Wigan Athletic are a very young team in Premier League football terms, having only been formed in 1932. They didn't play their first league football match until 1978, after a staggering 34 failed attempts to be elected to the league- these were, of course, the days before automatic promotion into the English Football League.
In February of 1995, the major turning point in the history of Wigan Athletic occurred. Local millionaire and JJB owner Dave Whelan bought the club, at the time in the 4th tier of English football - the Third Division - and made clear his intentions to take a club that was struggling at the bottom of the Third Division all the way to the Premier League. This was ridiculed at the time, but those doubters had egg on their faces as Dave Whelan and Wigan achieved their dream of Premier League football when they finished 2nd place in Division One in the 2004/05 season (gaining automatic promotion) to cap an astonishing 10 year rise through the league system. |