If anyone had any doubts about Caldwell’s return they only need to watch his two long form interviews with both the BBC and the official club website.

Caldwell was as impressive as one could imagine, a man clearly shaped by his experiences and a completely different manager from the one that was unfairly sacked just under a decade ago.

Both Wigan Athletic and Gary Caldwell have been through so much in that decade, so many experiences that will shape the coming months and all being well years.

Caldwell was extremely impressive in those interviews and his commitment to Wigan Athletic is clear for everyone to see.

In complete contrast to the last man whose commitment to himself was all anyone could see.

How can you possibly inspire your players to give their all for Wigan Athletic when you yourself won’t give your all for the club?

The make up of Caldwell’s backroom team has now been announced with Peter Atherton joining as Caldwell’s assistant (he’ll need to cleanse his soul after his lost job up the road in Horwich) David Perkins returning to the club alongside Graham Barrow.

If these four legends from every modern era of Wigan Athletic can turn around this season it will be a story for the ages. Caldwell has proven himself consistently in League One.

In his first spell in charge in 2015 and 2016 – that glorious title win in the sun in Blackpool followed one of the most enjoyable seasons for a long while and saw us return to the Championship.

Caldwell was unfairly sacked by Latics as the club were in a hurry to return to the Premier League. Warren Joyce his replacement took the club down to League One instantly in what I’m sure the club would now recognise as a mistake of epic proportions.

Caldwell was building a stable side in the Championship and was relieved of his role after only one defeat in his final five games against four sides that are now Premier League regulars. David Sharpe at the time described it ‘as the hardest decision’ he had had to make it.

Whether it was Sharpe or Whelan who made that decision it turned out to be the worst decision that could have been made.

Since then, Caldwell hasn’t been shy of getting his hands dirty and has had a wide variety of roles at all levels of the game. Working alongside Pep Guardiola as Manchester City’s development manager, U23s manager at his former club Newcaslte United.

An ill-fated spell at Chesterfield was followed by keeping Partick Thistle in the Scottish Championship before finally joining Exeter City three and a half years ago.

To say Exeter are disappointed to lose their manager would be an understatement. Caldwell has far exceeded his brief at Exeter and performed miracles on one of the smallest budgets in the football league.

Consistently finishing in mid table in League One is no mean feat for a club of Exeter’s size.

Especially when that club is fan owned.

Exeter posted an emotional video after Caldwell’s departure was announced, it’s the measure of the man how much he ingrained himself in Exeter and how much Exeter meant to him.

That’s the sort of connection we need, even more so after the last eleven months under our ‘reluctant’ head coach. Latics have a lot of work to rebuild the connections between team, club and supporters.

Winning football matches is only one part of that, but the Lowe experiment has damaged this club hugely – if Caldwell’s return (alongside Perkins, Atherton and Barrow) can help to rebuild those damaged connections between the club and supporters it’ll go down as an unexpected but hugely necessary managerial appointment.

Just over two and a half months of the season left, sixteen cup finals. One requirement.

Stay out of that bottom four and build for next season.

Come on Latics!

Sean Livesey

So the post Lowe era began with less of a bang and more of a whimper – that’s unfair really, there was definite improvements but sadly not enough for a result on the night.

Latics started off so brightly in contrast to the last few weeks, it’ll be lost in the face of a defeat but there was genuinely an improvement – certainly in the first 30 minutes and immediately after Latics conceded. Was it enough? No clearly not, was it an improvement? Definitely – and frankly small incremental steps are a positive at the moment.

It’s been a depressing week for Latics, once again and there have been too many of those over the last few seasons but there was a glimmer of hope tonight. Anyone hoping for some big bang (theory) where the departure of Lowe would lead to Latics scoring freely and not conceding clearly haven’t watched much football.

