OK let’s get it over with….
This is the cult song that we will surely hear coming from the away end on Saturday, the song that has become such a phenomenon that my teenage daughter informs me she heard it in various European nightclubs during her inter-railing trip this summer.
The song that I heard sung by not only Northern Ireland fans but also their Wales counterparts when the two sides met in the Euros in the summer – and then by supporters at the Italy-Spain that I was also lucky enough to go to two days later.
And while former Bee Will Grigg was not given the chance to burn up any opponents during the summer’s international extravaganza in France, failing to get on to the pitch in any of his country’s four matches, he has certainly been “on fire” in the Championship so far this season.
His 88th minute goal against Wolves on Tuesday night, 22 minutes after coming on as a substitute, was his fifth Championship strike of the season (sixth in all competitions) – putting him joint third in the division’s top league scorers behind Bristol City’s Tammy Abraham and our own Scott Hogan.
Not only that, it also gave Wigan their first win in eight games, and only their second of the campaign, and lifted them off the bottom of the table and out of the relegation zone altogether.
Grigg’s goals apart, it has been a tough return to the Championship for Wigan, who bounced back from relegation 16 months ago to win the League One title at the first time of asking.
They lost 2-1 at Bristol City on the opening day of the season and although they comfortably saw off Blackburn 3-0 in their first home game a week later, that was only a brief respite.
They embarked on a seven-match winless run featuring home draws with Birmingham (1-1) and Fulham (0-0) and a defeat to QPR (0-1) while they lost all their away games at Nottingham Forest (4-3), Sheffield Wednesday (2-1), Norwich (2-1) and Preston (1-0).
Adam Le Fondre put them in front on Tuesday – only the second time they had taken the lead in a match since the Blackburn game – but Wolves equalised before half-time, only for Grigg, who had started every other game this season, to come on and finally earn a welcome victory.
Grigg, who scored four goals in 17 full and 19 substitute appearances in all competitions in two years for us, is not the only ex-Bee in the Wigan ranks with Nathan Byrne, signed from Wolves on deadline day, also in the side.
He made four full and seven substitute appearances for us in 2011 during a loan spell from Spurs.
Now they are back in the Championship, Wigan will be trying to regain the Premier League status they enjoyed for eight years over the past two decades.
Having only joined the Football League in 1978, they were in the bottom two divisions until 2003 but then, after only two years at this level, they were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history.
In 2013, they set a unique and unwanted record in becoming the first team to win the FA Cup but be relegated from the top flight in the same season.
WHO’S IN CHARGE
Gary Caldwell was named as the new manager of Wigan near the end of the 2014/15 season – after retiring as a player earlier that campaign.
The former Latics captain made more than 100 appearances for the club with his last game in the 2013/14 play-offs.
Caldwell joined Wigan from Celtic in January 2010, after previously playing for Newcastle and Hibernian and also won 55 caps for Scotland.
He won the League Managers’ Association League One Manager of the Year award last season for his team’s title-winning achievements.
LAST TIME WE MET
Our two meetings with Wigan in the Championship two seasons ago will be remembered for very different reasons.
The away game in October was a goalless draw, in which two former Bees – Uwe Rosler and Adam Forshaw – were the subject of plenty of attention from a crowded away end.
There was also a noisy homecoming for the players when their train pulled into Euston in the evening.
The return match was on the final day of the season, with the Bees needing a victory and other results to go in our favour to secure a play-off place and Wigan already relegated.
And it was a memorable day with Alex Pritchard, Jota and Andre Gray on target in a 3-0 win and Derby and Ipswich both losing, to ensure the Bees finished fifth to set up a play-off semi-final with Middlesbrough.
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT US
BBC Political Correspondent and BBC Radio Manchester’s Wigan Athletic reporter Paul Rowley takes us through his Latics-supporting life and recalls his memories of their games with the Bees, including one where he had to hide his allegiance!
Q How would you assess Wigan’s start to the season and how do you see it unfolding – mid-table safety, relegation struggle or play-off push and why?
A On the face of it. it’s a been a disastrous opening in contrast with last season when the team romped to the League One title. Up to Tuesday night the club were bottom of the Championship for the first time in their history.
The defeat at Preston North End last Friday was the sixth in the opening nine games, all by the odd goal, and the club has yet to pick up an away point. But the 2-1 home victory over Wolves in midweek lifted them out of the relegation area.
Overall, the team hasn’t played badly, but basic defensive errors have proved costly. This is only Wigan’s fifth year in the Championship despite eight seasons in the top flight and every campaign has been eventful.
In their first season at this level in 2003-04 they missed out on the play-offs by a whisker, in their second they went up automatically behind champions Sunderland. Three seasons ago they made the play-offs under former Brentford boss Uwe Rosler, going out to eventual winners Queens Park Rangers and the following campaign were relegated in a season when they had three managers, two chairmen, and used a club record 43 players.
So mid-table safety is something ‘Tics fans haven’t seen for a while and frankly after the start they’ve had I’d willingly settle for it.
Q How long have you been watching Wigan Athletic?
