Wigan Athletic and Paul Cook never saw West Brom hype that followed 2019 recruit
Wigan Athletic are a club who have endured more ups and downs in recent years than most of their Football League counterparts – with even the club’s famous FA Cup triumph in 2013 followed by a downward trend.
The Latics, of course, became the first-ever club to win the famous old trophy in the same season as being relegated from the Premier League, while a further relegation to League One followed in 2015.
The Greater Manchester outfit won the third-tier title in 2016, a feat they emulated in both 2018 and 2022, but for every promotion back to the Championship, relegation has swiftly followed for the Latics, who currently reside in League One once more.
Add a period in administration, which began in the summer of 2020 and would not end until the spring of 2021, as well as an HMRC winding-up petition against the club in 2023 into the mix, and you get a very clear idea of just how turbulent recent times at the Brick Community Stadium have been.
But one of the more stable periods the Latics enjoyed, prior to their administration in 2020, came under former manager Paul Cook, who helped the club to the League One title in 2018 and then managed to retain their Championship status with a relatively comfortable 2018/19 second tier campaign.
Cook’s era in the dugout at the Brick was defined by successful signings, such as the addition of Reece James, who joined on loan from Chelsea and took the Championship by storm.
However, an acquisition that did not succeed during Cook’s tenure in WN5 was that of former West Bromwich Albion defender Jonas Olsson, who joined the Latics in February 2019 on a free transfer.
