He joined them when they'd just lost their manager and two best players. He was charged with rebuilding the team along more modest lines and he's done so impeccably and brought them the first major trophy in their history. He's brought in players like McCarthy, McManaman, Gomez, Di Santo, Kone, even Maloney who could be sold tomorrow for multiples of what they paid.
I would say finishing 11th meant he didn't have a huge rebuilding job but if he did he took the building down. As i previously stated the FA Cup was a great achievement. As a manager he failed to stop them linking goals and the warning signs had been there from his very first season. When he took over they had a goal difference of -11 and by the end of his first season it was -42. I could go on. And if he brought in so many good players how did he manage to get them relegated.
Last edited by KK77; 15/05/2013 at 3:28 PM.
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He brought in lots of good players and almost all of them were sold at a profit so he was constantly in a state of rebuilding the side. Martinez taking over coincided with Whelan's business interests declining so he was forced to run the club as a going concern rather than being able to invest heavily. So the years of spending £20m a year on players were over, and he basically had to sell to reinvest, which he did impeccably. When you're constantly selling your best players and bringing in inexperienced youngsters, you're going to find it very difficult to maintain your position let alone advance it.
I understand he works with very limited resources and over the course of 4 seasons there is bound to be times when you run into trouble. But it's the same thing every single season. Look at this season. Wigan definitely aren't one of the worst three teams in the league,yet here they are with one game to go down. Now if Martinez has a better team than some of those above him,how is that acceptable when you've been in charge as long as he has. I'm happy for Martinez winning the FA cup and he probably will get a shot at a bigger club,and I'd be happy to be proven wrong(as long as its not Everton)but Wigan have gone down down because they've made the same mistake that they make every season,and if you keep leaving yourself a mountain to climb,its inevitable eventually you won't be able to.
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Well Wigan aren't one of the worst teams in the league on their day, but they don't have the squad or the resources to play to their best every day. Every single that finished above them is able to offer bigger contracts and bigger transfer fees for the same sort of players, or better. Wigan made two big signings this year - Kone and Ramis. Kone was a more or less unqualified success, but Ramis having been bought to lead their defence has been injured most of the season. There were times this season when he had no fit centre halves.
And again, you're acting like Wigan plan to start slowly and finish well. Martinez may well train the team to peak towards the end of the season, I don't know, but the fact is they are so erratic because they have a shallow squad compared to other, richer teams.
Much is made of a bad run of defensive injuries, which sounds credible enough to me. Any side with Gary Caldwell anywhere near it is bound to leak goals though!
I suppose only one questions remains really, what is Roberto Martinez greatest accomplishment at Wigan Athletic?
A) Beating Manchester City to win the 2013 FA Cup?
or
B) Making a 100% profit on Conor Sammon?
Going from 2-1 up to 3-2 down home to Swansea and only drawing with QPR (who had 10 men for over half the game) were disasterous results. It's a shame, but they've conceeded the most goals in the league and they have chopped and changed the keeper a fair bit.
Well James Mac can be very happy with his decision to turn down Liverpool. Who would have thought Mac would end up with more credible silverware by joining Wigan? Martinez is probably happy enough too overall, even though Brendan Rodgers was clearly their number one choice all along!
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That was the nail in the coffin. If they had won it they would now be on 38 and only a point behind Sunderland and two behind Villa, Fulham and Southampton. Even if they had drawn that, they could have gone to the Emirates and tried to get a draw (instead they had to go for broke to get the win in the second half) - two draws would have seen them on 37, they would be home to Villa knowing a 2-0 would see them finish ahead of Villa and even a 1-0 win there would probably see them pip Sunderland (who would probably lose at Spurs - chasing the CL - and be on 39 points).
Pearls of wisdom from Paul Merson.
QPR are poor and even Harry says they're not good enough.
Not a fan of Arry myself. Well and truely found out at QPR.
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