A Modern Day David-Goliath Story
The David-Goliath tale played out recently at DW stadium on 20th February when Wigan Athletic F.C. scored a historic win against Manchester City, causing shock waves all across English football. Wigan scorer Will Grigg’s sheer brilliance of scoring the winning goal from the edge of the box set Wigan fans on fire and elicited visible heartbreak for Manchester City followers.
A ten–man Manchester City was clearly agitated by the fact that Wigan was not going down easily. This feeling was on display with pitch brawls that marked the game till the end by warring fans. While Manchester City did dominate the game for some time, the recent partnering of Wigan with Jetcoin seems to have worked like a lucky charm for them. Wigan not only won the game with Manchester City but managed to put another victory in their pocket by defeating Rochdale four days later.
Receiving a boost from the Jetcoin Institute in the form of a sleeve sponsorship just days before the Wigan-Man City game, Wigan’s partnership with Jetcoin signifies a new era in sports sponsorship. No longer just offering financial corporate support, Jetcoin Institute is a revolutionary platform that is set to disrupt the sports and entertainment industry with their emphasis on fan participation. More on that later.
First, let’s take a look the David-Goliath battle that ensued on 20th February. Here are some fun facts about the history between the two teams.
Wigan and Manchester City
Manchester City F.C. was initiated in 1880. They have an 80-acre training facility known as the Etihad Campus which is also their home ground, academy stadium and the City of Manchester Stadium. The club won League Championship, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup between 1968 and 1970. The owners of the club are now ‘The Abu Dhabi United Group’ since 2011 and under their banner, Manchester City has won seven trophies that include the English Premier League in 2012 and 2014. The 2016 -17 period saw the club procure the fifth largest revenue in the football world with revenues worth 527.7 million euros. Forbes quotes the value of the club to be at 2.08 billion dollars.
Wigan F.C. was found in 1932. They just started to compete in the Premier League since 2003 and have won the FA cup in 2012–2013. Dave Whelan owns the club with a profit of 4.3 million pounds as of May 2017. The club is valued at 42.8 million pounds.
These facts are strong indication that Manchester City is a behemoth compared to Wigan. Manchester City is the current leading team in the EPL and Wigan is competing two divisions down — clearly there is no question who the underdog was in the 20th February match.
February 20th, 2018: The day when David fell the mighty Goliath
The game sizzled with drama. Two fighting bosses at half-time, a controversial red-card leading to a 10-man Manchester City, Sergio Aguero, the city striker, getting into a heated argument with home fans — it had all the ingredients of a potboiler. Obviously, the defeat was simply ego-shattering for Manchester City. Even if they appeared to be completely in control of the game, somehow they couldn’t manage to win.
Wigan’s core strategy may have been giving the opposite team the feeling that they were in control of the game and simultaneously looking for that one opportunity to score a goal. Manchester City had 83% possession of the ball and a better part of the game.
Will Grigg who touched the ball only 19 times in the entire game made one of those deft touches that became memorable for Wigan fans. He put the ball into the goal post, which also earned him the Man of the Match award. The DW stadium erupted after Wigan’s victory. It was the finish of this nerve-shattering game.
Four days later, Wigan scored another victory against Rochdale. With these recent victories, Wigan is predicted to match the glory of 2012–13.
Wigan Athletic F.C. and Jetcoin
The Wigan-Jetcoin alliance began just days before the February 20th game when Jetcoin came on board as sleeve sponsor for Wigan together with advertising rights on the club’s perimeter board.
Jetcoin’s motto of “Supporting Tomorrow’s Champions” was in full play in their decision to support Wigan against the EPL giant.
Jetcoin’s business model revolves around the buying of image rights of emerging talents (Jetcoin Champions) via their cryptocurrency known as ‘JET.’ It is a revolutionary new way of supporting talent as fans and practically anyone can now play a part in “making” their favorite talents’ careers. As Jetcoin Champions progress in their careers, their brand value surges, which automatically increases the value of JET. This also culminates into rewards (financial and otherwise) for people who have invested in those talents. This level of fan engagement has heretofore never been seen in the sports and entertainment industries.
The David-Goliath story is also reminiscent of Jetcoin’s own history since 2014 as it has been battling industry giants to shatter traditional celebrity-fan relationships in an industry that has resisted change for quite some time. Wigan’s recent historic victory is all set to usher in tremendous brand value for Jetcoin, as it sparks public and industry interest in its unique proposal of helping emerging talents reach their goals. The Jetcoin decision to support the underdog and Wigan’s subsequent win epitomized ideally Jetcoin’s goal and vision of supporting tomorrow’s champions.
Parting words
Whether or not Wigan’s winning streak will continue remains to be seen but one thing is certain, League One Wigan produced one of the biggest FA Cup giant-killings by knocking Premier League leaders Manchester City out, certainly one of the biggest shocks in the FA Cup’s long and illustrious history. As for Jetcoin, the democratic and open-access nature of its platform has increasingly convinced pundits that the time is ripe for talents to come closer to the most important stakeholder in their success stories — their loyal fans.
