During the 2001–02 English football season, Wigan Athletic F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Background

In the 2000–01 season, Wigan finished in the playoffs for the third consecutive season, but once again missed out on promotion, losing in the play-off semi finals to Reading. Following the sudden departure of manager Steve Bruce at the end of the season, Paul Jewell was appointed as his replacement.

Transfers Following the departures of several players from the previous season, Jewell spent heavily in the summer in an attempt to build a squad capable of gaining promotion.

Shortly before the transfer deadline, Wigan signed Nathan Ellington for a club record transfer fee of £1.2 million.

At the end of the season, defender Arjan de Zeeuw turned down a new contract at the club and left on a free transfer to join First Division side Portsmouth.

In PlayerPositionFromFeeDateNotes Peter Kennedy MF Watford £300,000 18 July 2001 Jason De Vos DF Dundee United £500,000 30 July 2001 Ian Nolan DF Bradford City Free 10 August 2001 Gábor Bukrán MF Walsall Free 10 August 2001 Stewart Kerr GK Celtic £250,000 25 August 2001 Paul Dalglish FW Norwich City Free 25 August 2001 Tony Dinning MF Wolverhampton Wanderers £750,000 10 September 2001 Matt Jackson DF Norwich City Free 22 November 2001 John Filan GK Blackburn Rovers £600,000 14 December 2001 Gary Teale MF Ayr United £200,000 14 December 2001 Nathan Ellington FW Bristol Rovers £1,200,000 28 March 2002 Jason Jarrett MF Bury £75,000 28 March 2002

Out PlayerPositionToFeeDateNotes Roy Carroll GK Manchester United £2,500,000 27 July 2001 Kevin Nicholls MF Luton Town £25,000 5 August 2001 Gábor Bukrán MF SV Salzburg Released 18 August 2001 Kevin Sharp DF Wrexham Free 1 November 2001 Alan McLoughlin MF Rochdale Free 24 December 2001 Simon Haworth FW Tranmere Rovers £125,000 1 March 2002 Scott Tynan GK Nottingham Forest Released 19 April 2002 Derek Stillie GK Dunfermline Athletic Free 22 May 2002 Arjan de Zeeuw DF Portsmouth Free 7 June 2002 Pat McGibbon DF Tranmere Rovers Released 30 June 2002 Ian Nolan DF Southport Released 30 June 2002 Ian Kilford MF Scunthorpe United Released 30 June 2002 Ben Kay MF Released 30 June 2002 Ian Johnson MF Southport Released 30 June 2002 Paul Dalglish FW Blackpool Released 30 June 2002

Loans in PlayerPosFromDateDurationNotes Dariusz Adamczuk MF Rangers 10 August 2001 Three months Matt Jackson DF Norwich City 20 October 2001 One month Jeff Kenna DF Blackburn Rovers 2 November 2001 One month Paul Cook MF Burnley 3 December 2001 One month Gary Croft DF Ipswich Town 16 January 2002 One month

Loans out PlayerPosToDateDurationNotes Neil Roberts FW Hull City 25 January 2002 One month Pat McGibbon DF Scunthorpe United 15 February 2002 One month Tony Dinning MF Stoke City 27 March 2002 End of season

Pre-season DateOpponentVenueResultScorersNotes 24 July 2001 St MirrenA2–1 28 July 2001 Ayr UnitedA0–4 31 July 2001 Stockport CountyA3–1 2 August 2001 St Helens TownH3–0 4 August 2001 Leigh RMIA2–3 7 August 2001 EvertonH1–6

League

Wigan Athletic's league season started on 11 August 2001, with a 1–1 draw against Brentford. The season started poorly, and only the team's away form kept them out of the relegation zone. Despite the club's poor results, chairman Dave Whelan publicly backed manager Paul Jewell, and blamed the previous two managers for the club's current position.

Results improved following a 6–1 win against Stoke City in November, and the club eventually finished in a mid-table position.

