Wigan Athletic chairman responds to fan anger over Manchester United tie

Wigan Athletic's DW Stadium will play host to the visit of Manchester United in the FA Cup third round next month

The 'away end' for the fixture will move from the North Stand for the night, in an attempt to take advantage of the Old Trafford outfit's enormous travelling army.

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However, the East Stand contains the loudest section of the Latics support - not to mention thousands of season ticket holders who will be forced to give up their regular seats.

Social media has been full of disgruntled fans voicing their displeasure, with a number threatening to boycott the fixture.

Which has led to Goodburn taking the unusual step of explaining the thought process via the club's own social media channels.

“Firstly, I understand what Wigan Athletic Football Club means to our fans and how passionate our fan base is and I want to thank all our fans who have supported the club this season home and away," he said.

“I understand that Latics’ fans like to sit in their own seats where possible.

"However, this is a unique one-off cup game and, having reviewed previous big home fixtures such as the 2018 Manchester City fixture, we want to ensure we maximise its potential whilst also ensuring we get as many Latics fans in the stadium as we think is possible.

“Season ticket seats in the West and South Stands have not been reserved for this fixture as we felt it was important to give every season ticket holder, including those in the East Stand, a fair chance of purchasing a seat in an alternative stand.

“It has been clear during the current 2023/24 season that our stadium has been significantly under capacity.

"Our average attendance is down across all stands, including the East Stand, with an average attendance in our home stands of less than 40 per cent so far this season.

“None of this season’s attendance metrics illustrate our ability to fill the East Stand, including for the Emirates FA Cup fixture against Manchester United.

"Moreover, the fixture has been selected for broadcast on terrestrial television on a Monday evening, which doesn’t help with our ambitions to fill the stadium for big fixtures and improve the atmosphere.

“The reality is that our club has made, and continues to make, significant financial losses that will continue in the long term unless we make some tough decisions which some fans may not agree with.

"Although the decision to move the away fans into the East Stand for this specific fixture was not an easy decision, we feel it is the right one in terms of maximising attendance, improving our stadium’s atmosphere and taking positive steps to improve the financial health of the club.

“We want to create a great atmosphere for all Wigan Athletic fans and we look forward to engaging more actively with our fans on stadium initiatives.

"We’ve acted on previous requests to have home fans behind both goals which we believe will play a big part in the atmosphere inside the DW Stadium on what will be a memorable night in the club’s history.”