Wigan Athletic’s Crisis Goes Beyond Managers — Here’s What Must Be Done

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Reflections and tagged with , , ,

Why the club’s crisis goes beyond managers — and what must be done to rebuild a football identity that lasts.

Wigan Athletic have officially parted ways with Ryan Lowe, ending an appointment that promised high-tempo, overachieving football but delivered little more than chaos. It was an inevitable decision: the team struggled to gel, results plummeted, and Latics now sit in the relegation zone. But while Lowe leaving makes the headlines, it really just highlights a bigger problem — Wigan Athletic don’t have a clear football identity, and until they sort that out, this cycle of instability is going to keep repeating.

Lowe came in with a reputation for overachieving, having impressed by pushing intensity and tempo above what this squads on paper could handle. That seemed to fit Wigan’s situation. In reality, that reputation was conditional. At Plymouth, his notable success was built on a solid tactical framework, where Steven Schumacher played a huge, if often overlooked, part. Without that kind of support and with a squad that wasn’t built for his style it quickly fell apart.

The fallout was messy: a squad built for multiple systems and suited to none now sits in the relegation zone. Following Lowe’s style was always going to need big changes and a long-term recruitment plan. He had a three-and-a-half-year contract, supposedly enough to lay the groundwork for a promotion push. But his preferred three-at-the-back system needed specialist wing-backs —key players the club never brought in, neither over the summer nor in January. As a result, his various formations, variations on 3-4-3, 3-1-4-2, 3-2-4-1, were rarely going to work.

Defensively, things were just as shaky. Wigan’s system relied on players getting back into position after losing the ball, but with constant turnovers, that rarely happened. Instead of controlling games with pace, the team stretched too far, left spaces open, and relied on second balls they couldn’t win. What was meant to be structured, intense football became disorganized and reactive. Tempo without structure ended up being chaos.

Looking back, it’s easy to see the contrast with what came before. Shaun Maloney’s Latics weren’t perfect, but at least they were understandable. His teams tried to control matches through possession, keeping units compact and roles clear. Results and entertainment weren’t always great, but there was a logic to the way they played — and it suited a club relying on loans, young players, and development rather than brute force. Replacing Maloney with Lowe wasn’t just swapping managers; it was a philosophical leap. Recruitment, squad balance, and tactics all pulled in different directions, and continuity went out the window.

The issues go way beyond managers, though. Gregor Rioch is also under pressure by the  fans. Rioch has been at the club for twelve years and, for better or worse, is now tied to almost everything Wigan do — or don’t do — on the pitch. The sporting director’s job is supposed to give some continuity above the head coach, but instead Wigan have gone through two contrastingly different managers, tried incompatible styles, and never really nailed down a recognizable way of playing. Whether Rioch stays or leaves, the role needs a serious rethink. Whoever fills it has to have the authority and responsibility to enforce a football identity, or the next manager is going to end up stuck in exactly the same mess.

That instability has left Wigan in the relegation zone with a squad built for multiple systems and suited perfectly to none. The danger now is repeating the same cycle — reacting to the failure of one style by chasing its opposite, instead of addressing the absence of a long-term plan.

Aligning the club to Lowe’s approach would require recruitment power Wigan do not possess and would accept volatility as the norm. Returning to Maloney’s principles, by contrast, offers a foundation: not aesthetic possession football, but a structured, compact, possession-leaning model with defined vertical triggers. A vertical trigger is simply a cue for a team to stop circulating the ball safely and go forward with intent. Instead of endlessly passing across the back line, players are coached to recognise specific moments when the opposition’s shape gives them an opportunity to attack.That trigger might be a forward peeling into space, a midfielder finding room between the lines, or an opponent stepping out of position and leaving a gap behind them. The key point is that progression isn’t random or rushed. The team waits for the right picture, then attacks decisively. It’s what separates possession with purpose from possession that just looks tidy but goes nowhere.

`Claims from a minority of fans that the club is “rotten from top to bottom” are emotionally powerful but analytically incomplete. The squad is not chronically uncompetitive. The academy continues to produce usable players. The fanbase remains engaged. What is broken is the connective tissue between ownership, sporting leadership, and the first team. Decisions have been isolated rather than aligned, producing constant resets instead of cumulative progress.

