Meet The New Year Ref - Barnsley v Latics

The first game of the New Year is upon us, the Latics travel over to Yorkshire to face Barnsley at Oakwell, the referee for the game will be Geordie official, Seb Stockbridge.

 

Seb Stockbridge

The 39 year old has been a National List referee since the 2013/14 season when he kicked off his career in the big time with a League 2 encounter between Fleetwood and Dagenham & Redbridge, that first season saw Stockbridge issue 7 red cards in just 24 games.

An interesting fact, Seb spent time refereeing abroad in the Iceland domestic League back in 2013, a bit cold but lovely scenery.

Previous Games

Seb Stockbridge has refereed the Latics 9 times previously, if bells of recognition are ringing in your head, well that’s not surprising as the last time Stockbridge refereed either of the Latics and Barnsley was the reverse fixture back in August at the DW Stadium, red carding Charlie Wyke as the Tykes ran out 0:2 winners.

That was the second Latics v Barnsley game that Stockbridge has taken charge of, the other came in December 2015 at Oakwell and that game also ended in a 0:2 away win, this time the Latics picking up the clean sheet and three points.

Seb Stockbridge’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
26 Aug 2023	League One	Latics 0:2 Barnsley	1 R
23 Apr 2022	League One	Latics 1:1 Plymouth	3 Y
26 Oct 2021	League One	Latics 1:2 Lincoln	3 Y
05 Sep 2020	EFL Cup	Fleetwood 3:2 Latics	2 Y
07 Apr 2018	League One	Latics 5:1 MK Dons	2 Y
25 Nov 2017	League One	Rotherham 1:3 Latics	1 Y

 Seb Stockbridge Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 20

Yellows – 107

Reds – 1

Penalty Awards – 14

 Barnsley v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Seb Stockbridge
Assistants – Paul Newhouse and Simon Clayton
Fourth Official – Martin Coy

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Barnsley game.

 

Meet The Ref - Latics v Carlisle United

Latics face Carlisle United at the DW Stadium on Friday evening in our latest festive clash, the referee for the game will be Blackburn official, Ben Toner.

Ben Toner

Now in his 9^th season as an EFL referee, Ben Toner worked his apprenticeship during three seasons at National League level, he was subsequently promoted to the National List of Ref’s in the summer of 2015 and began refereeing Football League games that coming season, a quiet debut AFC Wimbledon v Plymouth League Two game on the 8^th August 2015, a two-nil away win for Argyle and just the one yellow card.

Previous Games

Ben Toner has refereed the Latics on five occasions previously, the last game was our away win at Crewe Alex in March 2022, a goal apiece from Josh Magennis and Will Keane giving the Latics a 0:2 win on o0ur way to lifting the League One title.

Toner’s last Carlisle games came last season, there were two, both at Brunton Park, early season in the EFL Trophy, a 1:2 defeat to Manchester United U21s and a 0:4 League Two defeat against Mansfield in February.

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
15 Mar 2022	League One	Crewe Alex 0:2 Latics	2Y
25 Jan 2022	EFL Trophy	Latics 1:0 Arsenal	2 Y
20 Mar 2021	League One	Accrington 3:1 Latics	1 Y
03 Nov 2020	League One	Blackpool 1:0 Latics	0
24 Feb 2018	League One	Latics 1:0 Rochdale	0

Ben Toner Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 17

Yellows – 84

Reds –1

Penalty Awards – 6

Wigan Athletic v Carlisle United
Referee – Ben Toner
Assistants – Steve Brown and Lee Freeman

Fourth Official – Bradley Hall

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Carlisle game.

Meet The Ref - Reading v Latics

Latics head off to Reading for their latest League One game and the first of this seasons ‘Festive Fixtures’, the referee in charge will be Lancashire based official, Martin Woods.

 

Martin Woods

Previous Games

This is Martin Woods second season on the National List and he hasn’t been in charge of either the Latics or Reading previously.

