2000–01 Wigan Athletic F.C. season

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

Wigan Athletic

2000–01 season
Chairman	Dave Whelan
Manager	Bruce Rioch (until 27 February 2001) Colin Greenall (caretaker until 4 April) Steve Bruce (from 4 April)
Stadium	JJB Stadium
Second Division	6th (qualified for play-offs)
Play-offs	Semi-finals
FA Cup	Second round
League Cup	Second round
Football League Trophy	Second round
Top goalscorer	Simon Haworth (11)
Average home league attendance	6,774

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.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Millwall	46		17	2	4	49	11		11	7	5	40	27		89	38	+51		93
2	Rotherham United	46		16	4	3	50	26		11	6	6	29	29		79	55	+24		91
3	Reading	46		15	5	3	58	26		10	6	7	28	26		86	52	+34		86
4	Walsall	46		15	5	3	51	23		8	7	8	28	27		79	50	+29		81
5	Stoke City	46		12	6	5	39	21		9	8	6	35	28		74	49	+25		77
6	Wigan Athletic	46		12	9	2	29	18		7	9	7	24	24		53	42	+11		75
7	Bournemouth	46		11	6	6	37	23		9	7	7	42	32		79	55	+24		73
8	Notts County	46		10	6	7	37	33		9	6	8	25	33		62	66	–4		69
9	Bristol City	46		11	6	6	47	29		7	8	8	23	27		70	56	+14		68
10	Wrexham	46		10	6	7	33	28		7	6	10	32	43		65	71	–6		63
11	Port Vale	46		9	8	6	35	22		7	6	10	20	27		55	49	+6		62
12	Peterborough United	46		12	6	5	38	27		3	8	12	23	39		61	66	–5		59
13	Wycombe Wanderers	46		8	7	8	24	23		7	7	9	22	30		46	53	–7		59
14	Brentford	46		9	10	4	34	30		5	7	11	22	40		56	70	–14		59
15	Oldham Athletic	46		11	5	7	35	26		4	8	11	18	39		53	65	–12		58
16	Bury	46		10	6	7	25	22		6	4	13	20	37		45	59	–14		58
17	Colchester United	46		10	5	8	32	23		5	7	11	23	36		55	59	–4		57
18	Northampton Town	46		9	6	8	26	28		6	6	11	20	31		46	59	–13		57
19	Cambridge United	46		8	6	9	32	31		6	5	12	29	46		61	77	–16		53
20	Swindon Town	46		6	8	9	30	35		7	5	11	17	30		47	65	–18		52
21	Bristol Rovers	46		6	10	7	28	26		6	5	12	25	31		53	57	–4		51
22	Luton Town	46		5	6	12	24	35		4	7	12	28	45		52	80	–28		40
23	Swansea City	46		5	9	9	26	24		3	4	16	21	49		47	73	–26		37
24	Oxford United	46		5	4	14	23	34		2	2	19	30	66		53	100	–47		27

• Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
• NB: In the Football League goals scored (F) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted through play-offs
	Relegated

Results

Wigan Athletic's score comes first[1]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12 August 2000	Swansea City	A	0-0	8,391
19 August 2000	Luton Town	H	2-1	6,518	McGibbon, Liddell
26 August 2000	Wrexham	A	3-1	5,271	Liddell, Haworth, de Zeeuw
2 September 2000	Walsall	A	0-2	7,156
9 September 2000	Colchester United	H	3-1	5,782	Haworth (3)
12 September 2000	Peterborough United	H	1-0	4,798	Kilford
16 September 2000	Bristol Rovers	A	0-0	8,109
23 September 2000	Northampton Town	H	2-1	6,294	Haworth, Liddell
30 September 2000	Swindon Town	A	2-2	4,895	Haworth, Green
6 October 2000	Reading	H	1-1	7,021	Bradshaw
14 October 2000	Notts County	A	2-2	4,567	Roberts, Redfearn (pen)
17 October 2000	Bournemouth	A	0-0	3,035
21 October 2000	Port Vale	H	1-0	6,275	Liddell
24 October 2000	Oxford United	A	2-0	4,030	Green, Liddell
28 October 2000	Bury	H	1-0	6,622	Kilford
4 November 2000	Rotherham United	A	1-1	6,192	Griffiths
7 November 2000	Millwall	H	1-0	5,822	Liddell
11 November 2000	Cambridge United	H	2-1	6,537	Roberts, Wanless (own goal)
25 November 2000	Bristol City	A	1-1	12,708	Carey (own goal)
2 December 2000	Brentford	A	2-2	4,144	Ashcroft (2)
16 December 2000	Wycombe Wanderers	H	2-1	5,779	Haworth, Roberts
23 December 2000	Stoke City	H	1-1	8,957	Gunnarsson (own goal)
26 December 2000	Oldham Athletic	A	1-2	7,750	Haworth
30 December 2000	Luton Town	A	2-0	5,332	Haworth, Bidstrup
1 January 2001	Wrexham	H	0-0	6,515
6 January 2001	Swansea City	H	2-0	5,571	Liddell (2)
13 January 2001	Millwall	A	1-3	15,317	Roberts
20 January 2001	Oldham Athletic	H	3-1	8,274	Ashcroft, Redfearn (2)
27 January 2001	Stoke City	A	0-2	16,859
2 February 2001	Walsall	H	1-1	9,586	Ashcroft
10 February 2001	Colchester United	A	2-0	3,275	Bidstrup, Liddell
17 February 2001	Bristol Rovers	H	0-0	7,271
20 February 2001	Peterborough United	A	0-2	4,111
24 February 2001	Northampton Town	A	0-1	5,571
3 March 2001	Swindon Town	H	0-0	6,563
6 March 2001	Notts County	H	1-1	5,021	Bradshaw (pen)
9 March 2001	Reading	A	0-1	12,307
17 March 2001	Bournemouth	H	1-1	5,878	McGibbon
24 March 2001	Port Vale	A	0-0	5,017
31 March 2001	Wycombe Wanderers	A	2-1	4,939	McCulloch, Beagrie
7 April 2001	Brentford	H	1-3	6,502	Haworth
14 April 2001	Oxford United	H	3-2	5,322	Haworth, Ashcroft (pen), McCulloch
16 April 2001	Bury	A	1-0	4,915	Balmer
21 April 2001	Rotherham United	H	0-2	8,836
28 April 2001	Cambridge United	A	2-1	4,776	McCulloch, Bradshaw (pen)
5 May 2001	Bristol City	H	0-0	10,048