 Ownership always comes under the spotlight. Fans can complain about a lack of ambition, but the bigger problem has been inconsistency. Abrupt managerial changes, reactive appointments, and minimal clarity about long-term plans have left the club drifting rather than building. Ambition isn’t just about spending money — it’s about having a clear vision for style, recruitment, and success over multiple seasons. The fan perception that “everything is rotten from top to bottom” reflects frustration at that lack of alignment, not the quality of the squad itself.

So, what now? Wigan need to define a football identity first: structured, possession-oriented, and adaptable to League One realities. Recruitment, coaching appointments, and tactical planning all have to line up with that vision. The sporting director role has to be reshaped or replaced to enforce that philosophy consistently. Only then does hiring a head coach make sense. Only then can the club stop reacting to short-term failures and start building something sustainable.

Relegation would be a blow, but drift is worse. Clubs can recover from dropping a division. They rarely recover from never deciding who they are.

Can Ryan Lowe Bring Entertaining Football Back to Wigan?

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Specials and tagged with , , , , , , , ,
Mike Garrity – appointed as First Team Coach
Image Courtesy of Wigan Athletic

Ryan Lowe’s work at Bury and Plymouth had earned him a reputation as a progressive coach who liked his teams to play on the front foot. Even his time at Preston, while less popular with supporters, showed he could keep a team competitive in the Championship on a tight budget.

Fast forward to now, and frustration is starting to creep in. The football at Wigan has been functional at best, blunt at worst. The current focus on simply avoiding defeat has come at the expense of entertainment, and supporters are growing weary of long balls, hopeful crosses, and attacks that break down far too easily against organised defences. There’s a sense that the team lacks identity — something that feels a long way from the energetic, purposeful football many associate with Lowe’s better sides.

So the big question is obvious: how does Lowe turn this around?

To understand that, it’s worth looking back at what actually worked for him before. When Lowe arrived at Plymouth in 2019, he had Steven Schumacher with him — a partnership that proved crucial. Plymouth had just been relegated, but the pair rebuilt quickly, finishing third in League Two and securing promotion in 2019–20.

That side had a clear identity. They played with three at the back, focused on possession, quick circulation, and structured pressing. It wasn’t just “nice football” — it was organised, repeatable, and well-drilled. Players knew where they were supposed to be, how to move the ball, and when to press. The team controlled games rather than reacting to them.

The following season in League One was tougher. Budget constraints, a young squad, and the chaos of COVID all took their toll. Plymouth struggled defensively and often lost control late in games, eventually finishing 18th. Still, the foundations were there. Lowe left for Preston in December 2021 with Plymouth sitting fourth, and Schumacher would later take them to Championship promotion — a sign that the system worked when properly developed.

A big part of that success was the Lowe–Schumacher dynamic. Lowe set the vision, but Schumacher helped handle much of the detail: drilling pressing patterns, refining attacking movements, and turning theory into habit on the training ground. That relationship gave Plymouth their fluency.

At Preston, that dynamic disappeared. Lowe didn’t have the same kind of lieutenant translating ideas into execution. Add in a bigger squad, more pressure, and a more unforgiving league, and his football naturally became more cautious. The expressive, possession-heavy style gave way to something more pragmatic.

That said, it’s important to be fair. Preston weren’t built to dominate the ball, and their budget lagged behind much of the Championship. Despite that, Lowe kept them competitive, organised, and well clear of danger. They were hard to beat and often punched above their weight. From a results-based perspective, he arguably did a solid job — even if it wasn’t pretty.

Now at Wigan, he finds himself in a familiar bind. The Latics sit 18th in a tightly packed League One. They’re only a point above the relegation zone, yet just nine points off the playoffs. One good run changes everything — but one bad one could drag them under. That reality makes it difficult for Lowe to take risks or fully commit to a more expansive style.

Still, if Wigan are going to progress, something has to change. The squad needs more than survival football. The pressing needs structure. The attacking patterns need clarity. Movement off the ball has to improve. These were all hallmarks of Lowe’s best teams — and they don’t appear overnight. They come from repetition, coaching detail, and trust in a system.

