Wigan Athletic

Victor Moses’ agent at it again… – May 10th 2012

Do you remember Tony Finnigan? He’s the agent of Victor Moses, and the blowhard that decided that discussing his client’s contractual situation openly in the middle of the season was in the best interests of Wigan, and not – obviously – just those of the player from whom he creams a percentage.

This is Finnigan in The Sun this morning.

“I think what Wigan have done is tremendous and shows it was the right place for him to go after Palace. But now I think Victor is ready for the next step.

He still has lots of improving to do in terms of scoring goals more regularly.

But I think that would come if he was surrounded by better players.

That’s what he wants and is why he won’t be extending his contract. I can’t see Victor changing his mind.”

That’s really disrespectful. Victor Moses has contributed a lot to Wigan’s survival, but let’s not make his efforts out to be more than they were – and let’s not get carried away with his current ability level.

Yes, his trickery is an asset , but his final ball is frequently woeful and his decision-making is still not good enough to exploit his ability fully. Do you know what helps improve decision making? Regular football. Do you know what he won’t get if he tries to jump up the table too soon? Regular football.

Tony Finnigan’s only other Premier League client at The Players’ Lounge is Nigel Reo-Coker, and beneath him, Marlon King is probably the most lucrative person on their books. As such, Moses is clearly his golden goose, and he’s looking to build his agency with a tidy fee from a big transfer.

If this really is a decision being made on the basis of learning the game, Moses would be best served to stay at Wigan, keep playing top-level football consistently, and then look to move – he should sign a new contract, and then if another team wants him they’ll have to pay a true market price for his services. As it is, he’ll go for a cut-price fee this Summer and be a bit-part at a higher-profile club. Shaun Wright-Philips, Scott Parker, Steve Sidwell, Francis Jeffers – there are lots of examples of careers that were derailed by trying to jump too high too soon.

Part of an agent’s job, although few seem to realise it, is to advise their client’s against making poor career decisions – Finnigan is letting his player down here by failing to do just that. How about you stop thinking about the short-term financial gain for just one second?

Roberto Martinez staying classy at Wigan – May 8th 2012

Talk about dignity.

It’s very difficult not to like Roberto Martinez, the Spaniard carries himself with so admirably that it’s a challenge not to wish him well.

When the final whistle blew at Ewood Park last night, the attention was on the ugly scenes emanating from the stands, but Martinez reaction was class personified. No brash celebrations, no attention-seeking histrionics.

A clenched fist, a hand-shake for the much-maligned Steve Kean, and he disappeared down the tunnel.

Compare that with the some of the ‘me, it’s all about me’ behaviour of managers who have escaped relegation in the past: Phil Brown signing to the KC Stadium, anybody?

Martinez has gone about his job, extracted the very most out of the limited talent pool at his disposal, and somehow hauled his Wigan side away from the drain. Amazing. How can you not be delighted for him?

Dave Whelan deserves a mention, too. There are plenty of Chairman who would have panicked at Christmas time, who would have seen the bad form and swung the axe – not Whelan, he had his manager and he believed in him. There should be more of this in football, it would make the game far easier to buy in. A counter-punch against the age of cynicism.

Congratulations to Wigan. What an escape.

Wigan Impossible – May 1st 2012

Michael Foster

Looking at Wigan Athletic, you sometimes feel like an eye patch wearing villain that has placed the dashing heroic superspy in a supposedly inescapable death trap. “Now I finally have you Wigan! There’s no escape this time!” the villain cackles at the wriggling hero, bolted to a table with a buzz saw that’s slowly but surely approaching. Then, out of nowhere, Wigan activates a gadget hidden in their wristwatch, so a hidden laser beam cuts away their shackles, allowing them to escape in the nick of time.

Every season a host of people line up saying, “Right, this year, Wigan down, definitely!” Every season looks like this time the doomsayers will be proved right, only for the team to rally at a late stage, clinging onto their Premier League status by their fingernails. This season more than ever fitted this trend. This winter Wigan’s prospects of Premier League survival seemed so remote, even Amoeba on the moons of Saturn considered them near certainties for the drop. But their recent resurrection right when it mattered has been so remarkable there’s something almost biblical about it.

How apt it is that a man named Moses was their miracle worker in their incredible win over Newcastle on Saturday. The way he parted the tangerine sea of defenders in their luminous away strip, to slot home two quick fire goals against a team challenging for Champions League football, is indicative of a team that knows how to scrap, and scrap pretty damn hard. Roberto Martinez must have felt like he’d held a leading role in Mission Impossible mid-season, but to his credit he rose to the impossible by sticking to his football philosophies and is now reaping the rewards. Perhaps not as jaw dropping a feat as swinging from a Dubai skyscraper, but an impressive turnaround nonetheless.

