Life on the Road: The Os Trek to Greater Manchester to Face Wigan Athletic
21.08.26, 15:00 Updated 01.09.26, 12:30 9 Minute Read
Doris Fothergill
Wigan Athletic is the kind of club that Richie, in an effort to manage fan expectations, might label "Big" in his pre-match interview. The reality however is that Wigan have not been "Big" for some time now - if indeed they have ever been.
They only became a Football League club in 1978 (within living memory, as I can confirm) and only became a force when local businessman and ex-footballer Dave Whelan took them over in 1995. Relegated from the Premier League in 2012/13, after a seven-season run of relatively comfortably mixing it with the big boys, they’ve been something of a yo-yo club ever since, with seasons in League One alternating with spells in the Championship quite frequently.
The last three seasons in League One have seen them finish 12th, 15th and 16th and is their first run of three straight seasons in the same division since leaving the Premier League in 2013.
The Brick Community stadium is inoffensive enough on the eye and has modern facilities, but these days it certainly lacks atmosphere. The 25,138 capacity is the fourth largest in League One (it holds precisely two more people than Valley Parade which has a capacity of 25,136) but last season’s average attendance was 9,975, ranked 12th.
It’s probably the stadium in League One that most serves as a cautionary tale in terms of Orient’s own future aspirations. And bear in mind that David Gandler is looking at a 35,000 capacity – 10,000 more than at the Brick Community Stadium. If you are going to the game tomorrow then think about that as you sit and survey all the empty seats, from the vast but sparsely-populated away stand (almost 500 tickets sold by Friday lunchtime).
The decline in attendances and kicking around in an outsized stadium is one symptom of the downward trajectory of the last few years, with the spirit of both the club and its supporters eroded by administration scares and a steady decline. Wigan are owned by Mike Danson, who also owns the Wigan Warriors rugby league team. Wigan fans are suspicious that he’s uninterested in everything about the club, except for the asset that is the stadium.
What can we expect from Wigan?
Wigan are managed by former player and manager Gary Caldwell, who returned for a second spell in charge last February, replacing Ryan Lowe when they were struggling near the foot of the league. He helped to stabilise the team, and they finished sixteenth in the League One table.
They’ve brought in eight players on permanent contracts over the summer, and two loan signings so far. One of League One’s best 'keepers, Sam Tickle, was sold to Bristol City. Among the players brought in was Sonny Perkins, who is wearing the number 9 shirt, and who scored his first goal for the club in the 3-2 defeat at Cambridge Utd last Saturday.
Scoring goals hasn’t been an issue so far – six in three games. They’ve also conceded six and the defence is more of a concern. Expect them to come out fighting for a first league win in front of their home supporters. A 17-year-old Chelsea ‘starlet’, midfielder Reggie Walsh, joined them on loan on Wednesday.
History
In the last three seasons we’ve won two and drawn three of our six meetings with them. Before that we hadn’t played them for 26 years, our last game in 1997 was a 5-1 drubbing at the old Springfield Park stadium.
Apart from Sonny Perkins, some other players to have appeared for both clubs are Sean Clare, Charlie Kelman, Jamie Jones, Alex Revell, Tom James, Paul Beesley (who we bought from Wigan for £175k in 1989, a club record at the time, before selling him a year later to Sheffield United for £300k, also a club record) and Gavin Massey who had a successful five year stint at the Latics and was a fan favourite.
Wigan – the town
Wigan is a surprisingly handsome town, best known for inspiring George Orwell’s classic The Road to Wigan Pier. Orwell visited Wigan in the 1930s to document working-class life, and his writing shone a light on the harsh conditions of coal miners.
Wigan Pier of course, isn’t actually a pier, it was the nickname given to a coal loading dock by the canal. If you are walking to the ground from the town you’ll go right past it. Wigan is also the UK (and possibly the world) epicentre for pies. The Latics mascot is ‘Crusty the Pie’. To my knowledge the only foodstuff mascot in the English football league.
The town has a legendary music history, with the Wigan Casino nightclub being a mecca for Northern Soul fans in the 1970s. Thousands would flock there for all-night dance marathons (I was one of them, happy days). The nightclub site is now the Grand Arcade shopping centre.
Wigan also has some genuinely superb pubs: The Brewhouse Tap, Wigan Central, The Real Crafty, The Raven, The Anvil, the Open Inn and my personal favourite The Swan and Railway (I like a tap room) on Wallgate, are all worth your time. If in doubt head for The Arches area.
What can we expect from the O’s?
Well we won’t see Somto Boniface, who is out for 6 weeks. Armando Dobra won’t make Saturday either but should be available thereafter. James Morris, who was steady on Tuesday after his (self-described) ‘out of body’ experience against Sheffield Wednesday, will presumably fill in at LB.
Richie described the first half against Wimbledon as slow and boring, and so if our manager gets his way we’ll be prioritising entertainment and plenty of ‘sarcastic passes through the lines’ on Saturday.
Apart from the aforementioned Somto and Dobra, everyone is fit, although Richie did mention Baxter having a slight niggle and hopefully Sean Clare will suffer no ill effects from his heroic assist on Tuesday.
Let’s hope for positivity, intention, goals and a win.
Up the Os!
Wellens looks ahead to Wigan Athletic
League One away allocations
As this is the first away game of the season, we thought we'd share some research on the away allocations at each League One club this season. Many of them far exceed the number of fans Orient would ever take to an away game but it's interesting nevertheless to note the differences between clubs.
The table below shows the maximum away ticket allocation per club, with indicative pricing. We’ve also added stadium capacity and the average gate last season. The away allocation research was originally done by Leicester City’s Foxes Supporters Trust, so thanks to them for starting this off.
*Bromley have indicated a further 260 tickets may be available
**MK Dons have indicated a further 1682 tickets can be allocated
***Additional allocations included in rankings
Observations
- Clubs that sufficiently fill their stadiums: Bradford, Huddersfield, Leicester, Luton, Oxford, Plymouth and Stockport. In the case of the first three they each have a large support as well as a large stadium. In the case of Luton, Oxford and Stockport they are at the maximum number of supporters for the size of the ground. Plymouth don’t quite fall into either category, but with a unique catchment area keeping the fan base size relatively steady, their stadium matches their needs well.
- Clubs that don’t: MK Dons, Peterborough, Reading, Wigan, Wednesday (although they can and indeed did last night v Bradford City), Doncaster, Notts County. MK Dons is just embarrassing. Meadow Lane’s size is harking (a long way) back to better days for Notts County. The other clubs on this list are all ex-Premier League or Championship. Some grounds are multi-use and fill up for other events that are not football – Wigan Warriors tend to pull in 15,000 for example
- Two clubs have similar capacity to us – AFC Wimbledon and Mansfield. They also get similar attendances. AFC Wimbledon give fewer away tickets (992) and Mansfield more (1698)
- Bromley’s allocation is really poor for League One however you look at it, even with the extra provision
- Away allocations in the 1,000-1,999 range are still the most common in League One.
- In terms of ticket prices it looks like the O’s may not be the most expensive average this season. Wednesday and Plymouth are charging £35 and £32 accordingly. Leicester were intending to charge £40 until the Foxes Trust intervened and told them it wasn’t appropriate for League One and they reduced it to £30. There are now four clubs charging £30 – the Os, Mansfield, Leicester and Oxford. Bravo to those clubs charging £25 or below.
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Doris Fothergill Doris has been involved with the Orientear for many of its forty years, variously providing match reports, articles and opinion pieces, managing the database, acting as FSA liaison and editorial team member. Doris is from Yorkshire, so she's never short of an opinion and is always right. Up the Os!
