By Ian Aspinall
When Dave Whelan handed over the chairmanship of Wigan Athletic to his 23-year-old grandson David Sharpe, many fans feared that the club could go into free fall.
However, the youngest chairman in the Football League has steadied the ship and they are looking a good bet to return to the Championship.
Burton Albion, Gillingham, Walsall and Coventry City all made better starts to the campaign, but, at the time of writing, the Latics had only lost two of their last 25 games and were unbeaten in 11. The momentum seems to be with them.
Sharpe was appointed when Whelan took a back seat after the dark days of Malky Mackay’s tenure took their toll on the 79-year-old.
The young chairman’s early pronouncements did not augur well. At the beginning of the season, he made a rod for his own back by saying: “I don’t want to just win this league, I want to smash it and get 100 points.”
But despite this initial faux pas, Sharpe has made some astute decisions, notably appointing Gary Caldwell as manager and then making money available for promising young players in the transfer market.
The new manager was always a good organiser on the pitch and was captain of Scotland, Celtic and Wigan, but it was a risky strategy to give the untried Caldwell the job after the disastrous reign of Mackay.
Caldwell, only 33, seems to have learned well from his previous managers, who include Bobby Robson, Gordon Strachan and Roberto Martinez.
In fact, Everton boss Martinez is his biggest influence and Caldwell has adapted the Spaniard’s style of play to League One.
Both Martinez and Caldwell believe in possession, building from the back and trying to play football on the ground.
Wigan have benefitted from parachute payments and were expected to be amongst the promotion front-runners but Caldwell had a major rebuilding job at the DW Stadium after the drop into League One.
He decided to release most of the players who had been tainted by relegation, with only Chris McCann and Leon Barnett remaining from last season.
The manager has signed a record 29 players this season, including nine on loan, and the profile has been mainly young, up-and-coming players who are comfortable on the ball and capable of playing at a higher level.
The new players inevitably took time to gel but they have been improving week by week.
During the transfer window, Caldwell added greater strength in depth with the signings of winger Yanic Wildschut from Middlesbrough, midfielder Sam Morsy from Chesterfield, defender Reece Wabara from Barnsley and forwards Ryan Colclough from Crewe and Conor McAleny on loan from Everton.
Sharpe has backed his manager’s transfer decisions and has also become a firm favourite with the supporters with his social media interventions.
Sky Sports’ Jeff Stelling recently ridiculed Wigan supporters for saying that they preferred the FA Cup win in 2013 to a place in the Premier League.
He and his panel of jokers made fun of the club for having to play teams like Crewe Alexandra.
The TV presenter reputedly supports Hartlepool in League Two, but by poking fun at Wigan and Crewe he showed he doesn’t really care about football outside the top flight.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh20inQZ7nc)
The Sky Sports presenters and pundits have increasingly lost touch with grass-roots football supporters and Sharpe was quick to have a dig at Stelling.
Sharpe said on Twitter: “Over 2,000 Wiganers at Crewe on Saturday. More than triple our average away attendance in our final year in the PL. What was that Jeff?”
Sharpe has further endeared himself to the fans by recently purchasing local rivals Bolton Wanderers’ training ground. The facilities are Premier League standard and Wanderers were reluctant to lose them but, in their current precarious financial position, they had no option but to sell to the Latics.
The feel-good factor is back at Wigan. The board, manager, team and supporters seem unified.
The club is heading in the right direction and the young chairman could turn out to be a good chairman after all