Martin Woods Card Watch 2023/24

Games – 17

Yellows –58

Reds – 3

Penalty Awards – 3

Reading v Wigan Athletic
Referee – Martin Woods
Assistants – Sam Ogles and Mark Derrin
Fourth Official – Carl Brook

 

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast featuring a preview of the Reading game.

 

A Wiganer At The Vale - Jack 'Dickie' Cunliffe

 

Jack 'Dickie' Cunliffe

The Wigan Youth Zone in the town centre is an absolute hive of activity and a roaring success, youngsters from all across the borough descend upon it everyday of the week, it provides a host of activities, the vast majority of which are physical and football plays a large part.

The Youth Zone was a concept that was driven by Latics owner and former chairman Dave Whelan, he reflected back on his own youth with fond memories of attending the Wigan Boys club, the discipline that it instilled in him and the opportunity it allowed to follow his passion for football that saw him achieve a very good career in the professional game.

Whelan though wasn’t the only local lad to come through the ranks of the Wigan Boys club to go on and make a name for himself playing ‘soccer’, indeed during the late 1940’s and into the 1950’s there was a steady stream of young lads honing their talents at the Boys club and making the grade in the professional game. One such lad was Jack (Dickie) Cunliffe.

Jack Cunliffe forged a very good career as a left winger with Potteries club, and this Saturday’s opponents, Port Vale during the 1950’s.

Born on the 4th February 1930, Jack ‘grew up’ around the Pemberton and Goose Green areas of Wigan, and by the late 1940’s he was making a name for himself playing for the Wigan Boys club, which led to him being signed in 1950 by, at that time, Third Division South club Port Vale.

It took Jack a couple of years to establish himself as a regular in the Port Vale side, but when he did he became a terrace hero, playing alongside Port Vale all time legend Roy Sproson and under forward thinking manager Freddie Steele, Jack earned the nickname ‘Tricky Dickie’ for his left wing wizardry. In the 1952/53 season Jack started to feature regularly, he made 19 appearances scoring four goals as Vale ended the season runners-up in the Third Division North. If the 52/53 season was a good one for Port Vale and Jack Cunliffe, then the 53/54 season was simply outstanding.

Cunliffe made a total of 50 appearances and banged home 9 goals (8 league and 1 FA cup) as Port Vale stormed the Third Division North to be crowned Champions, winning the title by 11 points from second placed Barnsley, but it was in the FA Cup this particular season that Vale captured the minds and the hearts of the nation.

A plucky team from the third tier of English football, Vale made it all the way to the semi-final, on route they had faced previous season’s winners Blackpool, Stanley Matthews and all, the cup holders were dispatched at Vale Park in the 5th round in front of 42,000 by 2-0.

 

In an earlier round Vale had travelled to Southport, it was the same day that the Latics faced Hereford United at Springfield Park and drew their largest ever home crowd of 27,500, but a proportion of Wiganers opted to travel to Southport to watch Jack play instead of the short journey to Springfield as the paper cutting below shows.

 

In the semi-final Port Vale faced eventual cup winners West Brom at Villa Park, the Albion at the time were top of the first division and the Valiants were always going to be up against it, over 68,000 packed into the ground to witness a flukey own goal and an extremely controversial penalty decide the tie 2-1 in West Brom’s favour.

 

‘Dickie’ Jack Cunliffe stayed at Vale Park until 1959 when he enjoyed a second promotion campaign during the 58/59 season with Vale winning the newly formed Fourth Division, in total he made 302 appearances scoring 55 goals before moving to Stoke in a player exchange deal. He finished his career off in the non-league circles playing with Macclesfield Town, Stafford Rangers and Buxton.

Jack married Elsie from Newcastle-Under-Lyme and settled in the area, living in Tunstall in Stoke. Sadly Jack passed away in November 1975 aged just 45.

 

 All photos and clippings reproduced with the permission of Jack Cunliffe’s family.

 

Grab a listen to the latest PWU Latics podcast with a preview of the Port Vale game with guest Jonny from the Ale & Vale podcast: