Can I put some context into this.

Next season Latics will be playing (home and away) 46 league game, the FA Cup, League Cup, and starting in September, the Europa league. The team qualifies for the group stages, so that means there will be at least six games played, these take place on Thursday night.

As in 99.9% of fixture clashes, those who are inflexible are not the clubs, it's the TV companies, that was the case with the BBC and the CC game a season or two back, and the Europa League will be another case of the club being forced to play Thursday, regardless.

Our lease for the stadium is under £200k per season, next season Latics recieve the first of a potential three parachute payments of £20m, the league TV deal/match income will be on the upwards of £10m, qualification for the Europa League brings £1.5m, plus £200k per win, £100k per draw, plus whatever the TV income for this tournament is.

So going into next season, the challenge will be to fit in another dozen or more matches into the season schedule, with the added complication of Thursday European games, which in turn means that weeks league game will move to Sunday.

On this site in this forum? Care to give me a link to examples of racism and threats etc?

If you can't you need to withdraw that comment and quick.

it might be a only a few on the internet and i hoped both sets of fans would of eased up a bit on each other but when i was living in wigan it wasn't just a select few who was shouting wigan's turning blue whilst i was walking through the middle of town with a wigan jumper on, or lauding in the fact that we own no stadium and the countless idiots who constantly try convincing anybody who will listen that wigan athletic is more famous than its "egg catching team".


just out of curiosity do any of the players actually live in wigan? or shop in wigan?

Not on this site, but after a quick view of Twitter you will see an extraordinary number of posts containing the above, from people who proudly desribe themselves as Warriors fans.

Moderation here has been excellent, but it's disengenuous for some to be upset by the occasional flag, or odd poster, when everyone can see some of the vile things being posted elsewhere when the moderation isn't as strict.

A member of the coaching staff lives a few doors up from me, some first year pros have lodgings not that far away either.

But let's be honest, if you're earning what can be tens of thousands a week, there are very few dwellings in the town that you would consider suitable. Even the players from the Manchester and Liverpool clubs rarely live within those bustling Cities, they are out in the sticks, in places like Alderly Edge.

Latics fans wishing death on all rugby fans was one of the things I saw on Twitter last night. Lovely.

And that's wrong, not an excuse to post the same in response.

Looking at the Wigan Today website is an embarrasment for anyone associated with the town, or either club. It really shows us up to be small time.

my parents where very happy in wigan but thats not the point i am trying to make. When i think of wigan athletic i don't think of it as a local football club, i think of it as these unreachable's where as the warriors you see the players quite often around the town. Also i have never heard of any local lads playing football dreaming to go through the wigan academy set up.

maybe its just because i have been out of the town for a few years but it just doesn't give that local club feeling where as the warriors its a lot easier to access the players.

presides didn't an wigan athletic player publicly slate the town? to which sam tomkins had a dig back? its things like this which probably don't make me have any feelings towards latics

Just out of interest, are you posting these good citizenship lessons on Latics fan websites too? If you are, good on you. If not, why not?

There issues should have been addressed when we came to groundshare bqck in 1999, yet they never and things have festered.

Listen Alisha love I believe your heart maybe in right place but i for one have seen and heard enough abuse from our dear Latics brethren to form a conclusive opinion on the MAJORITY of them. This ranges from anti rugby chants(I know weve been heard singing anti latics songs), verbal abuse in supermarkets and pubs to actual assaults on women and old men in the Pear tree. What the solution is I dont really know but as Cruncher says, will you be lecturing on cockneyliar and the like???mmm I doubt it.

I have concluded on a similar opinion, I would say 80% of the latics fans I know genuinely hate the rugby team and actively celebrate in their losses. I find it extremely hard to support any thing which appears to be institutionally against the team I love, therefore I am indifferent as to the soccer team's success or failures, I refuse to reflect their fans animosity.

Whats the crack with this media love-in of Martinez?

P151 W38. D42. L71

Some BBC reporter bint actually stated that Latics didnt deserve to go down as there was worse teams that stayed up!!!! Errrr...wrong!

Consistency over 38 games surely determines the true quality of a team, you can't have any arguments if you get relegated and it directly reflects a managers qualities.

The players won the FA cup. Surely he could have allowed them to bring it back with them and let them have their homecoming parade before he decided to show off with it as if it was his own personal trophy!! Would another week have hurt? Really??? No. But of course, he has to be centre of attention.

Is there a danger that a relegated team winning the FA Cup devalues that trophy a little bit? Is that what's bothering them?

Personally, I always thought that was the 'romance of the Cup'. It certainly was when Sheffield won the Challenge Cup in 98. Though in the modern age - when there is a feeling in some quarters that the Challenge Cup is old fashioned, it someone like Sheffield won it again there would be suspicions (fears?) that the Cup was less important than it used to be.

Thats were you got all wrong Dave Whelan won the FA cup with his feckin broken leg and peeing on his hands to keep them warm.

Dave Kidd ‏@davekidd_people 29m

It must now be time for a dedicated 24-hour rolling Dave Whelan channel

The club decided they had more important things to worry about, Tuesday's game, than a civil reception and open top bus ride through Wigan. They were right too. Staying in the premiership had to be their number 1 priority.

13 pages on, is this going anywhere?

A priority that Whelan didn't see fit to attend. He'd rather parade around on his own with the trophy. The launch for the Wigan Youth Zone isn't until the 8th June so what was all that about last night?

Didn't know he'd broken his leg. Why has nobody said????

Its giving people the opportunity to discuss Latics, Whelan, their relegation, cup win, future relationship with Wigan Warriors, without over-zealous mods moving it to the "Other Sports" section.

I say let it run - lots of people have lots to say and the thread is actually rather interesting!

Never understood the hatred in the town. I'm glad Wigan Athletic won the FA Cup & I'm gutted they've been relegated. I take on board people's experiences with fans may not have been nice from either sets. I myself have taken abuse from Latics fans for my rugby affiliation. WAFC however, are not a person or a political party espousing their views on the public. Wigan Athletic are a football club representing the town on the pitch just like Wigan rugby and in the same way that drug addicts, violent offenders, thieves and rapists (of which there is,have been and will be in the future) don't represent the Wigan people as a whole neither do supporters. Wigan is my town, I'm proud of that.

There was some interesting stuff at the start but as is usually some people can't help themselves the longer it has gone on with the usual bile. I think a lot of it is jealousy at the profile the Latics have had the past week or so. More people probably watched Saturday's game around the world than have done in our entire history.

I give it a few pages before some over-zealous mod puts it out of its misery.

Well said.

I also have a lot of respect for anyone who has supported Wigan Athletic and/or Wigan Warriors through good times and bad.

They are the real winners and the ones that will get most enjoyment out of sporting success in the town.