THE MATCH

SATURDAY 8TH FEBRUARY KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



We slipped to our 3rd straight defeat, a mixture of bad defending/ref decisions. We should have been awarded a penalty early on for handball but wasn't seen by anu official. Windass had a great chance but blazed it over the bar. Sunderland took the lead when Mayenbe handled the ball and scored but the goal stood despite the ref looking right at it. Onto the 2nd half and we quickly equalised when Pato flicked in Ingelsson's cross. Sunderland got the winner when Mayende headed in a decent cross, but Ihiekwe's marking was poor. We huffed and puffed for an equaliser for couldn't find one.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and a long trip all the way down to Plymouth. Plymouth have been struggling most of the season, what do you expect when Rooney was in charge, good player but not very good as a manager. The Pilgrims are currently in 23rd place, 6 points from safety and will have a fight on there hands to stay in the division, though they do have some winnable fixtures in March before a difficult last 7 games in the run in. They are now managed Miron Muslic, who took over from Rooney on the 10th January and has a 25% win rate from his 12 games in charge. There leading scorer is Ryan Hardie with 5 goals and 2 assists this season. We have lost our last 5 games at Plymouth, our last win coming 16 years ago.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 18
PLYM 17
DRAW 13

CURRENT FORM

OWLS  L L L W L D                                                                      

PLYM  L D D L W W      

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

OLIVER LANGFORD
Lee Venamore and Andrew Fox
Fourth Official: Paul Howard

THE TEAM

Beadle
Palmer Bernard Iorfa Johnson
Bannan Ingelsson
Musaba Windass Gasama
Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Gassama

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Imre 24
SCO 22
Maddix 21
Washington 20
Wereham 14

BMPL

Stateside 17
Owlkev 13
Southey 12
Pei 8

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Brighton v Fulham
Swansea v Middlesboro
Barnsley v Blackpool
Tranmere v Bromley
York v Forest Green

DAAAD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

On Saturday Town look to continue a mini away form bounce as they head to the deep, dark south to face Bristol's second side, Rovers. Otherwise known as the Pirates, Rovers haven't been able to plunder much this campaign and sit in a relegation threatened 20th, but 6 points clear of the drop zone.

Bristol is apparently a lovely city, never been, it is built around the river Avon and is bordered by Somerset and Gloucestershire, whilst also not being far from Wales. It is the second most populated city in the south of England behind London Town. It gets its name from the word Brycgstow, meaning "assembly place by the bridge" or simply "site of the bridge", presumably in reference to a crossing over the Avon. An older form of the name survives as the surname Bristow, which is derived from the city, so dart player Eric, may have ancestry from the area, if anyone is into family trees and all that jazz. Life has been found in the area by archeologists from before 1000 with evidence of Neanderthals and Romans living in the area. By 1020 it had become a trading centre with coins being minted with its name, by 1067 the Normans had control over the area and had turned it into one of the strongest castles in the region, with a nobleman of the city being known for his leading role in the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland, the man was called Richard Strongbow, might be where the cider gets its name from too. The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, adjacent to Bristol Bridge just outside the town walls. By the 12th century, there was an important Jewish community in Bristol which survived through to the late 13th century when all Jews were expelled from England. By the late 1300's Bristol had been granted county status after it incorporated neighbouring suburbs. It became a major ship building centre and was one of the largest medieval towns along with York and Norwich. By the 15th and 16th century it had become a major maritime area, both good and bad, with Bristolians forming trade agreements with the Spanish, sending food and weapons during the Anglo-Spanish war, and it became integral to the region. The continued with their trading as the begun trading in the New World and Africa, becoming a hotspot for sending goods out to Africa in exchange for slaves to either send to the Americas or back to England. Plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a few slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic to England. Some household slaves were baptised in the hope this would lead them to be freed. The Somersett Case of 1772 clarified that slavery was illegal in England. At the height of the Bristol slave trade from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.



