This is an extremely rare application to join the Football League, made by Wigan Athletic back in 1963.
At this point, Wigan had made 27 unsuccessful annual attempts to join the football league.
Key arguments for allowing Wigan to join include:
- A population of over 300,000 people
- Ground capacity of 35,000 at Springfield Park (greater than any other club outside of the Football League)
- £40,000 spent on ground improvements
- Crowds of up to 27,000 at some home games, and 30,000 Supporters Organisation subscribers
- Over £50,000 in assets
Despite all this, the club was unsuccessful until 1978. In 1972 they even made a bid to join the Scottish 2nd Division.
Probably should have mentioned Dave Whelan’s broken leg…
