DW Stadium - Wigan Athletic FC
Wigan Athletic 2-2 Aston Villa
19/05/13 - Premier League
Att: 23,001
His assistant Chris Hutchings took over but lasted only twelve matches as Wigan plummeted into the relegation zone following six successive defeats. Steve Bruce took over and steadied the ship, eventually leading Wigan to a 14th placed finish. The following season saw Wigan finish 11th under Bruce's guidance, despite losing key players Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey in the January transfer window and at the end of that season Bruce departed to take the vacant manager's job at Sunderland.
Football is full of strange coincidences and it's amazing how often the fixture list can throw up dramatic final day situations. Every football expert had pointed to the final day clash between relegation candidates Wigan and Aston Villa as a potentially huge fixture and to tell you the truth, it was a prospect that had myself and many other Villa fans touching cloth for months. Wigan's luck finally ran out when a home defeat to Swansea and a 4-1 loss at Arsenal confirmed Wigan's relegation after eight seasons in the top flight.
It was news that came as a huge relief to the claret and blue faithful and I dare say that a lot of neutral observers were glad to see the back of a team that would play appallingly for 30 games a season, turn it on in April and escape by the skin of their teeth year after year while Dave Whelan bleated on about what a genius Martinez was for masterminding the escapes. Rumour has it that he broke his leg in an FA Cup final once, but he doesn't like to talk about it.
Match and train tickets had been booked for a good few months beforehand and it was great to travel to a match not worrying about the result and to finally banish relegation talk for the first time all season. It was an early start as the train left Farnborough at 8am and headed for Wigan via London Waterloo and London Euston. The journey went well and we arrived in the north-west just after midday and quickly headed into town where there were pubs aplenty, all full of Villa fans.
After a few beers and a sing-song we made the walk down to the ground which was pretty straight forward from the town centre and pitched up in the nearby sports centre for another pint before going into the ground.
The DW Stadium was opened in 1999 and proved to be a major building block in Dave Whelan's development of Wigan Athletic as he and his millions dragged Wigan from the wilderness to the top tier of English football. The stadium is also home to Wigan Warriors, one of the country's leading Rugby League sides. It has a pretty basic design with four identical stands, but the steepness of them makes it look imposing and provides a good view as well as a good atmosphere.
Wigan Athletic joined the Football League as recently as 1978 despite being founded in 1932. Their time in the Football League was largely unremarkable until Dave Whelan purchased the club in 1995. In 1996/97 Wigan were promoted from the fourth tier, finishing above Fulham on goals scored and following three play off defeats Wigan were finally promoted from the third tier in 2002/03. Wigan were a club going places and in 2004/05 they secured promotion to the top flight after a final day victory over Reading.
Upon their arrival in the Premier League they were everybody's tip to be relegated but their inaugural season at that level proved to be a resounding success as Paul Jewell lead the club to the League Cup final and a 10th placed finish. In 2006/07 it looked as though the dreaded "second season syndrome" would strike Wigan down, but a dramatic 2-1 win at Sheffield United on the final day saved the club from relegation and also saw Paul Jewell resign as manager.
His assistant Chris Hutchings took over but lasted only twelve matches as Wigan plummeted into the relegation zone following six successive defeats. Steve Bruce took over and steadied the ship, eventually leading Wigan to a 14th placed finish. The following season saw Wigan finish 11th under Bruce's guidance, despite losing key players Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey in the January transfer window and at the end of that season Bruce departed to take the vacant manager's job at Sunderland.
Former player Roberto Martinez was brought in to succeed Bruce and endured a difficult first season as The Latics narrowly escaped relegation, eventually finishing 16th following wins over Liverpool and Arsenal at the back end of the season. This would prove to be a continued theme during Martinez's time at the club. A year later progress was slow and it took a win at Stoke on the final day to secure Wigan's top flight status by the skin of their teeth and in 2011/12 it looked as though Wigan would finally drop, but an unlikely sequence of results saw them escape relegation again under Martinez.
It was the only period in the club's short stay in the Premier League that they had been in consistent relegation danger, yet despite this the media and Dave Whelan would laud Roberto Martinez as some sort of football genius, much to my bemusement. Despite winning the FA Cup after a dramatic 1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley, Wigan and Martinez's luck ran out as they were finally relegated. Martinez departed for Everton, where he will succeed David Moyes and it will be interesting to see if he finally gets found out at a club with a bit of ambition.
With Wigan filling the final relegation spot the game was a dead rubber and 4,000 Villa fans travelled to the DW Stadium in a party mood which created a great atmosphere. The party was in full flow after just five minutes when Darren Bent, probably making his last appearance for the club, gave Villa an early lead. In the aftermath of the goal my camera slipped from my pocket and after meeting the concrete wouldn't turn back on again. It was Swansea all over again. Villa's lead lasted just fifteen minutes as Boyce headed the home side level before a Nathan Baker own goal gave Wigan the lead just before half time.
Truth be told the match was a bit flat and with a whole day's worth of beer inside me I can't remember the finer details of what happened. In a nut shell Ron Vlaar equalised on the hour mark and the game finished 2-2, meaning that Villa finished a place higher than the previous season and with three more points as well. It proved to be a dramatic turn around when compared with the first half of the season. Dare I say it was almost Wigan-esque?
Anyway, after the match we headed back into town and got the train home as the curtain finally came down on an eventful 2012/13 season.
It was a decent trip to finish the season with and although I'm not their biggest fan I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Wigan. I wish them well in the Championship.
South Stand
West Stand
East Stand
Petrov masks
Panoramic view of the DW Stadium
