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Roberto Martinez Proves Romance Isn't Dead By Choosing Wigan Athletic Over Aston Villa
A patient man who believes in patient football, Roberto Martinez has shown himself to be a class apart in a game ruled by money and gun-slinging chairmen...
'Surprised?'
Roberto Martinez today reaffirmed his status as a Wigan Athletic legend by turning down the advances of former European Cup Winners Aston Villa to stay with little ole’ Wigan Athletic. Roberto, who recently claimed to be two years into a five-year plan is clearly thought to have been sorely tempted into managing a big club like Aston Villa with bigger transfer and wage budgets but decided against it to carry on the good work he has been doing at Wigan Athletic.
Although the Roberto Martinez era has not met with universal approval amongst Wigan Athletic fans, many are delighted that he has chosen to stay with the club where he first made his name back in 1995 and today’s decision will only ensure that his list of admirers across the footballing world grows ever longer.
The challenge now on a personal level will be to take on the team which performed so admirably during the last three months of last season and deliver against his plan to try and establish Wigan Athletic as a top ten Premier League side. If he gets anywhere close to achieving this aim over the next season or so, he will further cement his reputation as one of the brightest young managers in the game and be coveted by even bigger and more famous clubs than Aston Villa.
Of course it could backfire on him, there is always a risk that you only get one chance in life and that was it but you can’t help but admire the conviction of the nicest man in football that he will continue to develop a young Wigan Athletic side into establishing themselves further up the Premier League and enhance his reputation as a man who builds not just a team but a squad, a football club with a passionate footballing philosophy from top to bottom.
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COMMENTS
I thought the guy was a likeable, class act whenever he was doing the analysis for Sky Sports Spanish football coverage, and I was pleased to see his subsequent managerial success at Swansea and now survival for a football team in a rugby mad town, in the madness of the Premier League. It's also heartening, for genuine football fans, to see someone behave with honour and integrity, and that may be levelled at Dave Whelan too. After the 'classy' act of sacking Avram Grant and the decision to let him make his own way back to London (until a mini-revolt by the West Ham players), and the 'classy' act of sacking a dignified Carlo Ancelotti in a corridor, it is heartening to see some dignified behaviour from a chairman (in letting Villa approach, and also approach in the correct manner) and for Martinez to display some loyalty to a contract. Watch and learn, you back-street skanks of the King's Road, on how to properly conduct yourselves with style and class. Well done Roberto, well done Dave Whelan, and well done Villa too.
I couldn't say it any better, James. Martinez was one of the anchors for ESPN's world cup coverage over here in America. My friends and I thought he did a great job and wouldn't be against him having a shot managing our national team.
Martin - excellent article - now if Dave Whelan, just for this close season, made it clear that Hugo/Charlie/Mcarthy ARENT for sale then maybe Wigan can get closer to that top ten place that we dream of...
Well said James. Nice to see there's still some loyalty in the game.
Following on from my comments above....McLeish resigns from Brum, and is subsequently in the frame for the job with the EPL side in another part of town. While I congratulated Villa on their correct approach to Wigan, there's something of a sour taste left in the mouth at a subsequent turn of events, and I can't help but walk away from THIS thinking that Big 'Eck was fully aware of an (under the table) approach from Villa. Their American owner has possibly sanctioned an approach, or at least been tacitly aware of McLeish's potential interest, and made it clear that McLeish is very much the sort of manager he admires and would hire. Pure speculation on my part, but I'm just left with the feeling that McLeish has been made aware of the possibility of crossing the road prior to his resignation. In the best of all possible worlds, and assuming my analysis is correct (I simply don't believe managers like McLeish and Hughes walk away from clubs without there being some likelihood of imminent employment) then Villa get to pay Brum the £4.5m they're seeking in compensation, and McLeish gets to replicate his feats of last season...a league cup win and relegation. Schadenfreude. A delight in others' misfortune, and it would now be a delight -again, if my analysis is correct- that Brum get their compensatory cash, use it wisely to get promoted, and wave to Villa on the EPL escalator next May.
Disagree with your article Martin. Reminds me of the ramblings of an unemployed man who gets thrown out the rockers pub for being far to drunk.
SABOTAGE