Two days on the training ground won’t eliminate those known issues but there were signs of progress last night and at the moment any progress must be clung to as a positive. Latics could and should have been ahead after the first few minutes, Harrison Bettoni was only marginally off-side as he thought he had opened the scoring. If he had of stayed onside that could well have been the spark that we needed to ignite the evening.

Jason Kerr returned to the starting line-up after injury on Tuesday night. His absence has had a detrimental effect on the season and coincided with a dip in form for Will Aimson.

The defence last season had such a big impact on our league position, although we struggled all through the season to score we did have a solid backline marshalled by Sam Tickle that kept our goal difference as low as possible.

That decent defence has all but disappeared this season, but the issue of struggling to score remains. Meaning that we now find ourselves in the bottom four and with no clear direction of how we get out of it.

Graham Barrow spoke last night about the nature of how soft the goals were to give away and it’s been an issue for a while. The return of Kerr will obviously help but even the captain spoke about the disservice given to the fans by conceding goals as we did last night.

But again it could have all been so different, Joe Taylor got Latics level and there looked like only one winner at that time. Moments after Taylor’s goal Raphael picked up the ball in his own half, ran the length of the pitch and his shot that was creeping in to the bottom corner was superbly saved by Reading’s goal keeper. Raphael would later give away the soft free-kick that directly led to Reading’s winner.

Such is our luck at the moment.

So at the time of writing a new manager isn’t confirmed yet but all the direction of travel points to the most unlikely of story arcs and a return to the club for FA Cup winning captain and League One winning manager one Gary Caldwell. At first glance it makes little sense but scratch beneath the surface and there’s a lot of consideration in there.

Monday evening’s statement from the board seems to point to wanting a candidate to unite the fan base again – whether Caldwell can bring together a fan base for whom moaning can become an Olympic sport is yet to be seen but he certainly knows this club. Through good and the bad.

Caldwell was unfairly dismissed in 2016 following a fantastic season in 15/16 that will live long in the memory for many Latics fans. He got the club back up to the Championship at the first time of asking and although a return to the Championship was proving difficult it was never a terminal situation and Latics including Caldwell were learning on the job and had started to build momentum. That momentum was killed stone dead by removing the manager.

His experiences since then have probably shaped the Caldwell we see now, a rushed spell at Chesterfield followed by saving Partick Thistle from relegation. He’s been at Exeter for four years now and seems to be universally respected among Exeter fans after a difficult start.

He’s probably a lot more pragmatic in his approach to the game these days and more importantly is used to working on a budget, Exeter have the lowest budget in League One (and one of the lowest budgets in the EFL) yet they’ve finished consistently higher than other clubs (including ours) who have much bigger budgets.

After the disaster that was Ryan Lowe I think many would welcome a return to Caldwell.

It’s been a while since we had a manager who had no prior connection with us that was successful. The contrast on that list is something to behold, if we approach it from Jewell’s arrival in 2001.

Jewell

Martinez

Bruce

Caldwell

Cook

Richardson

Maloney

Coyle

Rosler

Mackay

Joyce

Sheridan

The only manager without a previous link to us who was remotely successful in this period was Uwe Rosler and even then it all fell apart for Rosler in that horrific second season, culminating in an embarrassing defeat to Bolton.

I’m open to any suggestions this time but over the last decade it does seem that those who know us, and we who know them seem to do better in charge.

Looking at the disdain that Ryan Lowe held us and this club in I’d be happy to take anyone who knows what Wiganer’s are like – we’re a unique club, in a unique town.

It often needs a unique approach – it’s now for the club and the new manager if that is someone with a prior connection or not to start building bridges as they have been severely damaged this season.

One of Gary Caldwell’s final acts as player for Wigan Athletic was a missed penalty against Arsenal in the FA Cup. Gary Caldwell managing Wigan Athletic against Arsenal in the FA Cup this Sunday could well be a story arc no one considered just a few days ago.

There’s a shot at redemption for the club and the incoming manager – it’s something no one may have considered but at this moment in time it could well be just what we need.

