Happy Days
Wigan Athletic is a club I have visited in the past, although, the last time I went they were still playing at Springfield Park.
I believe Ronnie Sinclair was making his debut in goal for Stoke that day and I remember standing on a slippery grass bank with a little tin shed at the top and a few rows of concrete terracing below us.
I remember a Main Stand, off to the right, while the rest of the ground consisted of a shallow, concrete terraced bowl. The players’ changing rooms, were a pair of Portacabins in one corner of the ground.
A miserable 3-0 defeat followed, but they were happy days… right?
Well, it was certainly the beginning of happier days for Stoke, with Lou Macari at the helm. A Wembley Autoglass Trophy Final later that season and promotion the following year.
I found this clip on YouTube that shows Sunderland fans having some halftime fun in the mud.
Times have moved on since then and the ‘Tics now play at the DW Stadium.
Both clubs have played in the Premier League since that Division Three game back in February 1992.
It was time to renew my acquaintance with Wigan and see how much things have changed.
The Journey
Sixx AM is a pretty good rock band, led by Nikki Sixx, ex of Motley Crue.
Six am is a pretty horrible time of day and that was when I was dragged from my nice warm bed on Saturday morning.
It doesn’t help that I’ve been struggling with a cold all week, although it seems to have settled into just an annoying cough now.
I coughed and spluttered my way around getting ready and we left the house in time to catch the 07:03 X1 to Newcastle.
The first thing we saw after getting off the bus, was a twenty-something lad who was clearly under the influence of drugs. We side-eyed him as we walked around him, while he sidled and jerked in a crab-like gait, glaring aggressively at everyone nearby.
I will never understand why people choose to do that to themselves and call it ‘fun’.
With time a little tight, we made a quick smash and grab in Greggs before heading straight to Newcastle Central to catch the 08:23 train to Carlisle.
By 10:00 we had arrived in Carlisle and settled down in the waiting room for our 10:50 connection to Wigan.
Eventually West Coast
Today we would be dealing with our old nemesis, Avanti West Coast, who I now refer to as Eventually West Coast!
Their incompetence started as early as the night before we even started our journey.
I received a notification on Friday evening stating that the 18:26 train from Wigan to Carlisle had been cancelled. A quick website check showed that we could get to the train station in time for the 17:38 instead.
Not a good start but entirely expected from this shyster company.
While we were waiting in Carlisle, there was a constant stream of announcements for cancelled trains and late trains with a variety of nonsensical excuses.
Amazingly, the 10:50 train arrived pretty much on time and we got on board. We settled into our seats and set off for Wigan.
We started chatting with the other two people at our table and the time flew by.
When our American internet DJ friend disembarked, it was a shock to realise we were already at Preston. He and the lady from Kilmarnock had been great company!
So good in fact, that I am going to give a link to his website – Progzilla. He hosts the Krazzloft Vinyl show and if you are a fan of progressive rock, I can’t think of anywhere better to recommend.
A few short minutes later at 12:10, we pulled into Wigan North Western train station – one of two stations to serve the town.
Wigan
Located in Greater Manchester, Wigan stands on the River Douglas and is part of the historic County of Lancashire.
The town has a population of around 108,000 and lies centrally between the huge footballing cities of Manchester (sixteen miles) and Liverpool (seventeen). Bolton is also only ten miles to the east of Wigan.
As with many towns in the northwest of England, the Industrial Age ushered in a boom and Wigan became a part of the northwest’s cotton mill industry.
Coal was another important part of life in Wigan until the war with Thatcher’s government saw the industry’s demise in the latter part of the twentieth century.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs through Wigan and was used to transport the town’s coal.
The Tote bookmakers have their headquarters in Wigan and Heinz has its largest food processing plant here. The JJB Sports chain store was founded in Wigan
In terms of my own family, another important thing is made in Wigan – Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls! Both my mother and grandmother love(d) those things.
Wigan is also home to a historically successful Rugby League team, the Wigan Warriors. At present, the Warriors ground share with Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.
George Orwell wrote a 1937 book called ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’. This novel highlights the poor living and working conditions of the town’s inhabitants at that time.
It also brought Wigan Pier to the attention of the nation.
Wigan Pier
Wigan is not a seaside town and the pier is actually a docking area on the canal.
Coal and other wares were loaded onto barges here and shipped off to other parts of England and beyond.
