Headley: Every underdog has his day

Whelan: Bringing footballing success to Wigan for the first time

After that dramatic match at Wembley, Wigan went away, licked their wounds and – with the help of Dave Whelan’s JJB millions, built a side to take them through the divisions and into the Premiership. Yes, they had a lot of financial backing, but the story is no less romantic. Whelan is a real rags-to-riches story himself. An excellent young prospect as a player, he broke his leg in the 1960 FA Cup final while playing for Blackburn Rovers and his career never fully recovered. His career was effectively over at the age of 23. He took his compensation money and bought a small grocery business. He built up the business and eventually sold it to Morrissons in the late seventies for a seven figure sum. Then bought a small sports shop in Wigan and transformed it from a fishing tackle shop into a huge chain of sports stores now worth tens of millions of pounds - JJB Sports.

He bought Wigan when they were languishing in the bottom division, averaging crowds of less than 1,500 – and breathed life into a football club that previously had very little. Dave Whelan may not have had a long and prosperous footballing career, but his business career was flourishing – and Wigan Athletic are his latest venture - and he intends to be just as successful. Wigan's chairman is a self-made success story - and judging by his track record, there's no reason why he can't have a similar impact in the Premiership.

Being a predominantly rugby league town, Wigan was used to success in the 13-man game. The Wigan Warriors slayed all before them in the 80’s and 90’s, and during that time were the best rugby league team on the planet, surpassing even the very best Australia had to offer. So making a success of a lower-division football club was always going to be a big ask, but Whelan met the challenge head on – and he has his reward this season.

Their opening game of the year, couldn’t have been any bigger. Chelsea at home was the ultimate test for his side on the opening day – and Wigan, led by the hugely respected Paul Jewell, more than matched the Premiership champions for 92 minutes. Indeed, had they not agreed to sell Nathan Ellington in the buildup to the match, they may well have won it. They missed Ellington’s power and clinical finishing – and in the end it cost them.

After a match of real passion at a sold-out JJB Stadium (the first time it had ever been sold out for a football match), a wonder goal from Hernan Crespo broke the hearts of the Wigan fans, the players and Whelan himself. Watching the game on Sky, I saw a close-up of the Wigan fans after the goal – and you could clearly see one lad mouth the words “I just knew that was going to happen.” Football can be a cruel, cruel game sometimes.

But ‘little Wigan’ as I’m sure they’ll be unfairly referred to many times this season, played magnificently and deserved nothing less than a draw. Jose Mourinho didn’t celebrate Chelsea’s last-gasp goal, instead going over to Jewell and hugging him, telling him Wigan didn’t deserve that to happen. His post-match interview was also magnanimous and true. There were two champion teams on the pitch that afternoon, but you couldn’t tell who were the Premiership champions and who were the Championship champions.

I’ve always been one to follow the underdog in sport – and Wigan’s story is one that I’ll be following closely this season. Their fans were great at Wembley, despite being massively outnumbered – and thanks to Dave Whelan’s financial backing, Wigan have a real chance of surviving in the Premiership this season. If they can hang around for three or four seasons, then maybe we might start to see Wigan move up to challenge for a European place with the likes of Bolton, Everton and Spurs.

With an ambitious chairman and an excellent young manager, Wigan have every chance of not only living with the big boys, but becoming one themselves over time. In a game that is becoming increasingly dominated by the same clubs each year, and shock results are less common - it would be great to see a new arrival join the fray and start bloodying the noses of the established big boys. I'm a Gills fan and unlike many other fans, I don't have a 'second team', but I am an old football romantic - so in the Premiership this season, I'll be rooting for Wigan Athletic.