Sean Livesey

Embarrassing that it took a 6-1 mauling to do it. Rather than any sort of recognition of the malaise we’ve found ourselves in for the majority of this season.

A club legend last season who hadn’t seen us in the relegation zone and with what many consider an inferior squad was sacked in a brutal fashion by the club.

Which made the fact that they wouldn’t even consider moving on from Lowe even more inexplicable.

In the end the angry scenes witnessed at both Doncaster and yesterday in Peterborough forced the club to act.

They had stuck their neck on the line to appoint him and made such a big thing of the ‘new era’ stuff that it must have been difficult to see what everyone else could see.

Ryan Lowe was not a fit for Wigan Athletic football club. Not now, not before, not ever.

After the way he’s conducted himself this season I doubt he’ll be a fit for any other football club anytime soon.

It’s something to consider a character as divisive as Lowe when over the last fifteen years we’ve had the likes of Coyle, Joyce, Toure, Sheridan and Malky Mackay in charge.

Lowe beats all of them hands down.

‘Mr Not My Fault’ (credit the artist Tat) spent his time either belittling the supporters of this great club or the players representing this club.

How many references to our small support, to our league status, to our lack of success in recent years could one man make.

Let alone arguing with supporters in the stands at regular home matches since the Autumn.

The vibe with Lowe throughout his tenure was ‘I’ve better things to do with my time’ and that Wigan Athletic, sorry ‘Atletic’ were lucky that he had decided to come and do us a favour.

There wasn’t space in our football club for the ego of Ryan Lowe. His appointment and the subsequent eleven months in charge will go down as some of the worst in the modern history of Wigan Athletic.

Talented players cast aside because they didn’t fit with some unworkable formation that gained us no results, instead of adapting his system or formation to the players he had he instead decided our failures were on the players.

They weren’t following his instructions, and if the supporters didn’t like it? Well they were a ‘small’ number who couldn’t be on the same level as the footballing genius that is Ryan Lowe.

But the warning signs were there.

From Bury fans, from Plymouth fans and most inexplicably from Preston fans. I imagine the supporters of all of those clubs were happy with their league positions under Lowe.

Indeed Preston who had decent finishes under Lowe, but scratch below the surface and the digs, the criticism, the avoidance of responsibility were all there long before he joined Wigan Athletic.

I’ve never felt such a discontent with the club as I have done this season and that starts with the manager.

But he’s not the only one to blame, the board of Wigan Athletic take a huge responsibility for this monumental mess we find ourselves in.

There are serious questions to be asked of the club over the next few weeks.

First needs to be what kind of recruitment process we went through last year.

On paper Lowe was a strong candidate, but did we have the players for his rigid wing back system, had we looked in to his character? It isn’t enough for him to have previous connections to some of the staff in the club.

Secondly why when even a blind ostrich could see the direction of travel over the last month did the board give the head coach their 100% backing just a week ago. Wasting the month to try and get a new manager in and as such wasting the transfer window.

Thirdly and for me more importantly, what kind of values do we want to represent our football club. The last manager in my eyes did not align with those values. The board need to get this next decision right or the tide of discontent heading their way will turn in to a tsunami.

I hold no personal grudges against those running our club, they are doing a difficult job in a thankless industry. They are learning on the job and unfortunately that lack of experience has shown in a dramatic fashion this season

The issues on the pitch only arise when you’re losing but they exacerbate the issues off the pitch that people may prefer to overlook in the good times.

As I’ve said many times before Wigan Athletic is a club that has been hollowed out over the last six years. Two near death experiences, two relegations and various points deductions mean this club is unrecognisable from what it was in 2019.

That is part of the reason of that anger now and not all of it can be aimed at the board and owner. There are no quick fixes and our days of spending our way out of trouble are long gone.

But nonetheless that’s why we need a manager who understands these challenges. Our budget may not match the top of the division but it will still be larger than 50% of this league. The team we have simply should not be propping up the division.

