This is my Wigan Athletic team in 2020-21. I started as this team for a few reasons. My West Ham team fired me, mostly due to my unwillingness to sell many of the original players. I also didn't know much about the Global Scouting Network and relied on it too much in transfers. I went to Hull afterwards for a few seasons, but same thing happened.

I then decided to be Wigan Athletic from day 1. Wigan is a team with solid parts to return to the Premiership, and also had a Europa league spot, which I intended to use to gain extra money for the future.

History of Bloop33's Wigan Athletic

Year 1:

Year 1 was important, obviously. I had the goal of promotion, and put all Cup objectives to the side to ensure I made this goal. My side was solid, but out of the top 5 by the January Window. I hadn't made many additions to the team, the most notable being 20 year old CM Sean Murray from Watford for $390,000. Murray would go on to become an extremely important element of my squad, scoring numerous key goals for the minimal price I paid.

In January I went all in. After a cash influx from the Europa league (which I was knocked out of in the group stage), and selling RM McManaman, I went out to the Netherlands and signed 2 players who would be key to my eventual promotion and also my existence in the EPL. 1 was striker Kolbeinn Sigporsson, and the other being central mid Zlatko Junuzovic. I would go on to finish 3rd in the Championship, and win the playoff for promotion.

Year 1 Record:
P-63 W-35 D-17 L-11 F-106 A-61

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Year 2:

2014-15 was a tough year for the squad. Our top keeper left in January, and my transfers in the summer window didn't pan out as well as expected. I decided to go for an upgrade at striker. Souha Dicko was loaned out, so behind Kolbeinn my scoring was struggling. In comes Rudnevs from Austria. The two formed a great partnership and we managed to get out of relegation and finish 14th overall in the league. The cups again were neglected, but this season showed I needed to fix something in my team to become a true contender Another big additions was GK Alex Smithies, who continues to be my top keeper. Year 2 finish: 14th.

Year 2 Record:
P-42 W-13 D-7 L-22 F-48 A-68

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Year 3:

Year 3, again, was a pretty non-chalant year, although this season I made a few signings that would go on to be important in later years. While in my debut EPL season we finished 14th, this year we were able to force more draws rather than losses. Center-back Ben Nugent was signed and emerged as a good force in the back end, and we also signed a few youth players who would also feature heavily in the future. RB David Anderson and CM Jake Fox. Anderson would stick with the club, while Fox went out on loan to grow.

Year 3 Results:
P-42 W-13 D-13 L-16 F-55 A-68

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Year 4:

The 2016-17 season was where things started to take an uptick. I went out and strengthened the midfield, adding central midfielders Leandrinho and Moussa Sissoko. I also began to revamp the front, signing a new striker to join Kolbeinn. Making all of this happen was a few trade+signs and also the sale of top RB Janmaat. David Anderson would begin to feature on the first team, and in January I'd also secure the transfer of Leighton Baines. The biggest signing for the future of the club was CB Juan Portillo Soler from Spain. He was a starting CB, 21 years old, and worth a ton in the eyes of big clubs. This year we overacheived in the league, and also got to the final of the Capital One Cup. This year, we'd finish 3rd, losing on the last day of the season to miss out on the title.

Year 4 Record:
P-46 W-29 D-7 L-10 F-88 A-62

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Year 5:

Year 5 started out with a bang. CB Juan Portillo Soler was sold for $50 million to Chelsea, inspiring a spending spree to try and make my squad Champions League contenders. First I signed ST Mario Manduzkic from Chelsea, followed by CF Wayne Rooney and CB Chris Smalling from Manchester United. I also signed some other younger players, who would develop into starters or sale parts by the end of the year.

We would reach the CL Quarter Finals, and also the Capital One Semi's, although we'd lose out due to a major injury bug that saw me take on Liverpool with 5 players out, including Mandzukic and Rooney.

Year 5 Record:
P-57 W-29 D-13 L-15 F-92 A-54

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Year 6:

The 2018-19 season would see the beginning of a trend that I am not the greatest fan of. Not much was done for transfers, slight changes, but the biggest one was a back up signing in CM Mark Hartley, who would go on to become a key contributor. While our cup performances improved, winning the F.A. Cup and making the Semi-Finals of the Champions League, our League performance slipped and, despite a great finish to the season, where we didn't lose for the final 7 games, we finished 5th.

Year 6 Record:
P-61 W-36 D-13 L-12 F-103 A-62

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Year 7:

This was last season. Again, we'd do incredibly well in the cups, winning both the Capital One Cup, and also my first Europa League cup. We'd also lose in the final of the F.A. Cup to City. The league schedule was marred by the poor form of Smithies, leaving Declan Rudd to be the starter for 1/3 of the season. We made some huge signings, ST Daniel Sturridge, CAM Granit Xhaka, RM Adnan Januzaj, LB Luke Shaw and ST Stanislav Tonev. I was hit hard by the transfer request by former youth squad member CB Cauley Symington. The Board sold him for $18.5 million, and is now valued at over $65 million. Bitter pill to swallow. Some sales though saw me get the money to sign the return of CB Juan Portillo Soler, for $18 million less than he was sold to Chelsea for. In the end though, we once again finished 5th. Prompting me to go a little crazy in the most recent transfer window.

Year 7 Record:
P-69 W-47 D-10 L-12 F-138 A-79

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2020/21 Season.

So here we are in the current season. I've struggled in league play in recent years, so this year I've transformed the team to one that will hopefully get me back into the Champions League. The squad has some great players on it, as well as some talented youth. I am not going to be putting a ton of effort into the Cups, finishing in the top 4 is key. Realistically i think we can finish 1st.

Squad:

GK - Alex Smithies - 30 - 82 overall
RB - David Anderson - 23 - 82 overall
CB - Juan Portillo Soler - 25 - 85 overall
LB - Luke Shaw - 25 - 82 overall
RDM - Matthew Dwyer - 23 - 82 overall
LDM - Mark Hartley - 23 - 84 overall
RM - Marco Davide Faraoni - 28 - 81 overall
CM - Leon Bonne - 16 - 72 overall
** LM - Javier Pastore - 31 - 85 overall
** CF - Gwion Jones - 24 - 89 overall
** ST - Anthony Martial - 24 - 86 overall

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CB - Ryan Ingram - 23 - 82 overall
LB - Joey van Peppen - 17 - 69 overall
CAM - Andrew Hawkridge - 17 - 69 overall
CM - James Agyakwa - 17 - 68 overall
CM - Jak Aneke - 17 - 69 overall
CDM - Steven Strutton - 18 - 67 overall
ST - Stanislav Tonev - 23 - 79 overall
(out 5 months) CM - Jake Fox - 23 - 77 overall
LM - Liam Rodriguez - 17 - 65 overall
Gk - Declan Rudd - 29 - 75 overall

New Additions:

LM - Javier Pastore
Pastore was the PSG player of the game in the Europa final last season. While he is older now (31), I needed an elite left mid on the team, and picked him up for $15 million.

CF - Gwion Jones
Jones is a very young player from Wales who was playing for Real Madrid. I've wanted him for quite a while, but never had the funds. This year though, I traded them Adnan Januzaj and sent $40 million for his signature. At 89 overall, he is an instant star.

ST - Anthony Martial
Martial is another greatly talented attacking player. I sent Sturridge back to Liverpool with $58 million (acquired from the sale of Granit Xhaka to PSG for $63 million) for Martial. He is the most pure scoring striker I've had. Along with Jones, Pastore and Hartley, I feel like my team is prepared offensively to dominate for the season.


Next Post will come at the January Window to update on the Teams progress...