Today was a day unique in the annals of this club, certainly since we joined the Football League in 1978. The manager of Wigan Athletic had requested to speak openly and frankly about the season so far and listen to the voice of the fans up close and personal.
There was never once the feeling that this was a propaganda exercise on the club’s part and in fact the only other person present was Ed Jones who had insisted that we do not reveal any questions to him prior to the arrival of the manager. The meeting was very formal and there was no agenda.
After the introductions and small talk, it was Migs from the MudHuts Media site who asked the first really sticky question and this regarded the form, or rather lack of it, of Jordi Gomez. Roberto replied that when he signed both Gomez and Jason Scotland the intention was to gradually introduce them both to the team. But players at the club namely Olivier Kapo, Marlon King, Daniel De Ridder and one of the current squad (who he named, but I won’t divulge) let him down badly and so he had to bring both of them into the team sooner than planned.
As a result they found the step up in class hard, but at least they were, and are, up to fighting for the team, unlike the aforementioned players who he has since disposed of. You can’t really argue with that can you?
He still insists that Gomez and Scotland will come good and he cited the form of James McCarthy as proof of this. What he did with McCarthy was let him get a feel of the club and a sense of belonging before introducing to the hustle and bustle of top flight football, this was of course his intention with both of his former Swansea City players.
An interesting story developed while we were all discussing McCarthy’s maturity. Roberto let the meeting into a little known secret. Just days after his appointment Craig Levein, the new manager of Scotland, arrived at Christopher Park to talk James into changing his allegiances from the Republic of Ireland to Scotland. After two hours Levein reported to Martinez that there was no way he would be swayed, he (McCarthy) was an extremely mature and LOYAL boy. Roberto said that he already knew that and that was why he was a typical Roberto Martinez type player.
Gary Caldwell is similar, he is a shouter and is gradually imposing his authority on the team and the managers’ real concern at the moment is the lack of a play maker. Once again his plans were scuppered from the start. Martinez envisaged Lee Cattermole as this player and is disappointed that fans seem to think that he let him go without a fight.
Again, he was a little more than candid when he revealed that at the end of the previous season, shortly after Steve Bruce moved to Sunderland, Cattermole left the house that Latics had provided for him and went to live in a hotel just awaiting the call from Bruce.
I asked him why he wasn’t prepared to change for a more straightforward 4-4-2 formation or something similar. He then invited me to discuss formations with him and I was not going to fall into that trap. He would have chewed me up and spit me out because his knowledge of the beautiful game and the various forms that it takes is way beyond mine.
He went on to explain that he is capable of changing things during games if need be and he does so on a regular basis. I also asked if he had any specific plans with regards to playing our fellow relegation strugglers as opposed to the rest of the season’s fixtures. He smiled knowingly and insisted that he knows exactly how Burnley, Portsmouth and Hull City will play and is confident of victory.
As to the other fixtures he simply said that all of the players are aware that they can win or lose any game and all thoughts are focused on winning more than they lose anyway. He insisted that the move for Marcelo Moreno is likely to become permanent as his parent club is at the moment agreeing to a price tag for him. Once again Martinez enthused about the striker, revealing that he had watched him several times in Brazil when he was at his dazzling best and he will be worth every single penny.
Although things went flat for Moreno in Europe due to him not fitting in, he has forged a great understanding with Hugo Rodallega and is anxious to earn a move to a team and area that he has taken to.
Martinez insists that he is two transfer windows away from a really good side and top of his list is that missing midfield playmaker and a young goalkeeper.
I did manage to get Roberto to promise to thank Mr Whelan personally for renaming the West Stand, explaining to him how the whole thing came about. Everyone present in that room played a part in it and I made him aware of it, and I think that now the ice has been broken, the whole of the Latics web community can start pulling together in support of this great club.
Without being patronizing or patronized, I must reveal that Roberto did mention the booing at the games insisting that it did affect the players. He wasn’t too concerned for himself but appealed for any criticism and back biting to be left out of the stadium and discussed later.
I don’t want to tell too much more as it is only fair that the other lads give this story their slant on their own sites. I left the meeting realizing that we can survive this season and we will move on under his management.
Actually leaving the building was also an inspiration. Everywhere there are huge posters of Latics players with a positive motto on each and every one of them. It is actually impossible to avoid them. Everything about the place is positive and you know, if the players accentuate it, they can be a force to be reckoned with in the coming seasons.
All in all it was a constructive meeting for everybody involved in it, and the promise of making these meetings a regular occurrence is perhaps the most positive thing to arise from this historic meeting.
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