It’s time for those players to now come out and prove me and the many who have continuously backed them correct. Prove to us that our faith in you hasn’t been misplaced.

Leave your all on that pitch for Graham Barrow (and Glenn Whelan) I can’t speak for Whelan but Barrow bleeds blue and white, if you’re not giving your all for that man then our faith in you has been misplaced and you’re as culpable as the head coach who left with his tail between his legs.

For us on the terraces. Channel the anger on Tuesday. Get down to that cavernous ground we unfortunately call home and get behind that 11 that take to the pitch, get behind Graham Barrow and get behind our Wigan Athletic.

It isn’t too late to save this season, I believe these players are good enough. Now it’s time to show it.

Sean Livesey

Well we’ve now reached the point where that change required is immediate.

Wigan Athletic need a change of management with urgency or for the first time in over thirty years Wigan Athletic could find themselves in the bottom division of the football league.

How have we got to this point?

There are clearly deep-rooted issues at the club, I feel more sanguine about these than others may do. It’s only three years since we were unable to pay wages on time and the club was facing extinction.

It takes time to recover from something like that, especially when two years prior to that we were still in the previous fight for our existence.

The club of Dave Whelan, David Sharpe and Jonathan Jackson is no more – it was hollowed out and everything built up under nearly 20 years of the Whelan family’s ownership disappeared.

Expecting us to be a fighting force in English football again immediately after that is sadly a pipe dream.

Some of the lowest crowds in the EFL along with lower income generated compared to other clubs of a similar size means that there was always going to be a recalibration of what Wigan Athletic are and should be.

We’re not the club we were four years ago, let alone ten years ago.

But this?

We should be doing far better than this.

There seems to be a misconception that Wigan Athletic under Mike Danson hasn’t spent any money.

It’s a false narrative, the money isn’t what it may have been under Dave Whelan, the disastrous IEC or the comical Phoenix 21 but it’s a budget that should be seeing us doing far more than we are.

Many sides outperforming us on a weekly basis will have budgets inferior to what our manager – sorry Head Coach have been given this season.

Should it guarantee promotion?

No of course not.

Should it be enough to keep us away from the relegation zone?

Of course it should.

The fact that we’re facing relegation in the face with the players on our books and with the budget available for the playing squad is a shameful indictment of our progress or rather our regression under Ryan Lowe.

Since August we’ve collected a meagre 19 points from a possible 57 on offer.

Four wins since August.

Four.

Shaun Maloney was sacked for far less last year and that’s the crux of it. Shaun Maloney worked under budget restrictions far more limiting than Lowe’s and got better results.

He was sacked for an apparent lack of excitement and with our Director of Football telling all and sundry at the subsequent fans forum that supporters were staying away

(as if Wiganer’s ever needed an excuse not to go)

well I dread to think what those stay away fans think of Lowe’s year in charge as under every possible metric it is worse than what we had before.

These players know how to play, that has been shown in glimpses throughout the season.

None more so than against Preston and in the last 30 minutes against Doncaster where it felt like the head coaches’ instructions were ignored by the team who took it upon themselves to play.

There is a decreasing window of opportunity where a change can be made.

The club and the board need to admit the mistakes made last March in relieving Shaun Maloney of his duties and work out how best to preserve this club’s League One status.

We have had many near-death experiences in recent years but at least under the likes of Paul Cook, Leam Richardson and Shaun Maloney there was a fight present.

We may not have been the best side in the division during those times, but you always knew they would leave everything on the pitch for the badge.

That is one factor that has been sorely missing for the last twelve months.

For us to return to anything like that a change is required.

That change needs to come now before it’s too late.

Gregor, Sarah, Lucas and Brenda. Swallow your pride and relieve Ryan Lowe of his duties. Nothing less will do now.

Sean Livesey

We thought that change or rather that progression had finally come against Preston, but the more Saturday went on and the more disgraceful the performance it felt like we’d left everything on the pitch at Deepdale.

