Priorities - the league or a tilt at silverware?

[Brett Angell Delight]

If there has to be a choice then league. United and Spurs showed each side of the cup argument last season. Fair play to Spurs, rolled the dice and ended up with CL footy; United did the same and ended up an utter calamity all ends up.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Give a gal a minute to look stuff up Rita, “Wigan Athletic management issues in 2015” would not be my specialist subject of choice!

But since I’ve answered why I think their long term issues were more about the management, care to explain why you think it about their cup win?

Or alternatively when you would think it safe for Everton to have a cup win without following them down the leagues?

iirc the final was a downing of tools on behalf of city, and mancini was booted not long after? are wigan better off for the cup win? when portsmouth won their cup and were in trouble, weren't they so devoid of cash that they couldn't pay the fee to play in europe when they'd qualified?
As for Everton, I'm always wary, every gift is forbidden fruit. ps, wigan won the fa cup in 2013. wigan are currently residing in league one.
The bandit they had that masterminded their downfall ended up here talking lunacy about heroic defeats and possession stats. His days lying to us were probably a highlight considering what came after him. The joy of hindsight.

Reckon we get a new ground languishing in the lower leagues crippled by debt and talking up former glories?

 

[Nymzee]

If that Keane header goes in on 25 minutes I don’t think any of these threads are created. Fine margins.

 

[Tipp blue]

wigan didn't.

Probably because Dave Whelan broke his leg.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Didn’t they have a bit of a weird owner that then handed it over to a relative ? I could well be remembering that wrong but I my recollection was he was bit Kenwright-ish.

Edit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_Athletic_F.C.
On 9 March 2014 Wigan beat Manchester City to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup at Wembley for the second successive year, where they played Arsenal, and lost 4–2 on penalties after normal time and extra time resulted in a 1–1 draw. After finishing 5th in the Championship, Wigan lost their play-off semi-final to Queens Park Rangers.[24]

Rösler was sacked in November 2014 with the club in the relegation places,[25] and was replaced by Malky Mackay. Whelan resigned as chairman on 3 March 2015, remaining as owner but handing over the chairmanship to his grandson David Sharpe.[26] The following month, with Wigan in danger of relegation to League One, Mackay was sacked and replaced by former Wigan captain Gary Caldwell,[27] yet the team ended the season with relegation.[28] The squad changed drastically, including the signings of Will Grigg from Brentford and Reece James from Manchester United.[29][30] The side lost only once in 23 matches in the second half of the season[31] and won the division, with Grigg the league's top scorer with 25 goals.[32]

won league one, and were promoted back to the championship.*

Some sides aren't built to fight their way back into the PL. See Wednesday, Derby, Coventry. All the griping about a loss away at wolves, who, coincidentally made more changes than we did. We lost the other night because we have no natural width from the full backs and we've a headache in CM because the roles haven't been defined. (also the changes we made looked like they'd never had boots on before let alone played football). Yeah it was a kick in the knickers, yeah it sapped some of the feel good to the beginning of the season we'd earned, but it's done now, and all the hand wringing and recrimination won't fix it.

TLDR, We've an above average first eleven, but a significant drop off in quality immediately after that. Can no one remember who was on the books at the end of May?

 

[Tipp blue]

the moving of the final, the getting turned inside out to chelsea 5-0 and the GD getting moved.

When you put all your eggs in one basket...

Wigan weren't good enough all season you cant blame it on an FA cup run, Wigan were in the bottom 3 before the fa cup even started, they were not a good side but got a very favorable run to the final
Bournemouth
Macclesfield
Huddersfield
Us
Millwall
They were relegated by the time the final came around and were well up for it.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Probably because Dave Whelan broke his leg.

An all to ironic point, wigan have limped on ever since. dw sports were in big trouble because his sports stores and gyms were going to the wall.

antolin alcaraz, arouna kone, joel robles, talk about scraping the barrel.

Just doing a bit of reading around, martinez made 24 signings, I count 4 successes. Lukaku, McCarthy, Barry, and Deulofeu. Possibly maybe Cleverly as we got a fee for him when he signed for Watford. 20 wastes of space, some signed for real proper fee's. 20. It was also unforgivable the circumstances around Distin being forced out as well.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Wigan weren't good enough all season you cant blame it on an FA cup run, Wigan were in the bottom 3 before the fa cup even started, they were not a good side but got a very favorable run to the final
Bournemouth
Macclesfield
Huddersfield
Us
Millwall
They were relegated by the time the final came around and were well up for it.

That manager and that cup run was the worst thing to ever happen to wigan. Sadly their misfortune spilled over onto us as the moron that masterminded their pain turned up for a double helping here.

 

[Terrarian]

I've put league, the last few seasons have made me wary about possible relegation scraps, I'd rather see where we are in the league by the time the F.A Cup comes around. I f we are nowhere near a relegation battle, let's go for it in the cup.

 

[OneTrueLegend]

I don't think many premier league mangers really go for it in the league cup, they see how the early rounds go and if they get to the last 16 or quarter finals then maybe they start to take it seriously. But this is because if they went 3 games in the league without a win they would be under pressure, so they will always target the league over the league cup.

I think the FA cup is different though, particularly as we are not in Europe, we need to field our best 11 in that. I would love to win the FA Cup again, even if it meant we finished 14th. But from the managers perspective I am sure he would rather finish 7th and in Europe, because he is more in control of that. To win the cup you have to be good, but you have to be lucky as well, 1 mistake or 1 bad referee decision and it can be all over. If we finished 14th and lost the FA cup final peoples perception would be that we had a bad season, whereas if we finished 7th the perception would be that we had an improved season

 

[Neiler]

We’ve a big enough squad to be competing in both.

See no reason to minimise - yet also have realistic expectations of where the project is at.

 

[Rita_Poon]

I've put league, the last few seasons have made me wary about possible relegation scraps, I'd rather see where we are in the league by the time the F.A Cup comes around. I f we are nowhere near a relegation battle, let's go for it in the cup.

Third round is where PL teams are involved which is January 10th 2026. We've 16 league games between then and now.

 

[Marc bolan]

People act like winning a cup is as simple as "playing your best starting XI" every game, as if there aren't days you could play a strong side and still lose. That's the nature of a Cup competition.

While we didn't "start our strongest" side Tuesday, it certainly wasn't a weak team either. We just lost.

The team was good enough to win, on paper

I agree that was not a weak team but giving players who have not played regular a run out
Who performed like a bunch of footballers who have played together for the first time

 

[AsiaAsia82]

Anyone who chooses one or the other is a ‘Kenwright Happy Clapper’

those who say try for both are ‘Big Nev Disciples’

Make your choice.

 

[riddick]

Probably because Dave Whelan broke his leg.

What? First I'm hearing about this