During the 2000–01 English football season, Wigan Athletic F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Season summary John Benson left after the end of the previous season, and former Arsenal manager Bruce Rioch was appointed in his place. Rioch had Wigan challenging for a play-off place but left in February; Wigan claimed that Rioch resigned, but Rioch insisted that he had been sacked. Former Manchester United player Steve Bruce took over and cemented Wigan's place in the top six, but they were knocked out of the play-offs by Reading in the semi-finals. Bruce then left to take charge of First Division Crystal Palace. Former Wigan striker Paul Jewell, who had previously led Bradford City to promotion to the Premier League but had failed to replicate the feat with Sheffield Wednesday, was appointed as his replacement.

Defender Arjan de Zeeuw was named Wigan's player of the season.

Transfers In No.PlayerPositionFromFeeDateNotes 10 Lee Ashcroft FW Grimsby Town £350,000 4 August 2000 19 Stefan Bidstrup MF Lyngby £450,000 November 2000 20 Ferdino Hernandez DF AZ Alkmaar Free November 2000 20 Ged Brannan MF Motherwell £175,000 16 February 2001 37 Steve McMillan DF Motherwell £550,000 2 March 2001 38 Lee McCulloch FW Motherwell £750,000 2 March 2001

Out No.PlayerPositionToFeeDateNotes 33 Kevin Pilkington GK Mansfield Town Free September 2000 20 Andy Porter MF Chester City Free October 2000 32 Neil Redfearn MF Halifax Town Free 15 March 2001 2 Carl Bradshaw DF Scunthorpe United Released 21 May 2001 5 Stuart Balmer DF Oldham Athletic Released 21 May 2001 11 Gino Padula MF Queens Park Rangers Released 21 May 2001 15 Gareth Griffiths DF Rochdale Released 21 May 2001 16 Roberto Martínez MF Motherwell Released 21 May 2001 22 Darren Sheridan MF Oldham Athletic Released 21 May 2001 23 Andrew Morris MF Released 21 May 2001 28 Francis McMahon DF Released 21 May 2001 36 Peter Beagrie MF Scunthorpe United Released 21 May 2001 19 Stefan Bidstrup MF AaB Contract terminated 22 May 2001

Loans in No.PlayerPosFromDateDurationNotes 33 Alex O'Reilly GK West Ham United November 2000 One month 29 Keith Gillespie MF Blackburn Rovers 2 December 2000 One month 33 Andy Marriott GK Sunderland 1 January 2001 Two months 32 Paul Dalglish FW Norwich City 22 March 2001 End of season Alt URL 33 Raffaele Nuzzo GK Reggiana March 2001 End of season

Loans out No.PlayerPosToDateDurationNotes 24 Paul Mitchell DF Halifax Town 22 March 2001 End of season

Pre-season DateOpponentVenueResultScorersNotes 20 July 2000 Leigh RMIA1–1 25 July 2000 BariA0–0 29 July 2000 TrevisoA3–3 2 August 2000 Hudddersfield TownH1–2 5 August 2000 Carlisle UnitedA3–1

League

Results Wigan Athletic's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

GameDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersNotes 1 12 August 2000 Swansea CityA0–08,391 2 19 August 2000 Luton TownH2–16,518McGibbon, Liddell 3 26 August 2000 WrexhamA3–15,271Liddell, Haworth, de Zeeuw 4 2 September 2000 WalsallA0–27,156 5 9 September 2000 Colchester UnitedH3–15,782Haworth (3) 6 12 September 2000 Peterborough UnitedH1–04,798Kilford 7 16 September 2000 Bristol RoversA0–08,109 8 23 September 2000 Northampton TownH2–16,294Haworth, Liddell 9 30 September 2000 Swindon TownA2–24,895Haworth, Green 10 6 October 2000 ReadingH1–17,021Bradshaw 11 14 October 2000 Notts CountyA2–24,567Roberts, Redfearn (pen) 12 17 October 2000 BournemouthA0–03,035 13 21 October 2000 Port ValeH1–06,275Liddell 14 24 October 2000 Oxford UnitedA2–04,030Green, Liddell 15 28 October 2000 BuryH1–06,622Kilford 16 4 November 2000 Rotherham UnitedA1–16,192Griffiths 17 7 November 2000 MillwallH1–05,822Liddell 18 11 November 2000 Cambridge UnitedH2–16,537Roberts, Wanless (own goal) 19 25 November 2000 Bristol CityA1–112,708Carey (own goal) 20 2 December 2000 BrentfordA2–24,144Ashcroft (2) 21 16 December 2000 Wycombe WanderersH2–15,779Haworth, Roberts 22 23 December 2000 Stoke CityH1–18,957Gunnarsson (own goal) 23 26 December 2000 Oldham AthleticA1–27,750Haworth 24 30 December 2000 Luton TownA2–05,332Haworth, Bidstrup 25 1 January 2001 WrexhamH0–06,515 26 6 January 2001 Swansea CityH2–05,571Liddell (2) 27 13 January 2001 MillwallA1–315,317Roberts 28 20 January 2001 Oldham AthleticH3–18,274Ashcroft, Redfearn (2) 29 27 January 2001 Stoke CityA0–216,859 30 2 February 2001 WalsallH1–19,586Ashcroft 31 10 February 2001 Colchester UnitedA2–03,275Bidstrup, Liddell 32 17 February 2001 Bristol RoversH0–07,271 33 20 February 2001 Peterborough UnitedA0–24,111 34 24 February 2001 Northampton TownA0–15,571 35 3 March 2001 Swindon TownH0–06,563 36 6 March 2001 Notts CountyH1–15,021Bradshaw (pen) 37 9 March 2001 ReadingA0–112,307 38 17 March 2001 BournemouthH1–15,878McGibbon 39 24 March 2001 Port ValeA0–05,017 40 31 March 2001 Wycombe WanderersA2–14,939McCulloch, Beagrie 41 7 April 2001 BrentfordH1–36,502Haworth 42 14 April 2001 Oxford UnitedH3–25,322Haworth, Ashcroft (pen), McCulloch 43 16 April 2001 BuryA1–04,915Balmer 44 21 April 2001 Rotherham UnitedH0–28,836 45 28 April 2001 Cambridge UnitedA2–14,776McCulloch, Bradshaw (pen) 46 5 May 2001 Bristol CityH0–010,048

Final league table

Second Division play-offs +RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesSemi-final (1st leg)13 May 2001 ReadingH0–012,638Semi-final (2nd leg)16 May 2001 ReadingA1–222,034NichollsWigan lost 1–2 on aggregate

Cups FA Cup

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesFirst18 November 2000 Dorchester TownH3–13,883Roberts, Bidstrup, McIvor (own goal)Second12 December 2000 Notts CountyH1–13,886AshcroftSecond (replay)19 December 2000 Notts CountyA1–2 (a.e.t.)3,349Kilford

League Cup

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesFirst (1st leg)22 August 2000 Scunthorpe UnitedH1–02,725RobertsFirst (2nd leg)5 September 2000 Scunthorpe UnitedA4–12,062Sharp, Kilford, Haworth, LiddellWigan won 5–1 on aggregateSecond (1st leg)19 September 2000 WimbledonA0–01,941Second (2nd leg)26 September 2000 WimbledonH1–25,387HaworthWigan lost 1–2 on aggregate

Football League Trophy

+RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorersNotesFirst (Northern)9 January 2001 Oldham AthleticA3–2 (a.e.t.)2,551McLaughlin, McLoughlin (2)Second (Northern)30 January 2001 WalsallA1–23,436Padula

Squad Squad at end of season

Left club during season

References