Wigan’s new mascot is a massive pie and people love it

Wigan Athletic have unveiled their mascot for the new season and it’s a giant pie named Crusty the Pie.

The club’s hierarchy invited young supporters to come up with design ideas for a new mascot earlier in the year. More than 90 primary schools were invited to submit ideas and, amazingly, over half of the entries paid tribute to that majestic local favourite, the pie.

The winning design was concocted by Cayden and Neve, eight and nine respectively. The pair will walk out alongside their creation when Wigan take on Cardiff in their first match of the season on Saturday.

There are shades of Homer Simpson’s car design about the whole thing but the reaction from the fans has been overwhelmingly positive. The children had this to say about their handiwork:

We designed Crusty like this because everyone in Wigan loves pies. It took us about 30 minutes or an hour to design - it took a long time to choose the exact colours.

Crusty joins West Bromwich Albion’s Boiler Man and Partick Thistle's Kingsley (designed by the Turner Prize-nominated artist David Shrigley) in the football mascot hall of fame.

Amazingly, Wigan aren't the only team to have a piece of pastry as their mascot. Step forward Baxter the Bridie, who is the mascot for Forfar Athletic in Scotland.

HT BBC

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