Wigan, I am disappointed

This is an opinion piece, in case you’re wondering …

I was pretty excited to see that Wigan has redesigned, and slicked up, its official website.

Unfortunately, as I soon discovered, the way they are paying for that new shine is by asking its supporters to pay fees to get “exclusive” content such as interviews with players and, in some cases, pretty basic news.

Now, there’s still some free content on there, but I’m not sure that I get this strategy. Maybe they just do things a little different across the pond, but I’m used to primary sources, such as team websites, doing everything they can to disseminate information as widely as possible.

It strikes as a bit shooting-yourself-in-the-footy, especially coming from a team that should be doing everything possible to expand its brand.

Far be it from me to question to online decisions of an EPL side, but as someone who is trying their darndest to get to know your team, I just don’t get this move.

It’s different over here

In my ongoing quest to become a Wigan literate, I have been reading whatever I can about my new favorite side. Lately, it’s been quite eye-opening.

An amazing amount of the news generated out of the Latics Swedish training center, is about whether players like newly signed Paraguayan international Antolin Alcaraz will ride his World Cup buzz to a more lucrative contract with a bigger name team (all indications are that he won’t) or how several potential targets of Wigan played so well at the World Cup that they are no longer in the Latics’ range.

As a follower of MLS, it just strikes me as a bit odd that an EPL side has these kinds of issues. After all, we here in the States are brought up believing that just playing in Europe is a major accomplishment and that playing in the EPL is akin to debuting on Broadway.

Of course, I realized that the EPL is a world of haves and have-nots that render all talk of it in American sports leagues as utter hyperbole. Still, I was thinking that merely having access to the riches of EPL play would allow even a Wigan to basically get any non-headliner they wanted. This is obviously not the case. In addition to all of that Wigan lost another player, Mario Melchiot, to a Qatari side. This just strikes me as something that doesn’t happen to many EPL sides.

It ain’t easy being Wigan

In my ongoing quest to become a die-hard Wigan supporter, I figured I needed to at least look the part.

For me, that means picking up a scarf and, eventually, a jersey.

You’d think that in 2010 these would be pretty easy thing to find, at least in regards to a EPL side. The Internet is flush with sites that cater to fans of just about every league in the world, surely there’s got to be someplace hocking Wigan gear … right?

The obvious starting point is Google.

I typed in “Wigan Athletic scarf.”

There are really only four relevant hits, one is to Amazon, one is to Sporting Kicks and two more are to Wigan’s official site (one of which is apparently under construction).

While some teams have many options to choose from, Wigan apparently has just two scarves available online. Both are pretty hideous. This is the better of the two. I may be a devoted fan, but I’m going to go ahead and hold out for some better choices. I have an image to uphold, after all.

It’s lonely being a Latic

As you should know by now, this is a new endeavor for me. I have never followed Wigan, so I am frantically trying to learn as much as humanly possible about the team before the season starts next month.

With that in mind, I’m just typing “Wigan Athletic” into Google and seeing where it takes me.

One of those hits sent me to the Wigan Big Soccer page. Seemed like as good a place to start as any, right?

Well, it turns out it’s pretty lonely in there.

When I entered the page, it notified me that I had the opportunity to become the first author of their Wigan Wiki. I had the opportunity to start writing my own Wigan history!