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Why Wigan are the FA Cup’s big story this season:

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RobertoMartinezBigTo a background of distinct apathy, what was traditionally one of the great weekends of the football calendar is upon us.  As has been the case since 2008, the F.A. Cup semi-finals will take place at Wembley.  Further to that unpalatable scenario, which is wholly thanks to the governing body’s desperation to pay off the exorbitant debt incurred in building their national stadium, the games will kick-off at markedly unfriendly times for any supporters who might actually wish to attend.

The story deemed most newsworthy in anticipation of this year’s last four clashes has been the failure of Wigan Athletic to sell approximately one-third of their 31,863 ticket allocation.  The F.A. have reacted by opening a ‘neutral zone’ for 6,000 spectators, and offering a further 1,500 seats to troops.

Predictably, the prospect of the Latics bringing anything less than a full contingent of backers to London – for what is a 5:15pm kick-off and so prohibits any post-match return home by train – has led to much sniggering behind hands by observers unable to countenance the idea of such an eventuality.

In fact, the story of Wigan Athletic and their remarkable 27 year rise from non-league outfit in 1978 to member of the Premier League class is one of the more cheering in a football era characterised by commercialism and the ceaseless chase for money.  Furthermore, the subsequent period in which the club from a traditional rugby league heartland have established themselves as a deserved and accepted constituent of the elite has provided true inspiration for its contemporaries.

The Latics have survived at the top by playing an enterprising and free-flowing brand of football, never resorting to scratching and clawing their way to safety.

The team’s erudite manager, Roberto Martinez, spoke accurately this week of the staggering progress at Wigan which has resulted in over 20,000 fans following his side to their London date with Millwall.

‘People on the outside are looking at our ticket sales and making a judgment, but I am not looking at it that way at all.  Viewing it internally, it is a completely different picture.

‘From playing in front of 1,500 crowds when I arrived at the club in 1995 (as a player) we are now in the best League in the world and averaging gates of 18,000.  That shows the journey we have been on, and, for me, the numbers we are taking to Wembley are incredible.

‘You can compare us to other clubs and make a story out of it, but the fact we are heading to Wembley with so many fans behind us represents a truly remarkable journey and an incredible transformation in this club’s fortunes’.

Rather than sneering at the empty spaces in the Wigan support’s section of Wembley, any derision should be saved for the men who have condemned these matches to be staged at the venue which once contributed so much to the lustre of an appearance in the showpiece final.

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur contested the first Wembley semi-final in 1991.  That was widely considered a wise decision.  Two sets of fans were spared travelling North in order to watch their sides at a ground capable of coping with what would be vast ticket requirements.

The ‘one-off’ use of the national stadium at this stage of the F.A. Cup was a success.  The match itself – and chiefly the performance of a magnificent Paul Gascoigne – fitted the billing on a day treasured by football lovers for its then unique opportunity to watch two consecutive televised games.

Using Wembley might have been an emergency measure, but it was repeated two years later when the North London rivals were again drawn together in the last four.  On this occasion, however, the pairing of Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United who contested the other semi-final were sent south for a Saturday lunchtime meeting.

Those people who believe the introduction of goal-line technology to football will stop at decisions on whether the ball has crossed the line might take heed from the way in which the use of the national stadium for F.A. Cup semi-finals gradually and insidiously became the norm.

In 1994, the clash between Manchester United and Oldham was bizarrely held at Wembley, as was Chelsea’s encounter with Luton Town.  There followed a 6 year hiatus, until the event of the ‘old’ Wembley’s final year drew the last four to English football’s mecca.  The present status quo was introduced five years ago. (There was time in the intervening years for the ludicrous choice of Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium to host the 2005 semi’s).

As if to throw a shining light on the stupidity of the situation, the football gods delivered 2008 semi-final match ups involving Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion, and Cardiff City and Barnsley.

Additionally, these previously grand occasions routinely kick-off at times which almost appear designed to exaggerate the burden on the paying fan.  Not only are Wiganers expected in London at 5:15pm on a Saturday, Manchester City’s travelling army will be left traipsing home on a Sunday evening after their sides 4pm tussle with Chelsea.

Last year, a Merseyside derby was outrageously penned in for Saturday at 12:30pm in North-West London.  Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur faced off at 6pm the following day.

Thanks to the all-encompassing influence of television, and the F.A.’s dash for cash, another glimmer of the cup’s sheen is being chipped away.  One of the finest sights in football used to be a packed Highbury, Maine Road, or Old Trafford, full of colour and intoxicating atmosphere, as two combatants battled it out for their place under the May sunshine at Wembley.

Fantastic F.A. Cup memories were born – for all bar the day’s losers – when Crystal Palace won a 1990 thriller against Liverpool at Villa Park, and when Ryan Giggs scored one of the goals of our time for Manchester United to overcome Arsenal in 1999 at the same location.  Every fan, regardless of their own team’s involvement, will have their favourite recollections of semi-final day – and a sizeable number will revolve around fixtures played at club grounds.

There might be two compelling duels to enjoy this weekend, but it is unlikely any fond reminiscing will last beyond the following 24 hours.

Nevertheless, Wigan deserve their moment in the nation’s eye – and not because of unsold tickets.

Theirs has been a classic cup run.  Having required a third-round replay to overcome League One promotion chasers Bournemouth, the Latics won at Conference outfit Macclesfield, before treating terrestrial television viewers to a sumptuous footballing display on a pudding of a pitch to slice Huddersfield Town apart.  The manner in which Martinez’s team tore into an Everton unit which is typically near impregnable on its own Goodison Park patch, and consequently swaggered through a tie they were given little hope of negotiating, was this season’s confirmation of a club continuing to punch above its weight.

Martinez has built marvellously on the stellar work carried out before him by both Paul Jewell and Steve Bruce.  Expectation is now such that the Spaniard’s team’s perennial inability to steer clear of a battle to avoid the drop is increasingly baffling.  The side which finished last season winning matches at Arsenal and Liverpool, and seeing off Manchester United at the DW Stadium, during an eleven game run-in in which they suffered only two defeats hasn’t pushed on in this term’s campaign as hoped.

Progress to the cup’s last four, though, is further welcome progress for a club which has suffered at the hands of Swindon Town, Bolton Wanderers and Notts County in its three most recent editions – and indeed hadn’t navigated their way past the fourth round since a 1987 quarter-final against Leeds United.

Attention, understandably, has been elsewhere, while the Latics fought their way to today’s status.  The club’s growth under their bright young boss, and devoted chairman Dave Whelan, is such that they are now ready to test their mettle on more than one front.  This achievement is all the more meritorious for Wigan’s inevitable annual drip of coveted talent.

If Antonio Valencia, Mohamed Diame, Leighton Baines, Charles N’Zogbia, and Victor Moses, remained at Martinez’s disposal the potential for this team, which exists in the relative shadow of the football giants of Manchester and Merseyside, would be quite breathtaking.

If the mix of Saturday evening start-time and the game’s broadcasting backwater of ESPN isn’t enough to prevent you taking in Wigan Athletic’s semi-final date, take some time while watching, not to raise a questioning eyebrow at any vacant seats, but to marvel at the evolution of a once tiny club and the team which presently represents it.

For more from me, head to my blog, or follow me on Twitter @McNamara_sport

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