Wigan chairman David Whelan is what you might call a "character". When someone is described in that manner it tends to mean he's interesting for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad. Part of me likes the 72-year-old and another part isn't sure what to make of the man.My estimation of Whelan immediately rose several years ago when the Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan complained bitterly about his fellow chairman's lack of grace. His Palace team had lost 5-0 to Whelan's Wigan. Jordan claimed the result was a huge kick in the teeth to him, his team and his hopes of steering them away from relegation with all the financial repercussions that accompany such a fate. The elder chairman patted his tango-coloured counterpart on the back after the match offering the consoling words, "That's one crap team you've got yourself there, son." Jordan was so livid he turned a deeper shade of pumpkin.
The idea of an old-fashioned British chairman is something of a novelty these days. And Whelan is an example of those rags to riches success stories that supposedly can happen to anyone if you have the ambition, drive, determination and a starting capital of £500,000. Whelan started out as a professional footballer with Blackburn and Crewe before going on to set up the country's biggest sports retailer from scratch.
Somehow you couldn't envisage American consortiums or Saudi oil barons being keen to invest in a club like Wigan. The club's stadium has a capacity of 25,138, which it rarely fills. Last season the ground averaged a measly 18,413. A shrewd transfer policy and careful selection of his coaches have been the main reasons behind how Whelan has kept small fry like Wigan swimming with the Premier League sharks.
Whelan's persona does retain an element of roguishness that leads you to suspect his rise to the top came not just from hauling himself up the ladder rung by rung but also by stepping on the competition below him as he went along his merry way. In 2003 his company JJB Sports was fined £5.5 million by the Office of Fair Trading for fixing the price of shirts of the English national team and Manchester United in 2000 and 2001. To his shame, Whelan has admitted an even more heinous crime. He is a prominent supporter of the Conservative Party and in 2008 donated £250,000 to it.
Furthermore, Wigan's new ground has been renamed the DW Stadium which strikes me as a bit egotistical. Most of us, after all, have to make do with a park bench if we're lucky.
Wigan's 9-1 hammering at the hands of Tottenham has now threatened to undermine Wigan's solid start to the season and possibly signal a spiral that will see his side tumble out of the top flight. The Latics lie just three points off the dreaded dotted line with manager Roberto Martinez quoted at 14-1 to be the next manager to leave his post.
Whelan's reaction to the embarrassment of the Tottenham trouncing was to blame it solely on one man – former boss Steve Bruce, who comes calling this weekend.
Whelan said: "Steve actually had a few dodgy signings just before he left Wigan and [Martínez] has inherited those dodgy signings, so I can't blame Roberto one iota. I am absolutely 100 per cent behind Roberto, he's a great manager and he will pull this team around."
Bruce didn't take the comments too well, understandably so after signing the likes of Antonio Valencia, Wilson Palacios and Lee Cattermole for the club, all of whom were sold at a huge profit.
The Sunderland manager said he didn't want to comment on the situation before going on to do just that: "I could respond but I'm not going to because I don't want it to blow up into something it doesn't have to be.
"I had a great relationship with the Wigan chairman and the one thing he was good at was always trying to protect the manager whenever possible, so I haven't taken offence at what was said.
"I think he was just trying to take the heat off his manager and I can understand that. I was trying to think of the couple of dodgy signings he was on about and I can only think of Hugo Rodallega and Charles N'Zogbia, who were signed at the back end of my time there, and if Wigan want to offload those two then we will be happy to take them.
"I'm not going to get embroiled in that sort of stuff, but he knows the decent job I did for him."
You can get 6-4 about a Wigan victory and a staggering 19-10 for Sunderland, the best part of 2-1.
One ray of light for the home team is Sunderland's lack of striking options. It looks like both main strikers Darren Bent (hamstring) and Kenwyne Jones (suspension) will miss the match. Even so Frasier Campbell is an able deputy. Any team that has just shipped nine goals will not be playing with much confidence whereas the Black Cats are coming into the match on the back of beating the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool this season. The price is just too good to miss.
TOP TIP: Sunderland (19-10 Bet365) to beat Wigan
