Jewell: "This is our big chance"

Last updated : 28 January 2005 By Paul Farrington

Jewell said: "This is our big chance, we could not be in a better position as everything is in our own hands at the present time. I don't want us to look back when we're old and decrepid and think what might have been. We have to go for it and we will. I believe that we are good enough to win promotion this season and it is now a case of us all proving me right.

"It's going to be extremely tough because, as everyone knows, this League is ultra competitive. However, we must make sure we do everything within our powers to gain promotion this year.

PJ - Desperate for the Premiership
"If we don't go up, let it be because we weren't good enough, but I believe we are good enough.

"This should be a fantastic time to be a Wigan fan, a Wigan player and the Wigan manager, so let's make the most if it. It would be momentous if we got up, and while I got Bradford promoted, going up with Wigan would be my biggest achievement in football.

"To do it here with the stigma attached to the club - the fact people say we're a rugby town and with the talk about the small gates - would give me more pleasure than anything. The hunger is there for myself and the players, and hopefully the disappointment of last season will stand us in better stead this time.

"I'm desperate to get into the Premiership, I want to be a Premiership manager because it's the best place to be in football. I'm ambitious, I hope the players are just as ambitious, and if we didn't go up, it wouldn't be because of a lack of preparation or a lack of drive or a lack of trying to strengthen the squad. What we've got to do is keep focusing on winning matches as that is what will get promotion, not dreaming about it.

"It's amazing when you stop and consider the great strides the club has taken in such a very short time because we are not looked upon as the underdogs despite the size of the clubs that we are up against. Five years ago the position we are in now would have been unthinkable and we must not waste the good work we have done so far.

"The games from here on in won't be pretty but we want promotion and we know we'll have to kick, scrap and grind out results to get it. It's going to be all about who wants it most and we must ensure that it is us that does between now and the end of the season."

Latest Table

Last game played on
Wednesday 26th January 2005
PldHomeAwayOverallPtsGD
WDLFAWDLFAWDLFA
1Ipswich Town 301221301356426241785563759+19
2Wigan Athletic 30942321075321121695532257+31
3Sunderland 30942251381618131758432656+17
4Reading 30104125944712181488372750+10
5Derby County 316462524825181414611433848+5
6Sheffield United 30564171583422221398393748+2
7Preston North End 3010322915348122513710414046+1
8Millwall 309152215456131413611352945+6
9West Ham United 309242116447192313611403945+1
10Queens Park Rangers 308342216519172613413394243-3
11Leeds United 3155519165561618101011353440+1
12Crewe Alexandra 2955429226272128117115050400
13Burnley 286531612455711101082323400
14Leicester City 29555151347316149128312739+4
15Wolverhampton Wanderers 305732620447162191110424138+1
16Stoke City 3072611936671310812182238-4
17Watford 30483171245619228139363437+2
18Brighton & Hove Albion 305461316537112010713243637-12
19Cardiff City 306361714276162181012333534-2
20Plymouth Argyle 30546161942917239615334233-9
21Coventry City 30546181834819318814374932-12
22Gillingham 307261518131113318517284929-21
23Nottingham Forest 3055517190510112651015284525-17
24Rotherham United 301681323258102031116234320-20

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