We seem to be going through a run of games against opponents that are very hard, or impossible, to set seven decades quizzes for. Wigan are always a challenge when it comes to the days before they joined the Football League in 1978, but, so far anyway, I’ve managed to get questions for all seven decades for them and, although you could say my sixties and seventies questions are more suited to other decades, I’ve done so again today.
Wigan are unusual when it comes to League One this season in that they are perhaps the only team in the division you could say have been mid table throughout with no great promotion aspirations or relegation worries to get excited or worried about.
I daresay Wigan fans reading the last paragraph will point out that inn this barmy league they’re only three points above Plymouth in the last of the relegation places, albeit with a much better goal difference, so there is every chance that they could go down. I’d counter that though by saying I’ve not heard them mentioned as relegation candidates on any of the League One podcasts I regularly listen to. Now, I accept that this might be a dangerous situation for Wigan as my mind goes back nearly fifty years to when we lost to Orient in our final game of the 77/78 season – a result which kept the London team up and sent down a Blackpool side which had been thought of more as promotion challengers for about eighty per cent of the campaign.
I don’t see Wigan as relegation candidates, but, by the same token, I don’t see them bridging the eight point gap to the last of the Play Off places unless they bring more goals into the team during this month’s transfer window. As it is, Wigan’s record is one of an archetypal mid table side – they’ve won and lost the same number of matches, but they’ve drawn more than they’ve won or lost. Also their goal difference is zero with them having scored and conceded goals at a rate of just over one a game.
So, all of that makes it a game we should win tomorrow, but with six of their twelve away matches ending all square this season, Wigan like a draw on. their travels and I believe we’ll have to improve our play in the final third from last Thursday if we are to stretch our run of consecutive home league victories to eight.
On to the quiz then, the answers to which will be posted on here on Monday.
60s. Valentine is a middle name which hardly suits the rugged defender who bore it. He began his first team career at one of his home city’s clubs towards the end of this decade and had done so well that a power in the land, which was undergoing something of a rebuilding job at the time, had snapped him up before it was out. I’ve always thought that he never really established himself at his new club and was more of a back up, but 150 league appearances in the five years he was there says otherwise. When he moved on, it was to the Midlands for a club record fee. His new team were still something of a novelty in the top flight at the time, but they would establish themselves and their stay in what was then Division One lasted decades. However, our man never really settled there as he lost form following an injury and his next move looked to be a real downward step which, in the event, turned out to be anything but that as he added another international cap to the three he had gained eight years earlier. As far as I can tell, he played against City twice and lost them both with the first time being with his fourth club in what turned out to be a very notable result. The second time he faced us was when he was with the fifth, and final, club of his playing career, Wigan, but can you name him?
70s. Butchery involving a soldier?
80s. How are a footballing knight, Gary Bennett and the number 4.447 connected in the context of Cardiff v Wigan games?
90s. Oi, waddle v Wigan! (5,4)
00s. Alliterative and 110 times capped.
10s. Can you identify this player from the following clues? He’s only ever had three clubs, Wigan were his second one and he only played eleven times for them, while he played just twice for his first club who wear a different shade of stripes to Wigan. However, he was loaned out to six teams from his first club during which he played a total of seventy two matches – he was also loaned out once by Wigan, playing a further dozen matches this time. He has made a total of 367 league appearances for his third permanent team, scoring ninety eight times despite playing as a defender for most of that time.
20s. Time traveller at number six?
Answers
60s. Larry Lloyd was signed by Liverpool from Bristol Rovers in 1969 and made his debut for England in a 0-0 draw against Wales in 1971. Lloyd was signed by Coventry in 1974, but his time there was blighted by an injury and he dropped into the old Second Division when he signed for Nottingham Forest early in the 76/77 season. Despite a 1-0 home loss late in the campaign to City which turned out to be their last loss at the City Ground in forty nine games, Forest were promoted that season and, incredibly went on to win the First Division title the following season with two European Cups and League Cup triumphs following. Lloyd’s form won him an international recall, but it did not go well as England were thrashed 4-1 by Wales at Wrexham in 1980. Lloyd was appointed player manager at Wigan in 1981 and steered them to promotion from Division Four the following year. He was still registered as a player when his team visited Ninian Park early in 82/83 and they were defeated 3-2 in the Billy Woof match.
70s. Tommy Gore.
80s. Gary Bennett was sent off in a game at Wigan in April 1983 as City closed in on promotion from the Third Division. There was a crowd of 4,447 at Springfield Park to watch the match which finished as a goalless draw and Wigan were managed by Bobby Charlton who was doing the job in a caretaker capacity after Larry Lloyd had left to become Notts County boss.
90s. David Lowe.
00s. Kevin Kilbane.
10s. James Tavernier was loaned out to six different clubs while at Newcastle and then to Bristol City after he had joined Wigan. Tavernier went on to sign for Rangers in 2015 and has since become the highest scoring defender in the history of British professional football.
20S. Matt Smith plays as a deep lying midfielder for Wigan and shares his name with the actor who played the eleventh Doctor Who.
