The JJB stadium is a 25,000 all-seater, although Wigan Athletic are in absolutely no danger of ever filling it with their own fans. In fact, their ground record is 15,593 against Preston North End (who provided at least half of the crowd). For obvious reasons it is often called the Jar Jar Binks Stadium. Away fans used to get the North Stand at one end, but now get the Adidas (East) Stand on the side. The North Stand is now used for cheap children's tickets and is therefore known as the Gary Glitter Stand by the locals!
In the four times that we played Wigan in 1998/99 and 1999/2000, they had three highly dubious penalties, we had one perfectly good goal disallowed, and the only Reading player to get on the scoresheet was Andy McLaren. So obviously we lost all four of those games.
Revenge in the form of the late late Nicky Forster show in the 2001 play-off semi-final was sweet, even if at the end of it all both Wigan and ourselves failed to gain promotion.
Some Wigan information:
Record defeat - officially 1-6 against Bristol Rovers (I don't believe that - I reckon that's only since they've been in the League, but certainly something to aim for)
Last Reading victory - 2-0 in Wigan in January 2002
Nearest station to ground - Wigan North Western (although Wigan Wallgate's only a few metres further away). If you arrive in Wigan at North Western station, turn left at the main entrance and at some point take the opportunity to cross the road. If you arrive at Wallgate station, turn right and stay on the same side of the road. Both stations are on the same road, so the remainder of the directions are the same for both. Walk along this road and when it forks (at Wigan Pier) take the right-hand one. After about 5 minutes you cross a canal bridge. Turn right immediately afterwards into a short road that leads to the canal. When you reach the canal bank turn left, and continue until you reach the stadium car park. (If you don't want to walk along the canal, then don't turn right after the bridge, and instead continue straight on and turn right into Robin Park Road after a few more minutes.) It takes at most 20 minutes to get to the stadium from either of the stations.
Road directions - Leave the M6 at Junction 25. Turn left at the roundabout at the top of the slip road and follow A49 Wigan signs. Go straight on at the next roundabout following this road towards Wigan. Continue along this road until you reach a major road junction. Follow the road bend left keeping in the left hand lane and then right as you come round the bend turning left at the lights. Proceed along this road and turn right at the second set of lights into Scot Lane. You should enter the Robin Park Complex with the JJB Stadium ahead of you. The stadium car parks have 2,500 spaces.
Trivia - when Wigan were in the 2000 play-off final against Gillingham, there were local newsagents and chippies displaying pro-Gills posters. That's simply because those shop-owners are egg-chasing fans.
There are hardly any Wigan Athletic fans, so it's no big surprise that there aren't many message boards either. Here's three:
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