Wigan had an incredible run through the English leagues which is rarely replicated. Taken over by an ambitious chairman, Dave Whelan in 1995 who gave a promise to the Wigan fans to get them into the Premier League. A promise which he fulfilled in the 2004-05 season.
When I was growing up they were a relegation battling Premier League team. As of now they find themselves in 1st place playing in EFL League 1 which is in the third tier of English football league system.
PHOTO: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/43/Wigan_Athletic.svg/1200px-Wigan_Athletic.svg.png
They have always had fun and interesting players playing for their team. Antonio Valencia started his career in England with them, Franco di Santo who is one of the least prolific strikers in my recent memory, wacky Jimmy Bullard and of course the legend Emile Heskey.
Wigan has some interesting rare accolades that not a lot of teams have, being one of the few teams who have played in Europe being outside the top flight, having one of the world‘s youngest football bosses and their first season in the Premier League being their highest league placing ever in history.
PHOTO: Emile Heskey in a Wigan shirt. Picture taken from BBC Sport, link: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45406000/gif/_45406819_emile282.gif
Wigan‘s incredibly fast run through the ranks of the English leagues is really impressive and not many teams have gone from playing in the third tier to 3 years later playing in the Premier league. In 2002, Wigan Athletic finished 10th in the English Football League One.
A year later their considerable investment paid off and they ended up winning the league by 14 points, ending up with record 100 points and winning their first promotion every beyond the Second Division.
In their 2003-04 season, Wigan were playing in the Division One for the first time in their history. They lost their first game of the season and many people expected them to drop back to the fourth tier, however Wigan ended up going unbeaten in their next 17 games. At the end of November they were top of the table. However a weak finish from them made them only finish 7th in the league and losing a playoff spot by a last minute goal against West Ham.
Their next season which was the 2004-05 season, they had their best ever finish at the time, finishing at 2nd which qualified them for getting their automatic promotion straight to the top flight division for the first time in their history. Wigan had a very impressive season, having the best goal difference in the league and having lost the fewest games.
PHOTO:
Wigan players celebrating their promotion to the top flight. Picture taken from ebay, link: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/372189309020-0-1/s-l1000.jpg
The 2005-06 season is Wigan‘s most historic season of all time. They had their highest ever finish in history, ending up at 10th place in the league and they got the final of the League Cup, losing to Manchester United 4-0 in the final. Wigan were favorites to be relegated that season, but they surprised everybody when they went on a 9 match unbeaten run early in the season, impressively winning 8 of them.
Antonio Valencia in a Wigan shirt in 2005.
Their 9 match unbeaten streak was ended by a 5 loss streak against a very unlucky fixture list. Their next 5 games were against, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United in that order. In their league cup they managed to beat Arsenal in the semi final in extra time in their 2nd leg at Highbury, Roberts scoring the goal in the 119th minute and Wigan were through to the final. This season was the pinnacle of success for Wigan and is regarded as their best ever season in history for Wigan fans.
PHOTO:
Picture taken from The Daily Mail, link: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/07/article-1191442-0539E0E7000005DC-908_468x386.jpg
Post by: Hákon Þráinsson
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