Once the heavy industries declined, Wigan Pier became a cultural and heritage site.
From there it became the scene of one of the UK’s most popular nightclubs and music venues until its closure in 2011.
The buildings have since been restored and rebuilt and there are plans afoot to turn the historic site into a wedding venue, gin distillery, microbrewery and food hall.
Dare I suggest a music venue?
Famous people from Wigan include; actors, Roy Kinnear and Ian McKellen (forever Gandalf to me); actor/singer, George Formby; Sky News’s Kay Burley and WWE wrestler, Davey Boy Smith (part of the infamous British Bulldogs tag team.)
Wigan has also contributed to the music scene with groups such as The Verve, Starsailor, The Lathums and the Railway Children.
The Walk
From Wigan North Western to the DW Stadium is a 1.1-mile walk.
We decided to go the scenic route along the canal and take in the Wigan Pier buildings.
First, we avoided what looked like a potential fight after someone had bumped into another person walking along the road.
Well, this is the home of Richard Ashcroft after all! (If you remember the video, you will get it)
Under the rail bridge and across a couple of busy roads brought us to the canal side and the Wigan Pier buildings ahead.
Further along the towpath, we were greeted by the strange sight of a man holding a large white package of some kind under his arm.
That wasn’t the strange part.
The swan aggressively following him with its wings held aloft and periodically threatening to fly at him, was.
As we closed in on the duo, the man saw us and started grinning, saying “He’s been doing this for the last two hundred yards”.
I think it may have been that the swan mistook the white package for something else. Otherwise, I’ve no idea why he was so antsy with this man who clearly wasn’t trying to do it harm.
As we approached the end of the walk, the canal carried on but we turned left into Car Park 4 and got our first glimpses of the DW Stadium.
After crossing the bridge over the River Douglas, we were at the stadium and started exploring.
Wigan Athletic – DW Stadium Exterior
Technically, the East Stand is actually northeast and the South Stand is southeast but for simplicity’s sake, we will use the same terms as Wigan for the directions of the stands.
We came out in the corner between the south and east stands and chose to walk around in a clockwise direction.
The South Stand is the area containing the Official Supporters Club Bar which we will head back to after our circuit.
There isn’t a lot to say about the stadium’s exterior, to be honest, with much of it looking the same.
The standout area is the Springfield (West) Stand, which is where we would be sitting.
Whelan’s Bar is at the southern end of the Springfield Stand, named after ex-club chairman Dave Whelan.
In keeping with the rest of the stadium exterior, it is made of brick and sheet metal but here at least, it has some character. Murals of past achievements adorn the wall on either side of the main reception area and the club badge features above.
Between the murals is the slogan #Believe emblazoned across the large glass front.
In front of this imposing facade is a statue of the man who helped build Wigan Athletic into a Premier League side.
Dave Whelan
Rather than give an in-depth portrayal of Dave Whelan and his influence on Wigan Athletic, I will simply leave a link to his Wikipedia page for anyone who is interested in more detail.
Suffice it to say, his influence was instrumental in bringing success and the Premier League years to Wigan.
The statue of him outside the Springfield Stand depicts him holding the FA Cup.
A trophy he had competed for as a player fifty-three years earlier. Unfortunately for Dave, he suffered a broken leg in that FA Cup Final game and Blackburn lost 3-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
That experience will have added to his enjoyment of the 2013 Cup Final win against Manchester City.
Club Shop
The Latics Store and Players Lounge neighbour each other to the left of the reception.
We headed into the store for a look around and the store sells everything you would expect to see… apart from a programme!
Having asked inside the store, we were told that Wigan doesn’t produce either a programme or a teamsheet (not technically true, but more on that in a while.)
Instead, Wigan produces a monthly magazine but amusingly, Leyton Orient didn’t even feature in the one available on the day. We gave it a quick swerve.
There were at least, pin badges.
We headed for the ticket office next, located between the Springfield and North Stands.
I purchased tickets (£25.00 each) for the game at the start of the week and chose the free postage option.
Unfortunately, the tickets hadn’t arrived by game day, so I took a printout of the email and handed it to the guy behind the window of the ticket office.
EDIT: The tickets still haven’t arrived as of Monday afternoon.
He quickly and efficiently printed out our two tickets for us and after thanking him, we moved on.
