Wigan's honest Dave puts faith in hard work

A striker (background) celebrates after scoring a goal. Dave Whelan, the hard-working businessman who has taken humble Wigan to the top table of English football, will hand manager Paul Jewell 25 million pounds to help keep their Premiership ticket.

Dave Whelan, the hard-working businessman who has taken humble Wigan to the top table of English football, will hand manager Paul Jewell 25 million pounds to help keep their Premiership ticket.

"We have to make sure we are equipped to do whats necessary," said the club chairman.

"Were not just going into the Premier League to stay up. Me and Paul are both the same. We will fight to the death to win and I will be happy to give him the money to do that."

But Whelan, who has built his JJB sports chain into the largest sports retailer in Britain since opening with four stores in 1976, will not follow the likes of Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich in investing in foreign stars.

"I am not keen on bringing in foreign players just because they have a name, we look for players who pull the shirt on, wear it with pride and fight," said the man who broke his leg with Blackburn Rovers in the 1960 FA Cup final they lost to Wolves.

"If we can stabilise ourselves in the Premiership and compete with Blackburn, Bolton, Birmingham that will be fine," he added.

Jewell, a former Wigan player, has twice smashed the club's transfer record since taking over in 2001, buying strikers Nathan Ellington for 1.2 million pounds from Bristol and Grenada's Jason Roberts for 1.4 million pounds from West Brom who spearheaded Wigan's promotion campaign.

Whelan revealed Jewell would be offered a new contract.

"The manager is a very special person and I am talking to him about a contract extension," he said.

"He would not sign it until we knew what division wed be in next season he is that honest a man.

"We trust each other implicitly and he will be here as long as one of the top six clubs do not come for him.

"If that happens in the future Ill just wish him good luck because he would deserve it."

Whelan has spent 25 million pounds on the club since buying Wigan 10 years ago when they were in the old Third Division.

Wigan are better known for their rugby league club and only qualified for the Football League 27 years ago.

And when Whelan took over Wigan were watched by average crowds of less than 2,000 at rickety Springfield Park.

Now they play in an impressve 25,000 capacity JJB Stadium, which was opened in 1999.

And Whelan dismissed talk of them not getting big enough crowds to justify playing in the top flight.

"That's a lot of rubbish," he said. "You get what you get and we deserve to be in the Premier League and I hope we wear the shirt with pride next season."