Mr Whelan is a passionate man, but it does appear he sometimes speaks before he thinks, in one stroke slamming Latics support that has in little over a decade grew from 1,500 to 15,000 plus, a truelly extraordinary achievement.
In a town surrounded by some of the biggest football clubs in the world, not to mention the once famous Wigan Warriors, Mr Whelan needs to understand you cannot flick a switch and fill the stadium overnight, not that I particularly wish to see the stadium filled with another 5,000 ''supporters'', who have no allegience to the club. Last season Wigan Athletic averaged over 19,000, 15,500 of which were home supporters, this compares to an average of 14,500 for the towns Rugby League Club.
Mr Whealn claimed to ''only'' have 15,000 Latics supporters inside the JJB Sadium against Chelsea was dissapointing, considering the game was live on Setanta TV, at 1.30pm, on a Bank Holiday, in the middle of a credit crunch, it is my view Mr Whelan was overly harsh in his views. Dissapointed he may be, but his reported comments reaffirmed many of the tired cliches the club and it''s supporters have fought against for so, so long. If I'm perfectly honest, Mr Whelans comments felt like a personal kick in the teeth to myself, and I suspect many supporter ''s who turns up week in, week out, and are now encouraging family and friends to support the Latics.
Mr Whelan claimed the club were doing all they could to attract new support, may I suggest that along with the obvious, time, the club could take a few steps to encourage new Latics supporters down to the JJB Stadium.
Marketing and Supporter Relations
Altough Latics direct marketing appears to have improved over the close season, there is still much to do to improve match day promotions.
You can walk around Wigan and the JJB Stadium and be completely unaware Wigan has a Prmiership club, posters and banners advertising forthcoming games are absent, posters of Latics big name players and fixture lists should be plastered everywhere you look, in shops, schools, sports clubs, putside the ground etc.
Why doesn''t the club have a town centre presence in the form of a club shop/ticket office, why no Latics Roadshow''s involving the JJ''s Mascot, ticket competitions, posters/sticker giveaways and so on around town for the days prior to each home game? The club need to get out there in the community and spread the word, not everyone has internet coverage, not everyone will activelly go out and search out Latics news and information, this is doubly so for housholds who''s parents don''t
support Latics, yet their kids do.
Next on the list is a Supporters Club, it's unbelievable Latics still do not have one!
Local pubs showing Latics games is held up as a reason Latics gates are not as large as they could be, rather than using this as an excuse, the club should get out there, speak to these fans, ask why they are staying away, what can be done to bring them back into the fold, don''t write them off as a lost cause.
One of the great success stories in recent years has been the JJ''s club, over the year''s JJ''s members have graduated to to the West and East Stands, unfortunately the JJ''s club appears to have lost momentum, it''s sad to see the South Stand so empty these days.
Are young fans being priced out, are the club actively looking for new JJ''s members, is the club providing sufficient support and funding for this worthy scheme?
The South Stand gives the club the perfect opportunity to provide special priced family tickets or Dads ''n Lads deals, each game the club should aim to fill the South Stand to at least 60%-70% capacity, whether that means inviting local schools for one game, local football clubs for another, Bring a Friend for a Fiver for the next, Dads ''n Lads special deal for the next etc, etc., special deals for the South Stand only, anythings better than empty seats. Attract the next generation of support, soon enough they too will become full paying supporters in the West and East Stand.
So to conclude, it is understandable to hear Mr Whelans frustrations, but he needs to take a leaf out of Steve Bruce''s book and always put a positive spin on the clubs support (which isn''t hard to do!), realise many journalists are only out to mock Latics, and take into consideration some of the above recomendations.
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