The wall of the North Stand facing the ticket office had a nice feature, with photographs of fans forming a nice ‘2021’ mural.
That was probably the only feature that stood out for the rest of the walk and we headed back towards the South Stand.
Wigan Athletic – DW Stadium Exterior Gallery
Wigan Athletic Supporters Club Bar
In the South Stand is an impressive Bar which is, I assume, run by the Supporters Club. However, if you know differently, please drop a comment to correct me.
We found ourselves in a large room decked out with lots of tables and chairs and two bars at opposite corners.
There were large TV screens on the wall, showing the game between Manchester United and Everton.
We got a couple of pints of Madri from the bar at a cost of £8.92 for both. Reasonable, considering this was a football stadium.
We sat at an unoccupied table where we were soon joined by a friendly couple who we had a nice conversation with.
They were lovely to chat to and if you are reading this, thanks for being good company.
There was an interview with a player from Wigan’s past introduced and he went on to talk about how things used to be when Wigan were still a non-league team.
What a great touch!
These types of things are usually reserved for people in hospitality, so well done Wigan for that.
After being told in the club store that there were no programmes or teamsheets available, it was a surprise to be told by our new friends that teamsheets would be handed out.
Around 14:30, they duly obliged and I grabbed a copy and was amused when our friend asked for another and gave that to me, too.
Good job, too, as beer stains ruined one of them.
We said goodbye to our companions and headed off to enter the stadium.
Teamsheet
Unfortunately, Wigan is one of the league teams that have decided that producing a printed programme for their supporters is not worth their time.
Teamsheets are available but scarce and as far as I’m aware, they were only available in the Supporters Club Bar.
Luckily, we managed to get hold of a copy and although it’s better than nothing, it doesn’t replace a programme.
Wigan Athletic – DW Stadium Interior
We scanned our freshly printed tickets at the turnstile and went inside.
South Stand
To our right, was the South Stand, also known as the Leam Richardson Stand.
In November of 2021, Wigan frontman, Charlie Wyke, suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch. After his release from hospital, he was quoted as saying “My life has been saved by the actions of the gaffer (Leam Richardson) and the club doctor Jonathan Tobin”.
A fitting way for the club to pay tribute to that life-saving moment.
It is a fully seated and covered stand with a capacity of 5,400.
Springfield Stand (West)
Named after the club’s former ground, the Springfield Stand is the main stand at the DW Stadium.
This stand contains the dressing rooms, players’ tunnel and dugouts, as well as executive boxes, a media area and a TV studio.
It has a capacity of 6,100 and is fully covered and all-seated.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good picture of this stand but it is in keeping with the rest of the stadium in its make-up.
North Stand
To our left was the North Stand.
With a capacity of 5,400, this is a mirror image of the opposite end.
It is used to house the away support and Leyton Orient had bought a decent following of 648 from East London.
They were a credit to the O’s, keeping up their support throughout the match and even carried on singing as Wigan celebrated their matchwinner.
Boston Stand (East)
This is the largest stand at the DW Stadium and has a capacity of 8,238.
It is named after former Wigan Warriors player, Billy Boston.
There is a small section of Wigan fans at the northern end of this stand who try to bring a little atmosphere to matches.
They were pretty quiet for the most part on this occasion, at least from where we were sitting.
The DW Stadium is located in Robin Park and is the home of both Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors Rugby League teams.
It was built in 1999 by Alfred McAlpine, who also built the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield. There are similarities, including the steel framework roofs and the stand-alone stands that don’t connect in the corners.
The stadium has a total capacity of 25,133, achieved in 2008 when the Latics hosted Manchester United in the season’s final game.
The stadium replaced Springfield Park, the club’s previous home of sixty-seven years.
The playing surface consists of natural grass, mixed with 2% synthetic fibres.
Wigan Athletic Tidbits
Wigan Athletic Football Club was founded in 1932.
After playing much of its early years in the Cheshire and Lancashire Leagues, 1968 saw the club invited to take part in the inaugural Northern Premier League.
They won two League titles and reached the FA Trophy final in 1973.
Wigan’s big breakthrough came in 1978 when they were elected to the Football League in place of Southport.
They were the last club to be elected to the Football League before promotion and relegation was introduced.
They won their first promotion to the third tier in 1981/82 before being relegated in 1993.
