Jewell points to Wigan's bargain gems

Michael Walker talks to Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell who, as he prepares for tomorrow's final, is reluctant to dwell on the rapid progress made by the club

The rise of Wigan Athletic is ordinarily measured from the time they joined the English Football League in 1978. But the real scale of their achievement is revealed by examining much more recent history. On Wednesday, April 23rd, 2003, Manchester United beat Real Madrid 4-3 at Old Trafford in the European Cup during the run-in to winning the Premiership. Two days earlier Wigan had beaten Oldham 3-1 at home in the second division of the Football League. Tomorrow Wigan and United, only six places apart in the Premiership, meet each other in the League Cup final.

Wigan manager Paul Jewell was taken aback at the recollection. "It feels longer than under three years ago, doesn't it? It feels a long time ago."

It does. United lost to Real on aggregate and soon David Beckham swapped clubs. Fabien Barthez also played for United then, Claude Makelele for Real. It may have the feel of a different age, but one look at the Wigan side that played Oldham (and had just clinched a historic promotion to tier two) reveals some familiarity. Jimmy Bullard, Lee McCulloch, Matt Jackson and Gary Teale were there. So was Jewell. It is not some distant era to Wigan. "I suppose I haven't sat back and thought about it in that way but then that might be one of our strengths," he said. "Maybe in the fullness of time I will sit back and think: 'We did all right, didn't we?' But I haven't got time for that now."

Jewell has other matters on his mind, such as his line-up for Cardiff and, beyond that, United at home on Monday week. These are fixtures and finals Wigan could only dream of when entertaining Chesterfield, as they did this weekend three years ago - in front of 6,384 fans.

"I believe the Wigan story gives everybody hope," Jewell said. "It gives hope to every so-called lower club, to every so-called lower player - Jimmy Bullard cost us £275,000 from Peterborough three years ago. We took a chance. Together we have made it work and he's now being talked about as a possible international."

Bullard joined a club on the up. Promotion day at Huddersfield was only his 14th game for Wigan. "I do remember that day because we played in a horrible kit - it was almost pink," Jewell said. "At the beginning of the next season what we did was sit down and ask: 'Can we survive?' All I ever said was that our aim was to establish ourselves as a first division club - there was no mention of the Premiership.

"Our first game was Millwall away. We lost 2-0 and their chairman, that Theo Paphitis, said: 'Welcome to the First Division.' I remember that vividly, in fact the whole day. It was the hottest day I have ever known at a football match - 106 degrees pitchside. I also remember it because it was the day Jimmy Davis was killed and we heard about that on the bus on the way to the game."

Davis was a United trainee on loan at Watford who died in a car crash.

"Our next game was Preston at home and we drew 1-1. Then we went to Burnley, got battered and won 2-0. I was really proud at being manager of Wigan getting their first-ever win in the first division."

Jewell is reluctant to dwell on how Wigan have done what they have done because, inevitably, the manager of the club since June, 2001, has played a defining role - the defining role. "I'd like to think the team is well prepared and always has been - it just doesn't come together on a Saturday afternoon," he said. Their last match of last season, against Reading, proves his point: "That last week, our training was fantastic. There were no nerves, just great drive. Reading needed to win to stand a chance of reaching the play-offs and Ipswich could have caught us down at Brighton . . . To put on such a performance under such pressure, it was an extension of training."

Wigan were an unstable club when Jewell succeeded Steve Bruce. Bruce was the fifth manager in three years as chairman-owner Dave Whelan sought a figure in whom he could trust his personal fortune. One way to anger Jewell is to allege Wigan have bought their success, when a player like McCulloch, converted from a non-scoring striker into a goalscoring midfielder, shows otherwise. Bullard's price reinforces Jewell's point, and Jackson was a free transfer, so too Arjan de Zeeuw and Pascal Chimbonda. Leighton Baines came from the youth team.

At £700,000 from Motherwell, McCulloch cost Wigan their record transfer fee when he arrived in Lancashire a few months before Jewell. Jewell does accept Wigan's economic power helped when coming through the divisions. Wigan's wages, he said, "even in the Second Division" compared favourably to others.

Nathan Ellington might fall into that category. Ellington was signed from Bristol Rovers initially for £50,000 more than McCulloch and scored almost 60 league goals in three seasons. When he left for West Bromwich Albion seven months ago, it was for £3 million. Jason Roberts, signed for £2 million from Portsmouth two years ago, would command a greater fee now. In the semi-final at Highbury, he looked unrecognisable from the player who arrived at the JJB.

That Wigan display at Highbury was one of the neutral's nights of the season, culminating in Jewell's tanned-shoe dash down the touchline when Roberts scored in extra-time. He received stick for his outfit that night. "I looked like David Pleat," he admitted. "But this season, personally I've enjoyed our freshness, lack of fear. I hope that can happen in Cardiff. There's a lot goes into every game, Wigan aren't just a bunch of scallies."