Not because it was Wigan Athletic and it was the FA Cup but because our opponents were the Head Coach’s former employers.

Saturday was utterly shameful; there’s nothing else to be said about it. We can debate all day long the reasons behind it and who if anyone is to blame but shameful it was.

We faced a Bolton side that hadn’t won since Boxing Day and theoretically on the ropes after a heavy defeat at Peterborough the week before.

They also had their own transfer turmoil with both of their first-choice keepers leaving the club. One returning to their parent club after being dropped and one returning to America.

The new keeper Bolton brought in had one training session with his new team before facing us and hadn’t played a senior game for 18 months.

Surely a perfect opportunity for us to pepper that Bolton goal to test him out?

Well zero shots on target, tells you how that went for us.

We hadn’t lost to Bolton in 15 years before Ryan Lowe’s arrival, but we’ve managed to lose to them three times in nine months under Lowe, but worse than that we’ve lost to them three times without laying a glove on them and that’s been the case in too many games this season.

So it seems that Preston was the exception to the rule, rather than the new standard we had set ourselves. From September onwards apart from a handful of matches we’ve been second best and haven’t looked like scoring.

Let alone the exciting attacking football we were promised. We persist with this system that doesn’t fit any of our players technical abilities and leaves us exposed at the back whilst looking toothless in attack.

Against Preston we played on the front foot, we attacked and we took that Championship side on. Why then do we revert back to how we played on Saturday?

Maleace Assamoah who had been central to that win at Preston with driving runs full of pace and purpose was missing from the squad on Saturday.

Why?

He must have been injured surely. No apparently, we didn’t have space for him on the substitutes bench. What must that do to the confidence of a young player like that.

I’m afraid this all contributed to me losing all will to live against Bolton, their goal seemed inevitable from the first ten minutes. It wasn’t that we didn’t get going in the second half but we didn’t get going for the whole ninety minutes.

Considering that the club had made such a big fuss ‘about the head coach’ getting it made the performance feel even more pathetic than it was.

This wasn’t a side or head coach who ‘get it’ if they’d have got it we would have had at least an effort on target.

Listen I’m big enough and old enough to remember when we were in the depths of Division Four (reference for the yoof there) we have no divine right to success as a football club and this new football club is a totally different prospect from what we’ve been for over two decades previously.

As it is now we are genuinely facing a relegation six pointer at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday and I’m not convinced we’re the favourites to come out on top.

But with all of that being the case the minimum we should expect is some fight and pride in the badge.

Whether that comes from the management team or the players, it is the bare minimum of what we should expect. On Saturday and far too many times this season we haven’t had that.

It needs to change, and it needs to change quick. But who leads that change?

Sean Livesey

A season that promised so much in the early part of the year had threatened to turn into something far more mediocre.

The defeat to Bolton in October clearly hit hard, yes there’s been a unbeaten run and some important wins but the overall feeling was of performing ‘within’ ourselves.

That all changed on Friday night at Deepdale, Preston went far stronger than many expected but on a cold night in Lancashire you wouldn’t have known which side was in the lower reaches of League One and who were chasing a Championship play-off place.

Latics were that good, they went toe to toe with Preston and were by far the better side.

Ryan Lowe has spoken about the players believing in themselves a bit more over the festive period, it was a battle Shaun Maloney struggled with as well during last season.

There shouldn’t be any lack of belief among this side and this squad now. They know they’re better than they’ve shown over the last few months and they also know they can mix it with sides higher than them.

The win over Preston was no smash and grab, 1-0 flattered Preston.

Indeed if Callum Wright had scored his penalty a 0-2 score line would not have looked out of place, Maleace Asamoah was a constant danger when he came on and after winning the penalty should have been awarded a second a few minutes later.

Ryan Lowe who has flacked a fair bit of criticism over the last few weeks got his tactics absolutely spot on at Preston and deserves great credit for giving the players that belief that they could take on Preston and get the better of them. This must be the turning point now; it also has to be the standard.

