Match Summary
The two teams were competing for promotion to the second tier of the English football league system, at the time called the First Division, a level which neither club had ever previously reached. The attendance of 53,764 was significantly down on the figure of 76,935 registered at the equivalent fixture in the previous season, and there was a significant disparity in the number of tickets sold to the fans of the two clubs, with only around 10,000 Wigan fans in attendance compared to over 40,000 Gillingham fans. A specific revenue figure for the match was not made public, but half of the gate receipts went to The Football League to distribute amongst its member clubs, with Gillingham and Wigan each receiving twenty-five per cent and no additional television broadcast fee.
Gillingham manager Peter Taylor picked eight of the players who had started the previous season's playoff final, but made the decision to drop the team's captain, Paul Smith, from the starting line-up due to personal issues, which led to the player requesting a transfer. Wigan manager John Benson, who was taking charge of the team for the last time before the appointment of a new manager, included five players in the starting line-up who had played at Wembley in the previous season's Football League Trophy final, but left out captain Carl Bradshaw, as well as first-choice goalkeeper Roy Carroll, who had missed both semi-final matches following an appendix operation.
Read more about this topic: 2000 Football League Second Division Play-off Final
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