Thursday, February 23, 2006
Wigan prove English football is not a closed shop.
By Jeremy Butler.
WIGAN, England, (Reuters) - When Wimbledon completed the fairytale of rising from non-league football to win the FA Cup by beating the all-conquering Liverpool in 1988, experts of the game said their feat could never be repeated.
They believed the huge amounts of money involved at the top end of the English game would preclude another club from climbing through the divisions and gaining a foothold in the Premier League as those brave Dons had done.
But on Sunday, 18 years on, Wigan will prove the impossible dream can still become reality when they walk out at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to face Manchester United in the League Cup final.
Paul Jewell's side only achieved league status in 1978, replacing Southport, yet they have rarely been out of the top six in their debut Premier League season.
Their fine start has also come despite being housed in the heartland of rugby league and having to compete for fans with the successful league outfit Wigan Warriors.
Dispelling the belief that Wigan is a rugby town has mainly been achieved by the millions invested in the club by local businessman Dave Whelan.
The sportswear magnet is a former ex-professional player, whose career came to an abrupt end when he broke his leg playing for Blackburn Rovers against Wolves in the 1960 FA Cup final.
He bought an ailing Wigan team in 1995 with money made from his JJB Sports chain and quickly turned the club around.
Whelan's first step was to build a new 25,000-seater stadium for the city's two sporting teams to share, with the football club happily leaving the ramshackle Springfield Park which had improved little since its inception in 1897.
GROUND HISTORY
The ground did have some history as the home of a Wigan side that excelled in beating league sides in the FA Cup.
Their 6-1 win over Carlisle in the 1934-35 season still stands as a joint record winning margin for a non-league side over Football League opposition.
They even held Newcastle to a draw at St James' Park in 1954 before losing the replay 3-2 in a campaign that saw a crowd of 27,526 watch them beat fellow non-league side Hereford.
Wigan enjoyed their first cup success in 1985, beating Brentford 3-1 to win the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley, and a second trophy was added with victory over Millwall in the 1999 the AutoWindscreens Shield final.
By then Whelan's money was funding the Wigan dream, but when the treble-winning Manchester United arrived in August 1999 to open the JJB Stadium only fantasists would have predicted they would meet on level terms in the Premier League six years later.
Wigan struggled to get out of the second division despite reaching the play-offs for three consecutive seasons and the failure of respected managers Bruce Rioch and Steve Bruce saw the arrival of Jewell at the club in 2001.
Jewell's appointment was the catalyst for success - although he started badly with Wigan slumping to second bottom and suffering the humiliation of being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Canvey Island.
"The chairman told me I had 18 months to get things right and he wanted us to be in the top six by the following Christmas," Jewell told reporters as he prepared for Sunday's final.
OUTLASTING MANAGER
"But I was finding it hard with players at the club believing they could outlast me because of the number of managers that had been at the club in the recent past.
"The chairman asked if he could visit the changing room though and when I agreed he told the players I was not leaving. It was the turning point."
Wigan were promoted with 100 points in 2003 and enjoyed a run of 17 unbeaten games the following season only to miss out on the play-offs when Brian Deane equalised for West Ham with the last kick of the final game of the season.
Jewell was determined not to suffer the same fate last season and his side went on another 17-game unbeaten run on their way to promotion to the Premier League.
Their form has been simply remarkable for a squad still containing players signed in the second division and strengthened for a modest eight million pounds last year.
For the ambitious Whelan, a UEFA Cup place is on the agenda either through their Premier League finish or by beating United on Sunday.
Even if they fail to achieve that goal, though, Wigan would still be living proof that in today's world of footballing billions, dreams still can come true.
WIGAN, England, (Reuters) - When Wimbledon completed the fairytale of rising from non-league football to win the FA Cup by beating the all-conquering Liverpool in 1988, experts of the game said their feat could never be repeated.
They believed the huge amounts of money involved at the top end of the English game would preclude another club from climbing through the divisions and gaining a foothold in the Premier League as those brave Dons had done.
But on Sunday, 18 years on, Wigan will prove the impossible dream can still become reality when they walk out at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to face Manchester United in the League Cup final.
Paul Jewell's side only achieved league status in 1978, replacing Southport, yet they have rarely been out of the top six in their debut Premier League season.
Their fine start has also come despite being housed in the heartland of rugby league and having to compete for fans with the successful league outfit Wigan Warriors.
Dispelling the belief that Wigan is a rugby town has mainly been achieved by the millions invested in the club by local businessman Dave Whelan.
The sportswear magnet is a former ex-professional player, whose career came to an abrupt end when he broke his leg playing for Blackburn Rovers against Wolves in the 1960 FA Cup final.
He bought an ailing Wigan team in 1995 with money made from his JJB Sports chain and quickly turned the club around.
Whelan's first step was to build a new 25,000-seater stadium for the city's two sporting teams to share, with the football club happily leaving the ramshackle Springfield Park which had improved little since its inception in 1897.
GROUND HISTORY
The ground did have some history as the home of a Wigan side that excelled in beating league sides in the FA Cup.
Their 6-1 win over Carlisle in the 1934-35 season still stands as a joint record winning margin for a non-league side over Football League opposition.
They even held Newcastle to a draw at St James' Park in 1954 before losing the replay 3-2 in a campaign that saw a crowd of 27,526 watch them beat fellow non-league side Hereford.
Wigan enjoyed their first cup success in 1985, beating Brentford 3-1 to win the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley, and a second trophy was added with victory over Millwall in the 1999 the AutoWindscreens Shield final.
By then Whelan's money was funding the Wigan dream, but when the treble-winning Manchester United arrived in August 1999 to open the JJB Stadium only fantasists would have predicted they would meet on level terms in the Premier League six years later.
Wigan struggled to get out of the second division despite reaching the play-offs for three consecutive seasons and the failure of respected managers Bruce Rioch and Steve Bruce saw the arrival of Jewell at the club in 2001.
Jewell's appointment was the catalyst for success - although he started badly with Wigan slumping to second bottom and suffering the humiliation of being knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Canvey Island.
"The chairman told me I had 18 months to get things right and he wanted us to be in the top six by the following Christmas," Jewell told reporters as he prepared for Sunday's final.
OUTLASTING MANAGER
"But I was finding it hard with players at the club believing they could outlast me because of the number of managers that had been at the club in the recent past.
"The chairman asked if he could visit the changing room though and when I agreed he told the players I was not leaving. It was the turning point."
Wigan were promoted with 100 points in 2003 and enjoyed a run of 17 unbeaten games the following season only to miss out on the play-offs when Brian Deane equalised for West Ham with the last kick of the final game of the season.
Jewell was determined not to suffer the same fate last season and his side went on another 17-game unbeaten run on their way to promotion to the Premier League.
Their form has been simply remarkable for a squad still containing players signed in the second division and strengthened for a modest eight million pounds last year.
For the ambitious Whelan, a UEFA Cup place is on the agenda either through their Premier League finish or by beating United on Sunday.
Even if they fail to achieve that goal, though, Wigan would still be living proof that in today's world of footballing billions, dreams still can come true.