The city was associated with Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built ocean going steamships (SS Great Britain and SS Great Western), and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The new railway replaced the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London. Competition from Liverpool, disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France and the abolition of the slave trade contributed to Bristol's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of Northern England and the West Midlands. The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability and by the late 1800's ships were now too large to navigate the river Avon into Bristol and were moving further down the coast. Come the 1900's, its Avonmouth docklands were enlarged during the early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock. Another new dock, the Royal Portbury Dock, opened across the river from Avonmouth during the 1970s. As air travel grew in the first half of the century, aircraft manufacturers built factories and Bristol became a prime target for the xxxx's during air raids as well as a target for the IRA given its history of attacking Ireland back in the medieval period. Bristol became a major player in the construction of Rolls Royce engines during and after the war, whilst Filton near by played an instrumental role in the construction of the Concorde (something I think should be brought back with modern technological advances! but no one listens to me) Bristol is still a major player in the aerospace industry with Airbus also operating out of the area, Bristol also is thought to be the largest producer of computer chips outside of Silicone Valley with companies like Hewlett-Packard having factories there, although China and India will stand to dispute the claim of producing computer chips.



As well as the two football clubs, Bristol is also big in Rugby Union and Cricket, with Gloucestershire basing themselves there, although the ground is on the small side with little scope to expand meaning a move could be on the cards, whilst England have played games there, the size or lack there of tends to mean they go to Cardiff which isn't much bigger but has better infrastructure, or they go to Southampton which has far more scope for the future. England Women still play there often but as the women's game expands they too could leave Bristol behind. In the lesser sports, Bristol has staged starts and finishes of the Tour of Britain bike race as well as being home to one of the biggest hot air balloon events. In the modern arts category Bristol has numerous museums in and around the dock areas, and has been voted UNESCO's city of film back in 2017, Bristol is home of Aardman Animations, creators of Wallace and Gromitt, whilst also having a role in making the film Arthur Christmas, Bristol was also used for the filming of Treasure Island and has been a stomping ground for bands such as Massive Attack and other trip hop stuff. In terms of celebrities, comedian Lee Evans is from Bristol as are Russell Howard and Stephan Merchant with actor Cary Grant originally hailing from Bristol. Born as Archibald Leach he moved to America at 16 having had a bad upbringing with an alcoholic dad who had his mother sectioned and told him she had died. He found out this was a lie when in his 30's and had her released and visited regularly, although he classed himself as American by this point.



Founded in 1883, as Black Arabs F.C they entered the Bristol & District League as Eastville Rovers in 1892 and then moved to the Birmingham & District League in 1897, before changing to the Southern League as Bristol Rovers in 1899. Despite being the elder club in the city, they have spent a lot of the more recent years in the shadow of their city sibling, Bristol City. Once upon a time when I first really started following football, the two were regular opponents for Town in League One, before City moved up with the wealth of Steve Lansdown with Town not far behind them. Rovers meanwhile sunk to the depths of League Two and even the Conference for a short time, before regaining their buoyancy and making their way back to where they are now. They got their nickname of the Pirates through Bristols maritime history, whilst The Gas was an often used derogatory remark from rival clubs such as City, Cheltenham, Cardiff, Swindon and Plymouth due to their old ground being situated near to a gasworks. Instead of being offended, Rovers fans took the name to heart and made it another nickname.

Its not always been like that for Rovers, in the 1920–21 season, they played in Division Three of the Football League. They remained in this division for over 30 years, before winning the league in the 1952–53 season. They have won promotion on six other occasions: in 1973–74 from the Third Division to the Second Division, again in 1989–90 as Division Three champions, in 2006–07 to the Football League One, in 2014–15 to League Two from the Conference Premier, in 2015–16 to League One and then in 2021-22 to League One from League Two. The club has been relegated seven times—in 1961–62, 1980–81, 1992–93, 2000–01, 2010–11, 2013–14 and most recently at the end of the 2020-21 season and will be hoping to avoid the eighth occasion, Town have 9 relegations on their CV but an argumentative soul would say they are from a higher level.

