This was a very rare and specialy opportunity for the supporters who take the time to manage the fans sites. For all the rubbish we have to deal with on the messageboards sometimes, it is more than worth it when you get the opportunity to go and meet a very special man in the history of Wigan Athletic Football Club.
Roberto Martinez is not only a very talented football manager, and a very intelligent man, but he is also a Wigan Athletic supporter and he knows just how important this club is to its supporters and how much it has grown over the past few years.
This does not mean that he is not as fiercly ambitious as our passionate chairman, in fact quite to opposite. And in the same way that Sir Alex Ferguson struggled during his early days with Manchester United, Roberto Martinez is not a short term fix for Wigan Athletic, but he is looking longer term. He is looking at what is best for the club and what can help to build this club from the perennial relegation fighters into a top regular top half team.
It was certainly a pleasure to be given the opportunity to be part of such a small group of people given the opportunity to experience the 'inner sanctum' of the training ground and to speak at length so personally with the Wigan Athletic manager.
The major point that came across to myself was the humility and passion for the club that Roberto displayed. Our previous manager left us with a poor squad after absconding for his next position on his dreamland to Old Trafford. He moved for more money and what he perceived would be more success.
Martinez on the other hand has a deep loyalty for this club and I think he has the knowledge to take is to the next level.
The Latics manager was refreshingly open and frank about all the teams affairs. All the questions put to Roberto were sensible and well put and he dealt with them in a professional manager.
The meeting lasted for just short of one hour and I have painstakingly taken the time to type the entire thing out. At present the first twenty minutes are completed and can be read through below.
Although some slight edits have taken place so as no to give too much away, 99% of the text below is the open and honest opinion of the current Wigan Athletic boss. As mentioned before, this is an unprecented opportunity to get into the mind of Roberto Martinez, and we are very grateful. I hope this makes interesting reading.
Roberto Martinez is in italics
His questioners are in bold
Good afternoon Roberto, how are you?
We all the same, love for the Latics. I feel very good, very excited because I feel that we are at this present time we are at the strongest moment of the season. At the earl of the season we have twelve players and we are fortunate we never had real injuries and keep healthy squad.
We now have James McCarthy and Victor Moses as the best two young players in the Premiership and we are one click away from becoming the side that we’ve been showing in little spells. Staying in the Premiership and we can kick on because we have a very good team.
How is life in the Premiership, is it more pressured than that of the Championship?
If I am honest the pressure that you put yourself under with the daily work, sometimes it is easier in the Premier league as you have the facilities whilst others it is difficult because for example Spurs when we lose 9-1, it is in the press and the media. I was in work every day, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
On Sunday they had gone through it, on Monday they were a little better then on Tuesday it came out on Sky again and ten on Wednesday they were upset and Thursday they were on the floor destroyed.
Playing against Sunderland thinking we are going to lose and then on Friday they were a little better picking themselves up and we won 1-0. We were so up and down that week it was very volatile. That is what the premiership brings you. Everything is so much on the public domain.
The same way you get a great week like the one with Chelsea and we think we are too good for these. But the mental side is very different. Every other angle is covered.
My main problem has been this season that I relied upon players for Wigan Athletic that are big. And they have been a massive failure. Olivier kapo, Daniel De ridder, and I shouldn’t say it but Jason Koumas, big, big players.
But in a way we just feel that everyone needs a chance a fresh chance.
Does it ever play on your mind that you didn’t play at this level when you are dealing with these players?
No, I always felt that playing in the old third division for a technical player was more difficult than playing in the Premiership!
I think my biggest strength as a manager is to read the game tactically. In that respect you don’t need the respect. You get that from how you organise them and get them to play on the pitch. How you organise them and get them to show their quality on the pitch.
It is not about whether you played or not. The best players don’t normally make good managers. There is one exception, Johan Cryuff. All the other top, top players not good manager.
They think it is so easy for them because they are so talented then why can you not score from this position, I used to put it top corner, I used to score from there all the time!
That is the key, the best managers go to detail and get the best from average players. For example Rafa Benitez the better the player the bigger the struggle for him because he wants hard working players who4-4-2 , 4-2-3-1 or what ever formation he plays they are doing the job. He doesn’t like these Gerrard a who can do so many other things and leave holes that have him exposed.
