Who The F*** Are… Wigan Athletic?!
By Kaizero On Sat 1 Sep 2007 |
The upcoming fixture against Wigan Athletic Football Club will be an interesting match-up for Newcastle United. A club with heavy traditions against a “newborn” club on the hunt for their first proper silverware has always been bound to be a proper match. And even though Newcastle are the undoubted favourites beforehand, every club has to be on top of their game before facing Wigan in case Wigan are on the top of theirs.
WHO THE F*** ARE WIGAN ATHLETIC?!
Wigan Athletic Football Club was formed in 1932 after the end of old club Wigan Borough a year earlier. Wigan Athletic was the fifth attempt to get a football club to stabilize in the town after the four failed attempts with Wigan County, Wigan United, Wigan Town and Wigan Borough. The old ground of Wigan Borough, Springfield Park, was later bought by Wigan Athletic and the club went on to be elected into the Chesire County League.
Wigan has not been one of the most successful English clubs over the past decades, and didn’t get elected into the Football League before in 1978 taking over the position from Southport, who had finished next to bottom of the then Fourth Division. After 34 failed election attempts and a controversial application in 1972 to join the Scottish Second Division, Wigan had finally made it.
In 1985 the club would go on to win its first piece of silverware, the Freight Rover Trophy, though their rise through the leagues would not start before almost a decade later. And as in most cases of successful clubs these past years, the success came after the club had been bought by local millionaire David Whelan when the club was still playing in the then Third Division. Whelan went on to state that his ambition was to bring the club to the Premiership, a statement that was widely ridiculed afterwards.
The first step towards Whelan’s dream started when Wigan won the Division Three title in 1997 under the management of John Deehan. The successor of Deehan, Ray Mathias took the Latics to the Division Two playoffs in 1991, losing 2-1 on aggregate against neighbours Manchester City. This loss eventually cost Mathias his job as he failed to live up to Whelan’s expectations. The replacement, John Benson led Wigan to yet another playoff position the following season, but it ended on a depressing note with Wigan losing out 3-2 to Gillingham in the last ever Division Two playoff at the old Wembley Stadium.
In 2001 former player Paul Jewell took over as the Latics manager, and after a mixed first season he went on to win the Division Two championship in the 02/03 season with a total tally of 100 points. Wigan went on to finish seventh in the 03/04 Division One season. On May 8, 2005 Wigan completed their biggest achievement as a club in their entire history as they finally secured the runner-up spot behind Sunderland and went on to qualify for the Premiership where they have remained ever since, being a positive surprise maintaining their Premiership position with much more ease than other newly promoted sides.
Potential Threaths/Star Players:
Name: Mario Melchiot
Age: 30
Position: Right Back
Nationality: Dutch
“Super Mario” is a new acquisition for the Latics but he has already been given the captaincy of the club. He’s a familiar face in the Premiership having played there for seven years for Chelsea and Birmingham respectively. He had a short spell at French side Rennes in the 06/07 season before signing for Wigan now. He is a strong back and will prove hard to get past for any Premiership side this season, and his presence on the team will without a doubt help Wigan if they are to get yet another strong season in the top flight.
Name: Jason Koumas
Age: 27
Position: Midfielder
Nationality: Welsh
The former Tranmere and WBA player is a new signing for the Latics, and without a doubt a solid play maker with the skill to settle any match in Wigan’s favour. He’s been a certain player for the first eleven of Wales for the past matches, and is a player to look out for in any match against Wigan.
Name: Antoine Sibierski
Age: 33
Position: Midfielder/Striker
Nationality: French
The former Newcastle United player is the best addition to the Wigan squad of the summer according to several sites commenting on the issue, and the return to St. James’ Park will without a doubt be an odd one for the Frenchman who claims that Newcastle United is his favourite club. He’s a play maker and he has the ability to create goals from nothing, as most Newcastle fans got to witness last year. He’s a class player and a great addition to the Wigan squad.
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Been a latics fan for over 40 years loved every minute travelling to ever corner of England,Scotland[pre-season friendlys] & Wales.From non-league to premier league never thought i would see it in my lift time only wish both my Father & Grandfather could have- god bless chaps,love talking to genuine football fans when travelling round the grounds and sick to death of the coments regarding the crowd size.Mainly Stuart Hall on Five Live 10 minutes on the crowd then Oh yes the game was OK more than enough room for Wigan Athletic & Wigan Rugby League in this town good luck to the rugby in the play-offs
Sent in on: September 25th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Enjoyed reading that artvle.
Well done on an accurate and interesting article.
Dave - Latics Fan.
Sent in on: September 2nd, 2007 at 9:10 pm
givan that wigan are new to the prem and there are more than one or two other northwest premiership clubs around the croud atendace we have is not that bad at all` it takes time to pull big crouds like the others have got and thats what the others have had ` the amount of crapp we have to take from so called football experts is music to our ears couple of years ago it was wonderfull wigan and so on because like every other new club at the botom end our players get picked off` and we end up strugling all we get now is very silly predictions of us going to the championnship again from people who are so biast against us its unreal most of who canot see past ther nose and there is the wigan are not good enough to be in the prem gang` these tend to be mainlyfrom the south aniway i think this year people will have to eat ther words
Sent in on: September 2nd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Fabulous contribution Jay. Witty, original and relevant.
Sent in on: September 1st, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Hi,
Mr Jaythesouthernmag what has the number of fans got to do with the identity of Wigan Athletic? This is a cracking article and one of the few Yotac that has come across that hasn’t mentioned Rugby League or Crowd Sizes.
Fact in our First season in the Premiership our Crowd size was never mentioned! Yet the following season (last year) all we heard was the crowd sizes and did we deserve to be in the Premiership, yet out average crowd dropped just 2,000 from the previous season, and may have had something to do with the club increasing ticket prices by 40%.
Also 10 years previous in the lower divisions Wigan had an average gate of 2,000; we now have 18,000 to 20,000. We have steadily increased our crowds over the past 10 years, and know that 25,000 is probably the limit to what Wigan can expect, and whether this is good enough for the Premiership, only problem is for teams to stay in the Premiership need to finish 17th or higher on points earned from playing football not loudest chants, greatest crowds or most number of fat blokes with their tops off.
& to round off in regards to our Identity, we are Wigan Athletic proud to be in the Premiership, and please just deal with it.
Sent in on: September 1st, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I dont think the fans know who they are judging by how many turn up for matches
Sent in on: September 1st, 2007 at 9:46 am
Nice article!
One of the few reviews / previews of Wigan that shows any depth of research on the club, and veers away from all the usual RL cliches.
Well done - and thanks
www.yeoldetreeandcrown.34sp.com
Sent in on: September 1st, 2007 at 9:45 am
Excellent read there, good stuff Kaizero ill make sure to read your feature from now on. I think we will win tomorrow, i really hope Sibs get a great reception tomorrow he deserves it.
Sent in on: September 1st, 2007 at 4:40 am