Hill: this is a great football story

Big stage ... Can Martinez trump Mancini in the FA Cup final? Source: Martin Rickett / AAP

Many years ago - 1978 to be exact - I was, like many 11 year-old kids growing up in northern England, football mad.

Being a season ticket holder at Manchester City wasn’t enough for my fix, so, on the weeks City played away, I’d badger my dad to go to some of the many other lower league (and non-league) grounds that proliferated around the north west.

Most alternate weeks, that meant the short hop to see Altrincham FC, in those days a top non-league side, pressing hard for a shot at league football itself.

But one club from the region had already made it to the old Division Four. After years of trying, Wigan Athletic had been elected at the expense of Southport (automatic promotion was still some way off), and took their place for the 1978-1979 season.

Three games in to their inaugural league campaign, the Latics were yet to win, and even to register a goal. So, when Newport County came visiting on September 2, 1978, I persuaded my father to take me along to the rickety old Springfield Park to see if a little piece of history could be made. My dad knew the trip well, having been a policeman in the town in the ‘60s, my sister had even been born there.

The Latics weren’t able to find their elusive first win that day - losing to the Welsh outfit (who’ve just retaken their place in the league after defeating Wrexham in the Conference play-off final), but they did get their first-ever league goal, courtesy of Joe Hinnigan, with Ian Purdie adding a second in a 3-2 loss.  I still have the match program, which cost a princely 15p (less than 10 cents).

Little did anyone think in those days that Wigan would one day become a Premier League club, let alone play in an FA Cup Final.  But this weekend, they will run out at Wembley to play - strangely - Manchester City, in just their second major final, after losing the 2006 League Cup Final to Manchester United in Cardiff.

When people in England talk of great football stories, of teams rising through the leagues, the spotlight normally falls upon Wimbledon - many seem to have forgotten (or ignored) the story of Wigan Athletic, but it is a remarkable tale.

Lodged at the edge of the two major north west conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester, Wigan not only has a short league history, but has NINE established football league clubs within an hours travel, all competing for attention.

Then, there is arguably the most famous Rugby League club in the country - Wigan Warriors - right on its doorstep. The fact that the Latics average attendance (19,192) now outstrips the Super League outfit (16,043) is testament to its spectacular rise.

It’s true that Wigan has been bankrolled to a certain extent to the Premier League. Dave Whelan, an ex-pro with Blackburn Rovers actually played in the 1960 FA Cup Final against Wolves, and has invested large chunks of his personal wealth in transforming the clubs fortunes - and its facilities. Whelan took over in 1995 with the club still in the English fourth tier, and crowds down to below 2,000.  He promised Premier League football - and delivered within a decade. During that time, the club left scruffy Springfield Park for the shiny new DW (yes, Dave Whelan) Stadium in 1999, and against the odds, have now survived for seven seasons in the cut-throat Premier League. One of Whelan’s first signings was Roberto Martinez - the first Spaniard ever to play in England, and now manager of the club.

Whether they will survive an eighth top flight season is debatable. Defeat against Swansea this week leaves them perilously close to the drop - but the Latics have pulled off miracles before. Realistically, they will need to win both their remaining games to have a chance - but before then, they can enjoy their big day at English football’s most famous home.

I’ll be there too, and clearly, given my personal allegiances, I hope it’s not Wigan’s day.  But if it is, then I, for one, won’t begrudge them - and I’ll take solace in the fact that I saw Joe Hinnigan start them out on one of the most extraordinary journeys English football has ever seen.

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'Bale needs Champions League football'

He's the man ... enjoy the best of Gareth Bale in 2013. Source: Glyn Kirk / AFP

Gary Neville believes Gareth Bale needs to be playing UEFA Champions League football, but expects the winger to still be at Tottenham Hotspur at next season.

Bale picked up the PFA Player of the Year award, and the Young Player of the Year prize, on Sunday following a stellar season at White Hart Lane.

His progression over the past couple of seasons has seen Bale linked with other clubs, with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid rumoured to be fans of the Wales international.

Neville feels there will come a point when Bale wants to be regularly competing at the top level, but does not believe this summer is the time when the 23-year-old will move on.

"I think Tottenham need to get in the Champions League, and he needs to be playing Champions League football," Neville told Sky Sports. 

"Gareth Bale will not be satisfied if he's not competing in the next three or four years of his career in the Champions League or for championships.

"Tottenham have an opportunity to get behind him and put players alongside him. They've got some good players there.

"He loves being at the club, from everything he says, and there's no reason why he shouldn't try to give it another go at Tottenham, but eventually if Tottenham sell their best players, move people on and don't go big in the transfer market and don't get to his aspirations of where he wants to be in world football, eventually he may have to leave, but I don't think he's at that point yet."

Neville has hailed Bale's progress over the past year and now wonders if he can attain the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

He said: "He has progressed enormously in the last 12 months and he's getting better and better, he's more confident, stronger and physically he's improved enormously.

"He's now got the confidence to go with it and he believes he can beat players, and the goalscoring difference for him now is huge.

"He is doing what all great players should do and that's affect the biggest matches.

"He's getting there to that next level and it's where does he go from here? How does he get better? You can always get better.

"You think of the Ronaldos and the Messis are on a different planet, even with Gareth Bale's form, they're scoring 40, 50 goals a season.

"Can he get to that level where he scores 30, 35, 40 goals? Can he go and win trophies, affect the big matches and actually win the big medals you need to win?"

