Ipswich Town v Wigan Athletic 
Saturday 15th December 2018 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
Another Tale Of What Might Have Been
Another week round, another game gone but the same old outcome and pretty much the same story, something along the lines of did quite well, played ok, things improving blah blah blah. I am sure many who are not fortunate enough to witness games live will be thinking, here we go again, the same old spiel week after week and all the time we are sinking further into the mire, but in my opinion things are improving and we are playing better in spells, let's not forget that once again the squad are being asked to do things differently just as they were when Hurst took over from McCarthy so for me we have made progress, albeit small steps when in truth big strides are now required.
I thought Town did very well at Stoke, particularly in the first half, quite how we went in behind I really do not know, I accept what One or two have said in that they never really felt we were going to score whenever we went forward but One thing was certain and that was we created more chances and looked the better side for long spells, not bad when you consider its pretty much League One against Premier League players, as we keep on repeating all we need is that little bit of experience to help bolster the squad.
One concern for me is that although we are all to aware that this is Paul Hurst's squad and Paul Lambert has to work with what he has inherited, Saturday's defeat at Stoke made it Four defeats in a row, that is something even Hurst did not suffer with the same players so even though things appear to be on the upturn this is in fact the worst run of form of the season and it has to be brought to a halt and quickly, starting Saturday in fact, all the "Free Hit" games where we expected little return are gone now, the ones coming up have to yield points or it's goodnight Vienna.
With Four of the next Six games at home this would normally be looked upon as a great opportunity to bag a few points, trouble is our home form is woeful, I think I read somewhere we have registered just Two home wins this calendar year !!! Can that be right ? If so it is appalling and little wonder we are where we are. With those Four home games being Wigan, Sheffield Utd, Millwall & Rotherham I would suggest we need an absolute minimum of Nine points from those Four games, if we can't manage that we probably will go down, sandwiched in between are trips to QPR & Middlesbrough and in truth I would accept a solitary point from those Two if we can do the business at home for a change. These next Six games really are massive, not just for this season but possibly for the next few years too.
Wigan Up Next
Yes Wigan Athletic are our opponents this time around, a Town more known for it's Rugby League connections than it's Football team stand in the way of the once mighty ITFC and Three priceless points, not that long ago this would be looked upon as a virtual bye, just what you need when a win is required, and yet here we are fretting about the outcome, I mean it's Wigan for god sake. Ok in recent times they have out performed us and by quite a margin but nobody will ever tell me we should not be beating Wigan Athletic at home, especially when our very Championship existence is on the line.
Wigan currently sit in Sixteenth place and seven points above the drop zone so are far from out of the relegation mix themselves, their current form isn't great either with only One victory in their last Eight outings, players to watch out for include Will Grigg, Nick Powell, James Vaughan & Josh Windass while Two familiar faces to Town fans also appear in their ranks in the shape of Callum Connolly & Joe Garner.
I think it is fair to say these are the games that from now on in we have to win, there can be no excuses, Wigan would probably accept survival as a successful season themselves and if we are to claw ourselves to safety we have to drag One or two of them teams down and nearer to us. We need to win it and I think we will win it, probably by the odd goal as we never look like hammering anyone, a win will do for me no matter how it comes. COYB'S, our season really starts here !!!!
The Opposition – Wigan Athletic
Founded in 1932, the club plays at the DW Stadium since 1999, sharing the stadium with rugby league club Wigan Warriors. They previously played at Springfield Park for 67 years.
Wigan Athletic played in the lower Leagues until 2nd June 1978 when they were finally elected to the Football League after 34 attempts and near misses over the preceeding 46 years, including one controversial but headline-making application in 1972 to join the Scottish League Second Division.
They gained their first Football League promotion under the management of former Liverpool player Larry Lloyd in 1981–82, when a points tally of 91 saw them join the former Division Three for the first time, beginning a 10-year spell in English football's third tier, until they were relegated for the first time in the club's League history in 1992–93.
Wigan struggled in the fourth tier of English Football, finishing well down the table and average attendences fell to 1,845 by 1995.
Local entrepreneur Dave Whelan acquired the club in 1995, providing funds to move into the JJB Stadium, now named the DW Stadium in his honour.
Through Whelan's business connections in Spain he attracted three Spaniards to the club – Roberto Martínez, Isidro Diaz, and Jesus Seba – who became known as 'The Three Amigos'.
Whelan appointed John Deehan as manager during the 1995–96 season. Deehan took the Latics within two points of a play-off place in his first season; and the following year Wigan Athletic became Division Three champions.
In the summer of 2001, highly regarded young manager Paul Jewell took over as manager. His first season in charge saw mixed results, but Jewell's second season in charge was far more successful. Wigan Athletic went on a run to the quarter finals of the League Cup, and won the Division Two championship, securing promotion to the second tier of the English Football League for the first time in their history.
After losing their first ever game in Division One, Wigan Athletic confounded expectations to go unbeaten for the next 17 games and and finish seventh in Division One.
The following season in the last fixture at home the Latics won promotion to the top division of the English football for the first time in their 73-year history by finishing second in the League.
The club's first ever Premier League season (2005-06) saw a 10th place, which remains the club's highest ever league placing.
Over the next four seasons Wigan struggled for Premier survival with a number of managers taking the helm over this period.
Wigan appointed Roberto Martínez, then manager of Swansea City, as manager prior to the 2009–10 Premier League season.
