After Wigan Athletic's relegation to League One at the end of the 2016/17 season, there was a feeling of deflation around the DW Stadium.

Under Gary Caldwell they had only just won promotion back to the second-tier but a shoddy season under him and then Warren Joyce meant relegation back into the third.

Joyce was relieved of his duties at the end of that campaign with Paul Cook handed the reigns after winning promotion with Portsmouth from League Two.

There was a sense that the next transfer window would be an incredibly important one and Cook clearly thought the same.

12 new faces arrived at the Lancashire club including Alex Bruce, Christian Walton, Noel Hunt and Gary Roberts as the Latics looked to turn their fortunes around.

One player who arrived was a centre-back from League One club Oxford United on the expiration of his contract.

This is FLW Rewind, where we take a look back at a big decision made by a club, analyse the initial reaction and document what happened next.

The man they poached was Chey Dunkley.

A domineering centre-back, Dunkley was brought in to add a physical edge to their game and ensure they were able to compete with everyone in the third-tier.

But the fans were slightly underwhelmed at his arrival:

It was now up to Dunkley to change those opinions.

He was thrown straight into the starting XI by Cook for the opening match of the season against MK Dons, which they won 1-0.

The club conceded just two goals in the opening four matches of the season as an impressive partnership formed at the back between Dan Burn and Dunkley.

He continued to impress and started becoming a threat at the other end of the field as well, most notably when he scored twice in a 3-1 win against Blackpool in October.

It was the rock-solid defence that the Latics were building their impressive promotion push and from mid-November to the new year this magnified.

Dunkley and co kept seven consecutive clean sheets as Wigan began to etch their name into the League One trophy.

Ten more clean sheets followed and so did four more goals as Dunkley continued to play every minute of every match.

He has remained one of the club's most important players in the Championship this season as well, playing 15 of the club's 17 matches so far.

They may not have known who he was then, but Wigan fans certainly know Dunkley now.