More than just pies and a pier

When Wigan Athletic were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2004/05 season, it was the culmination of a football story of struggle and financial issues dating back more than 100 years.

For many supporters, it was easy to mock the vanity of owner Dave Whelan, especially with the decision to rename the stadium after himself but, if it wasn’t for him, Wigan Athletic may have gone the same way as AFC, Central, County, United, Town and finally Borough.

Football has struggled to break the ice in Wigan since Wigan County were formed back in 1897, playing in the Lancashire Leagues at a recreation ground known locally as Springfield Gardens (later renamed as Springfield Park). They applied for election to the Football League in 1898, but failed. County soon fell by the wayside and the baton was taken up by Wigan Town. Ditto, the same story.

The fourth attempt at making football work in a rugby league dominated town came in 1919, as Wigan United, but the following season, Wigan United was found guilty of paying their players, for ‘lost time’, which even at this stage was deemed “not in the interest of the modern game”. A new club was created out of the ashes of United, and called Wigan Association, although they soon changed their name to Wigan Borough.

With a lease secured on Springfield Park, they entered the Lancashire Combination League for the 1920/21 season. They found the going tough, spending most of the season at the bottom of the league. During the winter, the Football League announced that they would be creating a new league for the following season, which would be known as the Third Division North. The previous season they had created a Third Division, but this was populated virtually completely by southern-based teams and they needed to balance the geographic imbalance.

Wigan Borough FC decided to throw their hat into the ring and, despite finishing in 17th place (out of 18 teams), the Football League accepted their application, They lined up for their first game, away to Nelson, and came back with the 2 points with a 2-1 victory. Alas, there weren’t many high points in the season. They eventually finished the season 4th from bottom, avoiding re-election by just two points.

Over the next few seasons the club struggled, although they did record a fifth place finish (in 1922/23) and then their best ever finish in 1928/29, when they finished fourth. Whilst crowds could sometimes reach 10,000+ at Springfield Park, they were always the town’s poor relations to the Rugby League side, who played across the town centre at Central Park.

At the beginning of May 1931 the Football League issued an ultimatum to the Wigan Borough club to pay all outstanding monies owed to the players. A fundraiser and a 'fire sale' of players saw them reach their goal, but the following season saw them struggle again, both on and off the field.

After their game against Darlington in September, which saw Borough lose 5-0, the Football League again stepped in to 'encourage' the club to get their house in order. They managed to carry on for a further month before, on the 19th October 1931, just after the home victory against Carlisle United, the club handed in its notice to quit the league, after they were unable to satisfy the demands of the League to meet their liabilities, including loan interest and arrears of wages to players. With the club bizarrely giving a week’s notice, they actually went into their final ever league game knowing this was the end. As if they were inspired by the end they recorded their season-best performance, with a 5-0 win at Wrexham. The final financial statement showed the club had liabilities of over £30,000.

Just a year later, a final attempt was made to keep football in the town when Wigan Athletic FC was formed and, after a deal with the liquidators of Borough, they moved into Springfield Park. The rest, as they say is history.

After Wigan Borough was forced to resign their place in the Football League Third Division (North), it was widely expected that the ambitious Manchester Central club would be invited to assume Wigan Borough’s place in the division. However, this was quashed by the league management committee, following objections from first division Manchester City and second division Manchester United, who both feared the impact of a third league club in the City.

On 31 October 1931, the Daily Herald reported that Prescot Cables and Macclesfield Town, the unbeaten leaders of the Cheshire League, had both applied for admission to the Northern Section to replace Wigan Borough, (in the same way that Prescot had taken over Fleetwood’s fixture list in the Lancashire Combination in 1927). However, despite protests from the Northern Committee, the Football League remained adamant that no club would be considered and the season continued with 21 teams in the division.

The withdrawal of Wigan Borough led to much speculation about the financial health of many of the other clubs in the Northern section, and the possibility of additional vacancies arising from bankruptcy. It was considered that a steady infusion of new blood could place the Northern section on sound foundations.

It is a measure of the status of Prescot Cables at this time that they were one of several clubs being talked up by the newspapers as being potential replacements should that have happened.