The Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Broken Fan Belt And A Flat Tyre.

[noikeee]

Looking good mid-season, perhaps having a go at the title may be out of reach but improving on last year's 4th is certainly possible. Now why are Sangju relegated mid-season if they're 3rd? Massive financial problems perhaps?

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella

With our recent form,we are now in 2nd place and 5 points behind 1st while we are ahead of 3rd place by 7 points.Sangju is a weird one and I can't find any reason why they are relegated as there finances are around the same level as ours.In 2012 they were relegated while in 12th but this is their first season back in top flight as they failed to get promoted in 2013 and got promoted in 2014.

I think there has to be a reason why they get relegated if they are not in the bottom two.

EDIT: Why they were relegated. - It's a new ruling regarding Military players.

[B.W.G]

If you thought I was dominated in last season FA Cup final,this was even more one sided and we still somehow won!

2 shots on target,2 goals and what a way to end his 10 game goal drought

[deltablue]

Wow, at least you got it

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella The Korean FA Cup final was certainly much more difficult than the ACL final....

We've only gone and made it a double

As for the league,I feel it's out of our hands.We're in 3rd place,five points behind 1st but we have three games in hand which has caused a fixture pile up to end the season!

[rancer890]

Wow well done on Champions League!

Good luck in the rest of the league season and hope you can push for 1st!

[SnakeXe]

That's incredible, what a double

[ashton321]

Great result winning the ACL mate well done.

[B.W.G]

Cheers guys,with the results I've pulled off I think I can be called the ultimate underdog.Although winning the ACL has got me an offer from England just a couple of weeks later.

Can't say I was expecting an offer like that,will do a comparison between Wigan and Gangneung City next Post.

[B.W.G]

The low down of how Gangneung City and Wigan Athletic compare.

Gangneung City                                       Wigan Athletic

Continental                  Reputation                National

3rd                       League Position                24th

£3,421                    Transfer Budget            £11.5 Million
£15.732 p.w                 Wage Budget                £625k p.w
£15.480 p.w              Currently Spending            £397k p.w  

33,000                    Stadium Capacity              22,500
Fairly Basic             Training Facilities             Top
None                      Youth Facilties              Adequate
Minimal                   Junior Coaching              Adequate
Limited                  Youth Recruitment           Fairly Basic

I will see if I can negotiate a deal to take over at the end of the Korean season as I feel this is too good to turn down!

EDIT: Can't negotiate to the end of the Korean season.If I takeover then it will be immediate,think it's foolish to turn it down with expectations of learn from the experience of participating in the nPower Championship!

[Hypanimz]

Great job on winning the double! Big jump up to Wigan but I'm sure you will do well if you go for it.

[deltablue]

No real contest there.

[AK22]

An excellent couple of cup victories.

Probably couldn't do any worse at Wigan than they are already doing!!

[B.W.G]

Hypanimz - Cheers mate Think I'd be stupid not to give it a go.

deltablue - There isn't,can't say I was expecting an offer like that this early though.

AK22 - Cheers fella I know,their first season in the Championship and they are bottom with one win to their name!

[B.W.G]

Wigan Athletic - nPower Championship - New Club - 2015/16

Current League Standings[/size]

Key Players

Craig Dawson - DC

Carlos Carmona - DM,MC

Jose Luis Ramos - AM(RL),ST

Quite a good core of players but my only concern is an ageing squad which is something that I can start looking at by bringing in youngsters and younger players.I'm to learn from experience but I think I can survive relegation and build from there.

Manager's Thoughts

Quite a mess Paul Jewell has left me in,we have very few players in the first team and some of those are in their late 20's to early 30's.We are bottom of the table with a single win which shows how much the team is under performing as we do have some decent players.As there is no pressure on me this season,I am going to look at getting some youngsters in so they have time to develop which will help in the future,I've even prepared my own dossier for the youngsters who I know will make it in the futre.Most of the talent does come from Europe,South America and Asia,we will need to wait till January to make a noise in the transfer window.Till then,I will have to survive and make sure we don't fall apart,starting with my first game against Ipswich.

[SRL88]

Great move to Wigan

[B.W.G]

It's been a very good start to life at Wigan.We drew with Ipswich and Bristol City (we had 10 men for 84 minutes!),we beat Fulham and Millwall and are now out of the relegation zone!

[cerud]

Great move to Wigan and congrats on getting a monster of a job offer!

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella It's been quite entertaining so far.Could have three new signings in January including a 33 year old Jermaine Defoe!

[B.W.G]

Wigan Athletic - nPower Championship - November/December 2015

Fixtures

League Table

Manager's Thoughts

I could not have asked for a better start as Wigan Manager,ten games,seven wins and three draws.We are now nine points away from the relegation zone but we are also nine points off a playoff spot which would be amazing considering where we were when I took over.The best performance so far has been the 3-0 victory over Fulham which is pretty amazing at the time as they were and still are flying high and we were rooted to the bottom of the table.The players have adapted very well to moving to a 4-3-3 formation so things have paid off there.Long may it continue.

With the transfer window opening,we have already secured three deals as we've bought in Jermaine Defoe and Costan Rican international Keylor Navas on free transfers and we've signed Armando Campos (Coach Report) for £2.7 million.Hopefully we can get a couple of more players in to give us better depth as well as a younger squad.We kick off the month in the FA Cup as we face Fulham,hopefully we can progress and start making money.Our league form is on a good run and I don't want it to end so I can only hope we can keep going and turn the pressure up on the teams challenging for a playoff spot.

[ashton321]

Great offer from Wigan mate right move for sure. Campos looks like a decent player. If you keep winning you may even sneak into the play offs

[B.W.G]

I do think Campos is a very good DM,he was my second choice pick for the position as first choice as 5* PA!With regards to Wigan,it was the right move but my job status is very insecure for some reason and I haven't even been beat yet.Very worrying!

