“It would be an exaggeration to claim that for a few years, Wigan Athletic was English soccer’s favorite underdog tale. But it was certainly one of the nation’s favorite artificially-flavored upstarts. Dave Whelan was the kind of owner fans of small clubs fantasize about. Hartlepool, Grimsby, Exeter: they’d all have loved a man like him in charge. Because until he arrived, Wigan was smaller than even those microscopic specks on England’s soccer’s map.” Socccer Gods