Wigan Athletic (The Latics) Football Club

Wigan Athletic Football Club is an
English football club. It is also well-known as “The Latics” (a corruption of the word ‘Athletic’). It is based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The current home ground is JJB Stadium (the second name is The JJB). The stadium is named after its principal sponsor, the sporting goods retailer JJB Sports. It was opend on August 4, 1999 and it is also a home for Wigan Warriors rugby league club. The JJB located within the Robin Park Complex in Newtown, Wigan, Greater Manchester. The capacity of the stadium is 25,138. The record attendance at the JJB Stadium for Wigan Athletic is 25,023 for a match against Liverpool on February 11, 2006. The owner of the club is David Whelan. He also owns JJB Stadium. Whelan is a former professional football player of Blackburn Rovers. The current manager is Stephen Roger “Steve” Bruce. He is a former football player of such clubs as: Gillingham (1977–1984), Norwich City (1984–1987), Manchester United (1987–1996), Birmingham City (1987–1996), Sheffield United (1998–1999). Before Wigan Athletics FC Stephen Roger was a manager of Sheffield United (1998–1999), Huddersfield Town (1999–2000), Crystal Palace (2001), Birmingham City (2001–2007).

Wigan Athletic Football Club Managers:

• 1932 – 1937 – Charlie Spencer
• 1946 – 1947 – Jimmy Milne
• 1949 – 1952 – Bob Pryde
• 1952 – 1954 – Ted Goodier
• 1954 – 1955 – Walter Crook
• 1955 – 1956 – Ron Stuart
• 1956 – Billy Cooke
• 1957 – Sam Barkas
• 1957 – 1958 – Trevor Hitchen
• 1958 – 1959 – Malcolm Barrass
• 1959 - Jimmy Shirley
• 1959 – 1960 – Pat Murphy
• 1960 – Allenby Chilton
• 1961 – 1963 – Johnny Ball
• 1963 – 1966 – Allan Brown
• 1966 – 1967 – Alf Craig
• 1967 – 1968 – Harry Leyland
• 1968 – Gordon Saunders
• 1970 – 1972 – Gordon Milne
• 1972 – 1974 – Les Rigby
• 1974 – 1976 – Brian Tiler
• 1976 – 1981 – Ian McNeil
• 1981 – 1983 – Larry Lloyd
• 1983 – 1985 – Harry McNally
• 1989 – 1993 – Bryan Hamilton
• 1993 – Dave Philpotts
• 1993 – 1994 – Kenny Swain
• 1994 – 1995 – Graham Barrow
• 1995 – 1998 – John Deehan
• 1998 – 1999 – Ray Mathias
• 1999 – 2000 – John Benson
• 2000 – 2001 – Bruce Rioch
• 2001 - Steve Bruce
• 2001 – 2007 – Paul Jewell
• 2007 – Chris Hutchings
• 2007 - present – Frank Barlow

Wigan Athletic was formed in 1932 and it was the fifth attempt to stabilise a football club in the town. In 1978 Wigan Athletic were elected to Football League. They were promoted to the Football League Championship only in 2003 and to the Premiership in 2005. In 2006 they reached the League Cup final for the first time in their history. Exept this current progress they have such previous victories:

Wigan Athletic have a large fan base that supports the club all over the world. The club also has mascots. They are JJ (Jay-Jay) and B (Bea) who make regular appearances at home matches. The former mascot was very similar to the present, but was named ‘Springy’. Such a name came from the home ground of the team at the time, Springfield Park.

The Latics’ motto is: “Progress with Unity”. In their squad the club unites such professional players as: