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When Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan predicted that the football team he bought 10 years ago would one day grace the Premier League it was ...

When Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan predicted that the football team he bought 10 years ago would one day grace the Premier League it was said in jest.

On Sunday the multi-millionaire head of the JJB Sports retail empire could afford to laugh as the northern club from a rugby league stronghold reached England’s top flight.

‘‘It’s a great, great day for Wigan,’’ said Whelan who took control of the club in 1995 when they were in the fourth division and forecast that they would reach the summit.

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‘‘At the time, it was said tongue in cheek but you’ve got to have ambition and with a team like this and a manager (Paul Jewell) like this we can do anything,’’ he added.

Unlike many rich chairmen who buy a club to compensate for their frustrated playing ambitions, Whelan has graced the game at the top level. He broke his leg with Blackburn Rovers in the 1960 FA Cup final, which they lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Whelan is thus well-placed to assess Wigan’s extraordinary 27-year journey from non-league football to the Premier League. To those who argue that his club does not get big enough crowds to justify playing in the top flight he has a curt reply.

‘‘That’s a lot of rubbish,’’ he told Sky Sports television after a 3-1 win over playoff contenders Reading secured second place in the second division behind champions Sunderland.

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‘‘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.’’

Wigan is a town steeped in sporting history but soccer has never contributed much to the silverware collection in a hotbed of Rugby League. The rapid rise of Wigan, based in a town about 15 km north of Manchester, could be about to change that.

The club has been bank-rolled by Whelan, whose JJB Sports chain traded from just four stores in 1976 before growing to 120 in 1994 when the company floated on the London Stock Exchange.

In 1998, JJB Sports acquired their biggest competitor Sports Division and became the largest sports retailer in the UK.

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Whelan’s success allowed him to plough money into Wigan and manager Jewell, a former Wigan player, has spent well since taking charge in 2001, twice smashing the club’s transfer record to recruit strikers Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts.

Ellington, nicknamed Duke, came from Bristol Rovers for 1.2 million pounds ($2.28 million) in 2002, while Grenadian Roberts cost 1.4 million from West Bromwich Albion in January 2004.

Their goals spearheaded Wigan’s promotion campaign and they were both on the scoresheet in Sunday’s victory, along with Lee McCulloch, at the impressive 30 million pounds 25,000 capacity JJB Stadium, which was opened in 1999. Reuters