Results Wigan Athletic's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

GameDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersNotes 1 11 August 2001 BrentfordH1–15,952McCulloch 2 18 August 2001 Brighton & Hove AlbionA1–26,518McCulloch 3 25 August 2001 Bristol CityH1–26,231Ashcroft 4 8 September 2001 BuryA2–04,175Billy (o.g.), Haworth 5 15 September 2001 Wycombe WanderersA0–15,400 6 18 September 2001 Huddersfield TownH1–05,717Haworth 7 22 September 2001 Queens Park RangersH1–26,686Dinning 8 25 September 2001 Cambridge UnitedA2–22,969Roberts (2) 9 29 September 2001 BlackpoolA1–35,279Ashcroft (pen) 10 9 October 2001 BournemouthA0–22,908 11 12 October 2001 Cardiff CityA2–211,072McGibbon, Haworth 12 20 October 2001 WrexhamH2–35,979Dinning, Haworth 13 23 October 2001 Tranmere RoversA2–19,030Haworth (2) 14 27 October 2001 Port ValeH0–15,634 15 3 November 2001 Peterborough UnitedA2–05,405Haworth (2) 16 9 November 2001 Colchester UnitedH2–35,735Fitzgerald (o.g.), Liddell 17 13 November 2001 Stoke CityH6–17,047Dinning, Liddell, de Zeeuw, Dalglish, Ashcroft (pen), Kenna 18 20 November 2001 ChesterfieldH1–14,071Edwards (own goal) 19 24 November 2001 Northampton TownA2–04,267Dinning, Haworth 20 1 December 2001 Swindon TownH1–05,635Liddell 21 11 December 2001 Notts CountyH1–13,827Liddell 22 15 December 2001 Oldham AthleticA1–16,407Liddell 23 22 December 2001 ReadingA1–115,808Haworth 24 26 December 2001 BuryH1–16,751Liddell 25 29 December 2001 BournemouthH0–05,011 26 5 January 2002 Bristol CityA2–29,991McCulloch, De Vos 27 12 January 2002 Brighton & Hove AlbionH3–06,203Liddell (3, 1 pen) 28 19 January 2002 BrentfordA1–05,549Liddell 29 22 January 2002 ReadingA0–25,546 30 26 January 2002 Stoke CityA2–213,361Green, Dinning 31 2 February 2002 BlackpoolH0–17,357 32 9 February 2002 WrexhamA0–24,153 33 16 February 2002 Cardiff CityH4–05,487McCulloch, De Vos (2), de Zeeuw 34 19 February 2002 Notts CountyA3–13,358McCulloch, Teale, Dalglish 35 23 February 2002 Wycombe WanderersH0–04,743 36 26 February 2002 Queens Park RangersA1–18,519De Vos 37 2 March 2002 Huddersfield TownA0–012,844 38 5 March 2002 Cambridge UnitedH4–13,535Liddell (3, 1 pen), McCulloch 39 9 March 2002 Oldham AthleticH1–07,389Liddell 40 16 March 2002 Swindon TownA1–16,226Green 41 23 March 2002 Tranmere RoversH1–27,783Liddell (pen) 42 30 March 2002 Port ValeA0–14,359 43 1 April 2002 Peterborough UnitedH2–14,497Liddell (2) 44 6 April 2002 ChesterfieldA2–13,896Liddell, Ellington 45 13 April 2002 Northampton TownH3–05,938De Vos, Ellington, Green 46 20 April 2002 Colchester UnitedA2–23,672Roberts (2)

Final league table

Cups FA Cup

Wigan played at home against non-league club Canvey Island in the first round of the FA Cup. Wigan lost 1–0, and had two players sent-off during the game. The result was considered one of the biggest upsets of the round. +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesFirst17 November 2001 Canvey IslandH0–13,671

League Cup

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesFirst21 August 2001 BlackpoolA2–34,237Brannan, Haworth

Football League Trophy

Wigan suffered a heavy defeat in the first round of the Football League Trophy, losing 1–5 against Wrexham. Manager Paul Jewell later recalled that chairman Dave Whelan confronted the players after the game, informing them that Jewell would be staying at the club and that the players would be held accountable if results did not improve.

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesFirst (Northern)16 October 2001 WrexhamA1–51,550Hill (o.g.)

Squad statistics Squad at end of season

Appearances and goals

|colspan="14"|Players who appeared for Wigan and left during the season:

Notes

References