At the beginning of the 2010–11 season, Wigan fell to the bottom of the league by the end of February. However, despite remaining in the bottom three for the majority of the season, Wigan managed to retain their Premier League status on the last day of the season.
In the 2011-12 season Wigan reached the FA Cup Final for the first time in their history and went on to beat Manchester City 1–0, with a goal in injury time, earning a place in the following seasons Europa League. Unfortunately for Wigan this season also ended their eight year spell in the Premier League and they became the first team to be relegated and win the FA Cup in the same season.
On 14 June 2013, Dave Whelan revealed that a deal had been agreed with Owen Coyle to become the new manager of Wigan Athletic replacing outgoing manager Roberto Martinez who left for Everton. Coyle left the club by mutual agreement on 2 December 2013 having won seven games out of twenty-three. Uwe Rosler replaced him on 7 December.
On 9 March 2014 Wigan beat Manchester City in the 6th Round of the FA Cup to reach the semi-final at Wembley for the second successive year, where they played Arsenal, and lost on penalties after normal time and extra time resulted in a 1–1 draw. After finishing 5th in the Championship, Wigan lost their Championship play-off semi-final to Queens Park Rangers.
Rösler was sacked in November 2014 with the club in the relegation places, and was replaced by Malky Mackay. Whelan resigned as chairman on 3 March 2015, remaining as owner but handing over the chairmanship to his grandson David Sharpe. The following month, with Wigan in danger of relegation to League One, Mackay was sacked and replaced by former Wigan captain Gary Caldwell, yet the team ended the season with relegation.
Over the coming summer the club underwent a transformation with the majority of the playing staff that had been relegated leaving and a raft of new signings arriving.
The club soon found themselves challenging for promotion in the play-off places by mid-November. Following an impressive run of form in the second half of the season where the side lost only once in 23 matches the club effectively sealed promotion at the first attempt.
In October 2016, following a poor start to the season, Caldwell was sacked as manager and replaced by Manchester United coach Warren Joyce. Results did not improve under Joyce, who was sacked in March 2017. Wigan were subsequently relegated back to League One in April and interim manager Graham Barrow left, ending a 15-year association with the club.
Paul Cook, who had just won League Two with Portsmouth, was appointed Wigan manager in June 2017.
The 2017/18 season was a good one for Wigan, the club finished 1st in League One and were promoted to the Championship. They reached the FA Cup quarterfinals after beating Premier League teams, Bournemouth, West Ham United and Premier League champions Manchester City. At the end of the season it was announced that the Whelan family had agreed a deal to sell the club, stadium and training facilities to the Hong Kong based International Entertainment Corporation in a £22m deal.
The Gaffer – Paul Cook
Media Watch - K L Blue
Transfer rumours
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/town-scout ... -1-5815587
Donacian
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/donacien-w ... -1-5813515
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/ipswi ... l-lambert/
Has Lambert shown part of his hand for transfers?
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/12/09/t ... is-set-fo/
Skuse hoping to be back sooner
https://www.itfc.co.uk/news/2018/decemb ... se-injury/
Former Town Boss, back in football
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ex-town-bo ... -1-5814291
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 24th place with 11 points
10 Nov Reading 2 - 2 Ipswich Town
23 Nov Ipswich Town 1 - 2 West Bromwich
28 Nov Ipswich Town 2 - 3 Bristol City
1 Dec Nottm Forest 2 - 0 Ipswich Town
8 Dec Stoke City 2 - 0 Ipswich Town
Wigan Athletic Last 5 Matches – Currently in 16th place with 25 points
10 Nov Middlesbrough 2 - 0 Wigan Athletic
24 Nov Wigan Athletic 0 - 0 Reading
28 Nov Wigan Athletic 3 - 1 Blackburn
1 Dec Bolton 1 - 1 Wigan Athletic
8 Dec Wigan Athletic 0 - 1 Derby County
Marko’s Caption Contest – THE DON CUP
Thanks for all the entries. Some very funny stuff. Getting close to Xmas; is that halfway through the season? Always looking for EVERYONE to take part every week, trawling your minds for the funniest sh*t you can think of. I do believe though that at this stage of the season, competitors from IpswichTownNO1 and above only really have a realistic chance of getting their name engraved onto The Don Cup in August for the new season. Very tight in that top 6 and it’s all to play for.
FOREST SCORES
Kerry Blue 5pts
Nicscreamer 4pts (Len)
AylesburyBlue 3pts
Tangfastic 2pts
STOKE Pic 1
Ando 5pts
Bluemike 4pts
AylesburyBlue & Derick 3pts
BluePeter 2pts
STOKE Pic 2
Ando 5pts
Bluemike 4pts
AylesburyBlue, Nicscreamer & Number9 3pts
JohnnyB 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
NICSCREAMER 47
TANGFASTIC 45
FROSTY 41
BLUEMIKE 40
ANDO 39
DERICKIPSW 38
AYLESBURYBLUE 29
BLUEBLOOD 27
NUMBER9 26
IPSWICHTOWNNO1 26
WATERSHIP DOWN 11
PATTHEGIMP 8
JOHNNYB 7
BLUEPETER 7
BARMY BILLY 6
BLUEWILF 5
SHED ON TOUR 5
MASSEYFERGUSON 3
MARVINBAY1973 2
CHARNWOOD 1
KL BLUE 1
OHIOTRACTORBOY 1
WIGAN PICTURE
Match Referee – Scott Duncan
IPSWICH TOWN 1 WIGAN ATHLETIC 0
Im sure when the hangover kicks in we will be more sensible!