The January transfer window didn’t just bring new players — it also saw Mike Garrity join Wigan as a first team coach. Garrity spent around 13 years coaching within the Liverpool academy system, working with players across age groups before leaving in 2018. He then linked up with Neil Critchley at Blackpool in June 2020, initially as assistant head coach. After Critchley left for Aston Villa in June 2022, Garrity joined the coaching staff at Lincoln City and then reunited with Critchley as assistant head coach at Queens Park Rangers in December 2022. The pair returned to Blackpool together in 2023 but were dismissed in August 2024. Later that year they moved to Hearts, with Garrity serving as Critchley’s assistant before both departed in April 2025. Garrity’s CV also includes coaching experience internationally with Molde and with China.

The question is whether Garrity — along with the rest of the staff — can help bridge the gap between idea and execution at Wigan. Can they build patterns, improve the press, and give the team a clearer attacking identity? Can they do it quickly enough while still picking up points?

That’s the balancing act Lowe faces now. The table doesn’t allow for much experimentation, but without evolution, stagnation sets in. For now, survival may dictate caution — but long-term progress depends on rediscovering the principles that once made his teams so effective.

There’s no quick fix. Performances may remain scrappy for a while yet. But if Wigan are going to move forward, they need more than just resilience. They need an identity again — one that gives fans something to believe in, not just endure.

Wigan Athletic: time for a change?

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Reflections and tagged with , , , , , ,
Courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Wigan Athletic’s decision to part company with Shaun Maloney came after one win in eight matches had dragged the club down to 15th place, just six points above the relegation zone, and the mood among the fans had turned increasingly sour. When the club cited a failure to provide the “entertainment that supporters expect,” it was a telling choice of words — suggesting the issue ran deeper than the league table alone.

That same phrase now feels uncomfortably relevant again.

Under current head coach Ryan Lowe, Wigan find themselves 18th in League One, one point clear of trouble, with just one win in their last seven league outings. Performances have done little to ease growing fan frustration, and the sense of déjà vu is hard to ignore. Results have dipped, confidence has drained, and the football itself has struggled to inspire.

Supporters are once again asking familiar questions. Not just about results, but about identity. What is this team trying to be? Where is the attacking intent? And perhaps most importantly, where is the sense of progress?

The club’s ownership now faces a decision similar to the one they made with Maloney. Do they act decisively in response to mounting pressure, or do they hold their nerve and give Lowe the time to steady the ship? If patience is the chosen path, Lowe will need to address the same concerns that proved fatal for his predecessor — a lack of cutting edge, a shortage of excitement, and a feeling among supporters that the football simply isn’t delivering what they expect from their club.

Fan frustration with Ryan Lowe has been building around a few familiar themes. Supporters feel Wigan lack attacking threat and creativity, with performances often slow, cautious and short on ideas. There is a growing sense that the team plays not to lose rather than to win, particularly in games where greater ambition is expected.

A key criticism has been Lowe’s reluctance to change his system. Fans feel he has become too wedded to one formation, even when it clearly isn’t working, and that his in-game adjustments come too late or have little impact. This has fed into a broader belief that he hasn’t fully grasped what the club and its supporters expect in terms of style, intensity and front-foot football.

Over time, this has led to wider doubts about identity and direction. Results have struggled, but it’s the lack of entertainment and visible progress that has really tested patience — leaving many supporters questioning whether Lowe truly understands the club he’s managing or how to get the best out of it.

Yesterday’s game against Bolton was a big one for Lowe and his players, but their response was as poor as what happened last time the teams played each other.

The season had started positively until that inept performance in a 4-1 trouncing at Horwich in last September. Latics had just one shot on target and received just one yellow card in a derby game. Up to that point Lowe had adopted a 3-1-4-2 system, with Matt Smith playing the deep midfield role, the wing backs and more advanced midfielders providing a quartet behind the two strikers. As time moved on Lowe’s tactics, particularly away from home, became more a more defensive 3-2-4-1, a striker being omitted to pack the midfield. More recently it has morphed into a 3-4-3 system, with Callum Wright being pushed forward into an attacking role on the left of the front three.

When Roberto Martínez switched Wigan to a 3-4-3 halfway through the 2011–12 season, the club was rock bottom of the Premier League and staring relegation in the face. It looked risky at the time, but it turned out to be inspired. Emmerson Boyce was pushed into a wing-back role, David Jones filled in on the left, until the January signing of Jean Beausejour — a natural wing-back for Chile — gave the system real balance.

