He made his debut for Wigan against Newcastle United on 19 August 2006, which his new club lost 2 – 1.

After a tense re-vote which Wigan controversially won 29 – 20, Southport lost their place in the Fourth Division and Wigan Athletic became an English League club on 2 June 1978.

The 1999 – 2000 season ended in failure at Wembley as Wigan Athletic lost 3 – 2 after extra time to Gillingham at the last ever Division Two play-off final to be played at the old Wembley Stadium.

His arrival brought renewed vigour to Wigan Athletic performances, but the club ultimately lost in the play-offs once again, this time against Reading.

The club lost only four times all season, and Wigan Athletic secured promotion to the second tier of the English Football League for the first time in their history.

At the beginning of the 2010 – 11 season, Wigan lost 4 – 0 to newly promoted Blackpool at the DW stadium, and a 6 – 0 thrashing at the DW stadium by Chelsea followed.

Other bright spots in this period included reaching the final of the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley in 1985, where the team lost to Wigan, and a run to the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1989 which included wins over three higher-division sides and was only ended by the reigning league champions Liverpool.

The fourth round draw saw Forest Green draw Premier League side Wigan Athletic, although Forest Green then lost 2-1 to Notts County on 19 January 2010 at Meadow Lane.

During the 1994 NSWRL season, Bennett coached defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions Wigan for the 1994 World Club Challenge and lost.

In 1912 / 13 Rovers finished 3rd again out of 26 clubs and lost to Wigan in the Championship semi final play-off and finished runners-up in the Yorkshire League Championship.

Rovers lost in the final of the Yorkshire Cup 7-8 to Leeds but won the Premiership Trophy beating Hull 11-7. International full back George Fairbairn was signed from Wigan suring the summer of 1981 for a ten world record fee of £ 72. 500.

Warrington did make it to the final of the Regal Trophy in 1994 but lost 40 – 10 to Wigan at McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield.

They lost the test 42-0 at Central Park, Wigan.

Unfortunately Bradford lost 8 – 3 to Wigan and Frank Whitcombe became the first player to win the Lance Todd trophy on the losing side.

They last won the Super League title in the 2006 Super League Grand Final, again defeating Hull, but have since lost five consecutive finals, four to Leeds with the other being to local rivals Wigan.

They lost in two further Challenge Cup finals to Wigan and Wakefield Trinity in 1959 and 1960.

Oldham lost 16-13 to Wigan in the 1966 Lancashire Cup Final.

He enjoyed great success including winning the League Championship title in 1985-86, the 1986-87 Rugby League Challenge Cup victory against St. Helens and a second successive appearance in the Challenge Cup final in May 1988 when they lost to Wigan.

* Not so much a playoff tradition, but in the back end of the Super League season in 2007, Wigan Warriors made a pact after losing 43-24 to the Warrington Wolves, a result which left their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, to grow moustaches until they lost another game.

He recovered from injury in time to lead the Panthers to England in October for the 1991 World Club Challenge, which was lost to Wigan 4-21 at the famous Anfield Stadium, home of the Liverpool Football Club.

During the 1994 NSWRL season, Langer played at halfback for defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions Wigan for the 1994 World Club Challenge and lost.

Throughout the Wigan's match, Jones was not used in substitute and yet to debut for Wigan until on 13 September 2011, Jones made his debut in a Wigan shirt as Wigan lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace and made his league debut coming on for Jordi Gomez on a 71st minutes in a 3-1 loss against Everton.

Near the beginning of A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wigan is referenced on the newspaper Wallace is reading, and near the end, while looking for somewhere appropriate to dispose of a bomb, Gromit sees the Yorkshire border from their home ( a joke referencing the rivalry between Lancashire and Yorkshire ).

A disappointing finish to the season, with a shocking 4-0 loss at Wigan Athletic and later with a 3-1 loss away at Everton on the final day, ultimately ended lingering hopes of Champions League football, but Newcastle still managed to finish in 5th place, their highest League position since the Bobby Robson days.

Lilburne entirely routed a Lancashire detachment of the enemy on their way to join the main Royalist army at the Battle of Wigan Lane on 25 August and as affairs turned out Cromwell merely shifted the area of his concentration two marches to the south-west, to Evesham.

On 27 November 1745 when Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobites passed through Preston and Wigan on their way south to Manchester and Derby in the hope of taking London and the Crown, Chorley was a mustering point for the Government scouts tracking them.

* Wigan retained their title in the English Rugby League competition, with Oldham, Sheffield Eagles and Rochdale Hornets being relegated.

In their first-ever Premier League match, Blackpool defeated Wigan Athletic 4 – 0 at the DW Stadium.

In his book The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell described life for the unemployed in northern England during the depression: " Several hundred men risk their lives and several hundred women scrabble in the mud for hours ... searching eagerly for tiny chips of coal in slagheaps so they could heat their own homes.

He moved to Birmingham City in 2004 and after their relegation from the FA Premier League signed for Wigan Athletic for a club record £ 5. 5 million fee in 2006.

Despite their initial application being turned down, Wigan were elected into the Cheshire County League following the resignation of Manchester Central.

On 27 August 1932, Wigan played their first ever league game against Port Vale Reserves.

After the Second World War, Wigan adopted their more familiar blue and white strip.

Wigan held their top flight opponents to a 2 – 2 draw at St James ' Park, but went on to lose the replay 3 – 2.

At the end of the 1977 – 78 season, Southport finished next to bottom of the old Fourth Division, and faced off with Wigan Athletic for their place in the League.

After losing their first ever game in Division One, Wigan Athletic confounded expectations to go unbeaten for the next 17 games and sit atop the division by November 2003.

A weak finish saw Wigan Athletic win only three of their last 10 games to finish seventh in Division One – a last minute goal by West Ham's Brian Deane in the final game of the season saw the Latics drop out of the play-off places in favour of eventual play-off winners Crystal Palace.

A 3 – 1 victory in front of their home fans at the JJB Stadium earned Wigan promotion to the top division of the English football for the first time in their 73-year history.

Wigan failed in their bid for European football and opted not to take part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

During the close season, Wigan sold many who had starred in their first season in the Premier League, as Jimmy Bullard left for Fulham, Jason Roberts joined Blackburn Rovers, and Stéphane Henchoz was released.

Wigan brought in high-profile replacements including Emile Heskey, Denny Landzaat, Chris Kirkland and Antonio Valencia to try to build on their successful Premier League debut.

On the final day of the season, Wigan battled to a 2 – 1 away win against Sheffield United, guaranteeing their Premier League status for another year and in doing so relegating Sheffield United to the Championship.