The relegation to the Conference is the lowest position the Gas have ever finished although they returned to the league at the end of their first Conference season, with a penalty shootout victory over Grimsby Town in the play-off final. They would notch back to back promotions the season after. In February 2016, it was announced that a 92% stake in the club had been bought by the Jordanian al-Qadi family, and that Wael al-Qadi, a member of the Jordan Football Association, would become the president. Since 2016, the club has been owned by Dwane Sports Ltd, with 92.6% of the shares, while Bristol Rovers Supporters Club owns the remaining 7.4%. In June 2020, it was announced that president Wael al-Qadi had bought a controlling stake in Dwane Sports Ltd, after he bought the shares of other members of his family, while it was also announced that the club's debt would be capitalised and a new training facility would begin construction at Hortham Lane, Almondsbury. Rovers have owned the site formerly known as 'The Colony' and re-branded by the club 'The Quarters' since 2017, and, in June 2020, the club announced that it would be ready for the beginning of the 2020–21 season. On 3 August 2023, Kuwaiti businessman Hussain Al Saeed bought a controlling 55% share in Dwane Sports, the holding company for the football club, thus becoming chairman. As part of the takeover, all debt owed to the company was capitalised. On 22 November 2024, Al Saeed reached an agreement to purchase the remaining 45% of shares owned by both Wael and Samer al-Qadi, the acquisition to be completed over an eighteen-month period.



They begun this season with former Rotherham manager Matt Taylor in charge, he had been in charge just over a year when he was sacked in December last year, just weeks after returning to the role after a family emergency. He has since been replaced by former Brighton defender Inigo Calderon. The Spaniard, a regular opponent of Town, spent six years as a player at Brighton, amassing nearly 200 appearances in English football, he left Brighton in 2016 but returned in 2023 as a youth coach before being appointed by Bristol. He has won just 4 of his games in charge so far and will be hoping to stay in the division to help rebuild and try to progress the club further up the league.



The season in general has obviously been underwhelming for both sides, but Bristol have won just 10 games this season, losing 18 with the game back in October at the John Smiths being one of Towns better home performances as they ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Matty Pearson, Callum Marshall and Bojan Radulovic, see miracles do happen sometimes. They have struggled for consistency and struggled for goals, scoring only 35 this season, whilst some of those have come in a couple of 3-1 victories, which probably highlights the issue even more. Town have had way too many scrappy 1-0's here and there which has yielded points but not much in way of goals, the fact we still have a decent goal difference is surprising to me. Last night showcased our issues, threadbare, weak, no real firepower, no height and most importantly no idea, how does that get you anywhere? We are now in the playoffs by a point with Bolton breathing down our necks, we still have some difficult games against Wycombe, Stockport, Orient and Charlton to come and on present showing I don't see us winning any of them. That Orient game could be a very nervy affair, it is also the start of the cricket season for me and I'm not sure how much I want to play, but at the moment I feel like I'd subject myself to 6 hours in a field getting "exercise" and bowling than 90 minutes of tedious Duff Ball...