Read more: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12040/8680836/Gary-Neville-says-Gareth-Bale-needs-to-play-in-the-Champions-League

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Football agents increase cut

Robin van Persie ... his off-season move from Arsenal to Man United was one of the most talked about. Source: AFP

Agents took a bigger cut from international soccer player transfers in 2012, even as trading in the billion-dollar market fell by $US290 million ($A282 million), according to FIFA research.

Player representatives took $US163 million in fees from clubs, at 28 per cent average commission, as their total take from cross-border transfers rose $US33 million last year.

"2012 witnessed a greater involvement of intermediaries," stated FIFA subsidiary Transfer Matching System (TMS) in an annual survey.

Clubs in 200 countries must use the online platform to detail all their payments when players move between different countries either for a fee, on loan or when out of contract.

English clubs spent the most, with FIFA processing $US59 million in fees to agents in international deals.

Italian clubs paid $US41 million and Russian clubs $US23 million, and agents also banked payments from players who FIFA's system doesn't record.

"Obviously, money going to an intermediary is leaving football," TMS general manager Mark Goddard said in a conference call on Tuesday.

FIFA's insight into agents' earnings from clubs follows after football's governing body revealed it was trying to help teams cut out middle men and deal directly with each other.

An online system called Global Player Exchange is being developed to help clubs share information about players available to sign.

FIFA does not yet monitor transfers between two clubs from the same association, such as Manchester United's reported STG24 million ($A36 million) purchase of Robin van Persie from Arsenal last offseason.

Goddard said TMS, which became mandatory since 2010 to improve transparency in club finances, could expand in future to process domestic transfers.

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OHIO TEEN RAPE CASE: Football Players Found Guilty of Attacking Girl

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The trial of two Steubenville, Ohio high school football players accused of raping a 16-year-old girl has ended, and the judge says he will announce the verdict on Sunday. 

Judge Thomas Lipps said Saturday he will announce his decision after reviewing evidence presented over four days in the case against a 17-year-old and his 16-year-old teammate 

The 16-year-old West Virginia girl took the stand Saturday and says she could not recall what happened the night of the alleged attack. 

She said she remembers drinking at a party last August, leaving the party then throwing up later. She testified that the next thing she remembers is waking up naked in a strange house.

The girl said she learned she was assaulted when she later read text messages among friends, and saw a photo of herself and a video made that night.

Two former friends the accuser testified for the defense Saturday that the accuser had a history of drinking heavily and was known to lie about things.

Defense attorneys went after the character and credibility of the alleged victim on the fourth day of the nonjury trial for the teen teammates in juvenile court.

The two are charged with digitally penetrating the accuser, first in a car and then in the basement of a house, while out partying Aug. 12. The 17-year-old also is charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. The two maintain their innocence.

On the stand Saturday, a West Virginia high school student said the accuser told her what happened two days after the alleged attack then, sometime afterward, told her she couldn't remember what happened.

"So two different versions?" asked the 17-year-old accused teen's attorney Adam Nemann.

"Yes," the witness replied.

Earlier, she had testified that the accuser was flirting at the party with the 16-year-old. 

Both the witness and a schoolmate testified they were angry at the accuser because she was drinking heavily at the party and because of her behavior, which they said included rolling around on the floor. They said they tried unsuccessfully to get her to stop drinking.

One of the students said she also tried to get her friend to stay at the party rather than leave with others, including the two defendants.

"When I told her not to leave, I was trying to, like, pull her back into the party. She was trying to shrug me off," she testified. "She kind of hit me."

The accuser was also expected to testify Saturday.

The case has riveted the small city of Steubenville amid allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the local football team, a source of pride in a community that suffered massive job losses with the collapse of the steel industry.

The witness, whose lawyer was present during her testimony, appeared, like all of the trial's teen witnesses, reluctant to be there.

The day after the party, when she and another friend picked up the accuser from the house where she'd stayed, the accuser said she had no memory of the night before, she testified under questioning by defense attorney Walter Madison.

"We didn't have sex, I swear,"' she said, describing the accuser's comment.

The witness said she'd seen the girl drink heavily in the past and that she no longer speaks to her.

The case has featured disturbing testimony from teens, both in person and in graphic text messages, and has shined an unwelcome light on what students in the community once considered private conversations. Some teenage witnesses winced at times as they were forced to read adult language from texts.

She repeatedly said she couldn't remember statements she made to police last September about the night of the party. Midway through her testimony, special judge Thomas Lipps agreed to let her listen to a 40-minute recording of her statement to refresh her memory.

On Friday, three teenage boys granted immunity for their testimony said the accuser was drunk and didn't seem to know what was happening to her that night.

The three teens spoke Friday of the West Virginia girl's behavior the night of a party and described her being digitally penetrated in a car and later on a basement floor.

One witness testified that he took a video of the 17-year-old and the girl in the car, then deleted it later that morning. He testified he saw the 17-year-old unsuccessfully try to have the girl perform oral sex on him later in the basement of his house. He also testified that the girl was intoxicated and slurring her words.

Another witness testified he saw the 16-year-old's encounter with the girl in the basement, as did the other witness. A witness also confirmed that he filmed a 12-minute video, later passed around widely online, in which another student joked about the attack.

One testified that he saw the 16-year-old's hand in the "crotch region" of the girl, a less descriptive version than he gave last fall in another hearing.

If convicted, the two teens could be held in a juvenile jail until they turn 21.
 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Editors’ Note: The Associated Press named the minors charged due to the fact they have been identified in other news coverage and their names were used in open court. FoxNews.com will not name the defendants.

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