What followed was remarkable. Wigan climbed to 15th, won seven of their final nine games, and picked up famous victories away at Arsenal and Liverpool, plus a home win over Manchester United. The FA Cup win over Manchester City the following season came using the same shape, even with players filling in out of position due to injuries.

Yet even then, not everyone was convinced. Some fans never warmed to the back three and longed for the old 4-4-2 they’d seen under Paul Jewell. That group of supporters never really went away — and many of them were pleased when Ryan Lowe arrived promising two strikers and a more attacking outlook. The dull, ugly football at the end of last season was tolerated because people believed something better was coming.

So far, that hasn’t really happened.

In truth, Lowe’s football has been no more entertaining than what came before it. If anything, it’s drifted into something even more functional — combative, cautious, and increasingly reliant on long balls. The idea of a more front-foot team hasn’t materialised.

There’s a common belief among football fans that playing three at the back automatically means defensive football. That isn’t really true. Plenty of teams use a back three to play expansive, attacking football. The problem at Wigan isn’t the system itself — it’s how it’s being used.

Under Lowe, the wing-backs now sit far too deep, as do the two holding midfielders. The result is a huge gap between defence and attack, leaving centre-backs with no real passing options. Too often the only solution is to go long, which just hands possession away. It’s not a design flaw as much as a lack of intent.

What’s frustrated supporters most is Lowe’s reluctance to change things when they’re clearly not working. Many have called for a switch to a back four, but he’s stuck stubbornly to his shape. That hasn’t helped by the fact that none of the regular wing-backs had much experience playing there before this season, making the system even harder to execute properly.

Despite all this, sacking Lowe now would feel like repeating the same old cycle. The club has churned through too many managers already, and constant upheaval hasn’t helped anyone. He should be given until the end of the season to try and fix things — but that comes with conditions.

There needs to be more attacking intent, less aimless long ball football, and more flexibility in how the team sets up. Lowe has to show he can adapt, trust his more technical players, and get more out of the squad than he has so far.

If he can’t do that, then a change in the summer would be justified. There’s enough quality in this group to stay up, even if it’s tight — but only if the football improves.

Why Wigan Athletic Must Back Lowe and Rioch

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Specials and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,
Image courtesy of WiganToday

Why are so many Wigan Athletic supporters increasingly unhappy with both the head coach and the sporting director? For some, frustration has already tipped into calls for both to be sacked. But while the anger is understandable, removing either now would risk compounding the very problems that have led to this situation.

Saturday’s defeat to a Blackpool side sitting second from bottom of League One crystallised those frustrations. The Tangerines scored twice after poor defending from a back line missing captain and defensive lynchpin Jason Kerr through injury. Despite having far more shots, Wigan rarely looked like scoring. In a derby where intensity and commitment were expected as a minimum, the performance felt flat and uninspiring.

Latics currently sit 14th with a record of W6 D8 L6, having scored 22 and conceded 23. Given that the club’s staffing budget is reportedly within the top ten in League One, this position feels underwhelming. That perception has driven criticism beyond Ryan Lowe and towards sporting director Gregor Rioch. Yet this is where context matters.

Lowe’s tenure began with genuine promise. There was attacking intent, early momentum and real belief that a play-off challenge might be possible. That optimism unravelled after a limp 4–1 defeat at Bolton. Since then, performances have become more cautious and conservative, with the team focused on grinding out results rather than playing with freedom or flair. Lowe has also damaged goodwill by publicly criticising players and suggesting that supporter expectations “might need to be lowered”. In a club still healing from years of upheaval, those comments landed badly.

But the growing criticism of Rioch deserves closer examination. Supporters questioning recruitment, squad balance and identity are not wrong to ask those questions. However, they are often aimed at a role whose responsibilities and authority are poorly understood from the outside.

Rioch has been at Wigan since December 2013, initially as academy manager. During a decade marked by ownership chaos, financial collapse and administration, the academy was one of the few constants. Under his leadership, Wigan regained EPPP Category Two status and, crucially, continued producing first-team players when the club could not afford to buy them. Those graduates were not a luxury; they were a necessity.

That track record is precisely why Rioch’s promotion to sporting director in August 2023 made sense. It was not just a reward for loyalty, but an attempt to embed long-term thinking at a club that desperately needed stability. His expanded remit — recruitment, first team, academy and overall football strategy — was designed to ensure alignment and avoid the costly stop-start cycles that had plagued Wigan for years.

