SECRETS OF A REMARKABLE WEMBLEY UPSET
Wigan shocked the world by defeating Man City in 2013. As they lock horns in the FA Cup again, the story of their glory is re-told
DAVID SHARPE Grandson of owner Dave Whelan and Wigan chairman since 2015
IT WAS my 22nd birthday and we were determined to have a good day, win or lose. We came down on the Friday and booked a few things, thinking even if we got beat we’d go out and drown our sorrows.
We met for breakfast on Saturday morning and took my grandad to Harrods to buy him some new gear for the big day. He wanted to treat himself so chose a Canali shirt.
When he took it to the till, the shop assistant said: ‘That will be £425, Mr Whelan.’ He said: ‘I think I’ll pass.’ He’s not short of money and it was the biggest day of his life but he went back to his old shirt and it proved to be lucky.
We got to Wembley about midday and were in the Royal Box. I was too nervous to eat the food. We’d played City about three weeks before and lost 1-0. We didn’t deserve to lose and (manager) Roberto Martinez said he thought he knew how to beat them. I took it with a pinch of salt but he was on to something.
After (Pablo Zabaleta’s) red card I was more confident. We lost the plot when the goal went in. I was with my two brothers and my mum and stepdad and we were jumping on top of each other. The Royal Box supervisor told us to calm down.
We just ignored that, it was a football match. We’d never won a trophy like that and didn’t know how to react.
My grandad went for a meal at Scalini with the directors and when they walked in the whole place stood and applauded.
I went to an STK restaurant with my brothers and friends and we just had the best night of our lives. I’ve still got the programme, the match ticket and the suit. I haven’t had it dry-cleaned, it’s still got the champagne all over it.
We didn’t sleep and flew home at 10am on the chopper with the FA Cup, just staring at the trophy. We flew over Wembley. It was surreal.
It was a perfect day because people had written us off and the circumstances around my grandad. We knew how much it hurt him to have his playing career cut short playing in the Cup final and to win the FA Cup made his time in football complete.
He took the FA Cup with him to Barbados and he’s had a replica made. There are photos of the day all over his house. He’s 81 now. The memories are very special. It was the biggest day of our lives. I’m sure every Wigan fan will say the same.
ROBERTO MARTINEZ Manager (as told to the Sunday Telegraph)
IT WAS the first time I remember the chairman Dave Whelan being quite happy just to celebrate. I could see in him that he had that closure.
He’d always had that bit in his mind of leaving Wembley as a player on a stretcher after breaking his leg in the middle of the 1960 FA Cup final and waking up to discover his team had lost and that never left him.’
GRAEME JONES Assistant manager
THE KEY to the final was a 10-minute tactical session we did the day before. We’d lost 3-2 at home to Swansea on the Tuesday and there were some long faces around and we had to lift them off the floor. I was worried about them physically because it had been high intensity against Swansea, we had injuries and after the final we were at Arsenal but Roberto wanted to work tactically on Friday even if it was only 10 minutes.
A month earlier, we’d played City in a re-arranged league game with split strikers and we caused them problems without really hurting them.
Roberto saw this as the chance to work on the next stage, how to penetrate. We agreed to work for 10 minutes. Just 10 balls we said, 10 waves of attack. We had a patched-up defence because of injuries but we managed to give them some direction. Those 10 minutes won us the Cup final.
Some things are written in the gods. We sent on Ben Watson who had broken his leg in October and been out until two weeks before the Cup final and he came on and scored the goal to win the Cup for a team owned by Dave Whelan, who had broken his leg in the final all those years before.
When the whistle went it was an incredible feeling. I joined Wigan as a player in 1996 when Roberto was already there, and they were in the fourth tier with no training ground.
Sixteen years later we’ve won the FA Cup together. My father was in the stadium with my brother, my wife and my two sons and this was the culmination of years of work.
The dressing room was euphoric. People were spraying champagne but there was no night of celebration. We needed to get something at Arsenal to beat relegation. We had Domino’s pizza on the bus and no alcohol as we drove back to Wigan and were in at midday the next day.
EMMERSON BOYCE Captain
THINGS were very calm pre-match. No fear, no pressure.
There was a big turning point early on. Carlos Tevez was through and Joel Robles saved brilliantly with his feet. If that goal goes in it’s a different story. We went in at half-time thinking: ‘They’re here for the taking.’ After Zabaleta got sent off I looked around and we were keeping the ball more and City got frustrated.
Martinez’s tactics were fantastic. Everything clicked. Dave Whelan had come in before the game and told us about his broken leg — it’s a bit of a joke around the town about that story — and to leave with no regrets.
When I went up the steps to collect the Cup I turned to Dave and said: ‘Now this is a story to tell people!’ That was a chapter closed for him. Annoyingly, I couldn’t celebrate in the dressing room because I had a drugs test straight away.
CALLUM McMANAMAN Man of the match
IT WAS the game of my life. I was naive, I had no fear. Every time I got the ball I just took on whoever I wanted.