Second Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SF 1st leg	13 May 2001	Reading	H	0-0	12,638
SF 2nd leg	16 May 2001	Reading	A	1-2 (lost 1-2 on agg)	22,034 (1,883 away)	Nicholls

FA Cup

Main article: 2000–01 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	18 November 2000	Dorchester Town	H	3-1	3,883	Roberts, Bidstrup, McIvor (own goal)
R2	12 December 2000	Notts County	H	1-1	3,886	Ashcroft
R2R	19 December 2000	Notts County	A	1-2 (a.e.t.)	3,349 (864 away)	Kilford

League Cup

Main article: 2000–01 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	22 August 2000	Scunthorpe United	H	1-0	2,725	Roberts
R1 2nd Leg	5 September 2000	Scunthorpe United	A	4-1 (won 5-1 on agg)	2,062 (411 away)	Sharp, Kilford, Haworth, Liddell
R2 1st Leg	19 September 2000	Wimbledon	A	0-0	1,941 (252 away)
R2 2nd Leg	26 September 2000	Wimbledon	H	1-1	5,387	Haworth

Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
Northern R1	9 January 2001	Oldham Athletic	A	3-2 (a.e.t.)	2,551 (1,382 away)	McLaughlin, McLoughlin (2)
Northern R2	30 January 2001	Walsall	A	1-2 (lost 1-2 on agg)	3,436	Padula

Squad

Squad at end of season[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NIR Roy Carroll 2 DF  ENG Carl Bradshaw 3 DF  ENG Kevin Sharp 4 DF  NIR Pat McGibbon 5 DF  SCO Stuart Balmer 6 DF  NED Arjan de Zeeuw 7 MF  SCO Andy Liddell 8 MF  ENG Kevin Nicholls 9 FW  WAL Simon Haworth 10 FW  ENG Lee Ashcroft 11 DF  ARG Gino Padula 12 FW  WAL Neil Roberts 13 GK  SCO Derek Stillie 14 DF  ENG Scott Green 15 DF  ENG Gareth Griffiths 16 MF  ESP Roberto Martínez 17 DF  IRL Hugh Dickson 18 MF  ENG Ian Kilford 19 MF  DEN Stefan Bidstrup

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  ENG Ged Brannan 21 MF  SCO Brian McLaughlin 22 MF  ENG Darren Sheridan 23 MF  ENG Andrew Morris 24 DF  ENG Paul Mitchell 25 DF  ENG Tom Spearitt 26 MF  ENG Ian Johnson 27 GK  ENG Lee Ellis 28 DF  ENG Francis McMahon 29 MF  ENG Joel Johnson 30 DF  ENG Ben Kay 31 MF  ENG Craig Cunningham 32 FW  SCO Paul Dalglish (on loan from Norwich City) 33 GK  ITA Raffaele Nuzzo (on loan from Reggina) 34 MF  ENG Alan McLoughlin 35 MF  ENG Gary Rae 36 MF  ENG Peter Beagrie 37 DF  SCO Stephen McMillan 38 FW  SCO Lee McCulloch

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  ANT Ferdino Hernandez (released) 29 MF  NIR Keith Gillespie (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) 32 MF  ENG Neil Redfearn (to Halifax Town)

No. Pos. Nation Player 33 GK  ENG Kevin Pilkington (to Mansfield Town) 33 GK  ENG Alex O'Reilly (on loan from West Ham United) 33 GK  WAL Andy Marriott (on loan from Sunderland)

References

1. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/wigan-athletic/2000-2001/results
2. http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2000-2001/d2/wigan.htm