Wigan Athletic v Swansea City, Match preview

The Road to Wigan Pier.

The enigmatic chronicler of English life, George Orwell, is something of a hero of mine.

The author of 1984, Animal Farm and a host of other brilliant literary texts, the man born Eric Blair was nothing if not prolific.

Included in his wide-ranging canon, The Road to Wigan Pier, first published in 1937, is a book of two parts.

In the first, he is descriptive of the hardships endured by the working class in Industrial Yorkshire and Lancashire particularly, and in the second, contrasts this with his predominantly middle class upbringing, and how these contrasts shaped his ultimately Socialist political consciousness.

It should be noted that he himself took immersion into the culture seriously, and lived amongst the people at the time.

He draws a stark comparison between his favour of Socialism, and why the people who would benefit from it most (those self same working class downtrodden) are most likely to reject it.

The later allegorical works are some of the most important and effective in English Literature in my eyes and are as enlightening as some have found our football this year. That's the level I like to think we've got to.

So when we go to Wigan this weekend, there are a great many parallels that may pertain.

Firstly, both Wigan and we are more representative of Orwell's first section protagonists than his Class background. We, to a greater or lesser degree than they, but in perceptive terms both, are something of Premier league arrivistes.They were first promoted to the PL in 2005, and their journey from non-league football to the present day is something of a modern fairytale.

They were first elected from the Northern Premier League on 2nd June 1978, replacing Southport in the then voted-for system of re-election or not, and began their progress up the league ladder from their Springfield Park home.

Nowadays, of course, they are more swishly resident at the DW Stadium (previously the JJB), although the shared pitch is worse for the wear created by their co-tenants, the Wigan Warriors RL side, and last week saw Darren Bent of Villa suffer an awful injury from a pothole in same. Not particularly useful to either side, but more so us Swans, since we're not used to it.

The DW as you know is named after their shy (sic) Chairman and Owner, Dave Whelan, who made his fortune from the JJB Sports chain, and like that other scion of Leisure and Sportswear, Mike Ashley at the Toon, is nowadays considered a second-tier Moneybags, their mere millions trumped by the gazillions extant at first on the Kings Road-by-Chutotka, and later at Eastlands-on-Etihad.

Whelan is of the old school, as perhaps befits a former professional footballer of the cloth cap era, and has brought Wigan Athletic from an Orwellian background of Third Division mediocrity to the summit of the English game, membership of the Premier League, as he likes to remind people.

His playing career is best remembered for the leg break he suffered in Blackburn's loss of the 1960 FA Cup final, 3-0 to Wolves, and, as it was before substitutes were introduced, it was considered a further example of the Wembley "hoodoo".

He first became involved at Wigan when he bought the club in February 1995. Alongside presiding over their rise to the PL, he built the JJB Stadium as was in 1999, and over the years sold his stake in the Wigan Warriors RL franchise, who still play on the pitch.

A famous Wiganer who still has a fond regard for the town is the egregious, in its archaic sense, Stuart Maconie, a connoisseur of the Wigan Pie, and this fine journalist/modern Flaneur, still speaks fondly of his home town.

Incidentally, it is a fact that Maconie is credited with starting the Urban Legend that most will have heard - that Bob Holness, of Blockbusters fame, was the player of the Sax solo on Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street. Make of it what you will, but it puts the modern Memes of Twitter etc in the shade, don't you think?

Our relationship with Wigan, of course, will forever be remembered for their and Whelan's snaffling of one of our previous Managers, Roberto Martinez, who, it will be remembered, moved lock,stock and (staff) barrel from the club he'd "have to be dragged out of" to the "Cloob of his Dreams", his "first love".

To this end we ought really to say thank you to Mr Whelan, since it ultimately led tortuously to us appointing our current Manager, Brendan Rodgers. I think I can confidently say that long term, we got the better deal.

With regard to the playing staff, the former Swan Jordi Gomez, who was both revered and doubted whilst with us, has never been trusted totally "oop North", but is a member of a varied and skillful squad that in totality, looks like this........

1 Chris Kirkland GK, 2 Steve Gohouri DEF, 3 Antolin Alcaraz DEF, 4 James McCarthy MF, 5 Gary Caldwell DEF, 6 Hendry Thomas MF, 7 Albert Crusat MF, 8 Ben Watson MF, 9 Franco Di Santo STR, 10 Shaun Maloney MF, 11 Victor Moses MF, 12 Michael Pollitt GK, 14 Jordi Gomez MF, 15 Callum McManaman STR, 16 James McArthur MF, 17 Emmerson Boyce DEF, 18 Conor Sammon STR, 19 David Jones MF, 20 Hugo Rodallega STR, 21 Mohamed Diame MF, 22 Jean Beausejour MF, 23 Ronnie Stam DEF, 24 Adrian Lopez DEF, 26 Ali Al Habsi GK, 31 Maynor Figueroa DEF

I've not listed the out on loan players, nor those without a squad number. Let's start at the back.

The Goalkeepers are always fascinating, if only because most fans will think "how the hell did they get into it?". Mike Pollitt, the third choice nowadays, was the primary GK in their climb into the Division, but has been superceded by younger talent. Chris Kirkland, is over 30 now, but in his younger, pre injury days, was viewed as England's future No 1 when at Liverpool, but age, and those perpetual injuries, seem to have taken their toll.

His squad No(1) has been taken over in precedence by Ali Al Habsi, late of Bolton, who, when I first saw him, reminded me of the kind of keeper we see at World Cup Tournaments for Algeria etc vs England in the group stages - you know what I mean - flashy, athletic, but ultimately flaky. His performances can still occasionally remind you of that, but his regular highlighted saves behind a struggling defence seem to just out-weigh my mental prejudices. Just.

