Reaction to reaching the Premiership

The club sealed promotion to the Premiership after a fantastic 3-1 victory over bogie team Reading and manager Paul Jewell was delighted.

He said: "The players seemed up for it and they seemed relaxed and confident, and they fed each off from it. The mood from the dressing room all week was 'We're going to do it'. We've wiped away the memory from last year, of the West Ham game. Great credit to the players, they deserve to be in the Premiership.

"The three players that scored today have got the bulk of the goals over the season, and we've got a good defensive record, and the whole club is built on a team ethic and team spirit, and I don't think anything was going to stop us getting promoted today, you could see that from the first whistle. The players were hungry, quick, and they were sharp, we played good football - but I'm a bit disappointed they [Reading] scored if the truth be known!

"Over the next couple of days, we can reflect over what's been going on and enjoy it, but we are going to have plan for next season because we're going into the land of the unknown as far as Wigan's concerned, and we've got to make sure we're as ready as we possibly can be."

"We need to strengthen the squad there's no doubt about that! But we're just going to enjoy the next couple of days and then we'll take stock.

"We've got to make sure that we sign the right players, and that the players are coming to the football club for the right reason. That doesn't mean that the players who helped us this season are going to be wiped out, but we'll have to improve the squad, there's no doubt about that. I don't think I spent that much at Bradford, but the Premiership has moved on since then. We're going to have to be ready for a difficult season next year, but it's something the supporters can look forward to and relish now."

"When you've got money to spend, you have to spend it wisely. If you don't, and you bring in the wrong type of players, you get the sack. Money itself brings pressure. We've been known as the big spenders in the Football League, but we'll probably be the paupers now that we're in the Premiership.

"I think if we'll be realistic, and bring in the right type of players, I don't think we'll be so much of a walkover as people might think."

"Next season will be tough, make no mistake about that, no doubt there will be some fans expecting us to beat Manchester United, and Liverpool week in and week out! Over the last three years, this club has got used to winning matches.

"We have a winning mentality, but we're going into a league above now, and we have work hard, stick together, and make sure all the hard work we've achieved over the last four years doesn't go to waste."

Whilst chairman Dave Whelan said: "Our promotion today, to the Premiership, must give every Football League club in England, the hope that the can match what Wigan have done, and what Wimbledon did seven or eight years ago, and that Wigan Athletic have come from nothing and we've got the dream! We've done the impossible dream. We've got to play the gods, and we're going to beat the gods.

"Today was supreme! My wife had tears, but I was always confident about today. We haven't played well for the last three or four games really, but I just thought, they're going to perform. We thoroughly deserved!"

"I have to say that the manager we've got, Paul Jewell, is a very special person, and I am talking to him about the extension of his contract, which I hope we will agree next week.

"It's basically agreed, but he wouldn't sign an extension until he knew which division we're in, he is that honest, and that kind of man. He wouldn't sign until the end of the season because he thinks about the team, and the staff who work underneath him and with him."

"Paul Jewell will remain with this club as long as one of the top six clubs in the land don't come in for him. Now if one of those clubs come in for Paul Jewell, I will say to Paul, good luck, you deserve it, go and do it. I would never, ever stand in Paul's way, he's too good for that, but there only six clubs in the land who could get him because he enjoys it with Wigan, and we work well together.

"I will let him choose how long he wants his contract for, and if he wants to stay for five years, then I'll clap my hands, he is just totally brilliant."