David Sharpe has been the chairman of English football club Wigan Athletic since March 2015. Sharpe was born in Wigan. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, and then studied business at Oxford Brookes University. Sharpe's grandfather Dave Whelan took control of Wigan Athletic in February 1995, when the club was in the Football League Third Division, then the fourth tier of English football. The club finished fourth from bottom in 1993-94, under threat of relegation to the non-league Football Conference. Under Whelan, the club was promoted several times, reaching the Premier League in 2005. Wigan won the FA Cup on 11 May 2013, but was also relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2012-2013 season.. The Whelan family continues to own all of the shares in the company that controls Wigan Athletic. Whelan had always ear marked Sharpe to run the club and he became a director at Wigan Athletic in December 2014, while the club was in the Championship. Sharpe was appointed as chairman after his grandfather's resignation in March 2015. At the age of 23, he became one of the world's youngest football bosses. Sharpe's appointment came with shock and scepticism from both fans and the media as the youngest chairman in English football. Sharpe’s first major decision was to sack Malky Mackay on Easter Monday after a 2-0 home defeat to Derby County. With 5 games remaining till the end of the season Sharpe appointed former club captain Gary Caldwell, however Wigan Athletic fell short and were relegated to League One. The 2015/2016 season, Sharpe and Caldwell’s first full season, saw the club winning League One and being promoted to the Championship. Ahead of the new championship season further recruitment was made for key players such as Jordi Gomez, Nick Powell and Dan Burn. In the championship season 2016/ 2017 and after a run of 14 games with only 2 victories Sharpe made the bold decision to sack Gary Caldwell. Sharpe appointed Warren Joyce from Manchester United who came highly recommended from well-known names such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Joyce had previously turned down manager roles at Burnley and Blackburn. However, results didn't bring the change that the appointment of a new manager had expected. In March 2017, Joyce was sacked. The club was now in a relegation battle and Graham Barrow took over as caretaker manager. After relegation was confirmed Sharpe made the decision to approach Portsmouth for their manager Paul Cook. Cook was appointed in June 2017. Wigan managed to keep star players and under Cook have dominated League One so far this season.
