Wigan - The rise of the Latics

Welcome to my story based on Wigan Athletic. I have decided to take on a role with the latics and plan firstly to gain promotion back to the premier league, I then plan to build on the success and re-establish the club in the top flight before moving on to re qualifying for European football.

My philosophy at the club is to play attractive possession based football whilst bringing in exciting young players that I can develop during my time at the club. I will also be investing in the clubs facilities and academy with the view to pushing Wigan on to compete with the big boys in English football.

As always feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Hope you enjoy!

Below is a round up of the many players arriving at Wigan during the first window, as you all know the latics start with a healthy £15 million transfer budget of which I raised to £19 with the target re-set to winning the championship.




Marko was made available on loan by Chelsea and I moved quickly to snap up the young dutch star for the season. Van Ginkel has great technical abilty but also works extremely hard, he can use both feet and play across a variety of midfield positions. Another contributing factor was his experience in European football which will help us in our upcoming Europa League campaign.




Shane Lowry was purchased from Millwall for a fee of £500k plus add ons. Shane looks set to be a great centre half of which we are lacking at the club. He's solid defensively and again is extremely committed and dedicated. Lowry can also cover at left back of which he's a natural and at still just 24 I believe his best years are still ahead of him.




We managed to prize away Henri from championship rivals Nottingham Forest for a fee of £4.2 million plus add ons. Lansbury fits in perfectly with my vision of attractive possession based football, he's a natural on the ball who likes to make things happen and again can play in a whole host of attacking midfield positions. Lansbury is also just 22 years old and has been a regular for the England U21 side.




We beat of a whole host of opposition bids to bring in Berahino on loan for the season. Saido is one of England's brightest prospects and will look to add goals to my Wigan side. Berhaino is very quick and a great finisher and can also play well as an inside forward if not picked for the main central striker role.




With just the ageing Stephan Crainey at the club we brought in Tommy Rowe from Peterborough for a fee of £600k to fill the left back slot. Tommy has been impressing a lot of people with he's displays for Posh, he works extremely hard and is great going forward and again at just 24 years of age he should have many good years ahead of him.




Max Clayton is the next hot prospect to come out of the Crewe academy and we managed to beat of competition from the likes of Liverpool to bring him to the club for a fee starting at £1.2 million. Max, just 18 years old has a big, big future and is another great attacking option for us this coming season.




Likely to be our best business of the summer we managed to prize away Thomas Ince from Blackpool for a fee of just £3million. Tom is already a top player and will be one of our key attacking assets this season cutting in from the right hand side. Tom is expected to go and establish himself as an England regular and will hopefully do so at Wigan in the premier league.




Very much like the signing of Tom Ince, we have again captured one of England's brightest young prospects with the signing of Will Hughes from Derby for a fee starting at £4.8million. Will at just 18 years old is already an established championship player. Hughes is again very good on the ball, works hard and can play in numerous midfield roles.




We managed to bring in young english centre half Harry Maguire from Sheffield United for a fee of £2.7million. Harry is an England U21 international and has been impressive at Sheffield United in recent seasons. Despite lacking a bit of pace Harry is a beast of a defender and will only get better with us.




The final centre back to join was Craig Cathcart from Blackpool for a fee starting at £700k. The former Manchester United centre back has become a key championship player for Blackpool as well as his country and had been attracting a host of premiership clubs. I was delighted to bring him in he's another solid defender and is still just 24 years age.




Welsh international and Celtic favourite Adam Matthews was brought in for a price starting at £900k. I was surprised that I was able to lure in him to the club but delighted and he will fill the right back position perfectly. Adam is lightning quick, works hard and loves getting forward.


We also brought in 16 year olds Mason Bennett from Derby and Giorgio Rasulo from MK Dons. Both of who we believe have a great future in the game.

As you can see above I decided to rebuild the squad and bring in a lot of new players, therefore a lot of players needed to leave as well, I decided to clear out the dead wood and overpaid players in the squad.












Guille, Meadows, Kerwin, Johnstone, Bingham, Sheego, Phillips, Chow, Buxton, Myler, Boothman, Langley, Mustoe, McCormack, Redmond, Cottrill, Christian, Gibson, Ainscough

Good luck with this chap, made a fairly good start, unlucky in the community shield!

Liking the story so far mate good luck with it.

I have tried a wigan save myself but always struggle with the right tactics. You got any tips for tactics and formations for me maybe?