But in that respect they always Johan Cryuff is the exception because he was a genius on the pitch and has been able to be a genius manager.
As an aside from that, in world football, which managers do to you aspire to?
You get many aspects from many, many managers. You get good bits and bad bits and you learn from the bad experiences of managers you have. You learn more of how not to treat players. You look at a successful team or not and you need the dynamics of a team. For me the biggest manager in this respect was Arrigo Sacchi and his Milan side. The first time he came in there was a lot of foreigners. For example, the Dutch and there could have been a clique there but he turned it into a way that it was a big, big strength.
So obviously you have Arrigo Sacchi that from a technical point of view was not so good then from a tactical point of view Johan Cryuff is the best in the world by a mile. His teams are so flexible, the way they can play to stop the opposition and also hurt people them selves with possession to out play teams.
Then you have a manager like John Toshack who doesn’t get the credit for what he did in Spain. What he did with Real Soceided with a group of young players was exceptional. The way they played with the sitting midfielder and then what he did with Swansea in England from the fourth division to the top.
I remember they beat Leeds 5-0 and went top of the old division. When people talk about John Toshack here they don’t understand the level of success he has had in Spain. He was the first manager to manage real Madrid twice and to get that job twice you have to be something special.
If you get Arrigo Sacchi, Johan Cryuff, Macho Mariano (the Columbian) and John Toshack and put them all together, then … (you have Roberto Martinez).
I don’t know if you watched the England international last night Roberto? There was pride from me seeing Leighton Baines in a full England shirt. Leighton was the last player we brought through the junior ranks some years ago, is this an area where we perhaps fall down as a club.
Yes, I watched the under 21’s online, and watched England later. In terms of youth development, I think it is a fault in the British game and we need to improve that at Wigan Athletic. It is not a coincidence that Leighton Baines is the last one, the only one to come through.
We don’t give enough structure, not just at Wigan Athletic, but in the British game. I am looking at Manchester United, Liverpool, all the top clubs and they have the same problems. Probably Liverpool is the only one that is trying to do something different.
We are spending so much money on the youngsters until they are eighteen. I think every academy year costs you £1 million. You get them at eighteen and we need to make a decision on who is going to be a professional, at eighteen!
Then it is so easy that they think, ‘I am a professional’ now I can act like Rodallega or Titus Bramble, when really, at eighteen, we should put them in a position at eighteen, through to twenty-one where they really need to earn professional status.
And you earn that with a lifestyle, in training, and we need to give them a good tactical and technical education and then after that four year period you have a player that is ready for the first team.
That would require a culture change throughout the British game, and how do you go about that?
With time, we have some players now who are going to be fantastic players for this club. I want to get to the position where every pre-season there are one, maybe two that are ready to play in the first team.
If we get that structure, then we will have one player ready for the first team every year. This should come with more attention on that age group from eighteen to twenty-two and not making decisions at eighteen or nineteen.
Sometimes you get late developers and it makes me laugh sometimes when people talk about systems. We should help the players know how to play in different formations, a 4-4-2, a 4-2-3-1, 4-5-1, 3-5-2, the players should be able to switch like that, click, click, click.
Unfortunately, we could do a test and get all the youngsters and ask them to change the system and they don’t know what to do, all they know is straight lines and 4-4-2. That is a fault in our football culture.
So I take it that you dislike the 4-4-2?
What is the difference between systems, you tell me? People talk about the systems and how they are not working. It is the players that make the systems work, so depending on what players you have, you can then make a system strong.
Four, four, two in the easiest system to play against because you have two banks of four. When you get people in between, it is very difficult to deal with. And then to hurt the opposition, having two strikers against four defenders, you are not going to get a numerical advantage.
How you do that is to try and work out one versus one situations. When you can pass the ball quickly and perhaps a switch of play to get Charles N’Zogbia one versus one with his full back, we are going to score, we are going to get something out of it.
If you can get Hugo Rodallega or Victor Moses, we are going to score, we are going to get something out of it.
People speak about having strikers, and yesterday was funny. I watched the England under 21’s and they ended up with five strikers and this was the easiest moment for Greece.
