Wigan, Wembley and Bryan Douglas

I am delighted that Wiggin won the FA Cup but it now looks like they're going down. I can't see them taking more than a point off Arsenal and goal difference will sink them if they draw and then beat Villa.
Growing up, Wiggin was strictly a Rugby League town and a great one at that. It's been a bit odd to see the rise of the footie club - but a gratifying one. The only time I ever was in the old Wembley stadium was to see Rugby League finals. There was a tradition of a northern invasion of London for the weekend of the RL finals; one in which I know that I participated but the details of which remain fuzzy. But I do remember the sense of occasion that Wembley inspired somehow.
Which is a segue into David Whelan's story. Whelan is the owner of Wigan FC and it turns out that he broke his leg playing in the 1962 FA Cup Final against Wolves. That's the first Final of which I have any memories. At the time there was the "wembley hoodoo" of which Whelan was exhibit "A": i.e. for several years teams had to play a man down due to injury. Shortly after subs were introduced but at the time it was part of the the mystique of the FA Cup final and Wembley's hallowed energy-sapping turf was part of that. This was an era when everone watched - there was a well-known effect on the electric system; millions of households switching on electric kettles ar half time to make a cuppa.
That Blackburn side contained a player now unjustly forgotten. Bryan Douglas was a pint-sized magician. Even Best couldn't juggle the ball like Douglas but Best had more speed. A player like Douglas now would be a sensation . A different era.

Hail the Bradman of British Football Managers!!

Sralex has announced his retirement and I confess that I did not anticipate this. He is as clearly in another league to other managers as Bradman is to cricketers except that cricket has the unique international dimension. As much as I would like to say that he's the supreme manager, bar none, I don't think that his astounding record in English football can be easliy compared to other nations. As a United fan, I'm also pleased with his choice of succcessor, David Moyes. I'm expecting more great things. On a sentimental note, I like to think that he restored Busby's legacy. I've written in other posts of Busby's moral achievement and in the almost two decades after the 1968 European Cup triumph United had lost a lot of the lustre.
Sir Matt Busby was a very different personality than Sir Alex Ferguson but what they shared was an unquenchable passion for football. David Moyes seems to sshare this. Good luck to him.