Compare Wigan’s terrifically defiant display against the odds with the way their relegation rivals fluffed their lines so spectacularly. Blackburn, in serious danger of being cut adrift before their clash against a stuttering Tottenham, failed to record even a single goal attempt. That’s right, not a sausage. It’s the first time since 2004 that has happened in the Premier League and it pretty much leaves Steve Kean staring into the gaping maw of oblivion. As for QPR, they were utterly annihilated by a rejuvenated Spaniard who has remembered, only recently it seems, that all he needs to banish his troubles is regularly kick a ball of leather into the big white net. At least Bolton showed some old-fashioned fight, their skipper Kevin Davies leading a gutsy display that was rewarded with a valuable point against Sunderland.

This year’s relegation scrap has seen more twists than a spinning turkey twizzler on a merry-go-round. Pundits have had to revise their predictions on an almost minute to minute basis.

“Right Bolton are definitely down, no wait, Blackburn, hang on, QPR now, right hold the phone…”

Each team at some point have found form which they subsequently threw away while the teams took their turn hitting a hot streak. Heck, right at the beginning of the season Wolves sat atop the league for the briefest of moments, before they plunged into the Championship with a heavy splash. Perhaps this season it will be all about who has hit form for the final stretch, which would mean the safe money is on Wigan.

Wednesday’s match at the Reebok against Spurs will perhaps determine the eventual fate of Bolton, though QPR have an unenviable pair of final games against Stoke and a certain sky blue team from Manchester. And then there’s a monster of a game on Monday where Wigan can all but assure survival while condemning Blackburn to a swift, merciless drop. And that’s the outcome you’d expect right now, with Wigan resembling the battered superspy charging through the villains exploding secret lair, with Blackburn looking like the hapless henchman trying to prevent their escape.

But who knows, the league has been anything but predictable this season. There is still time left for us to see a Martinez both shaken and stirred.

Seething over Victor Moses’ lack of loyalty to Wigan – April 19th 2012

This has really wound me up.

Here are some quotes from Victor Moses’ agent, Tony Finnigan, who was discussing his player with South African site Supersport.com:

“This is how it works here (in England). Victor Moses has just a year left on his contract with Wigan Athletic and we were about to start talks on the extension when he said he does not want to sign a new deal. Victor Moses has played himself into a position where virtually every club in the Premier League want to sign him. All of the Premier League clubs will be strengthening in the summer and we are not surprised that Moses has been linked with virtually every team in the top division.”

Alright Mr Big Bollocks, I think you’re getting a little bit ahead of yourself there. Victor Moses is talented, but Victor Moses is still very raw and his decision-making in the final third leaves an awful lot to be desired. For now, given that Wigan will probably survive relegation, he’s in the right place to learn – look at Antonio Valencia.

What irritates me so much about this, is that Wigan took a risk on Moses when they brought him from Crystal Palace. Yes he was clearly a player of immense promise, but anytime you stretch to bring a player in from outside the top division there’s always a gamble involved. Always – and the £2.5m fee is magnified by Wigan’s relative financial weakness.

Also, why is this being discussed now? If Moses wants to leave Wigan, or if his agent wants his ill-deserved percentage, then ultimately that’s up to them – but how about the pair of them extend some respect to Roberto Martinez, the fans, and Moses’ Wigan teammates by keeping their mouths shut until the end of the season.

It’s not a lot to ask. This is a classic case of ‘me’ before ‘us’, and there’s far too much of it in football.

Every team in the Premier League? Do me a favour – Newcastle at best.

Hopefully Roberto Martinez avoids a ban for his post-match comments at Stamford Bridge – April 8th 2012

“The linesman had a disgusting performance. My players were robbed and now they have a disgusting feeling they don’t deserve. Someone asked me if it’s time to bring in technology. No, it’s just time to bring in referees and linesmen who know the rules. There is a real feeling of injustice in our dressing room.”

It’s wishful thinking – if there’s one thing that the FA doesn’t have an abundance of it’s common sense – but hopefully Roberto Martinez doesn’t get banned for his comments about linesman Dave Bryan’s performance at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

Martinez described the assistant’s contribution to his side’s defeat as ‘disgusting’, a remark which would ordinarily have the faceless band of jobsworths at Wembley scurrying for their rulebook . Here’s the problem though: sometimes the FA just needs to show understanding of the frustrations which accompany a manager’s job.

Put yourself in Martinez’s place for a second. Your team, threatened by relegation, are battling way above themselves at a ground like Stamford Bridge, and then fall behind because of an offside goal. Hard to take. Your players pick themselves up, channel their frustrations productively, and grind out an equaliser late in the game – but then have the point they’ve earned snatched away by a late, and again offside, winner.

That’s too cruel. To expect a manager not to be critical of the officials in that situation is unreasonable, both because of the emotion of the moment and the failings of the officials. Wigan have lost that game purely because of incorrect decisions.

The FA should come out now and warn Roberto Martinez about what he says in public, but acknowledge that he and his club have been failed by the refereeing crew. It’s a natural human response. Banning Martinez would just make the FA look petty – throw the official under the bus and accept that Wigan have been cheated out of a much-needed result.

…And how so very typical that these decisions should have occurred at Stamford Bridge, home of the ‘benefit of the doubt’ rule for attacking sides. As long as that attacking side is Chelsea.