Wigan Athletic F.C.

Wigan Athletic F.C. is a British soccer team currently playing in the English League One. The club based in the northwestern town of Wigan, Lancashire (now part of Greater Manchester). The club's nickname is The Latics. They are currently managed by "vacant", and their sponsor is Inter Sports.^[1]

History[edit]

The club was founded in 1932 after several unsuccessful attempts to run a soccer club in a town where Rugby League is the most popular sport. After playing in the minor leagues for many years, Wigan gained entry to the old Fourth Division of the Football League in 1978 and promoted to the Third Division in 1982. In 1993 they were relegated to the lower league and were bought in 1995 by David Whelan, an ambitious local millionaire who had made his fortune selling sportswear. Two years later, in 1997, they were promoted back to third-tier football and within six years had secured a further step up the second tier. It took only a further two years for them to complete a remarkable progression from fourth-tier to top-tier, when they were promoted to the Premier League in 2005.

The club play at the JJB Stadium which they share with Rugby League club Wigan Warriors (also owned by Devid Whelan). The stadium was built in 1999 and named after Whelan's sportswear chain JJB Sports. The club continues to struggle for support and its highest ever home attendance is 25,000 for visitors Liverpool in February 2006. After raising ticket prices in 2006 Wigan had to cut them in response to falling attendances and have kept them low at a time when almost all other Premier League clubs were making significant increases. After a poor 2006-7 season in which they just managed to avoid relegation, their manager Paul Jewell resigned and was replaced by Chris Hutchings. Hutchings was sacked after a poor start to the 2007-8 season.

Roster[edit]

Goalkeepers[edit]

• 1 Chris Kirkland
• 12 Michael Pollitt
• 22 Richard Kingson

Defenders[edit]

• 3 Erik Edman
• 7 Paul Scharner
• 17 Emmerson Boyce
• 19 Titus Bramble
• 25 Mario Melchiot
• 31 Maynor Figueroa

Midfielders[edit]

• 4 Lee Cattermole
• 5 Won-Hee Cho
• 6 Antoine Sibierski
• 8 Ben Watson
• 10 Jason Koumas
• 11 Michael Brown
• 14 Charles N'Zogbia
• 18 Daniel De Ridder
• 21 Tomasz Cywka
• 23 Oliver Kapo
• 28 Tomasz Kupisz
• 29 Lewis Montrose
• 38 Jonathon Routledge
• 40 Joe Holt

Strikers[edit]

• 9 Mido
• 13 Amr Zaki
• 20 Hugo Rodallega
• 26 Rachid Bouaouzan
• 27 Henri Camara

Notable Former Players[edit]

• DF Andreas Granqvist

References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk

External links[edit]

• Official site