Dave Whelan must be gutted.

I think he came to terms with the fact he has a joke of a football club many moons ago.

Well done to Chelsea.

If a club who have managed to come from Non-League to have 6? consecutive seasons in the top-flight is a joke, then most clubs in the game might as well pack it in.

I have said it before and I will say it again

Wigan Athletic "premier league club"

Latics have been a professional league club for over 30 years. Taking them from the fourth division to the Premier League in ten years was an outstanding achievement. Fair enough they heavily outspent many of their rivals but money doesn't always mean success, ask Liverpool.
I think they've had five years in the Premier League now and whilst havign the lowest crowds in the division despite the cheapest season tickets that also is a great achievement. Maybe I went over the top a little with 'joke' club, but today's performance and quite a few others this season have been laughable.

They've had a weird season this time, some of their best results since promotion and some of their worst, their crowds are irrelevant, though I get the feeling some people think we shouldn't bother actually playing football and just rank teams on their average attendances.

I'd say that if a club like Wigan can do what they have done then not all is bad in the game nowadays.

The crowds aren't irrelevant as they play a big part in the amount of money the club has to spend, just ask Whelan. I'd imagine it's much better for the players to be playing in front of 25,000 each week rather than 16/17,000. When you speak to quite a few of the lifelong Latics fans they'll tell you it was much more enjoyable outside the Premier League when they had a chance to finish top half, go on a run or simply start the season full of hope. When they start each season hoping to finish 17th, I can understand why they talk about the pre-Premier League days so often.

I suppose its well done to Chelski they deserved it over the season, not that Taggart will agree

I think Wigan's promotion, and continued stay in the Premier League is a massive achievement. I'm glad they are there. They show what can be achieved by smaller clubs. I think that Dave Whelan deserves a huge amount of credit for doing what he has at Wigan.

Having said that, I also think that Dave Whelan is a total and utter ****. I think he's suffering from some brain injury with the way that he can argue for a salary cap for RL, then against it for football, then against it for RL, then for it for football.... I think his unrequited love for Man U/SAF is sickening. It's okay if he has private fantasies, but FFS keep them private.

Wigan this season have been murdered, today and at Spurs being prime examples, but they've also pulled off magnificent victories as well. They beat us 3-1 and beat Liverpool and Arsenal FFS. They also achieved what they set out to do - to stay in the PL.

Which makes it more of an achievement that they keep managing to stay there, I know it frustrated the hell out of Paul Jewell that he couldn't attract the players he wanted to try and take them to the next level, but I just wonder when the view changed that clubs punching above their weight were seen as a joke, because in the past they'd always command a bit of respect for the achievement.


That's something I can empathise with completely, it's unlikely to happen anytime soon but I really wouldn't want Bradford City to get back into the Premier League - it was fun for a year but going into games just hoping you didn't lose is no fun, and there are now too many teams for me whose only hope is to stay up - probably every Premier League team outside the top 7.

That's only likely to get worse with the way money now flows into top level football, so I think we should be happy to see the likes of Wigan and Burnley in the Premier League while we can.