Wigan Athletic and Paul Cook never saw West Brom hype that followed 2019 recruit | OneFootball

Wigan Athletic never saw what West Brom did of former Sweden international defender Jonas Olsson

Wigan Athletic are a club who have endured more ups and downs in recent years than most of their Football League counterparts – with even the club's famous FA Cup triumph in 2013 followed by a downward trend.

The Latics, of course, became the first-ever club to win the famous old trophy in the same season as being relegated from the Premier League, while a further relegation to League One followed in 2015.

The Greater Manchester outfit won the third-tier title in 2016, a feat they emulated in both 2018 and 2022, but for every promotion back to the Championship, relegation has swiftly followed for the Latics, who currently reside in League One once more.

Add a period in administration, which began in the summer of 2020 and would not end until the spring of 2021, as well as an HMRC winding-up petition against the club in 2023 into the mix, and you get a very clear idea of just how turbulent recent times at the Brick Community Stadium have been.

But one of the more stable periods the Latics enjoyed, prior to their administration in 2020, came under former manager Paul Cook, who helped the club to the League One title in 2018 and then managed to retain their Championship status with a relatively comfortable 2018/19 second tier campaign.

Cook's era in the dugout at the Brick was defined by successful signings, such as the addition of Reece James, who joined on loan from Chelsea and took the Championship by storm.

However, an acquisition that did not succeed during Cook's tenure in WN5 was that of former West Bromwich Albion defender Jonas Olsson, who joined the Latics in February 2019 on a free transfer.

Olsson did not deliver West Brom expectations at Latics

Having plied his trade for West Brom from 2008 all the way until 2017, Olsson was a Baggies stalwart who had also earned himself a strong reputation among supporters of other clubs given his many years of service at the Hawthorns.

The former Sweden international made 43 appearances during the 2009/10 season, in which the Baggies won promotion from the Championship to the Premier League, and subsequently became a top-flight regular for the West Midlands club.

Even during the 2015/16 Premier League season, which was his penultimate term with Albion, he made 28 league appearances and 32 outings across all competitions.

Olsson was a loyal servant at the Hawthorns, so perhaps it was no coincidence that, following his departure, the Baggies faced relegation to the Championship as a result of a dismal 2017/18 campaign.

After leaving West Brom, the centre-half plied his trade for Djurgarden, for whom he represented in both the Swedish top-flight and Europa League throughout 2017 and 2018.

So, when they signed Olsson in 2019, the Latics were well within their rights to believe that the then 35-year-old would be capable of proving his worth at Championship level.

While upon moving to the Brick Community Stadium, the experienced defender said: "I am very happy to be involved, it has been a hectic few hours after I flew in from Stockholm yesterday.

"I have been missing the UK a lot and I always feel more British than Swedish in a sense!

"I have had a couple of good years back home, but I am ready to be back and delighted to be back.

"I am still enjoying the game, I feel very fit, and I am ready to go."

But while Olsson was raring to go, he was unable to show the Latics the kind of strong form he had established in his more successful Baggies days, and left the Greater Manchester club having made just six Championship appearances.

The move to sign the former Premier League stalwart had the makings of a very shrewd deal for the Latics, however, he was unable to display his expertise on a regular basis for Cook's men.

2018/19 season was still memorable for the Latics despite failed Olsson deal

Although the signing of Olsson never delivered its promise, the 2018/19 Championship season was still a campaign that Latics supporters can look back on with fondness.

While the aim of becoming a stable second-tier outfit is arguably a modest aspiration for a club that spent eight years in the Premier League before lifting the FA Cup in 2013, the last time Wigan survived a Championship campaign without being relegated back to League One came in 2018/19 under the stewardship of Cook.

Although that is largely down to the fact that the Greater Manchester club only suffered relegation to the third tier in 2020 due to a 12-point deduction which came as a consequence of their aforementioned period in administration, the club's achievement during the previous season should still be recognised.

The end of the 2018/19 second-tier campaign saw the Latics avoid relegation by the comfortable margin of 12 points and also delivered memorable results, such as an unlikely 2-1 win at Leeds United, a 3-0 triumph over Aston Villa and, best of all, a 5-2 hammering over local rivals Bolton Wanderers.

Olsson was far from being the star of the show for the Latics that season, despite previously leading by example during his Baggies days, but it did not put a dampener on an otherwise successful campaign.