Meet The Ref - Latics v Bolton

Latics are back in League One action on Saturday, an early kick off, 12:30, at the Brick Community Stadium for a derby day encounter with Bolton Wanderers, Staffordshire based official, Steve Martin is scheduled to be in charge of the fixture.

 

Martin was promoted to the EFL at the start of the 2012/13 season and he is now in his 13^th campaign.

A veteran of 532 games, Steve Martin has issued 1495 yellow and 54 red cards, pointing to the penalty spot on 114 occasions.

Previous Games

Steve Martin has been a regular referee in Latics fixtures featuring as our referee on 17 occasions so far. His last appearance with the ‘tics coming in our home draw with Birmingham City in March 2023, Ashley Fletcher on the mark with our equaliser in that particular game, James McClean and Danel Sinani both picking up yellows.

Perhaps Steve Martin’s previous Latics game to stand out the most was our 0:3 away win at Shrewsbury on 30 April 2022 when we picked up the League One title, what a great day that was.

Steve Martin’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
04 Mar 2023	Championship	Latics 1:1 Birmingham	2Y
08 Nov 2022	Championship	Coventry 2:0 Latics	1Y
30 Apr 2022	League One	Shrewsbury 0:3 Latics	1Y
11 Jan 2020	Championship	Latics 0:1 Bristol City	1Y
14 Dec 2019	Championship	Latics 1:1 Huddersfield	1Y
27 Apr 2019	Championship	Birmingham 1:1 Latics	1Y

Steve Martin Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 16

Yellows – 70

Reds – 0

Penalty Awards – 4

Wigan Athletic v Bolton Wanderers
Referee – Stev Martin
Assistants – Darren Williams and Hristo Karaivanov

Fourth Official – Robert Massey-Ellis

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

Meet The FA Cup Ref - PNE v Latics

Another away day for the Latics on Friday, a short trip up the M6 for an FA Cup 3rd round tie at Deepdale for a Lancashire derby with Championship high flyers, Preston North End, the referee for the game is scheduled to be West Midlands based official, Oliver Langford.

Langford joined the National List of referees in the 2008/09 season. His first game, coming on the 16^th August, it was a League Two affair at Spotland, Rochdale running out 2:1 winners over Barnet.

Since that first game, impressively, Langford has clocked up over 600 games, issued 1781 yellow and 93 red cards whilst awarding an equally impressive 149 penalties.

Previous Games

This will be Langford’s 16^th Latics game, his last one came early on this season back in August a 2:2 draw away at the New York Stadium, Paul Mullin scoring late on to grab a point, Francois, Wright and Costelloe all picking up yellows.

Part of the Select Group 2, Langford now mainly officiates in the Championship.

Ollie Langford’s Last Six Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
23 Aug 2025	League One	Rotherham 2:2 Latics	3Y
26 Dec 2023	Championship	Middlesbrough 4:1 Latics	0
05 Mar 2022	League One	Latics 1:0 AFC Wimbledon	2Y
11 Feb 2020	Championship	Latics 2:2 Middlesbrough	6Y 1R
09 Feb 2019	Championship	Rotherham 1:1 Latics	3 Y
17 Oct 2020	League One	Charlton 1:0 Latics	4 Y

Oliver Langford Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 16

Yellows – 57

Reds – 1

Penalties – 2

Preston North End v Wigan Athletic

Referee – Oliver Langford

Assistants – Mark Stevens & Shaun Hudson

4^th Official – Richard Eley

Grab a listen to the latest podcast featuring a preview of the Preston game.

Meet The Ref - Cardiff City v Latics

Sunday sees Latics head off to South Wales to face Cardiff in our first away day League One clash of the New Year, the referee is scheduled to be Luton based official, Will Finnie.

31 year old Will Finnie was promoted to the Select Group 2 at the start of last season after making his debut on the National List in August 2019.

Previous Games

Finnie has taken charge of four Latics games previously, a 2:2 draw away at Portman Road in April 2022 and our 1:2 defeat at home to Portsmouth in September 2023, Charlie Wyke got his marching orders in that game and the Carabao Cup home defeat to Barnsley in a penalty shoot out with James Carragher picking up a yellow card.

The last Will Finnie game was our goalless draw away at Mansfield last season back in March, Ronan Darcy and Scott Smith both going in the book.

Finnie’s last Cardiff City game was their 4:2 defeat away at Norwich on the final day of last season.

Will Finnie’s Latics Games

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
04 Mar 2025	League One	Mansfield Town 0:0 Latics	2Y
16 Jan 2024	EFL Cup	Latics 1:1 Barnsley (3:5)	1Y
30 Sep 2023	League One	Latics 1:2 Portsmouth	3Y & 1R
05 Apr 2022	League One	Ipswich Town 2:2 Latics	2Y

Will Finnie Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 9

Yellows – 26

Reds – 1

Penalties – 2

Cardiff City v Wigan Athletic

Referee – Will Finnie

Assistants – Mark Senior & Ciaran Barlow

4^th Official – Steve Copeland

Grab a listen to the latest podcast featuring a preview of the Cardiff City game.

Meet The New Year Ref - Latics v Barnsley

Latics travel the six miles to the Toughsheet Stadium on Saturday to face local rivals Bolton Wanderers, scheduled to take charge of the game is Merseyside based referee, Ben Speedie. 

27 year old, Speedie, a former schoolteacher, made the step up from the National League to the EFL refereeing list ahead of the 2020/21 season.

Previous Games

During his first campaign in the EFL, Ben Speedie took charge of his first Latics game, a 1:1 draw away at Tranmere in the EFL Trophy, Harry McHugh scoring a 25-yard screamer and picking up the only yellow card of the tie.

Just one other Latics game under his belt which I will mention only in passing, our trip to Horwich earlier this campaign, can’t recall what happened that day to be honest, apart from Joe Hungbo picking up a yellow card and Paul Mullin producing a moment of magic and curling one in from just outside the box.

Speedie by name and ‘speedy’ by nature, the happy whistle blower made a rapid transit to the Select Group 2 of full-time refs and can now be found primarily plying his trade in the Championship.

Ben Speedie’s Latics Game

Date	Competition	Result	Latics Cards
10 Nov 2020	EFL Trophy	Tranmere 1:1  Latics	1Y

20 Sep 2025

League One

Bolton 4:1 Latics

1Y

 

Ben Speedie Card Watch 2025/26

Games – 21

Yellows – 70

Reds – 3

Penalty Awards – 3

Wigan Athletic v Barnsley
Referee – Ben Speedie
Assistants – Mark Ryder and Matt Sowerby
Fourth Official – Declan Brown

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