Monday's Paper Talk

The 3-0 win strengthened Latics' automatic promotion push, narrowing Ipswich's lead at the top to three points, while opening up daylight between themselves and Sunderland in third place.

Goals from Nathan Ellington, Jason Roberts and Alan Mahon did the damage in front of a huge crowd of 17,177 – the highest since West Ham's visit on the final day of last term.

Atmosphere

The Latics manager said: "It just shows that when there is a big crowd and a decent atmosphere, the players respond well to it.

"Hopefully we will play in front of this size of crowd more often than not if we
continue to make progress.

"Driving to the match, it was nice to see so many police because it meant there was a bit of a game on.

"As for the bill we'll get, they had better send it out to Barbados because that is where the chairman is at the moment!"

Latics led from the 10th minute through Ellington, with Roberts and Mahon
netting in the second half as Leeds were outplayed.

It was Latics' first win at the JJB since January 4 as the last two home games yielding just a point.

Jewell said: "I think that was our best performance this season – we dominated from start to finish.

"The front two really set the tone and Leeds couldn't deal with their movement, pace and power.

"We got the ball down, created numerous chances and perhaps the only worry at half-time was we hadn't made the most of our opportunities.

"But the players went back out in the second half and dominated again.

"I'd like to think we can kick on from this. It was a big game as Leeds arrived on the back of a good run.

"I told the players just to make sure they won more battles than they lost, and I didn't think we lost any."

There was some confusion over the second goal with Lee McCulloch and Roberts both claiming it.

But Roberts got the last touch on a goalbound McCulloch header and has been officially credited with it.

Jewell said: "Jason is claiming it and he was excellent – he really deserved a goal."

The troublesome pitch again came in for some scrutiny and it cut up.

But Jewell said: "It's not the groundsman's fault and he has an almost impossible job to look after the pitch.

"If you'd seen it after the rugby had played on it last week, to get it to how it was a testament to him.

"The condition of the pitch doesn't help us and you can see it is hard to run with the ball but we can't keep using it as an excuse."

Jewell is still looking for a couple of new additions to his squad and with Ade
Akinbiyi seemingly on his way to Sheffield United, Jewell may now try again for Southampton striker Brett Ormerod.

Saints manager Harry Redknapp blocked Jewell's last move for Ormerod 10 days ago due to a striker shortage.

But with the injury situation now easing at St Mary's, there's a chance of a fresh deal.

Jewell added: "I still think we need one or two players to help us cross the line because we will pick up injuries."

The Times

Jewell in sight of Holy Grail
By James Ducker

PAUL JEWELL REMEMBERS THE moment like it was yesterday. It was the moment that would come to shape him, not only as a manager, but as a person. Liverpool had just secured their place in the 1984 European Cup final with a 3-1 aggregate win over Dynamo Bucharest and Jewell, then a fresh-faced 19-year-old, was on the plane journey back from Romania with the rest of the jubilant squad. He had recently established himself as a promising young striker at Anfield, but despite missing out on a taste of the action that evening — he was named seventeenth man when only 16 players were picked — he felt part of something very special and was in buoyant mood. It would quickly change.

“I remember Ronnie Moran walking down the aisle and saying, look lads, there’s no champagne, I want you and you (pointing at me and Jim Beglin) in at 9am for training tomorrow’,” Jewell said. “We had a reserve-team game the next day, and while I couldn’t believe what I was hearing at the time, it’s something that has always stuck in my mind.

“They were the ultimate professionals. If you got a ‘well done’ off any of them, Joe Fagan, the manager, John Bennison, Tom Saunders or Ronnie, bloody hell, you must have been doing well and that’s probably where I get my attitude from. I have never needed pats on the back and I have never blown lots of kisses at people. I want to be judged on results, not personality.”

Now 40, and less than four years after taking charge at Wigan Athletic with the club near the foot of the third tier of English football, the former Bradford City and Sheffield Wednesday manager is within touching distance of taking them into the Premiership for the first time.

Yesterday’s 3-0 victory over Leeds United consolidated their position in second place in the Coca-Cola Championship, three points behind the leaders, Ipswich Town. Having narrowly missed out on promotion last season, Jewell is determined to repeat the feat he achieved with Bradford six years ago.

Bradford memorably survived their first season in the Premiership after the most unlikely of wins against Liverpool on the final day, before resigning soon after following a fallout with Geoffrey Richmond, the chairman. Jewell insists there has been no such trouble with Dave Whelan, Wigan’s confrontational chairman and the multimillionaire founder of JJB Sports, and is confident that the club can sustain top-flight football should they achieve it.

“My greatest achievement was probably keeping Bradford in the Premiership because we were written off, but if we could get Wigan to the Premiership that would surpass everything,” Jewell, himself a former Wigan player, said. “When I came here I didn’t like a lot of what I saw and I didn’t like the way the players perceived what being a good professional was about.

“In fairness to the chairman my first six months were a disaster and he backed me. I judge people on how they are when times are tough and he supported me. He has never really said ‘well done’ to me since then, but that doesn’t make a difference, he pays me decent money and I don’t need people to slap me on the back.”

Jewell says there will not be any “silly spending” if Wigan do win promotion. “When I left Bradford, the chairman signed Benito Carbone, Stan Collymore, Dan Petrescu and David Hopkins and they are still paying the price now. That wouldn’t happen here,” he said.

“The chairman won’t be too circumspect, there will be investment in players but he’s not going to go about killing the club. It’s no good talking about what we will do if we get to the Premiership, though, because we are not there yet. It’s almost not about ability, but strength of character at this stage of the season. There will be players who can’t sleep at night at the moment, but it’s about not hiding.”

The only thing Jewell will keep hidden is the champagne. For the moment, anyway.

The Times

Woeful Leeds brought down to earth by prolific double act
By James Ducker
Wigan Athletic 3 Leeds United 0

IT STARTED WITH THE ARRIVAL OF Ken Bates as chairman last month and continued apace with two wins and a draw, news that they would no longer have to sell their best players to stay afloat and the capture of Shaun Derry, from Crystal Palace, but reports of a renaissance at Leeds United appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Kevin Blackwell, the manager, had recently entertained notions of Leeds challenging for a place in the play-offs, but many more performances such as this and he will be thankful if they manage to retain their Coca-Cola Championship status.

The infighting that had previously been confined to the boardroom also spilt on to the pitch at the JJB Stadium on Saturday, souring a scintillating display from the home side that provided the most conclusive evidence yet that Wigan Athletic would be a worthy addition to the Barclays Premiership.

Gary Kelly and Sean Gregan, the Leeds players, were spotted screaming at each other as they disappeared down the tunnel at half-time with an enclave of stewards and police officers wading in to ensure the disagreement did not end in violence.

It was just a shame neither had anything meaningful to say about a mess of a pitch, on which Leeds were not so much outplayed as thoroughly outclassed. To compound their misery, Derry, making his debut, was awful. “We know tempers can flare on the pitch, but we’ve just got to get on with it and try and put things right,” Rob Hulse, the Leeds forward, said.

Goals from Nathan Ellington and the sublime Jason Roberts took their combined tally for the season to 35 and Wigan on their way to a handsome victory that was capped by a stunning late strike from Alan Mahon. That Wigan might easily have reached double figures tells you everything about two clubs experiencing very contrasting fortunes. “We were second to everything, the knockdowns, everything. It’s a reality check for all of us,” Hulse said.

Ellington stroked in Gary Teale’s cross for Wigan’s first and his nineteenth goal of the season on ten minutes after Gregan and Paul Butler had failed to clear their lines, before Lee McCulloch squandered a hat-trick of chances.

McCulloch thought that he had scored just after the break with a header from Jimmy Bullard’s corner, but Roberts got the telling touch. “I thought it was my goal, but Jason says it hit him and if he’s prepared to get the pistols out at dawn then he can have it,” McCulloch said.

Roberts then hit a post after a dazzling run, but a minute later, Mahon thumped a 25-yard drive beyond Neil Sullivan to make it 3-0. “That was probably our best performance of the season so far,” Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager, who was also buoyed by their biggest attendance — 17,177 — this season, said. If only Leeds had as much to be cheery about.