Interweb Wars!

The Interweb – don’t you just love it? For every great innovation such as the BBC I Player, Twitter, YouTube and er Wikipedia, there’s always elements which will undoubtedly get on your bastard nerves. And surprise, surprise – for me its football!

In an age were we are able to get almost any piece of information we want, there are still people who find hiding behind a false and ‘wacky’ username, typing abuse to people they don’t even know, a lot of fun.

It has provided a breeding ground for a new generation of ‘soccer’ fans, or muppets as I like to call them. Give them a keyboard and all of sudden they’re a 'superfan' who knows more than anyone else, despite never going to any games in their entire lives. Not that I’m saying only match-going fans should only be allowed to post their views, because that is what the internet is about, an open forum for everyone. But shouting people down and abusing them for their lack of knowledge isn’t what participating in a forum should be about. And don’t even hope for any intelligent debate - almost everything spills out into a pointless argument!

All this comes hot on the heels of the latest Latics mauling, at the hands of Arsenal – who seem to have more foreign fans attending their games than English people. That’s not strictly a bad thing, at least they actually turn up! But after the 4-0 defeat many of our ‘Keyboard Warriors’ were out in force calling for the head of Roberto Martinez after just six games. That’s right – SIX GAMES!

It’s not as if we’re in any danger at the moment, we’ve got six points which many fans expected us to have at this stage. We’ve got Chelsea next, so that’ll be us playing 3 Champions League teams in 7 games. Yes the results have been bad but we’ve got a virtually new team that will take time to gel. Don’t forget, not many of our players have even played in England before, let alone in Bob’s system!

The abuse he has received on message boards is bang out of order and bordering on the ridiculous. Someone once said that bringing back former players as a manager would endanger their hero status at the club. Well I very much doubt that those who are sat behind their made-up usernames were even there when Bob ran the Latics midfield. If they were, then they’ll know this man has more class in him than any manager we’ve had for quite a while.

Anyone who knows anything about football will look at Latics and see how much Bob promotes the club in interviews. He believes in creating a good spirit amongst everyone involved with Wigan Athletic – the players, the staff, the fans, even the town. I can’t remember a Latics manager who has done this kind of thing before, Paul Jewell just plain criticised the crowd instead of encouraging us - and that could be the difference in the end. It’s just a shame our new-found fans don’t appreciate it.

I’d wager that if Steve Bruce was still in charge, I’d doubt anyone would worry about the results. Come back after 15 games and see were we are and how well we’re playing. Bob’ll get it reet!

In the meantime I would encourage you NOT to start any intelligent conversations or debates on forums as you will be abused and given more crap than a portaloo! Remember, internet forums are designed to let insecure people to hide behind a false name in order to bully people, tell lies and to show off. (Very much like Alex Ferguson then!)