Wigan usher in a new age
THE CHAMPIONSHIP’S youngest chairman sat at the top table and unveiled the Football League’s youngest manager. Youth was all around and yet the supporters of Wigan must have aged many years this season.
If David Sharpe has found – at the age of 23 – following in grandfather Dave Whelan’s footsteps a testing baptism, then 32- year- old Gary Caldwell’s fi rst job in management could hardly be under any more exacting circumstances. Wigan fi nd themselves eight points adrift of safety with crucial games against Fulham and Millwall looming that they must realistically win to avoid slipping into the backwaters of League One just two years after lifting the FA Cup.
At a combined age of 55, the chairman- manager partnership is slightly older than 52- year- old Jose Mourinho. The young ones must show they are quick learners.
“It will be diffi cult to stay in the Championship,” said Sharpe. “In many ways, it is a free hit for Gary.
“It would be a miracle if we stay up. If we win two on the bounce you never know, but this is an appointment for the future.
“I’m not judging Gary over the next fi ve games, but I’m positive he’ll get a reaction.”
Wigan can ill- afford another carcrash appointment like that of Malky Mackay, whose sacking following Easter Monday’s defeat to Derby was neatly summed up by the headline in the local paper which read: ‘ End of an Error’.
The controversy that surrounded Mackay’s arrival – while still under investigation by the FA over messages of a homophobic, racist and sexist nature exchanged with a colleague while at Cardiff – set in motion the chain of events that led to Whelan stepping down as chairman and handing the reins to his grandson.
Interestingly, Sharpe revealed he did not speak to his grandfather before dispensing with Mackay as he moved to fl ex his muscles.
“You never want to come to decisions like that, but you have to if you want your club to prosper for the benefi t of your fans,” he said.
“My grandad has a reputation for making decisive decisions and I’ve learnt from the best. It had to be done and I’m looking forward to the future. It has been non- stop.
“We speak a lot but he’s over in Barbados. He didn’t know what I was doing on Monday night. I spoke to him afterwards and he’s 100 per cent behind me and Gary. We’ve won two games here all season and that’s pretty average for a club of our size.”
Sharpe was also critical of the style of football Mackay played and yearns for a return to the “identity” he feels Roberto Martinez instilled, although in reality Wigan’s demise began when Martinez lost his annual struggle to stay afl oat. Their rise from obscurity came under Paul Jewell, whose focus was on winning by any means possible.
The relationship between chairman and manager is often cited as the most important at a club and former club captain Caldwell, who joined Wigan in 2010 and is now offi cially retired from playing after injury curtailed his involvement for the past two seasons, believes they are on the same wavelength.
“We have known each other since I have been at the club, but closely for the last year and a half,” he said. “If that relationship is important, then we are starting on a good footing.
“We know each other well. We get on well and want the same things for the club. I am not going in blind and having to get to know someone. He doesn’t have to get to know me, so after a few months we are thinking, ‘ This isn’t the right fi t’.
“He is a young man to have such a big responsibility, but he is very football- minded and he knows a lot when you speak to him. He has been brought up with football and with Wigan Athletic running through his veins.”
’ Grandad has a reputation for making decisive decisions and I learnt from the best’