Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez will stick to his principles in relegation decider
A rugby town, an empty stadium, a patchwork pitch. The Premier League, the theory goes, would not miss Wigan.
Calming influence: Roberto Martinez believes Wigan can stave off relegation playing attractive football Photo: PA
By Rory Smith 11:00PM BST 20 May 2011
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It is easy to think nobody would. They do not have Wolverhampton's proud history, Blackpool’s romance, Birmingham’s fan base. It is easy to think Wigan do not matter. As Roberto Martinez would observe: try telling that to George Owen.
The 83 year-old, who has followed the club through thick and thin for half a century, suffered a heart attack during Wigan’s game against West Ham last Sunday. Only the prompt action of the attending paramedics saved him. He is currently in intensive care. Forget history or value or reputation or attendances. To this rugby league town and its rugby league people, Wigan matter.
“I know what it means to the town because I have been here since 1995,” says the Spaniard, of his curious bond with the Premier League’s most curious club. “But that was the moment when it really impressed me. You just feel how important it is, that it affects your life and your family’s life.”
George’s story would be an obvious anecdote for Martinez to cite to his players as they travel to Stoke on Sunday, but it is not the 37 year-old’s style to parrot Bill Shankly’s aphorism. He will not tell his players their Premier League is more important than life and death.
“I do not believe in managing like that,” he explains. “I do not believe in managing by fear. I believe in doing it by aspiration. When you manage by fear, the moment you turn [your back], the players do what they want.
“This group do not need extra responsibility or extra pressure. If you have a group that do not care, this is the moment to make them care, but for our group it is time to get away from that responsibility and make them enjoy their football.”
It is typical Martinez. Everything received wisdom states he should do, he eschews. He attempts to play attractive football when fighting for survival. He tries to build a squad while reducing the wage bill, so that now only Blackpool pay out less than Wigan. At the most stressful point of his managerial career, he laughs off the idea he might feel the pressure.
“If I have not shaved,” he smiles, when asked if he has occasionally looked like a man who has endured sleepless nights, “it is because I get sensitive skin.”
That is the last thing a manager needs in his position. There, too, Martinez is different. Dave Whelan, Wigan’s benefactor and chairman, has promised the Spaniard a job at the club for as long as he desires; Martinez is under no pressure from above. It is from Whelan the manager takes his cue, spreads his calm.
“I have not looked at the league table since December,” he admits.
“There has been a lot said about teams needing to win to stay up. We have been in that position since November. I have learned not to lose energy about things you cannot control.”
He will keep track of goings on at White Hart Lane, Old Trafford and Molineux, he admits, but he has not engaged in pondering all manner of permutations. Instead, he will stick to what he always does: being different.
“For many people, it will be an exciting part of the day,” he believes. “Can you get out of a relegation scrap playing football? At the beginning it was all too easy to see Wigan with empty seats and ask why they are in the Premier League. But now I feel we have a lot of good wishes, because of the way we have played, which is not normal in a team fighting relegation. People want to see that way of playing being successful.”
None more so than in this rugby town with its empty stadium and its patchwork pitch. None more so than George. “I do not know if he will be watching,” said Martinez. “But we want to invite him for the start of next season.” It matters, to Martinez, that he can extend a Premier League invitation.
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