against Manchester United and Newcastle, but can you see a repeat next season? I just can’t see a repeat.
I do feel for him, he has severely limited funds and has scouted South America to bring players to the club for small transfer fees, and despite the lack of financial power in the transfer market he has done the job required. But how much longer will he want to keep scrapping it out every season, year in year out, watching other teams spend money and win trophies, it surely has to play on his mind on how far can he take Wigan.
His loyalty, his love, and his passion for the club are to be admired on the highest level, enjoying the job that he does, but another problem for him is that the teams that were promoted from the Championship look better equipped than a Wigan side that have been established in the Premier League for eight years.
West Ham United have a solid backbone in their team, with Rob Green, James Tomkins, Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole. They will bolster their team in the summer and should have enough strength and depth to stay clear of the relegation zone.
Reading released 16 players ahead of their return to the Premiership and will need to strengthen, but with the takeover from Russian tycoon Anton Zingarevich they will have significant funds to strengthen, which is something Wigan aren’t likely to have.
Southampton are in a healthy situation financially, with the sale of Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain and with ambitious owners who look set to spend and bolster their already talented squad, this is a worry for Martinez who will be scrapping with these clubs for players in the summer.
I’m not saying that Wigan are bankrupt, or that they don’t have players with quality because they do. They have attracted the likes of Antonio Valencia, who has been hugely successful in England, but I worry about if they can keep bringing in these sorts of players, and how longer Martinez can keep saving them.
I fear for him, he has a wonderful relationship with the fans and the chairman but this summer it could be his toughest yet, trying to assemble a team to avoid relegation, but if things go wrong on the pitch he could the thinking about how much money he might have had at Liverpool, or if things would be different at Villa.
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Are you joking?
Rodallega and Diame did not play at all for the second half of the season, we only did well without them.
We have a brilliant squad and for the first time we arent losing the key players. We’re in a better financial position that EVER before. This is the strongest Wigan Athletic have ever been.
I agree with Coram, Martinez planned for this summers departures by not playing Hugo or Momo so those who are left are our first team choices. By letting them go he reduces our wage budget as Hugo and Kirky would have been on a decent whack! which will give him a bit more flexibility in the transfer market. As for Jones leaving, not going to happen, so the team will plan ahead for next season in the strongest position it has ever been in.
ThisisFutbol clearly needs writers who are up to date and know something about Wigan Athletic. Coram is right Wigan are financially very sound and to date are not losing key players. It remains to be seen what will happen with Moses. Dave Whelan has commited funds to Martinez for new players and training facilities in return for his loyalty. Also Graeme Jones IS NOT going to Swansea he has turned them down already !
Arguably one of the laziest articles I have ever read. Martinez is doomed at Wigan because Jones (an assistant manager – who hasn’t expressed desire to leave yet) could leave, and 5 players WHO DIDN’T KICK A BALL FOR WIGAN IN THE LAST 8/9 GAMES for Wigan are leaving…. Holy hell we are sure gonna miss those bench warmers… Doomed.
“another problem for him is that the teams that were promoted from the Championship look better equipped than a Wigan side that have been established in the Premier League for eight years” – just because teams like QPR, West Ham etc can all spend money like it’s going out of fashion doesn’t make them ‘better equipped’.
Look at the teams who went down this year, Bolton – paid £4M for David N’gog – where are they now? I think you underestimate the system Roberto plays at Wigan, the team spirit and the way he gets us playing football, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have BIG money!
WE’RE WIGAN LATICS – WE’LL DO IT AGAIN. 8 YEARS.
I stopped reading at the headline, what a poorly researched and woeful article.
Very poor hearsay article. Wigan have never looked better does the writer not realise the squad playing in the later half of the season are staying on and DW is prepared to back RM more than prevously agreed. An eighth season in the Premier leagueis not an accident.
What a pile of bile. Have you even done the slightest bit of research?
Jones was approached by Swansea and the talks didn’t even get past the early stages.
Diame has not featured for Latics this year and certainly wasn’t even part of the swuad that beat Man Utd, Chelsea (yes we did beat them), Arsenal and Liverpool. Neither for that matter were Hugo, Gouhouri or Jones who are also out of contract.
As for Martinez being doomed, what planet are you on?
Your uneducated article doesn’t deserve the last 5 minutes I have watsed in my life.
This is almost completely incorrect, so congratulations for that.
