Maloney’s looking to Latics loan stars in bid for survival
NEW Wigan boss Shaun Maloney is confident he can stop the rot at the struggling Championship club.
And Kolo Toure’s replacement has the perfect chance to give the club’s frustrated fans something to smile about with victory in tomorrow night’s mouth-watering derby clash with Blackburn Rovers.
The Latics, who won promotion to the second tier last term, are languishing at the foot of the table after a season to forget. They have won just one of their last 15 league matches.
And former midfielder Maloney, who enjoyed four seasons as a player at the DW Stadium – including a memorable FA Cup triumph in 2013 – has been tasked with keeping the club in the league with just 18 games remaining.
Toure got just 11 before he was given the boot.
Maloney said: “Wigan is a club I have a lot of feelings for. I loved living in the area.
“It’s been really positive being back, it’s just felt really seamless.
“The players have to enjoy the environment I’m creating, but they still have to be pushed and I want us to achieve Championship status come the last game of the season.
“It’s going to be a really big fight and a hell of a lot of effort needed. It’s going to be hard, but it’s my job to help give the players the confidence that they’re good enough to be here.
“This team were champions last season, we need to remind them how good they can be.
“It’s a huge challenge and there’s a massive amount of work which needs to be done, but I firmly believe we can turn things around and keep this club in this division.”
Maloney enjoyed a stellar career as a player, winning no fewer than five Scottish Premiership titles and three Scottish League Cups with Celtic and also the FA Cup, famously with Wigan, in 2013 when Roberto Martinez was in charge of the Latics.
The 40-year-old went on to work as Martinez’s assistant coach for the Belgium national team and worked under a string of respected managers including Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan.
But the former midfielder also had an ill-fated fourmonth spell in charge of Hibernian, his last management job.
Maloney said: “It didn’t work out for me at Hibs, but I’ve come a long way in the last 12 months. This is a great challenge for me.”
Maloney’s trio of deadline-day signings, Danel Sinani, Omar Rekik and Martin Kelly – who have all signed on loan until the end of the season – could make their debuts against a Rovers side gunning for promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since 2012.
Rovers last won in the league on New Year’s Day and were beaten 1-0 by the Latics when the two teams met in October.
In fact, the last time they beat Wigan was way back in March 2019, a result they will be keen to mirror. Rovers’ transfer deadline day saw them miss out two midfielders – Nottingham Forest’s Lewis O’Brien and Rochdale’s Ethan Brierley – because of a late submission of paperwork to ratify the deals with the Football League.
“It’s been a difficult period for us and I’m frustrated and so are the players,” said Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson (above).