In a rather nice gesture Wigan players are offering to refund the ticket money of all the supporters that made the trek to White Heart Lane for the 9-1 thrashing in what may be one of the worse performances in the 20 year history of the Premier League.
The total refund is somewhere around $16,000 for the 400 or so fans that madethe long trip from Wigan to London for the day. While it’s not much for a Premier League striker it’s a very nice gesture in a sport where players are often accused of being out of touch with the average fan.
Tottenham 9, Wigan 1 – Video highlights
One fan said “I’ve watched them for 30 years. When you’ve been to Barnet and lost 5-0, I can accept a bad defeat, and untill today that was the low point.” Barnet were three divisions lower at the time and on the verge of bankruptcy.
It’s easy to support Manchester United, buy the shirt, maybe a scarf, set the DVR and bask in the reflected glory. Following Aldershot, Coventry and their like requires a little more effort and a lot more suffering.
I spent a lot of Saturday afternoons standing in the West Shed at the Recreation Ground, Aldershot FC’s home, I’ve watched some of the worst football professional football around. However the special moments, beating the big clubs like Wolves, watching a good cup run and starting every season with the belief that this may be the year it all comes together.
Occasionally it did happen and winning promotion in ‘87 to the Third Division (now League 2) by beating former top tier sides Bolton and Wolves in the first year of the playoffs. Two years later the club was back in the Fourth Division and shortly after filed for bankruptcy and were thrown out of the Football League. Aldershot FC were the first Football club to do so since Acrrington Stanley more than 30 years earlier.
If seasons like 86-87 can happen to Aldershot, they can happen to any side, and that is the magic of sports. There is a moment when everyone has a 0-0-0 record, going into that first game of the year anything is possible,
90 minutes later the dream may still be alive, but for a moment it’s there.
It is not the first time that players have paid out to fans after a bad result. Earlier this year over 500 German fans of Energie Cottbus were offered refunds from the players after a 760-mile trip lose 4-0 to Schalke.
It’s a great gesture by the players who clearly earned a lot of goodwill with the fans who made the trip.