Even Wigan fans were asking before El Miracolo de Martinez why some of our top players were not featuring. Well now we know why, they were leaving and Martinez didn’t want a hole left by them when they did. Plus we didn’t need them. As the previous comment says, Wigan are in a stronger position than ever and the players, fans and manager ALL BELIEVE. Expect us to come out of the traps with real purpose in August.
What lazy journalism, as jones is not going anywhere and the players mentioned didn’t figure for the second half of the season.
Lazy journalism strikes once again. Do your homework next time. Rodallega got 2 goals all season, Diame good but couldn’t get back into the first team after the African Cup of Nations. They would have stayed but greedy with wages. Wait ’til you see where we will be in a years time.
What utter tosh. For the first time since promotion we are keeping our squad together over the summer and not needing to rebuild. Any new additions will just enhance what we have. We are more stable financially than most clubs and have produced form and results with very little spent, so don’t need huge funds and can afford to invest. True, our late season form may not carry on in to the next season and is no guarantee of a risk free season, but things are looking more promising now than they have for a long long time and Martinez knows it – that’s why he CHOSE to stay.
A few things:
1. Jones isn’t going to Swansea.
2. The “£7 million of talent” was subsequently devalued since Christmas.
3. Wigan are in there strongest position in terms of both squad strength (Which is soon to be added)and finances.
2. West Ham’s ‘Backbone’ is slightly more weak since Rob Green is now leaving.
Let us enjoy our optimism.
Clearly know nothing about football, poor journalism with no research, we’ll be laughing at you next year.
Mr Kelly why do you write about Wigan when you obviously know nothing about the club . Financialy Wigan are in a very good state of health . The youth set up has some real gems coming through ( Young striker Rakish Bingham) watch out for him in the future along with many others . Martinez has had his transfer targets for a while and will generally do his work under the media radar so I dont think Latics will be competing with Southampton etc . As for West Ham dont make me laugh . They have lost a fortune by having a premier league wage bill in the championship so the owners will want to get some money back . They wont spend big and as for a strong spine to the side ? Green is leaving and the rest are players that got relegated . It would be nice to have mega money to spend but Wigan dont . I trust that Roberto and his team will bring in some good players either for a fee or on a free . If Wigan can be more consistent and play as they did at the end of the season they can get top ten . After all last season they were only 5 points off . Doomed I dont think so . The future is looking good .
OK made an error Nolan didnt get relegated with West Ham but come on !
What utter sh#te. Did you watch wigan play towards the end of the season there form was champions league standard and diame and rodders didn’t figure.
Cheers for the comments guys. I appreciate it’s not the best but if I’m being honest I didn’t have all the time I wanted on it in terms of research, and yes, I’m not too familiar with writing about Wigan. I have had some family issues recently so my minds not exactly been 100% in the game. Next article I will improve. Cheers.
Lewis Kelly – I hope you don’t get paid for writing such utter fiction. If you have family problems it would be better if you spent time on your family than on your keyboard – your family need you more.
PS – next time do some research then at least your article will be more credible.
Are you a West Ham fan btw?
Where do I start picking apart this idiotic article!
Jones isn’t going
Rodallega and diame are crap and leave with everyones blessing!
Wetspam solid backbone? First of all rob green is out of contract secondly this solid backbone were extremely lucky to get promoted in the first place!
You sound like a delerious westham fan unaware his team will be firm relegation favourites come the start of next season.
Don’t worry maybe in 8 years time you can be an established premiership team like Wigan.
Lucky to get promoted? Finishing third on 88 points, 2 points behind Southampton who finished second, how is that lucky?
When I wrote the article Green hadn’t said he was leaving, Jones was only just in talks.
I support Spurs, not West Ham. Saying that Green, Tomkins, Nolan and Cole aren’t solid, baffles me how people find it strange, especially about Nolan.
To be fair, when I wrote this article Rob Green hadn’t decided to leave West Ham, Jones was approached. As for a backbone to West Ham, if you are saying Tomkins, Nolan and Cole aren’t, explain why. I sent the article in a few days before, so don’t be too harsh about Green. Thanks.
I felt the rare need to respond to this article but it seems that plenty of other football fans already have.
The worst observation is the idea that players are leaving the club as if there has been a mass exodus. Rodallega and Diame are both good players yet they have both been with the club for 3 years or more and it is not irregular for players to move on after this length of time. They weren’t missed second half of the season.
And they have arguably the best keeper in the league too.
Nobody else mentioned that the relegated west ham had Robbie keane and demba ba.