I’d got Zabaleta sent off for two bookings and when they had 10 men we knew we could do it. Saying that, I was still thinking: ‘I don’t want extra time.’ We needed a goal, we’d battered them. If it had gone to pens then there is no advantage, so we got the goal at the perfect time.
My life changed after that. I was a young lad living at my mum’s house, on pretty small wages, knocking about with my friends. Only when I look back it feels even bigger, I’m more proud of it now.
I just wish we’d been able to celebrate it. All the lads were saying: ‘Make sure no-one goes out, especially you.’ I had about 50 of my mates and family there. They got back late and went to the local pub, The Holt (near Liverpool). I eventually made it but only for a couple as we were training on the Sunday.
So that night I slept in the bedroom I’d grown up in as a kid, the same room in which I’d dreamt about winning the FA Cup. My medal is still in that room. It was mad, but I didn’t know any different. I had all my Everton wallpaper around me. It’s still the same now! My man- of-thematch plaque is in my mum’s living room as well, so whenever anyone goes around it’s an excuse to talk about it — they’re so proud of that.
ROMAN GOLOBART Substitute
THERE was a doctor, Mike Ashworth, who’d been at Wigan since the 1970s and he was paralysed by shock when Ben Watson scored. We’re all celebrating and I turned to him and said: ‘Why are you not celebrat-
ing?’ He looked at me as if someone had just died. That’s what happened to a lot of people: they didn’t think it was real.
I wore a shirt with Maynor Figueroa’s name printed on the inside to pay tribute to an amazing thing he did for me. We all had bonuses for each FA Cup game. I’d played all the Cup games but wasn’t in the squad for the semi-final against Millwall.
Maynor heard I didn’t get the bonus, which was around £70,000. Maybe he found it unfair and he decided to leave me an envelope in my toiletry bag. He told me to look inside and there were thousands of pounds in there. He just decided that was the right thing to do. He was injured for the final so I asked the kitman, Dave Mitten, to print his name underneath my shirt. I turned it inside out for the celebrations so it would show his name to show gratitude. It’s not just about the football — it’s the human side too.
JULIE LAVIN Commercial and community executive
I STILL get goosebumps thinking about it. I’ve been here 13 years and worked with younger supporters. Emmerson Boyce walked out with the mascot Joseph Kendrick, a boy who has nonketotic hyperglycinemia, and I loved the fact he actually picked him up and carried him instead of pushing him in his chair.
It was such a nice gesture and our community spirit was epitomised in that moment. The charity, Joseph’s Goal, has been a big part of this club. That goal Ben Watson scored to win it was Joseph’s goal.
And on the Monday I came into work still on a high. Our chief executive walked past with this case. I looked at him and he said: ‘Yes, it’s in there.’ I went to have my photo taken and he said: ‘No, pick it up!’ Those are the things dreams are made of.
BARRY WORTHINGTON Progress with Unity Latics Podcast
WE ORGANISED 12 posh double-decker coaches for about £20 a head and stopped off at Bicester on the way.
It was a grey day but the anticipation on that coach was unbelievable. Electric. Let’s
Hang On and quite a bit of Northern Soul was being blasted out. Roberto Martinez had adopted I’m A Believer by The Monkees as our anthem so that got a few airings.
We’re a community — always have been. The CEO (Jonathan Jackson) knows a lot of fans by their first name. You’ll bump into (chairman) David Sharpe. They’ll stop and chat like you’re a friend.
Walking down Wembley Way beforehand, seeing the faces, the result wasn’t going to matter. My first game was against Halifax in the FA Cup and back then, 1972, that was a big draw! So here we were, in a final. There isn’t a chance I’d swap it for anything. It was the single greatest day of my life. Nobody can ever take it away from us.
ALEX CRIBLEY Former player and caretaker manager, physio on Cup final day
LATE in the game against City, I went to the dressing room with a couple of the other staff to get energy drinks, bars and gels in preparation for extra time. I got back to the touchline in time to see Ben Watson score. There was pandemonium, so much so I fell over one of the drinks crates in the bedlam!
It was brilliant for Ben. A few months earlier I’d been in the Royal Liverpool hospital with him after he’d broken his fibula. He worked so hard to get fit. Afterwards I was in the dressing room with our doctor Mike Ashworth and the kitman Dave Mitten. I said: ‘Do they realise what they’ve done?’
DAVE HALLAM Sports therapist
I ACTUALLY missed the goal. It looked like we were going to extra time so I went back to the dressing room to get towels, bananas, massage oil, gels. I was in the tunnel coming back out when I thought I heard the crowd scream ‘Pen!’ so dropped the bag and ran outside. It turns out they were shouting Ben instead! I saw it on the screen a few seconds afterwards and I’m there doing the Highland jig. Those final few minutes felt like a lifetime.
My daughter-in-law was also in labour that day so it was a big one. The chairman was giving a speech on the coach on the way down and my phone rings with the news my granddaughter had been born. It’s usually switched off on a matchday and Mr Whelan ended up announcing the news to the lads over the bus mic. There were huge cheers obviously. Mr Whelan is probably the best man I’ve worked for in football. An amazing man.