After winning the Third Division title in 1996/97, they went on to win the Second Division in 2002/03 and promotion from the Championship in 2004/05.
A remarkable surge up the footballing pyramid.
They managed to stay in the Premier League for eight seasons, winning the FA Cup in their relegation season.
If ever a song was fitting for a football team’s season, it would be The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’…
Wigan Athletic have since yo-yo’d between the Championship and League One.
In 2020 the club was placed in administration and lost its place in the Championship due to a points reduction. Promotion was once more followed by points reductions and relegation in 2022/23.
Compounding this, a further points reduction followed them into the 2023/24 season, meaning they started this season with minus eight points.
Bolton Wanderers are considered the ‘Tics main rivals.
Wigan Athletic – Pre-Game View of the DW Stadium
Wigan Athletic v Leyton Orient – The Game
Form
During February, the Tics played six times and picked up ten points. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though.
There were two impressive victories at Peterborough United and at home to Bolton Wanderers. On the flip side, there were disappointing results as they slipped to defeat at home to Exeter City and a 4-2 loss at Oxford United.
March began badly for Wigan, with a 4-2 defeat at Fleetwood Town on the 2nd.
They will be looking to get the month onto a more positive note today.
For the East London visitors, Leyton Orient, it has also been a poor start to March. They slipped to a 1-0 home defeat against ten-man Bristol Rovers.
Prior to that, February had brought them an impressive fifteen points from seven matches.
This included two wins away from home at Port Vale and Oxford.
Less impressive, was a home defeat to Burton Albion.
With these two sides evenly matched in the League (two points difference with Wigan’s eight-point deduction aside), I was predicting a 2-2 draw.
Kick-Off
Orient were playing some decent football in the first half and, I would argue, were having the better of the game.
That said, there were few real goalscoring opportunities for either team and Wigan possibly edged that side of things.
The best chance of the half fell to Wigan’s Charlie Hughes, whose looping header was cleared off the line by Ethan Galbraith.
The match’s turning point came just before the halftime break when Orient’s Galbraith was shown a second yellow card by match referee, Scott Oldham.
Tighten up the hatches O’s, a second-half storm is predicted.
Half Time – Wigan Athletic 0 v Leyton Orient 0
Last week, I had a shock to the system when I checked my phone to see Stoke winning.
This week, Stoke were playing just up the road at Preston North End and had ground out a 0-0 halftime scoreline.
Amazingly, we went on to win 2-1!
Has the club finally turned a corner? It’s starting to feel that way as players and fans are starting to show signs of increased unity.
Either way, it’s much-needed points in the bag if relegation is to be avoided this season.
Second Half
The second half, as you would expect, saw more pressure from Wigan.
The O’s proved to be pretty resilient though and it took until the 73rd minute for the pressure to finally pay off.
Two substitutes combined to break the deadlock with Jonny Smith putting in a cross for Jason Kerr to head home.
I even managed to capture the goal for you lovely lot.
It never felt like Orient were out of the game, despite being a man down. They continued to pose problems for Wigan and can deem themselves unlucky not to leave with a point.
A shout-out to their fans, too.
As you can hear in the video above, they had been chanting the same song for a few minutes and even the Wigan goal only put a temporary pause on it before it restarted.
Full-Time – Wigan Athletic 1 v Leyton Orient 0
Attendance – 10,352
Entrance Fee – £25.00
Programme – N/A
You can read a more detailed Match Report here, courtesy of the Wigan Athletic website.
Wigan Athletic v Leyton Orient – Match Highlights
Up Next
Next up for Wigan is a trip to Wycombe Wanderers on March 12th.
This is followed by Blackpool at the DW on the 16th, before heading off to The Valley to face a resurgent Charlton Athletic on the 23rd.
Leyton Orient will be looking to get their push for the playoffs back on track when they face Port Vale at Brisbane Road on March 12th.
Following that game, they will face two away games starting with Stevenage (16th) and Lincoln City (29th). A scheduled game with Exeter City has been postponed due to international call-ups, to a later date yet to be announced.
A sign of the times, where even third-tier games in England are affected by international games.
Wigan Athletic Thoughts
Wigan Athletic are a victim of geography and rugby.
With Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City all within seventeen miles, fans within the town are spoiled for choice and the Latics aren’t everyone’s first option, unfortunately.
