Saturday, 13 April 2013

Martinez wants Whelan to lead Wigan out

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has called on the Football Association to allow chairman Dave Whelan to fulfil his dream by leading the team out for the final.The Lancashire outfit booked a meeting with either Manchester City or Chelsea with their 2-0 semi-final win over Millwall at Wembley.Although the victory was tarnished by the disgraceful behaviour of some Millwall supporters, it was still one of the most significant days in Wigan's history.And it offers Whelan the opportunity to lead his club out, after Wigan's own naivety meant it did not happen on Saturday as they thought."It was our mistake," Martinez said. "In the semi-final, nobody leads the teams out. If we had been in semi-finals before we would have known that."I hope FA allow him to lead team out for the final. That would be a fitting moment for what happened in 1960."Martinez was referring to the broken leg Whelan sustained when he played for Blackburn in their 1960 final defeat by Wolves.The memory has fuelled the straight-talking businessman, who bought Wigan in 1995 when they were in the fourth tier of the English game and vowed to make them a Premier League force.I have spoken to the chairman," Martinez said. "We were together for at least five minutes."I just said 'We have done it'. It was more emotion than words."When you get to know him, he is an example of a human being that sets incredible targets.Sometimes they are unthinkable. What he has done at Wigan deserves a movie. It is just a football dream."Yet Whelan insists he would prefer his manager to have the honour."I want Roberto to do it," he said. "But he will insist on me."This is the best day as chairman by far. Getting to the Premier League was a super day and it will be another super day when we stay there this season, because we have a fight on."But this is another step on the ladder for our wonderful football club."Goals from Shaun Maloney and Callum McManaman either side of half-time were enough for a Wigan side who always had too much class for their npower Championship opponents, even though they had to survive some uncomfortable moments in the second half.Now they only require the winners of Sunday's semi-final between Manchester City and Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League to be certain of a berth in next season's Europa League, whether they win or lose at Wembley next month."It is not certain yet," Martinez said. "It is a little percentage that is not the case."But when I arrived, one of the targets was to get Wigan into Europe. It was the next possible dream."We have been in the Premier League eight seasons in a row. Getting into Europe would take the club to a whole different level. It is an incredible possibility."They still have to secure their top-flight status, of course, and have seven games remaining to haul themselves out of trouble."It is not a grey area," Martinez said.Any cup success is only a success if we achieve our aim in the league, otherwise it has been a waste of time.Martinez also had words of praise for McManaman, who was at the centre of a fire-storm last month following a tackle on Newcastle's Massadio Haidara which, if it had brought a red card, would have ruled the Merseysider out of Saturday evening's game."Callum performs in the same manner in the playground with his mates or at Wembley in front of 62,000 people," Martinez said.Unfortunately he was in middle of storm, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.During the international week, the only talk was about Callum McManaman."But he is someone you would pay for a ticket to watch.At a very young age he is potentially one of the biggest diamonds of English football."Engulfed by the storm over his club's fans, Millwall manager Kenny Jackett could only offer a few words of comfort over the failure to emulate the team of 2004 by reaching another final."We had 20 minutes in the second half where we put some pressure on them," he said."During that period we needed something to fall for us. Unfortunately it didn't happen."

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