Because although they had five strikers, if they don’t have the ball they are not going to hurt you! So then all of a sudden, they had Lee Cattermole and Jack Rodwell, and Greece stopped those two and the five strikers couldn’t get the ball. So the system is important to try and get the best out of your players.
In terms of the Latics, you have only had one full transfer window to buy players. Are you trying to play a system that is different to what these players have played before, and possibly trying to put square pegs in round holes? Do you ever just think that for this season we will try and consolidate and build for next year?
In our squad we have all different players from all different regimes and they play in the normal positions. There are some players that never change positions. For example if you are playing a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1, the players in defence are the same. They will only change if we change to three at the back.
All the players that we have from last year, they are defenders really, and my goalkeeper. Everyone else is playing in a new position and they are all capable of playing in those positions.
It is not the new system that the players are being asked to do something completely different. It is the opposite, we are trying to get the best out of players. Like in the past, if you have a Heskey, and then you have another, you can play in a front two because those two will score goals.
The way we are, if you are relying on Hugo Rodallega’s physicality to hurt the defenders, that is going to be difficult and so for us we play with a front three. When we have been at our best, we have been playing with three strikers. Jason Scotland, Hugo Rodallega and Charles N’Zogbia who is like striker when he gets in those positions.
You have three versus four really and although people think 4-4-2 is better, this way we have 4-3-3 which gives us bigger options, especially when you get those quality players in the wide areas with the ball. That is getting the best out of our players.
Marcelo Moreno is a completely different player and you will see he is an all rounder. He works hard he is good in the air, he holds the ball well and he has an amazing strike with both feet. We need to get him in good positions. If we get him to feel himself here, like he was in Brazil, then we have a great player.
He has a great feeling with Hugo. From the first day they have clicked, and I wanted to get them playing together. You will see playing at home that he will be a great addition.
I have seen him playing with Cruzeiro back in Brazil and his timing of his runs is always the right one, and he was very confident. Then he went to Shakhar in Ukraine, and he was never himself. He went to Werder Breman and he wasn’t himself. If we can make him feel at home here then he will be very good.
Shaktar paid €9 million for him, so they are asking at least €5 million. Given our budget, if we are going to spend big, we need to spend it on someone who we know is not going to be a gamble.
So if we are doing this with a player that has been with us and worked with us, then we know this is not really a gamble at all.
Now we have James McCarthy, Victor Moses, Hugo Rodallega, Marcelo Moreno, Jordi Gomez, Hendry Thomas, Momo Diame, you have the front positions and we are as good as anyone.
James McCarthy looks as though he is going to be a very good player. We noticed how you kept him away from the first team for a little while.
Yes, six months it took him. Sometimes, we sign a player, for example, Victor Moses, and we sign him and put him in the team straight away. This puts him under massive pressure and then he feels as if the world is against him and I need to perform. Instead of just saying, okay, you are here, lets see what you can do.
And slowly, you feel that he is getting frustrated, and he really wants to play here, and he is worrying about what I need to do to play here, rather than what do I need to do to score a goal. It is a completely different mind set.
At the moment, Victor, when he came on against Birmingham, he looked a threat. We couldn’t give him the ball quick enough. Every time he got on the ball he looked like a player.
And then James McCarthy, that boy, he can play out wide, in the middle, he is the only player at nineteen years old that I can change to three different positions during a game. You can normally only do that with experienced players.
He came on against Brazil the other day, and nothing phases him. James is a true ambassador and you don’t get so many players like him. He turned down Liverpool three years ago because he felt that was a club that he wasn’t going to play and he is so clued in.
He seems to have his own strength and loyalty, what with the Ireland and Scotland situation. I guess that could bode well for us in the future?
If he does not feel that any potential move is not the right time for Wigan Athletic then he won’t do it for himself, that is clear. Craig Levein (Scotland manager) came down to see him training and Gary Caldwell was here. Now Gary is another one, what a leader.
And Levein got him in a room, on his own, one to one, just to persuade him. He came out of the room, and he said, ‘I can’t believe it, I have no chance of persuading him.’ James is just nineteen, and he is with the manager of Scotland in the room, and he held firm that his feelings said he need to play for Republic of Ireland.
Part two of three will be published tomorrow.
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