Springfield Park

Uh, I've been a Wigan Athletic fan since, uh, I'd say it was about, I don't know, probably about 1995 or something like that.

Probably Springfield Park and, and all that, you know.

Um, yeah, I-I've been from then.

Um, and then it's just sort of just, just been interesting to see that as I've got older, like the, the, the club's grown a lot, and like I, I didn't, I didn't think we'd ever see like how much it's grown to, you know.

Uh, I mean, I, I didn't live near the ground, so it was always exciting, uh, just getting to the ground.

Uh, and I think that's same for a lot of people, isn't it? Like, you build it up before you go in and, uh, maybe it's 'cause you were a lot younger as well, but it always seemed to me like there was a lot more, a lot, a lot bigger crowd than probably what there was in, you know.

Um, I mean, I always think the atmosphere at Springfield Park, uh, seemed miles louder than i-in the stadium here and, you know, on, on, on, on numbers of attendance.

It, it, it, it couldn't be really, could it? But it, it did seem, uh, a lot more like raucous and a lot more...

You know, we met a few, a lovely story.

One of the last grounds we went to, Wigan Athletic, when they were still playing at Springfield Park.

And who was outside the club shop? Brian Hamilton, who was the then manager there.

of Wigan, former Ipswich play, although slightly before my time, but I knew about him.

and making six draws.

Our first meeting came in the 93-94 season in the bottom tier, a 1-1 draw at Springfield Park in August, and a 1-2 Latics win in the return at Adams Park in February, a season which almost saw us lose our league status, finishing third from the bottom, whilst Wickham won promotion by the playoffs after ending the season in fourth spot.

Last meeting, we met Wickham three times last season, twice in the league, which was a 0-1 defeat at the Brick, 2-0 away and once in the Carabao Cup, another 2-0 defeat, but this time at home.

Some grim reading in our recent record against the Chur Boys.

...

in my meeting, in my meetings with, uh, uh, Brian Hamilton, who was the manager, I never, I'd never been to Springfield Park.

Oh, yeah.

But he could ch- he could charm the birds from the trees.

[laughs]

Uh, and somehow convinced me to sign for Wigan.

Uh, and then I stepped foot in Springfield Park and thought, "Really, has it come to this?" Uh-

[laughs]