Wigan chairman Dave Whelan insists staying in the Premier League has to be the club's goal again next season. He said: "We are Wigan Athletic and when we set off at the start of the season all we are looking for is survival.

"It is no use thinking we can get into Europe. We can have ambition and that's finishing in the top half of the league.

"That's what Roberto (Martinez) is intent on doing in this coming season. But if we survive, it's success."

Whelan, who has seen the club spectacularly climb the pyramid from the backwaters of non-league football to the top flight appears to have lost none of his enthusiasm.

He said: "When I came in and where we are now you cannot comprehend. Wigan were playing non-league football 25 years ago. I was a member of the board when they were in the Lancashire Combination.

"To play Arsenal here and beat them was the finest moment of my life. When that winning goal went in I have never felt anything so good. Everything we have done for that one moment in time was worth it."