At RB Martinez chooses from a number of players, as there is no specialist. These vary from Ronnie Stam, the Dutch journeyman who likes to get forward, to Emerson Boyce, a more defensive option who often plays at CB too, to Steven Gohouri, an Ivorian international imported from Borussia Monchengladbach , and, he is of late in favour.

In the middle of the defence, at CB, this year's import, Antonin Alcaraz, who had a good World Cup for Paraguay, has made several high profile gaffes in games, and is still struggling to come to terms with the pace of the British game.

Gary Caldwell, Scottish brother of Steven, is the Club captain and has also, recently, captained his country. He is an archetypical British CB, good in the air, and a passionate competitor. The ex-Celtic player is vastly experienced. Boyce, as mentioned previously, often plays in the middle at the back.

On the other side, at LB, Maynor Figueroa will never be forgotten for a free kick scored from 60 yds, in his own half vs Stoke. Very strong, and sound. Needless to say, good going forward.

The strength of the squad is in the Midfield, where they have a wealth of talent.

Gomez's undoubted skill and dead ball expertise is a still remembered sight, but the Latics crowd can quickly get on his back when things aren't quite going right for him, and his contribution suffers for this.We've players of our own who have to put up with it, too - the current recipient of the reprobation being Scott Sinclair no less ( and Mark Gower's had his share ), and it's really so self-defeating. Ah well.

The defensive MF'ers are quality. Hendry Thomas, the Honduran, and Mohamed Diame, the Paris born Frenchman who came from Rayo Vallecano, are similar in style and often used to be used as a dual shield but Diame is now the principal wall, since he gives more going forward as well.

That protection allows the creative players to flourish, and they have several.

The stand out this year is Victor Moses, signed from Crystal Palace, and he at last seems to be fulfilling his promise, being statistically the PL's most prolific dribbler and shooter, with increasingly better reward and more effective interventions in games.

The almost twinned James McCarthy and James McArthur are flourishing. McCarthy, although Scottish born, is following his Irish roots in representing the RoI, whilst McArthur joined his former Hamilton team mate and almost namesake in July 2010, and the U-21 Scot is perhaps more defensive leaning.

Ben Watson is the all action ex Crystal Palace player who takes a mean penalty. Committed, busy, grafting. Albert Crusat is a lightly used Spanish winger who came from his Iberian career with Almeria, Rayo Vallecano and Espanyol, and is both tricky and pacy.

Shaun Maloney is the ex Celtic and Aston Villa grafter. David Jones, previously at Wolves, is the Welsh MF'er of decent technical ability and whilst mainly left sided, slots into the team as needs be, often being the pick up man behind the strike force.

Finally, in the middle, they signed Jean Beausejour from Birmingham in the transfer window, and the left sided Chilean is probably the attempt to replace Charles N'Zogbia, gone to Aston Villa for the Shekels, both personal and Club wise.

Up front, the options are these - Franco di Santo, Hugo Rodallega, Callum McManaman,and Connor Sammon. It may, on the day, be effective, but it really should not strike terror into our hearts.

Di Santo is a young Argentinian originally at Chelsea, and who spent a season on loan at Blackburn, and whilst he is both physical and eager, his goalscoring prowess is far from prolific.

Similarly, Rodallega, after an initial period in England where he looked as if he may follow the successful progress of winger Antonio Valencia, who moved on to Man Utd for a fee Mr Whelan could not refuse, he has, this season, often been behind Di Santo in the queue for a place, and his career seems to be stumbling somewhat.

McManaman is a young Englishman who spent time on loan at Blackpool. The other striker is Irishman Connor Sammon, signed in January 2011, from Kilmarnock, where he was the SPL's second highest scorer. A bruising all rounder, he has been capped at U-21 level for the RoI.

All in all, without any disrespect, not a squad that is as deep or as talented as many we've faced, and bested, this season. However, that should not lead to any sense or even smidgen , of complacency.

We forget at our peril that they first came into the PL in 2005, and they haven't been relegated since. They are truly ensconced in the mire this year, and have rarely been out of the bottom 3, but at 10 points and 6 places behind us, they will see this as a massive opportunity to make up some of the deficit.

Likewise, we should view it as a chance to either maintain or increase that gap, with the first priority being not to lose.

Last week's performance at Stoke was hugely disappointing for us all, and I've written of my feel that the tempo we played at may have been detrimental, since we appeared laboured throughout. I think we can be assured that the Management team will have come to a similar conclusion, and one hopes that their planning this week reflects that.

My suspicion is that it will, because we are one of the few teams to only lose 2 consecutive PL games, suggesting that we bounce back effectively. Long may that be so.

The Swans line-up is something I'm really not at all certain about. Here's my rationale.

Vorm, fit again, is a must. Caulker and Williams are a lock. Taylor is almost a cert, and Rangel probably too. Danny Graham, remains, for me, odds on, since he's my Star.

As for the other 5, perm them from 8. I've got a suspicion that BR and partners might just, this time, surprise us, so rather than speculate, I'll let you think it through, because your guess is certainly as good as mine, and I'll only add that McEachran was as good for the England U-21's as Caulker, who scored.

So, we follow in Orwell's footsteps to seek out the mythic Wigan Pier. Oh yes, it is mythic.

As we all know, Wigan is landlocked, and is thus unlikely to have a pier in the Blackpool or Minehead sense, but nowadays it's the name given to the surrounds at the bottom of the flight of Locks on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and is accessible from the town centre.

I can picture Senor Martinez having his Latte and Tapas lunch there, in between training sessions.

Or perhaps that's just a flight of fancy?

Whatever, I'll be really pleased to come away from Orwell's testing ground with a share of the spoils - even if deep within my working class heart, I dream of more.

Onward, Swansea City.