Wigan Athletic capitalising on West Brom player exit will still haunt Latics | OneFootball

Marc Antoine Fortune was not a successful acquisition for Wigan Athletic following his West Brom exit

Wigan Athletic have endured a rich and varied history from non-league to the Premier League, and everything in between, but the Latics' finest hour arrived in May 2013, when they won the FA Cup final with an unlikely triumph over Manchester City.

However, just days after their Wembley heroics, the Latics suffered heartbreak, as their remarkable eight-year stay in the top-flight came to an end courtesy of a 4-1 defeat to Arsenal.

If you ask any Tics fan, they would not have swapped their side's glorious day under the famous arch for the feat of Premier League survival, but the club's relegation did, inevitably, lead to somewhat of a rebuild.

Cup-winning manager Roberto Martinez left the Latics in favour of joining Everton following the 2012/13 campaign, and he took talismanic forward Arouna Kone with him to Goodison Park.

As a result of this, the Greater Manchester outfit had a new-look strike force as they headed back into the Championship for the first time in almost a decade, and secured the signing of former West Bromwich Albion forward Marc-Antoine Fortune, who had left the Baggies earlier on in the summer of 2013.

Fortune's time with Latics was far from a success story

The French Guianan did not boast a remarkable goal scoring record during his time with West Brom, as he had scored just two goals in 16 appearances for the West Midlands side during the 2011/12 campaign, and would subsequently go on to notch just two goals and two assists in 21 outings during the 2012/13 top-flight season.

The Latics may have hoped that the drop to the Championship would inspire Fortune to find his shooting boots, although it wasn't to be, as he scored just four goals in 37 league games during his first season in Greater Manchester.

He also failed to score in five Europa League appearances for the Tics, although he did manage to score one goal in six FA Cup outings, as his club bravely defended their historic title, only to be knocked out at the semi-final stage on penalties by then familiar foe Arsenal.

Meanwhile, despite Fortune's lack of goal scoring nous in the Championship, the men in blue and white secured a play-off spot, but were edged out by Queens Park Rangers, who would go on to triumph over Derby County in the 2014 final.

But the striker's distinct lack of clinical nature was a big problem for the Tics the following campaign, as he scored just one goal in 35 second tier outings, and Wigan were relegated to League One just two years on from lifting the FA Cup.

Very uncharacteristically for a player who was ultimately a Latics flop, he featured in some of the proudest moments of the Greater Manchester outfit's history, including in five of the only six games the club have ever played in a European competition.

He also donned the blue and white stripes as the Tics went toe-to-toe with Arsenal at Wembley in 2014, in what was just the club's second FA Cup semi-final, albeit also their second in as many years.

But, ultimately, Fortune will not be remembered by the Brick Community Stadium faithful in a fond manner, as his lack of potency in the final third was a major reason as to why the club fell down to the third tier so soon after plying their trade in the Premier League.