J-MO




1. Can you describe the euphoria associated with Wigan being promoted to the top flight given that the club is relatively young?

The pitch invasion when the final whistle blew sums it all up. After a mere ten years, when we were on the brink of relegation to the non-league, we were going toe to toe with the English football elite. It hadn’t all sunk in until the fixture came out and was there in bold letters: Chelsea at Home. I am proud to see my hometown playing amongst the top 20 teams in the country.



2. Paul Jewell was rated as a good young manager in his previous premiership assignment with Bradford. Do you think his experience at the top level will be a major factor in premiership survival?

It has proven a major factor in our climb to the Premiership during his past four years in charge and will certainly be once again in the top flight. He knows what he has to do to survive the first season in the Premiership, and has managed to bring in capable players despite his bad luck in the transfer window.



3. Should the club be relegated, how many players do you think will need to be offloaded in order to be able to control wages?

Jewell has been particularly careful about this and has not allowed the club to be held to ransom by signing players on big money contracts. If the worst should happen then I’m hoping we don’t lose more than half a dozen of our regular players at the most. Our financial situation is quite strong with Dave Whelan as chairman and I don’t see us having to completely rebuild from scratch. Besides, it won’t be a problem because we won’t get relegated!



4. Are there enough goals in the current squad to ensure that there will be no need to search extensively for another front man in the next window?

Difficult to tell at such an early stage of the season. At the time of writing, Camara has yet to show his ability at full fitness, and Connolly proved against West Brom with his cracking goal that he is no panic buy. Roberts has been okay and has potential, but needs to improve to cope at this level. McCulloch is also a proven goal scorer, even though he is primarily a midfielder. We will still probably be looking for another striker anyway so that we have enough depth.



5. Being a relative newcomer to FFUK, are you impressed by the standard of the members and the board in general?

This is one of, if not the, best boards I have ever visited. Most of the members are among the highest standards I have seen on a forum. Most notable is that there is a lot less spam and such on the boards compared to most other forums I have visited.



6. Climate wise, would you prefer living where you are or would you prefer to move to somewhere a little more comfortable?

Britain is usually okay in the summer (when it doesn’t rain of course!); anywhere further south is too hot for me. As for winter, I would prefer to move to a more Mediterranean climate.



7. If you were asked to do something outlandish for charity, what would you do and how much would be raised before you were willing to do it?

Funny you should ask that, there was a “thong-a-thon” event today announced on the radio, where men in underwear do a 10km walk. It was for cancer research, but I wasn’t asked so I didn’t do it =).



8. What would be a typical Saturday Night in your life?

I’m not really much of an outgoing person myself, as most of my friends live miles away. Not much to be honest. I sometimes watch a movie, or go eat out somewhere, but I don’t really do anything regularly. I’m thinking of getting a job on a Saturday, evening or not, as my need for money increases.