The 1980-81 season was the last one that saw their legendary manager, Ian McNeill in charge at the club. His final campaign in charge at the club was a fair one, his side finished the league season off in very respectable mid table position finish of 11th place. Alex Cribley made his debut for the club during that season and soon established himself in his centre back position at the club.
Before the start of the 81-82 season, Larry Lloyd took over from long serving Ian McNeill as their new manager. His first season in charge was a mighty success for the club as the Latics finished the season off in third position, in turn resulting in promotion in to the third division. Kevin Langley made his debut at the club at the tender age of 17 years old and was impressive in his first season. Wigan also enjoyed a fine run in the ‘Milk Cup’ (League cup) as they reached the forth round of the competition, only losing to European Champions, Aston Villa, 2-1. Wigan found life tough in the third division during the 1982-83 season and finished the season off in 18th place. Eamonn O’Keefe signed for the club for a record fee of £65000 and was prolific in front of goal, scoring nine goals in twenty matches at the club. Wigan endured a poor FA Cup campaign, stumbling out in the first round, losing against Telford United 2-1.
Harry McNally took charge at the club in time for the 83-84 season and Wigan made a small but significant improvement under the new manager. They finished the season off in a comfortable 15th place and reached the third round of the FA Cup, narrowly suffering a 1-0 defeat against West Ham United. The 1983-84 campaign also saw the uprise of their young rising star, Mike Newell, who would later on won a league title with Blackburn.
The 1984-85 campaign was one of the clubs finest campaigns in their football history. Wigan earned a disappointing 16th place finish, however the pleasure from their season was their triumph of winning the Freight Rover trophy. They defeated Brentford in the final, 3-1 and Graham Barrow and Alex Cribley was in outstanding form during the entire match for the Latics.