These players are good enough – it’s up to them to go out and show us over the next few months. The reward for such an impressive win on Friday is an away tie with Arsenal. Arguably the pick of the round, it’s a great draw in every possible way.

It should result in a big pay day for the club along with giving younger supporters an opportunity to see us play a side like Arsenal, that they may not have witnessed previously.

The celebrations on Friday night were something to witness and I’m sure Lowe enjoyed going back to his old club and getting one over them. But those celebrations will look quiet and respectful compared to Saturday if Lowe and his players can give us back-to-back victories.

Bolton have struggled over recent weeks but they are still one of the favourites for promotion and it’ll be on us to show that we can match them.

Steven Schmacher may have broken the hoodoo we had over our friends from Horwich over the last few months but with home advantage and a Bolton side struggling for form we’ll never have a better time to get one more over our friends from over the hill.

If they do that in front of a partisan crowd, it really could get our season back on track.

To quote an oft used phrase ‘Believe’.

Sean Livesey

Latics who it’s fair to say have been underwhelming for most of the Autumn rose to the heady heights of 12th with a crucial win over Burton but could have easily have found themselves in the bottom four without that win.

Speaking of rollercoasters, Latics have been on the equivalent of the dip on the Big One at Blackpool over the last few week

Poor defeats at home to Blackpool and away to Bradford threatened to completely derail the season.

But one Harrison Bettoni who stepped up so well at Wimbledon a month ago stepped up again at The Pirelli.

I’m wary of putting too much responsibility on the shoulders of an 18 year old with a handful of appearances to his name but he seems one of the few forwards on our books who can actually create something, or put the ball in the back of the net.

He was one of the few to come out of Bradford with any credit and clearly doesn’t look to be only a flash in the pan.

Dara Costelloe has had a torrid time since signing for us in the summer.

The promised goals haven’t materialised and mixed with suspension and being out of form he’s cut a forlorn figure in recent weeks.

Hopefully the goal against Burton will kick start his season. Especially as it seems that Paul Mullin has played his final match in a Wigan shirt.

It’s been a bizarre season on so many levels but the signing of Mullin must top that. A genuine goal scorer in the lower reaches of the Football League.

He hit the goal scoring charts early for us without really looking convincing but for the vast majority of the last two months he’s been out of the starting eleven and in a lot of matches not made the squad at all.

Which when you’re crying out for goals always feels a bit strange. Especially when Mullin had scored five without either featuring that much or actually playing that well.

But for one reason or another the Head Coach has decided he isn’t the striker we need.

Whether he returns to Wrexham is yet to be seen but you would expect attacking reinforcements to follow in the New Year.

Another area that needs strengthening is defence. Will Aimson and James Carragher can’t carry the load on their own, especially with Jason Kerr and his shattered knee cap.

January has the potential for making or breaking our season.

If we can pick up where we left off after Burton and get that win at home to Barnsley, along with some reinforcements in January and this season that has flattered to deceive so far could well fire in to life.

Sean Livesey

In seasons like this – where increasingly promotion looks beyond us the minimum that you would hope for is to succeed in the local derbies or at least put up a bit of fight.

Where in the two local derbies we’ve had this season against Blackpool and our friends over the hill in Horwich we’ve been utterly abysmal.

Saturday promised so much, we went into it on what some have described as ‘the worst un-beaten record in history’ but an un-beaten run it was and one that after a battling point at Huddersfield last time out had the promise to become something more.

Sadly, Latics took ‘the season for giving’ far too literally.

The first half followed a well-worn path for Latics at home this season – well certainly the last few months. Latics dominated without really doing anything, a whole load of huff with none of the puff.

Will Aimson’s inexplicable miss from a header the closest we got. But Blackpool, a side who’ve struggled all season did very little too in that first 45 minutes.

