Wigan Athletic: The Club That Lost Its Way Wigan went from everyone's second favourite team to their least favourite. Racism, sexism, homophobia, two relegations and a club left as a shell. Where did it all go wrong?

It is May 4, 2013, and Wigan have just won 3-2 at eighth-placed West Brom. Second-half goals from James McArthur and Callum McManaman have given Roberto Martinez's side a further boost in their fight for Premier League survival, a week after the home draw with Tottenham. Win their game in hand at home to Swansea in four days' time, and Wigan will leapfrog Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland, moving up to 15th. That would put them a point behind Southampton. The following weekend, Wigan beat Manchester City at Wembley. Wimbledon's victory over Liverpool in 1988 is credited as the ultimate FA Cup final upset, but Bobby Gould's Crazy Gang were seventh in Division One at the time. Wigan's achievement was just as unexpected, if not more so. Wigan Athletic had peaked. A club that had only once previously reached the quarter-final stage had won the Cup. Eight years after earning promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history, a little club from a rugby town had taken on football's elite, and they had won. It may sound like sugary sentiment in hindsight, but at the time the cliché was apt: David really had beaten Goliath. Against typical protocol, Wigan were led out by their chairman at Wembley. "The FA have given permission for the chairman to lead us out and we are all delighted," Roberto Martinez told journalists two days before the final. The story of Dave Whelan's broken leg has now become a running joke given its constant retelling, but once existed as an intriguing anecdote. This was a 76-year-old man laying ghosts to rest. Two days short of two years after that Hawthorns win, Wigan lost 3-0 at Brentford's Griffin Park to confirm their relegation back to the third tier. They had taken five points from their final nine matches, sleep-walking their way to the drop. The ten-year sojourn was over. There was an implausibility to Wigan's continued Premier League status, unlikely survival following unlikely survival. Their reversion to the mean of the small-town lower league club was not startling in itself, but the manner of their fall has been astonishing. That Wigan have managed to drop back into the third tier without anyone offering them a shred of sympathy is a tribute to their abhorrent decision-making of the last 12 months. The Latics have transformed from everybody's second team to one of the least liked clubs in the country. If the Premier League missed them, the Championship will not. It is worth mentioning that Wigan's first season in the Championship was far from a disaster, despite the club's decision to replace Roberto Martinez with Owen Coyle. It's the equivalent of moving from white wine to Ouzo, a swift punch to the face that's difficult to swallow. Coyle's brand of back-to-basics football lasted 16 league matches. Uwe Rosler then offered genuine hope of almost instant redemption for Wigan. He took 40 points from his first 54 available, leading Wigan into the play-offs. He also managed them to another victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup, eventually losing to Arsenal on penalties in the semi-final. Wigan fell to QPR in the play-offs, Rosler's players shattered after a 62-game season. Captain Emmerson Boyce, aged 34, played 57 matches that campaign. That deserves a bloody medal. Wigan's problems clicked into gear last summer. Having sold James McArthur, Jordi Gomez, Jean Beausejour and loaned out Grant Holt, Ali Al-Habsi and Juan Carlos Garcia, Rosler spent more than £10m on Oriol Riera, Andy Delort, Emr Huws (initially on loan) and Adam Forshaw. The latter of those was sold to Middlesbrough in January, whilst the first three have started 25 league games between them. Delort, top scorer in France's Ligue 2 last season, is still to score in England. He cost £3m.
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