Wigan player's dig deep to refund fans

Wigan's players are to personally refund hundreds of supporters who bought tickets from the club for the 9-1 hammering at Tottenham on Sunday.

The maximum total pay-out to fans who bought tickets at the DW Stadium would be over £15,000, BBC Sport understands.

"We feel that as a group of players we badly let down our supporters," said Wigan captain Mario Melchiot via the official club website.

"This is a gesture we have to make and pay them back for their loyalty."

Wigan were given an allocation of 565 tickets for the match at White Hart Lane, priced at £27.40 for adults, with discounts for over-65s and under-16s.

The club have not confirmed how many of those tickets were sold for the game, or how many were bought at the DW Stadium.

If every member of the first-team squad contributed, the maximum individual bill for the refund would be less than £1,000 each.

But Jason Taylor, of the Wigan Supporters' Club, said the nature of the players' offer outweighed the financial implications.

"As far as supporters go it's a really good gesture," said Taylor. "It's brought the club closer to the fans again, which is what it's trying to do at the moment.

"The players are clearly embarrassed about the performance. They knew they didn't do as well as they could and they wanted to show fans it wasn't acceptable and going forward it won't happen again.

"It shows that the players get the community spirit of the club and have the fans at heart."