The difference in the second half was the managers or head coaches, whatever we’re calling them this week.

Ian Evatt no doubt desperate to get his first career win over Wigan Athletic reacted to the first half by making changes.

Ryan Lowe didn’t, in fact nothing changed until we conceded the second goal.

It was written in the stars that both Ashley Fletcher and Dale Taylor would come back to haunt us.

Lots of people post-match pointed to the fees paid by Blackpool for Dale Taylor which is a valid point. Blackpool paid a cool million for Taylor after he proved himself with us last year and yes we’re a very different Wigan Athletic from what we were in previous seasons where a million for Taylor would have been small change but it’s unfair to suggest that we haven’t spent money.

We certainly have spent money this season but increasingly it’s looking like money poorly spent. Costelloe and Saydee looked as much as a goalscorer(s) as I did, and I sit watching the TV for a living.

The fact that our first-choice forward line has just three goals between two of them is a major reason of why we are where we are.

Add in to the fact any of our creative players seem to lose any semblance of creativity when they take to the field, be that through tactics or ability and it’s no surprise to see us struggle.

Why a player like Paul Mullin who consistently looks our only goal threat (with five goals, two more than Saydee and Costelloe combined) spends most of his time warming our bench is beyond me.

If he isn’t fit or rather can’t last ninety minutes surely starting him and taking him off when his battle is spent is a better idea than bringing him on whenever we’re chasing a game with too little time left to affect it.

The worst thing about Saturday wasn’t the defeat but Ian Evatt lording it over our players and no doubt our fans, considering that both Leam Richardson and Shaun Maloney had the beating of him and his Bolton sides it’s depressing to see how easily we’ve rolled over against both Bolton and Ian Evatt’s new side this season.

If the coach can’t get the players up for Lancashire derbies like that what matches can he get us up for?

All being said it’s unfair to say the manager hasn’t been backed, as the board keep telling us this is a top ten budget – apparently. So we must only assume that this side are performing vastly under where they should be.

The manager (sorry head coach) has essentially said he’s done all he can, combine that with arguing with supporters in the stands for the third time in as many matches and it wasn’t a very Merry Christmas at the Brick on Saturday.

Latics, in fact Gregor Rioch no less said that one of the primary reasons why Shaun Maloney lost his job was the fact that crowds were dropping off and supporters wanted attacking football.

Sadly crowds are still dropping off and the attacking football long promised hasn’t been present since September.

It’s going to be a very difficult Christmas if Latics and the head coach don’t find their way out of the current malaise very soon.

January can’t come soon enough and that’s a terrible indictment of a season that promised so much in August but has fizzled out and is now in danger of collapsing completely.

Still Merry Christmas everyone.

Sean Livesey

Latics travelled to Huddersfield on Saturday happy to be in to the hat for the FA Cup third round but not exactly buoyed by the performance against Barrow last time out.

A conservative line-up in the Pennines saw Christian Saydee as Latics only recognised striker but you wouldn’t have known that with how Latics started on the front foot.

Though Huddersfield should have been down to ten minutes within 30 seconds as Huddersfield’s Murray Wallace escaped with a yellow card and a ticking off after a horror challenge.

How many times has that happened to Latics this season? Plenty the answer.

More salt was rubbed in to the wounds when the aforementioned Wallace went on to score Huddersfield’s opener against the run of play after 34 minutes.

If only the referee had been brave enough to follow the rule of the law, we could have been talking about a very different result.

But let’s not look back, despite falling behind Latics came out all guns blazing in the second half and the improving Raphael Borges Rodrigues scored his first goal for the club to give Latics the equaliser they not only needed but deserved.

Rodrigues was a constant menace in the second half and nearly put Latics ahead when his shot from the corner of the box hit the cross bar.

Latics pushed hard for a winner but also defended well, which was the most pleasing aspect of the afternoon.

