There have been a number of football clubs in Wigan over the years, starting with Wigan County, Wigan Town and Wigan Borough. Following poorly-supported Borough's collapse in 1931, a public meeting was held in May 1932 where Wigan Athletic were founded and they bought the Springfield Park ground for £2,250. Unfortunately, they were not able to join the Football League until 1978, playing out their time in the Cheshire League, the Lancashire Combination League and the Northern Premier League.
Since 1978 they have been making steady progress up the divisions, picking up pace with the appointment of Paul Jewell in 2001. In 2002/03 Wigan were promoted to the First Division and two years later they claimed an automatic promotion place to take them into the Barclays Premiership for the very first time.
Their first top flight campaign was nothing short of incredible, with the Latics finding themselves comfortably away from the drop zone and even reaching their first major final with a trip to Cardiff for the Carling Cup final, though that ended with a disappointing 4-0 defeat to Man United.
