Meet Wigan Athletic's celebrity supporters from musicians to politicians | OneFootball

Wigan Athletic fans are suffering something of a fallow period in their history.

A regular fixture in the Premier League during the early 2000s, they capped off an extraordinary rise with an unlikely FA Cup victory over Manchester City in 2013.

That season would, however, be their last in the top flight as they were relegated to the Championship.

Financial issues ensued, and Wigan were relegated to League One in 2015. They've since bounced between the third and the second division, but have never shown any real intent to return to the heady heights of the Premier League.

Wigan were the team of the neutrals for many years, and maintained a loyal following, including a few famous faces.

Richard Ashcroft

The lead singer of the Verve, Richard Ashcroft, was born in Wigan and even had aspirations of playing for the club when he was younger before turning to music.

With tunes like Bitter Sweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work, the Verve went on to have huge success before their initial split in 1999.

They briefly reunited in 2009 before again going their separate ways. Ashcroft has enjoyed a productive solo career and recently returned to play in Wigan for the first time in 25 years.

Stuart Maconie

Radio personality Stuart Maconie is a die-hard Wigan Athletic fan, watching their rise from non-league to the Premier League.

A broadcaster and critic, Maconie has been a regular presence on TV and radio for decades.

Remarkably, former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is said to have been a fan of the Latics after they signed Egyptian internationals Amr Zaki and Mido.

Zaki, in particular, garnered cult status among Premier League fans after scoring 10 goals in 16 games for Wigan in the 2008/09 season.

Zaki's love affair with Wigan was short-lived, however, and a falling out with manager Steve Bruce led to his departure the following season.

Mubarak was nonetheless enamoured by Wigan's Egyptian roots and is said to have remained a fan of the club until his death in 2020.

Paul Rowley

Former BBC radio personality Paul Rowley, who left the broadcaster after 47 years in 2021, is a lifelong Wigan supporter and was even interviewed by the club to recall his favourite memories of the first 20 years at the DW Stadium.

Rowley has reported on his boyhood club since they were in non-league and recounts being the only radio commentator in the ground when Wigan played their first Football League game against Hereford.

Mikhail Gorbachev

There was a rumour that former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was a Wigan fan.

The tale even went as far as to say that Gorbachev would await Wigan results whilst sitting in the Kremlin in club colours.

Wigan's former commercial manager, Peter Fillingham, debunked these rumours in 2005, including a report that Gorbachev went to watch Wigan play in 1970 when he was assistant secretary of the Russian team Metalist Kharkiv, but for a moment Wigan fans thought they'd had a brush with international politics.