The Three Amigos ride again and bring with them special memories: 'At Wigan the pre-match meal was beans on toast and a cup of tea'

There will be no shortage of stories to laugh and reminisce over when The Three Amigos, as they fondly became known at Wigan Athletic, reunite at a charity match in May.

Twenty-three years have passed since Dave Whelan, Wigan’s ambitious owner, sent shockwaves through English football by persuading a trio of Spanish players to join his unfashionable old Third Division club, but the memories remain vivid.

The most famous of the group, Roberto Martinez, would go on to win the FA Cup as Wigan manager many years later, an extraordinary triumph the club hope to emulate as they seek to topple Southampton at the DW Stadium on Sunday and, with it, secure a third semi-final trip to Wembley in six seasons.

But such a scenario was virtually unthinkable when Martinez pitched up in the Lancashire town alongside the equally unsuspecting Isidro Diaz and Jesus Seba in 1995. Between them they barely spoke a word of English, but while a sceptical wider public and media wondered if Whelan was merely indulging in a PR stunt as he sought to put his team on the map, Wigan embraced the strangers in the same way as they embraced a club, town and way of life that was far removed from what they had known in Spain.

Still, their first few weeks were interesting. “We were playing away somewhere and the three of us turned up in suits and a tie. The problem was the rest of the team were in club tracksuits,” Diaz recalled, chuckling away. “‘Ah, f------ hell’. So the next game we turned up in tracksuits but all the other players were wearing suits. ‘Oh, we’re mistaken again...’ Everyone was laughing at us. It was very funny.”

After spending the first six months living in the Wrightington Hotel, they moved to a small semi-detached house in Poolstock Lane, just a couple of miles from where Whelan would soon build a new stadium. The problem was the club-sponsored Ford Escort they were given to drive was emblazoned across the side with their nickname, ‘The Three Amigos’, and word soon circulated of their whereabouts. Not that they minded fans swinging by for a brew. “People used to knock on the door and we’d invite them in for a cup of tea or coffee and a chat” Seba said. “They were always incredibly friendly.”

There was the odd occasion when they wished they were not so conspicuous, though. “In one roundabout we had a little crash in our Ford Escort,” Seba recounted. “So we’re stood there with ‘The Three Amigos’ written right across the side of the car and people were driving past going, ‘Look, look, it’s the Three Amigos in a crash’. People were waving. Everybody knew where we were whenever we were out!”

None of the players cooked so while they would spend most evenings eating at an Italian bistro in Wigan called Milanos that was run by a Spanish chef called Ramon, with whom they became close friends, the trio also regularly visited restaurants in Manchester and Liverpool.

Yet pre-match meals were taken at Asda, around the corner from their house. “It was strange because in Spain the team would normally have the pre-match meal together and it was always pasta, rice, some chicken,” Seba recalled. “At Wigan the pre-match meal was beans on toast and a cup of tea and you’d only have that together if you were playing away, so because we never cooked we’d go to Asda, which was very close to Poolstock Lane, and have beans on toast there.”

Martinez, Diaz and Seba had first been brought to Whelan’s attention by Paul Hodges, who ran the Spanish arm of the Lancashire millionaire’s sports stores, while they were playing for Zaragoza B. By the time he had approached them Seba was on loan at Villarreal and Diaz and Martinez were at Balaguer. Wigan may have been a hard sell to plenty of Spaniards but Diaz remembers being blown away by Whelan’s charisma and determination.

“He was very honest with us and we believed him,” Diaz said. “He had a very serious, ambitious plan to put Wigan in the Premier League within 10 years and he did it.”

The sight of some Wigan fans turning up for the trio’s debut at Gillingham wearing Mexican sombreros still tickles Diaz. “The sombreros were very funny to us because we were Spanish not Mexican, but we understood it was there way of trying to make us feel at home,” he said.

The trio would become the first Spaniards to play in the FA Cup when they faced non-league Runcorn in November 1995, with Diaz setting up Martinez for the goal in a 1-1 draw. While Diaz enjoyed success as a speedy right winger and Martinez thrived in central midfield, going on to make almost 200 appearances over six years at the club, Seba struggled the most to adapt to the hurly-burly of England’s fourth tier.

A small, nimble forward, he had played in front of packed crowds against Barcelona and Real Madrid with Zaragoza so suddenly being asked to challenge for long balls against rugged defenders who loved nothing more than to deride “those f------ Spanish b-------” was tough. It was also much colder than Spain. “I tried to put more clothes on but the manager, John Deehan, would tell the players they had to wear the same kit to train in as him and he would only wear a T-shirt and shorts in the middle of winter, so I was freezing!” Seba says, laughing at the memory.

There is little doubt the trio were trailblazers but, interestingly, Diaz has mixed feelings about the subsequent influx of foreign players in England. “I think there are too many foreign players now, unfortunately,” he said. “I think the chances for English players have been affected because of it.”

Despite all the time that has passed, Diaz and Seba both regard Wigan as their “second home” and the warmth with which they discuss the club, town and its supporters shine through. It is why they are so looking forward to competing in a charity match for a second successive year with Martinez and other Wigan legends to help raise funds for Joseph’s Goal, a local charity set up by Paul and Emma Kendrick to raise funds for research into Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia, a rare genetic condition that affects their eight year old son.

“It’s always fantastic to get together again and it’s for a great cause,” Seba said.

The charity match between Wigan Legends and Manchester City legends will take place at 3pm on Ashton Town FC on May 12. For ticket information visit http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/ tickets and for further information about Joseph’s Goal visit http://www.josephsgoal.org/