A I started as a 13-year-old schoolboy in 1968 when Wigan were in the Cheshire League. I’d gone along to watch my cousin Derek Floyd who was a wing-half (whatever happened to wing-halves?) and thus began my lifetime love affair.
It cost sixpence to watch (that’s 6d, the equivalent of two-and-a-half pence for younger readers) and the following season my parents bought me a 30 shilling (£1.50) season ticket for our first season in the Northern Premier League.
At the time most of my classmates thought I was mad. They followed Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool or Manchester City, all of whom were in a 20-mile radius of Wigan and all of whom won both the league and the FA Cup while I was at school.
So being a Latics’ supporter was almost a minority sport, especially with Wigan’s rugby league team doing so well at the time.
Q So have you stayed loyal ever since?
A I had to stop watching when I became a newspaper journalist on leaving school. I reported non-league football for the Times (that’s the Bootle Times) but three months after leaving college in 1974, I covered Wigan’s FA Cup 1st Round tie with Mansfield Town for the newly-opened Radio City, the Liverpool based independent.
I joined the station’s newsroom in 1977, a year before the club was elected to the Football League at the 35th attempt. I was privileged to cover the early games in the Fourth Division, travelling on the team coach for their opening match at Hereford United, a goalless draw. I was in heaven.
I stayed with the station for a decade, but in 1980 when ITV got Saturday night football for the first time I was asked to work on Match Night on Granada TV (the northern equivalent of London Weekend Television’s The Big Match) for the next three years while also being Political Editor at Radio City.
In 1987, I moved to London to become Political Correspondent at Independent Radio News before moving to the BBC in 1994 to do a similar job. But I’ve always spent my weekends covering football, having visited Griffin Park many times for LBC and BBC London.
When Wigan reached the Premier League, I was honoured to be asked by BBC Radio Manchester to cover my hometown club home and away. It’s been an amazing adventure, especially to be paid to watch my team lifting the FA Cup at Wembley!
For a club that had spent more than 40 years in non-league football and more than a quarter of a century in the lower divisions, it was a fairytale that only Hans Christian Andersen could have written.
Q What memories do you have – good or bad – of previous trips to Brentford to see Wigan either for work or as a fan?
A The first time I saw Brentford was at Wembley of all places. Bees fans won’t have good memories of June 1, 1985, but Bryan Hamilton’s side won 3-1 to lift the inaugural Freight Rover Trophy at the end of an average season when the club finished 16th in the old Third Division.
For me, it was a week of mixed emotions, having covered the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster three days earlier when 39 fans were killed before the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus. Seven of the Latics squad were from Merseyside and some of them took it hard. But goals from Mike Newell and Tony Kelly, who had both been at Anfield as kids, gave Wigan a 2-0 lead. And even though Robbie Cooke halved the deficit early in the second half, David Lowe, another Liverpool lad, scored a spectacular overhead kick to cement victory.
It was a magnificent performance for an emerging side, who went on to finish fourth in the table for the following two seasons, although looking at the video all these years later, I realise Newell handled the ball before scoring the only goal. Sorry to sound like Arsene Wenger, but I didn’t see it. (Ed – I did and I’ve still never forgiven him for it!!)
Q What memories have you got of league games between the pair of us?
A The first league meeting I covered was in the season when Phil Holder’s side won the old Third Division in 1991-92. The Bees romped to a 4-0 success with two goals apiece from Gary Blissett and Dean Holdsworth.
I also saw Brentford’s only win at Wigan in April 2000, when Ray Lewington’s side won 3-1 thanks to goals from Paul Gibbs, Lloyd Owusu and Scott Partridge despite the team coach breaking down en route to the ground. The result jolted the Latics’ promotion hopes with new manager Steve Bruce, in his first spell in charge, having to settle for the play-offs.
Oddly, I also covered the next meeting at the-then JJB Stadium on the opening day of the 2001-02 Stadium in which both Steve Coppell and Paul Jewell took charge of their teams for the first time. Ivar Ingimarsson giving the visitors the lead before substitute Lee McCulloch equalised. I covered a number of games here that season and thought Coppell did a brilliant job without spending any money and felt you were unfortunate not to be promoted.
In the following campaign Wigan did the double, with Neil Roberts scoring the winner at Griffin Park. I remember interviewing Jewell in the Eric White press room afterwards, telling him : “You’ve got good memories of Brentford, Paul, after winning at Wembley in 1985”. He barked back : “No,I haven’t. I was on the bench for most of the game. I was gutted!”
In the return game on Easter Saturday, the Latics eased to a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts. It virtually guaranteed them the Division Two title, but I couldn’t crow too much on air, as I was doing the game for BBC London!
Q Will Bees fans notice anything different from the Wigan side they last met in the Championship?
A The side that you’ll see on Saturday will look nothing like the team that visited TW8 less than 18 months ago on the final day of the season, when a 3-0 victory for Mark Warburton confirmed your play-off position, while Wigan had already been relegated.
The side was completely overhauled for that League One campaign with a total of 42 signings since then. Amazingly, local lad Jordan Flores who made his debut as second-half substitute that day is now the club’s longest serving first-teamer.
