Wednesday 19 September 2018

On This Day - Operation Bruges - Latics In Europe



Five years ago today, 19th September 2013, Wigan Athletic made history, playing their first game in a European competition the Latics had made the journey from runners-up in the Northern Premier League to competitors in a prestigious UEFA competition in just 35 years.

As FA Cup winners the Latics gained automatic entry into the group stages of the Europa League, drawn in Group ‘D’ against Belgium club SV Zulte Waregem, Slovenia side NK Maribor and Russian giants Rubin Kazan anticipation among the fans was electric.



The first game of the group saw the Latics travel to Belgium.

Zulte Waregem, due to their ground, the ‘Rainbow Stadium’ not meeting UEFA standards played their home fixtures in the Europa League that season at FC Bruges’ Jan-Breydel Stadium.

So the stage was set, over 3,000 Latics fans decided to take at least a couple of days off work, school or college and make the trek across the channel and onto Belgium, travelling by air, sea and road this was one adventure shared by many.

My personal trip was by coach via the Euro Tunnel, we set off just after midnight on the day of the game arriving in Bruges just after lunch, I am not sure if it was lack of sleep or copious amounts of beer, but getting off that coach were 70 odd supporters considerably worse for wear.




The city square was already full of Wiganers when we arrived, awash with blue and white, scarves, flags and banners, there was a carnival atmosphere undoubtedly fuelled by some extraordinary beer with alcohol content closer to that of an aged bottle of wine than the usual stuff you get in a Wetherspoons on a wet Wednesday.

We bumped into Neil Rimmer and Jonathan Jackson who were also ‘soaking up’ the atmosphere, the scenes in the Grote Markt Square were incredible, non-stop singing, laughter and a genuine feeling of disbelief that our little club, Wigan Athletic, were competing on the European stage, we do believe in miracles.

The ground was a good 3 miles from Bruges centre, it had started to rain quite heavily, there was not a taxi to be had for love nor money and catching a bus wasn’t as easy as jumping on the 626 from Wigan to get to Beech Hill, but with more luck than judgement we found ourselves on a bus that was going in the general direction that we wanted to, or at least that is what we hoped.

All part of the adventure, we made it to the ground in time for kick off, just, having walked the final mile and a bit, FC Bruges’ place wasn’t the super stadium I’d hoped it would be, but that didn’t matter, we had arrived in the really big time.



The game itself was something of a distraction, only non-alcohol beer sold inside the stadium, though that didn’t appear to deter people from becoming more intoxicated, the atmosphere was great, the game something of a non-entity, but the sense of history was what this occasion was all about.

A drab goalless draw didn’t spoil the celebrations; neither did the fact that a certain Owen Coyle somehow found himself managing the Latics at the time, though Coyle, like our European adventure, wasn’t going to make it through to the New Year.



History had been made.


Final word about the day goes to Latics skipper and legend Emmerson Boyce


"This adventure is a reward for them (the fans), for their efforts in making this club as special as it is and we as players have to do everything we can to try and send them home with a smile on their face.

"From a personal point of view it will of course be a great honour for me to lead out the team on such an historic occasion."
  






The starting XI that evening was:

Scott Carson
Ryan Shotton, Emmerson Boyce (capt), James Perch, Stephen Crainey.
Chris McCann, James McArthur, Jordi Gomez
Callum McManaman, Nick Powell, James McClean

Ben Watson and Marc Antoine Fortune replaced Gomez and McManaman on 66 minutes

Nouho Dicko coming on for Powell on 83 minutes.

Unused subs – Lee Nicholls, Adam Buxton, Juan Carlos Garcia, Roger Espinoza


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