Somewhat surprisingly, along with Barrow and Accrington Stanley, they were granted a place for the inaugural season of the competition.
They spent ten years at this level before resigning from the league during the 1931–32 season.
In 1931, the effects of the Great Depression proved too much and, unable to pay the players' wages any longer, Wigan Borough went out of business on 26 October 1931 with liabilities of £30,000.
Manchester Central applied to take their place. This was initially accepted by the leaders of Division Three (North), but a formal complaint was made jointly by First Division Manchester City and Second Division Manchester United.
They believed that a third Manchester side would seriously damage Manchester United, who were struggling for support and finance. The Football League backed the existing Manchester League sides and Central were denied. The Manchester clubs, in particular United, received significantly bad media coverage as a result and this act damaged their image and support further.
At the end of the season Central resigned from the Cheshire County League, realising their ambitions would be unfulfilled. They continued on for a few more seasons in the Manchester Amateur League.
It would not be until 2 June 1978, when Wigan Athletic were elected, that Wigan would have a side in the Football League once more, and four more years would be needed to restore third-tier football to the town.
No comments:
Post a Comment