Wigan also has a hugely successful Rugby League team in the Wigan Warriors. This success has meant football has often played second fiddle to rugby in the town.
The years in the Premier League will have helped to create a solid support base for the club and they will look to build on that as they attempt to recover from the financial woes that have dogged the club in recent years.
The DW Stadium looks great on the inside. It has a unique character with the steel framework roofing that distinguishes it from other new-builds of the nineties.
On the outside, it’s a little more grim and dare I say, souless. This is not a criticism of the club but just an observation of the stadium builds that were completed around that time, including Stoke. The majority of the stadium’s exterior is of a brick and sheet metal construction that could be just a warehouse.
They have attempted to brighten it up in places, but more could be done to give it some character that matches the interior.
Personal Gripe
Programme!
A continual bugbear of mine is that clubs have ceased to produce a printed programme for their fans.
A neutral such as myself wouldn’t have a clue who the players on the pitch are without one. I feel that a teamsheet should be available for anyone who wants one at the turnstile.
This should be a bare minimum for every club, especially given the price of entry to football games these days!
The supporters’ club bar was a fantastic place for a few pre-match pints and is a credit to the club.
Pies! Wigan is famous for its pies and even the club mascot is called Crusty the Pie. Why then, are the pies ‘imported’ from Accrington? Surely, Wigan should be proudly showing off its own town’s finest scran?
All in all, despite the game not being great (partly due to the red card), we enjoyed our day in Wigan and a few changes could go a long way to improving the matchday experience for Wigan supporters.
One More Thing
Completely unrelated to Wigan, I have to mention the Leyton Orient shirts.
Who on earth came up with that design?
While I was watching the game, they just looked like red shirts with a white band near the top on the front.
Looking back at my photographs, I see they also had little black stripes on the shoulders and this gives the effect of the white band being a sign that a criminal might have had hanging around their necks in old photographs.
Is it just me? Because I can’t unsee it now…
Wigan – After the Game
Following the final whistle, we hurriedly made our way out of the ground and headed back along the canal.
We were hoping to get the 17:26 train, which meant getting a move on!
The swan was sedately swimming around protecting his mate who was building a nest by the looks of it. He was quite happy to let us wander past, as we weren’t carrying any white packages. 😂
I’m still smirking at the thought of that guy walking past while I write this.
We arrived back at the train station to find, ‘quelle surprise’, the 17:26 was cancelled.
The better news was that there was another due at 17:38, so not much longer to wait. It arrived (five minutes late) and we set off on the journey home.
Of course, the train was full, meaning once again that we couldn’t sit together.
It never ceases to amaze me how rude people can be on trains. They persistently place bags on the seat next to them and on this occasion, even a dog had a seat to itself.
It was quite cute though…
We got to Carlisle just after 19:00 and faced another long wait for our connecting train at 20:09.
As we sat in the waiting room, once again we sat listening to announcements of cancelled and late trains, mostly involving Avanti.
It really is ridiculous how this company is allowed to keep its licence!
GET THEM GONE!
Our train arrived on time (it wasn’t Eventually West Coast, which helps!) and we boarded our final leg.
Hold Tight, Mate
One thing of note on this train was the lack of a toilet facility.
Given the fact that a large percentage of the passengers on board had been drinking, this was definitely affecting quite a few of them. It’s only amusing watching someone walking frantically up and down the carriages when it isn’t you who is desperate, right?
Arriving in Newcastle at 21:45 we wandered through party town central, sidestepping one of the largest piles of vomit I have ever seen in my life.
We caught the X1 at 10:15 and were back home around 23:00.
We popped into our local for a pint, as it was the landlord’s birthday and it was good to see that things were still as crazy as ever seeing as we haven’t been in for quite a while.
After a quick pint, we made our way home and logged another successful Hop in the books.
Next Up for Hoppers Guide
Next week, we will be making a second attempt to get to a Linlithgow Rose game.
On the last occasion a few short weeks ago, the weather got the better of us and a frozen pitch saw us heading back to Edinburgh. We went to Meggetland Sports Complex to watch Tynecastle instead.
Ironically, Tynecastle will be in our thoughts again, as the visitors to Prestonfield on the day will be Heart of Midlothian’s B team.
We are looking forward to checking out another of Scotland’s Lowland League teams in the lovely town of Linlithgow.
Onto the next!
