Refurbishment was needed...

... as this unique pub themed Latics site had finally outgrown itself. It was clear that modernisation was the way forward as the cobwebs were showing and the doors were falling off their hinges as the old YOTAC gradually succumbed with age. She was a good old girl, but her wrinkles appeared several years ago and her bottom had started to spread sideways, whilst her bosom was drooping so much that only a fully fleged plastic surgery job would repair the damage!

For those of you who don't know, YOTAC was concieved by myself and Dave Roughley almost eight years ago when the legendary Latic Fanatic site and fanzine was folded by its owner, Andy Werrill. I worked on the old LF site producing the Latics players A ro Z and Bernard's Beat, both of which (and I'm not blowing my own trumpet, it's not my style) went down extremely well. Andy for his part produced an excellent kits section, which Graham has lovingly kept alive with constant updates and improvements and the LFs messageboard contained stalwart, sensible, long term fans glad of the opportunity to express their views on a forum more suited to their needs.

The only other alternative in those days was the original Cockney Latic, before they sold their soul to Rivals, but the site was mainly catered to a different clientele. That's not to say there was any rivalry, in fact to this very day YOTAC, CL and the Mudhuts Media bods remain on good terms and we all appreciate what each other has done for this club, through thick and thin over almost three decades.

Back in 1999 Andy's personal commitments changed and he had no alternative but to wind the LF site down and as the final messages on the forum thanked him and proclaimed that 'you were there when it mattered' (relating to the many mediocre seasons that LF was around) I personally felt that a new site should take the place of LF, and more importantly keep LF's ethos in place. So Dave and myself, set about finding out a way to create something different, but familiar.

We decided that we were to be a little different, not just from LF but everybody else and so the 'pub' idea was born. Our discussions on a name for the pub were numerous and I really can't remember which of us thought of the name in the end. But we couldn't have come up with a better one if we were still deliberating about it!

I had a small site of my own at the time which was actually a record of the club's first season at the JJB Stadium, later incorporated into YOTAC. Dave for his part also has a Springfield Park Memorial site on the web, and still does, that also became a YOTAC institution, but our 'webspertize' was sadly lacking, so we approached Graham begging for his help. It is fair to say that without Graham YOTAC may not have got off the ground.

Since then YOTAC has had several minor alterations, but my enforced three month sabbatical made all the YOTAC crew realise just how outdated the site had become and how labourious and time consuming it was to even upload the simplest of articles.

So over a month ago Graham beavered away at making the site slicker and less time consuming for me in particular, thus the seeds were sown for the site you are visiting now.

This site contains all the YOTAC favourites and a few extra surprises, such as the results of every Wigan Borough game and an A to Z of Borough managers. There are loads of ideas in the pipeline which will make YOTAC even more of a reference site than it already is. It must be remembered that this site does not make any money out of the club and everything contained within it is there because up until the advent of YOTAC, much of the information lay hidden away in various local and national archives, not to mention the FA Headquarters.

We wanted the Wigan public to have access to information about this great club and the publication of certain books and other reading matter, in print or on the web, after the information was published on YOTAC is not a coincidence. AND FOR THAT I WILL (for once) BLOW MY OWN TRUMPET.

Another person deserving of a mention here is BarStaff, Steve, who took over some of my responsibilities during my break. His persistent 'come back' pleas during every home game, his dedication to the cause and the work that Graham was prepared to do to entice me back, (which if done by somebody else would have cost a couple of grand), have resulted in YOTAC coming back now, bigger, stronger and better than ever!

So welcome to everybody, old and new alike. This is your site. Enjoy it.

Until next time
Accentuate the Positive.