The logic was sound. With limited funds, Wigan needed clarity: a shared footballing identity, smart recruitment and a seamless pathway from academy to first team. The sporting director role existed to protect that coherence.

The appointment of Ryan Lowe in March 2025 complicated that vision. Lowe arrived with experience and a clear tactical identity, but one fundamentally different from Shaun Maloney’s. Maloney favoured structured possession and patient build-up; Lowe’s approach is more direct, physical and vertical. Neither is inherently wrong, but switching between them under tight financial constraints was always going to carry risk.

This is where frustration has hardened into distrust. Players recruited or developed for one system suddenly looked ill-suited to another. Recruitment had to pivot again without significant resources. Academy players were asked to adapt quickly to new demands. To supporters, it felt like another reset — another change of direction before anything had been allowed to settle.

That sense of drift is what has put Rioch under scrutiny. A sporting director should play a key role in managerial appointments precisely to avoid this kind of misalignment. That does not mean blocking ambition or dictating tactics, but it does mean ensuring that change does not undo years of planning. Whether Rioch had sufficient authority in Lowe’s appointment is unclear. If he did not, the issue lies higher up. If he did, then the long-term consequences were underestimated. Either way, the result has been a perception of poor recruitment that is as much structural as individual.

Seen through that lens, this is not a story about one manager or one transfer window. It is about whether Wigan have truly empowered the sporting director role to do what it was designed to do: provide continuity, limit waste and protect the club from constant reinvention. Without that authority, even the most competent operator will eventually take the blame.

Supporter reaction has been predictably polarised. Some point to recruitment missteps and a lack of ambition; others urge patience, reminding fans just how restricted Wigan’s finances remain. What is often overlooked is that the era of Whelan-level spending is gone. Sustainable progress now depends on youth development, intelligent recruitment and strategic patience — not nostalgia.

Wigan’s predicament is far from unique. Across League One and the wider EFL, clubs face limited budgets, ownership uncertainty and frequent managerial churn. Those that succeed do so not by spending their way out of trouble, but by committing to a clear, consistent strategy.

For Latics, that means rejecting the temptation to “spend to go up”. That route has repeatedly ended in financial disaster for others. The smarter path is to build a repeatable promotion-and-survival model, where managerial changes are evolutionary rather than disruptive. Recent months have shown how damaging the alternative can be.

Budget constraints explain much of the current frustration. Blackpool’s second goal, scored by former Wigan favourite Dale Taylor, was a stark reminder. Blackpool paid Nottingham Forest £1 million for him — a fee entirely beyond Wigan’s reach. Instead, Latics spent around £500,000 in total on Dara Costelloe and Christian Saydee. That is not a lack of ambition; it is financial reality.

On the pitch, the transition between Maloney and Lowe has been anything but smooth. Lowe initially deployed wingers as wing-backs, a role unfamiliar to them. None of the four main strikers has delivered consistently. Since Ryan Trevitt’s injury, creativity in attacking midfield has been lacking, leaving forwards isolated and ineffective.

Given those circumstances, criticism of recruitment is inevitable. Responsibility lies with both Lowe and Rioch, but so do the constraints. Lowe speaks of needing more “quality”, yet his commitment to a back three and wing-backs has required clearing out players while leaving key positions under-resourced. That is a structural issue, not simply a recruitment failure.

This is precisely why stability matters now. After years of turmoil, sacking either Lowe or Rioch would almost certainly set the club back further. The decision to replace Maloney with a stylistically opposite coach was flawed, even if Lowe’s past record suggested he could overachieve. Whether that choice was driven by Rioch, ownership or both is now less important than what happens next.

The priority must be clarity. A defined footballing identity, a realistic recruitment plan and visible alignment between board, sporting director and head coach. January’s transfer window will be critical, not just for additions, but for demonstrating that Wigan are acting proactively rather than lurching from problem to problem.

Frustration is justified. Panic is not. Wigan’s problems will not be solved by another reset — only by finally committing to a clear and consistent path forward.

Wigan Athletic Under Ryan Lowe: From Grit to Something Greater?