I would have liked to have seen Paul Mullin introduced alongside Dara Costelloe, I know Mullin is struggling for game time but he’s a goalscorer and in a side struggling to score goals I thought he was deserving of more than the 90 seconds he received.

It’s now ten unbeaten for Ryan Lowe’s side; it isn’t a pretty watch at times but that ability to grind out results will stand us well over the coming months.

The key now is for Latics to start turning chances into goals and draws in to wins. It isn’t rocket science but it’s also the most difficult part of football as Shaun Maloney and co found out last season.

It’s not an easy festive season by any stretch of the imagination and it will give us an idea of where we’re heading to in the New Year.

Will that destination be the upper echelons of the table or the lower reaches? We’ll soon find out, starting with the return of pantomime villain Ian Evatt on Saturday and his Blackpool side.

I’m unsure if Ian’s time away from Horwich has lessened his ego but I’ll be absolutely delighted if Latics manage to keep up their record against the man in this latest Lancashire derby.

Speaking of Lancashire derbies, a big hand to Discovery Plus who decided we were more deserving of TV coverage in the FA Cup third round than Exeter City who happened to draw Manchester City at the Etihad.

Meaning that what would could have been a bumper away following at Deepdale will no doubt be diminished by a Friday night post rush work to get up the M6 or across the West Coast Mainline.

Still I’m sure all those Discovery Plus viewers will be looking forward to Ryan Lowe’s return to Preston.

Sean Livesey

It should be all smiles at the Brick but that only tells half the tale.

Latics laboured to a point against a Stevenage side who seemed happy enough to return to Hertfordshire with that point as soon as the whistle blew for kick-off.

As in many games this season (and for balance last) Latics didn’t score when on top.

But a point against a side at the top of the table, regardless of where they finish the season can be considered a decent one.

So on to Burton, a match brought forward by a week due to Burton’s involvement in the FA Cup being on TV next Monday.

Maybe a a number of Wiganer’s didn’t get the message it had been brought forward a week.

Perhaps that’s why according to stat man Paul Rowley it was the lowest Wigan Athletic home league crowd (apart from COVID) since 2004.

Over two decades ago.

Of course Burton is never going to be a huge sell, but in a season where crowds generally seem down this one stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb.

The truth is Sky’s broadcasting of every match has killed midweek crowds.

If you’re a big city club in the championship you can absorb that but for a club like us where getting anyone through the door takes a monumental effort it’s going to have a drastic effect.

Now also consider the fact that things on the pitch haven’t been sparkling over recent years and we shouldn’t really be surprised but it will be a concern for the club.

Mike Danson will cover our bills but there has to come a time where we start to generate our own income, it can’t always be beholden on some rich bloke to bail us out.

We more than any other club should know that by now.

Back to those less than sparkling on the pitch matters, well Tuesday was a win.

But to say Latics laboured to the three points would be an understatement.

Lowe’s side started well and with the manager springing a surprise by starting all three strikers it seemed that we were going for it.

Latics got ahead, some may say fortunately on the stroke of half time with a goal credited to Mullin but really an own goal from the Burton defender.

That was as good as it got in an attacking sense for Latics and they were indebted to Sam Tickle, the woodwork and some woeful Burton finishing to ensure that we took all three points.

Like Hemel Hempstead on another day it could have been a Burton win but you’ll take that at the moment and some how we find ourselves looking up towards the play-offs.

No Ryan Lowe in the post match press conference, probably hoarse after his interaction with the Statler and Waldorf stand in injury time.

But Graham Barrow pointed to the start of a project and urged people to stick with the plan.

Which is fine, but it we sacked one manager for a lack of excitement it’s difficult to then ask for the same sort of patience that wasn’t shown previously.

Nonetheless let’s look at the positives, as there are plenty.

Top half heading in to Christmas, we’re a couple of quality additions away from a play-off push and if we get it right on Saturday we could be in the hat for the third round come Monday.

We’d have all taken that back in August I’m sure. We’ll just ignore the bits in between.

Sean Livesey