Wigan the New Newcastle?

There was a time when it was fashionable to be a Geordie, the accent was revered across the UK, there was a pop band called Geordie, whose lead singer Brian Johnson went on to front AC/DC, there were TV shows, movies and a very good football side.

Nowadays the best thing to come out of Newcastle is the A69 to get us back over to the North West

With the football team languishing near to the foot of the table and their owner looking to sell even the die hard followers of the club are losing faith because believe me Joe Kinnear is no Messiah

The rugby side in the City is in danger of turning the sports fans into followers of the egg chasing code and if the decline of their football team continues maybe it wont be inconceivable to see Newcastle Falcons having more fans than Newcastle United

A recent 5 live phone in suggested that the Falcons wouldn`t be adverse to actually ground sharing St. James` Park so long as they had priority on match day clashes, times they are a changing

With Newcastle having an inability to attract top class players in their current plight and the club riddled in debt it looks likely that in January once again they will prove to be a selling club with Martins, Owen, Viduka, Beye, Enrique and Edgar all looking to move on, in fact the Latics may well pick up a bargain or two

One player that no one will want to touch is midfield menace Barton and the Geordies are stuck with him for the foreseeable future

Sometimes you need to take a couple of steps back in order to move forward and maybe a couple of seasons in the Championship would do Newcastle some good, make them a little more humble, realise that they aren`t a big club anymore, that was back in the fifties.

Only problem could be if they followed Leeds, Leicester and Forest down the slippery slope from fashionable to bargain basement

No Newcastle aren`t any longer in Vogue more like your Poundstretchers than your Selfridges

Whilst over in Wigan things are definitely changing

All roads seem to lead to the JJB with world class stars clamouring to join the club in January, watch this space.

The Wigan Warriors are very much the second team nowadays in the town with the majority of Wiganers, a recent poll suggests over 90%, preferring the Latics to the Eggmen

Latics fan base is now global with supporters club branches in places as extreme as Norway, Cairo, Melbourne, Philadelphia, Honduras and Quito

A rapid rise through the division as seen the Latics popularity grow and now this is drawing attention to the town of Wigan and it is no longer the music-hall joke that it was.

TV shows are set here, Ricky Gervais` Extra`s, there is a thriving music scene spawning class bands such as The Verve and Star Sailor and the Wigan accent is being copied the length and breadth of the UK

Is Wigan becoming the new Newcastle? Even the name Wigan gives a clue, it is derived from the Welsh, Whig hen meaning old fort, old castle, new castle ;)


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