Quote Bilko="Bilko"Nothing as long as it's made available when we want to play. That play off farce last year was just blatant pettiness from Whelan.'"
I don't agree Bilko....the play off fixture was an additional ...unexpected ...unplanned fixture which NO ONE thought would occur (Wire's ineptitude under the adorable James Lowes being the bizarre catalyst behind the whole situation) would have drawn a 15,000 gate at least ....which meant unplanned and unexpected revenue for Dave Whelan...and what does he love more than money?......N'owt !
He cancelled the fixture because the ground was already in a shocking state (thanks to his unwillingness to invest in it properly...since rectified at long last).....and he was on a last warning from Premier League Chiefs who were just bursting to slap him down due to his "runaway gob" and generally inane pronouncements about all manner of things which don't concern him.
The pitch for the football was appalling and he'd been warned if there were anymore complaints from opposing Managers/Chairmen (apparently there's been plenty) then he was facing a points deduction, which could (potentially) at a stroke spell relegation for Latics and Arrividerci to the 30 million quid annual income.......In effect he was reminded that although he thinks he's "Ruthless Billy Tough Nuts" along the highways and byways of Wigan...in the company that Latics are moving in he's a `Boy Scout'l .....that's why the fixture was cancelled....the pitch was sodden...the forecast awful ....although ironically the weather leading up to the weekend wasn't nearly as bad as feared.....but all the talk of not being able to turn the ground around in time was just face saving waffle on his part, he'd been forced in to making himslef look silly..... but he wasn't going to acknowledge that in public.