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Reflections and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Wigan Athletic’s time under Ryan Lowe has really been one built on grit. In football, “grinding out results” basically means doing whatever you need to get points, even if it’s a slog. It’s about being organised, disciplined, and prepared to battle for everything. In a league as tight and physical as League One, that kind of mentality often matters more than pretty football. Managers want players who stay switched on, stick to the plan, and don’t fall apart under pressure. It’s not always thrilling to watch, but it turns bad days into draws and half-chances into big wins.

When Lowe arrived in March 2025, Wigan were in a lower mid-table position and seriously struggling for goals — bottom of the league in that department. They weren’t heading straight for relegation, but the season had drifted. Lowe’s arrival felt like a reset — new ideas, fresh energy, and a chance to stabilise things.

Before long, the team leaned fully into that scrappy, hard-working identity. They finished the season in 15th, mostly because they became tougher mentally and harder to beat. They clawed back deficits, held onto narrow leads, and looked like a side willing to dig in. Not glamorous, but effective.

Over the summer, Lowe shaped the squad to fit his preferred 3-1-4-2. That system relies heavily on wing-backs, and the opening game of the new season showed exactly why. Joe Hungbo and Fraser Murray were excellent in the 3-1 win over Northampton — a scoreline that honestly could’ve been bigger. The first 20 minutes were messy and disjointed, but Murray’s goal around the half-hour settled everyone down and suddenly the team looked much more like a unit.

Of course, settling into a new shape and integrating new signings takes time. The early weeks were a mix of positives and frustrations: solid performances, some good results, but also draws where Wigan should’ve taken more. Opposition managers quickly figured out how dangerous the wing-backs were, so Hungbo and Murray started getting much more attention defensively. That’s League One — once you show a threat, everyone finds a way to make life difficult.

After eight league games, Wigan were sitting at W3 D3 L2 with 13 goals scored and 9 conceded — decent, but clearly still a work in progress. Then came Bolton. Wigan had enjoyed a strong record against them recently, and fans saw it as a genuine benchmark of their progress.

But Bolton, led by Steven Schumacher, were flying. They went with two natural wingers and caused Wigan’s wing-backs all sorts of problems. Latics were second best throughout, losing 4-1, and the fans were furious. They felt the team didn’t show enough fight and that Lowe hadn’t treated the derby with the importance it deserved. They even pointed out the lack of cards — Wigan picked up one yellow, Bolton none — which raised questions about the passion and intensity on display.

It did feel like Lowe misjudged the moment. Derbies aren’t just about points; they’re about pride and emotion. If that wasn’t fully communicated to the players, it could explain the flat performance. And once fans start questioning desire, the pressure ramps right up.

The Bolton defeat hit confidence hard. The football tightened up, became more cautious, and the spark in the final third faded. Lowe leaned further into defence-first thinking, which made sense in the moment but dulled the attacking edge even more. The injury to Ryan Trevitt made things worse — without their most creative midfielder, Wigan lacked imagination. The wing-backs also had to focus more on defending, meaning they weren’t getting forward as freely.

All of this made Wigan more solid, but not exactly entertaining. The challenge now is finding the right balance — keeping that grit without switching off the creativity.

As it stands, Latics sit 11th with a record of W6 D7 L5. They’re definitely harder to beat, and while fans still daydream about a run toward the Championship, Lowe has sensibly played that down, treating promotion as a long-term aim rather than something immediate. His popularity has dipped during the rough spells — some fans have even called for him to be sacked, others are simply bored by the football. But given how many managers Wigan have chewed through over the past decade, stability is badly needed. Lowe deserves the time to build something properly.

His spell at Preston is a useful comparison. In his first full Championship season there, they started with a 0-0 at the DW — one of FIVE goalless draws in their first six games. They had one of the smallest budgets in the league, yet still finished 12th. Not spectacular, but quietly impressive.

This season, Wigan reportedly have a top-ten League One budget. So can Lowe get them punching above their weight and pushing into the play-off conversation? A lot will hinge on the January transfer window.

With his commitment to 3-1-4-2, he needs proper wing-backs. He couldn’t sign any specialists in the summer and ended up using Hungbo and Murray — talented players, but natural wingers. Two real wing-backs surely top the shopping list, unless K’Marni Miller returns ready to step up. He also needs more creativity in midfield and better service for the strikers, who simply haven’t scored enough.

And that’s the big question hanging over everything: if the supply improves, will the forwards finally deliver the goals Latics need?