[nava]

Looks like you have got yourself a brilliant job there

Also a great start in the league surely a late push for the playoffs is not totally out of the question yet either.

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella

We have done very well,with it being so close at the top,we could even possibly gatecrash the chase for an automatic spot.West Brom are 2nd with 53 points from 29 games while we have 42 points from 29 games.Think the fun and games are just about to start!

[cerud]

Interesting to see Defoe in the Championship. Great job with Wigan so far

[AK22]

Made a great start!

[noikeee]

Brilliant stuff to have won the ACL!! Even if both finals (ACL and Korean Cup) were more Chelsea-style rather than Gangnam style. That was lucky!!

Very steady start with Wigan, particularly impressive given morale must've been at an all time low, now at the current rate they'll be sorted out fine soon enough.

[B.W.G]

cerud - Thanks mate He's not done too bad so far,he has scored twice in two games.Can't complain really as he is on £2.8k a week.

AK22 - Cheers fella

noikeee - I don't even think Chelsea conceded that many shots We've done the best we could but I'm not happy with my job being very insecure,we've lost once in the league and have flown up to 12th and we have a shot at the playoffs,what more is expected off me!

[SnakeXe]

more Chelsea-style rather than Gangnam style.

Brilliant

Great start with Wigan!

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella

We've had a busy final day in the transfer window,Arsenal signed Craig Dawson for £10.75 million.We then signed Charlie Austin from Liverpool for £1.2 million,Alexander Buttner from Sunderland for £3 million.We also bought in two hot prospects in Nabil Bah and Petar Kostadinov.

Naibil Bah - Italian/Moroccan - DR

One for the future but should get some game time this season.

Petar Kostadinov - Bulgarian - DC,DM,MC

My main replacement for Craig Dawson,is one of three Bulgarians I wanted (other two failed work permits!)

[john1]

Did well in Korea Good move to Wigan, good signings as well

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella

[ashton321]

Has your job security got any better?

[B.W.G]

It hasn't and I'm still listed as very insecure,I've got through to the 6th round of the FA Cup (where we will face Southampton or Tottenham) and we're 11th in the league in which we are 5 points off a playoff spot.Hopefully it will change in the near future as I haven't done too badly,Paul Jewell just screwed things up massively.

[B.W.G]

Well at least I know I have the fans backing,it's a start.

[SRL88]

And I am sure you will .

[cerud]

The Board should come around.

[Raware]

I was gonna say you could do with another Sola but so far, it doesn't look like you need him. Definitely hit the ground running!

[B.W.G]

SRL88 - Good to see your backing me

cerud - They are starting to come around slowly,I'm now up to insecure rating!

Raware - No matter what the situation,it's always good to have a Sola

[B.W.G]

Wigan Athletic - nPower Championship - January/February 2016

Fixtures

League Table

Manager's Thoughts

I can't complain what so ever with the last couple of months,even if I did lose Craig Dawson for over £10.75 million who went to Arsenal.We've lost our first game under my management to Crystal Palace in the league but we are right in the fight for a playoff spot.I do feel we have the momentum at the moment as we have to be one of the most in form teams in the league.Another plus which should keep the board happy is that we've made the 6th round of the FA Cup thanks to an easier than expected run,we will now go and face Tottenham which will be a very tough game.My main aim is now to keep our league form up,I'm not too bothered by the FA Cup as it will be more of a distraction for me.I'm also happy with the way Armando Campos and Petar Kostadinov have settled and could become even better in the future.

The next couple of months will see the league campaign come closer to the end and I definitely know that we are capable of gate crashing the playoff party which is remarkable considering we were 24th when I took over in November!We also have a FA Cup tie with Tottenham which I am not too bothered about,if we win then we win,if we lose then we're out,not really bothered as the league is important to me to get the board off my back!I think we have the youth candidate day at some point in March which is my first one as manager due to my previous club not having youth facilities but I'm not expecting anything too amazing.Time to finish the campaign off in style!

[deltablue]

Board getting any more reasonable?

[B.W.G]

Kind of,they're going to be upgrading the Youth Facilities which is a start but not much,the fact I'm still listed as insecure and I've got them up to 6th place says it all really!

[Hypanimz]

You have done a great job so far. I cant believe your jobs listed as insecure. You've lifted them from rock bottom in the league to only a few points off the playoffs.

[B.W.G]

Cheers fella

I've got my job security up to stable now which is pretty relieving.We gone a bit better than challenging for the playoffs,we've gone and gate crashed them

The last two spots for the playoffs are between us,Bristol City and Ipswich.We face Millwall (16th),Bristol City actually face Ipswich!So I think we've actually qualified for the playoffs!

[cerud]

Playing like this and your Board better be happy!

[AK22]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's board is a pain in the arse!

[B.W.G]

cerud - There not,I actually won the playoffs and it's only "stable".What a bunch of *******!

AK22 - I've had no luck with boards.At Gangneung City,the board were tight and would do any raises or upgrades.At Wigan,they said yes to youth upgrades,I then beat Sunderland in the playoff final and as a reward they pump in £16 million,cancel the youth facilities and have reduced my transfer and wage budget for the new season!

[B.W.G]

My board are being a pain in my ass but I am ever thankful to my scouts who deserve a pay rise,they found this guy playing in Switzerland and I got him for £1.2 million thanks to a foreign club buyout clause.

[cerud]

Nice little bit of poaching in the transfer market

[B.W.G]

It was,I'm going to be trying to rely on youngsters,I've found another one for £1.2 million but due to an injury he failed a medical so it's a case of waiting for him to regain fitness.