I managed to fit the match in while in the midst of covering the General Election campaign. After the game I went to interview the Labour leader Ed Miliband just five days before he was crushed on polling day. But I told him I thought his party would take the Brentford and Isleworth seat from the Conservatives, having seen an array of Labour posters and placards in the gardens around Griffin Park.
My forecast was right, but before the end of the week Miliband Junior had resigned, with the result in West London not being reflected in the rest of the country.
Q Who should Bees fans look out for particularly on the Wigan side – any of the new signings or people from last season’s team….and is Will Grigg really on fire….?
A Gary Caldwell has an abundance of talented midfielders, with FA Cup winner Jordi Gomez having returned to the club, the enigmatic Nick Powell having signed from Manchester United after a loan spell three years ago, with Flying Dutchman Yanik Wildschut a handful on the left.
Add to that last season’s Player of the Year David Perkins, who never stops running, the emerging Max Power, and the steady Shaun MacDonald, so it’s a surprise that the team isn’t higher up the table.
Will Grigg was slow to start since arriving from Brentford, but since the turn of the year he’s been prolific. He’s electric in the box in the same way that Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker and Dean Holdsworth were in their prime. He’s shown he can score at this level, something he didn’t manage at Brentford, but he’s got five league goals already, including the winner against Wolves after being “rested” by his manager having just become a dad.
The other positive is that his replacement Adam Le Fondre got the other on his first start, on loan from Cardiff City against the club where he was on loan last season. One worry for Wigan is who plays in the right-back position. It seems to be cursed, with midfielder Alex Gilbey who operated there in an emergency against Fulham being stretchered off, with five full-backs already on the treatment table.
Nathan Byrne (another ex-Bee), David Perkins, and Max Power can all play in that position, even though they too are midfielders.
Another oddity is that Wigan have lots of “doubles”. There are two Lukes, two Craigs, two Reeces, two Adams, two Burkes, a Burn and Byrne, a Dan and a Daniels and a Jordi and a Jordan.
You might have had a pub on every corner at Brentford, even if one’s closed now, but I doubt if you can beat that!
TEAM NEWS
Wigan played a 4-1-4-1 formation against Wolves in midweek.
On loan Liverpool goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, one of three league ever-presents, lined up behind a defence featuring emergency right-back David Perkins (ex-Blackpool), former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, another ever-present, at left-back and Jake Buxton (ex-Derby) and former Fulham defender Dan Burn, who scored against us for Yeovil in the 2013 play-off final at Wembley, the central defenders.
Former Bournemouth midfielder Shaun MacDonald, who has been called up by Wales for their forthcoming internationals, sat in front of the defence behind Nathan Byrne, ex-Tranmere midfielder Max Power. the final ever-present, Yanic Wildschut, signed from Middlesbrough in January, and Jordi Gomez, re-signed from Sunderland in August.
Gary Caldwell will have to decide whether to keep on loan Reading player Adam Le Fondre in the starting line-up or bring back Will Grigg – both of whom scored in midweek.
Among the other substitutes on Tuesday were former Wolves midfielder Michael Jacobs, ex-Crewe and Manchester United front man Nick Powell and 41-year-old ex-Bolton and West Ham goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
IAN WESTBROOK
@ianwestbrook
PUBS IN BRENTFORD
For Wigan fans coming down, you are probably aware there plenty of pub options pre-match and all are most welcoming.
There are now only three pubs around the ground, following the closure of the Royal Oak.
The Griffin is closest to the away end (like 30 secs walk) and is very popular with away fans – but also very, very busy. The New Inn is on the other side and is also popular with away fans. The Princess Royal is the other option.
Other pubs slightly further afield for the more creative amongst you include (and this is by no means a definitive list) …. The Globe (Windmill Rd) is the Beesotted pre-match pub. This boozer & The Lord Nelson (Enfield Rd) are both incredibly friendly and cosy away-friendly pubs and about 1 min walk from each other .. frequented by ‘away fans in the know’.
The Plough (Northfields Ave) in Northfields is a decent stop-off if you are coming by tube to Northfields (it’s a much better pub crawl route getting off at Northfields than South Ealing) before making your way down to the ground (normally stopping off at The Globe and Lord Nelson en route).
There is also a pub right by Brentford station always referred to as … the Pub by Brentford station.
For ale head to the Magpie and Crown pub on Brentford High Street. The Royal Horseguardsman can probably hold 15 of you at a push. The Brewery Tap is a cosy boozer by the river. And if you are super adventurous, get off at Kew Bridge and visit the brand new boozer One Over the Ait right on the river – beside the bridge. There are loads more too.
A quick Google search and you’ll find them all. There are many many more too if you have a look around.
Parking is pretty easy away from the ground going up towards and over the A4 Great West Rd (ie. North) via Ealing Road or Windmill Road.
You can check out Transport for London’s guide to travel on the tube and Overground here.
Great article. Looking forward to my first trip to Griffin Park tomorrow and hopefully Stop your show 🙂