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Instead a jumped up secretary by the name of Stuart Hayton put his administrative hat on and put paid to that.
Slight disappointments aside, the football was horrendous and it was embarrassing to be a Wigan Athletic supporter yesterday. The players and management need to have a long look at themselves before next week's clash with Middlesbrough.
It is not often that you can place the blame at Paul Jewell's door, so often he picks the right team, but individuals just fail to perform. Against West Ham yesterday however, it was firmly Jewell's fault for our dismal display.
In short, here are my feelings.
John Filan should have been dropped after his howler at Liverpool last week and Mike Pollitt should be back in.
The back four should have been made up of Ryan Taylor and Leighton Baines at full-back with Paul Scharner and Emmerson Boyce in the middle, we were caught slow in too often yesterday.
The lack of pace at centre back meant that the full-back didn't want to overlap for fear of being caught on the break.
We had two left sided midfielders on the wings in midfield, and neither offered any natural width. Admittedly, in his last outing, David Coterrill was poor, but to push Lee McCulloch straight back into the starting line-up was a mistake.
Kevin Kilbane had a poor game, but I genuinly believe it was not throug a lack of effort as has previously been the case.
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What was most disappointing was that the side lacked any shape, orgainsation or idea which comes from the manager. There was little understanding of the roles that each player had and this was highlighted right at the beginning with the defensive mix-up.
There needs to be strong emphasis in training this week on who is playing what role. The Wigan of last season had such a strong organisation, players knew their own role and played to their strengths.
Yesterday, nobody seemed to know what to do and we played like a team of individuals. Defending was hap-hazard with plenty of head chicken impressions, whilst the attacking play resembled that of a hoof-and-hope League Two outfit.
Jewell needs to lose his undoubted confidence in the players that have served him well in the past. They are not all that and we have better, younger blood in the squad.
Although, would we have lost yesterday had the line up been: Pollitt, Taylor, Baines, Scharner, Boyce, Teale, Kavanagh, Bullard, Roberts, Heskey.
It poses a very interesting question to me. Do we have a squad full of mercenaries who do not have the desire to keep us up.
Player Ratings
John Filan 1 - Hopeless yesterday and Mike Pollitt needs to return.
Emmerson Boyce 3 - Much better at centre back than full back.
Leighton Baines 3 - Bad day at the office.
Matt Jackson 4 - Far too slow yesterday for the speed of Tevez.
Arjan De Zeeuw 4 - A wasted subsititute for starting with an injured player.
Lee McCulloch 3 - Very poor and seemingly lacking desire.
Kevin Kilbane 4 - Personally I think he was one of the few who had a go yesterday, the problem is he's not brilliant.
Denny Landzaat 4 - Unlucky to be taken off.
Josip Skoko 4 - You can't do it all on your own bud.
Emile Heskey 8 - It would have been more but for Emile's display. We would have won comfortably if we'd had eleven Heskey's out there.
Henri Camara 0 - Disgusting performance once more from the little chap. He shouldn't even get a look in for the last two games and needs to be sent to train with the youth team lads. I honestly believe that I could do better than he did.
Substitutes
David Unsworth 5 - Another battling old dog, but too slow for yesterday.
Paul Scharner 6 - Tried to add some drive to the middle of the park.
Julius Aghahowa 6 - Another one who added impetus and should have started instead of the lazy Senegalese striker.
In summary, if the players and the manager do not learn from the mistakes that have been creeping into our play for the last few games now, but were highlighted yesterday, then we will nto survive in this division.
There needs to be a big change before the Middlesbrough game, and I just hope that Paul Jewell hasn't lost his balls, and stands up to show his character for the final home game of the season.
I sincerely hope this is the starting line-up for 'Boro: Pollitt, Taylor, Baines, De Zeeuw, Boyce, Valencia, Scharner, Landzaat, McCulloch, Heskey, Aghahowa.
Anyway, rant over, I'll be there next week, and right to end, unlike some fair weather supporters yesterday.
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