In terms of the two sides, there has been quite a few meetings over the years, 39 in total, with Town winning 14 of them and losing 13. The first meeting came back in 1953 in the FA Cup, a tie that Town won 2-0, the first league meeting came three years later in Division 2 where Town won down Leeds Road 2-1 but lost away later in the season 4-0. The sides would continue to meet in Division 2 until 1962, there would then be an 11 year hiatus until they renewed acquaintances in Division 3. It would only be for the sole season and Town lost both games that campaign, it would be a further 7 years and yet again Bristol did the double over the Terriers. Town managed to register a first win since 61 against the Pirates in 1982 with a 3-1 at home, but for the rest of the 80's Bristol held the upper hand over Huddersfield. Come the 90's the tide gradually switched, the early 90's saw Town register one league win in 93 with the other 5 games being draws, the 1995 season culminated with the Play off final where Neil Warnock's side edged past Bristol 2-1 down at the old Wembley, it would be 2003 before the sides met again, with Town having survived administration in that time. 2003 saw the sides in Division 3 with Rob Edwards and a young Jon Stead scoring in a 2-1 win, the away game finished 1-1 and Town ended the season in the play offs at the Millenium Stadium. 3 years later and Bristol joined Town in League One, with Town winning the first game 2-1 thanks to goals from Ronnie Wallwork and Phil Jevons, the Bristol side contained one Rickie Lambert who was sought after by Town at one time, but was passed over by Dean Hoyle due to concerns over his age, we know what happened then, with his moves to Southampton and Liverpool, Town also won the away game with goals from James Barrett, Michael Collins and Chris Brandon sealing a 3-2 win. The following season Town drew 1-1 at home with Stan Ternant at the helm, whilst Lee Clark's side won 2-1 away, the first play off season under Clark saw Town struggle against Bristol, losing 1-0 away and drawing 0-0 at home, before the second of Clark's play off season saw Town lose at home but win away through a sole early Jordan Rhodes goal, that would be the last time the two sides met until this season when Town put in arguably their best home performance of the season, not that there is much to chose from.



The current Bristol squad contains a few players of yesteryear that have tormented Town, Chris Martin leads the line at 36, often terrorising town when at Derby and Bristol City. Scott Sinclair, formerly of Chelsea, Swansea and Celtic, was a thorn in the side of Towns defences whilst at Preston, he was released in 2022 and joined Bristol Rovers where he was appointed captain, at 35 his pace isn't what it used to be but there will still be a smidgen of ability on the ball that got him to the elite level. Promise Omochere, Isaac Hutchinson and Ruel Sotiriou are their leading scorers in the league, all with just 4 goals, Hutchinson scored at the John Smiths earlier in the season. Omochere signed for Bristol from Fleetwood in the summer for a rumoured club record fee, standing at 6"2 he tends to be the target man for Sotiriou who also joined in the summer from Leyton Orient, Hutchinson operates in midfield and was brought in to replace current Town man Anthony Evans when he came to Town in the summer. Elsewhere in the Rovers squad is one Jack Hunt who was once of this parish and has been an antagonist to fans ever since he departed for Crystal Palace, usually whilst he was in his two spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City.



Others to have played for both include former Town keeper Jamal Blackman who had a loan at Bristol a few years before his move to Town, Tareiq Holmes-Dennis who left Town whilst in the Premier League to join Bristol after a loan at Portsmouth. He suffered a serious injury whilst at Rovers and announced his retirement at 24 due to it, but returned to playing in non league last September more for the fun of the game than a career. Moving further back and in the 2015 season, Towns current number 1 Lee Nicholls had a loan spell at the Memorial Ground, making 15 appearances for the side. Three years prior to that Scott Bevan would be Bristols number one, he had two years at Bristol spanning from 2011-2013, he played alongside future Town loanee Mustapha Carayol, he had the one season at Bristol before moving to Middlesbrough in his journeyman career. Going a lot further back, Lee Martin had a loan spell at Town covering just 3 games, he had 2 years at Bristol having begun at Manchester United and part of me thinks he came back to Town in some form for a short while but I can't see anything to confirm that.

There is then, of course, one Marcus Stewart who spent 5 years at Bristol Rovers, scoring 80 goals in 171 appearances before he moved to Town, where he scored a further 58 in 133 games, nearly firing them into the top division, before he was unceremoniously sold to Ipswich and Town faded away. He would finish his playing career in 2011 having scored 222 goals in 664 games, moving into coaching, first at Exeter where he finished his career and then at Bristol Rovers when he returned as assistant to Darrell Clarke. In 2022 he was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease and has since been raising money for the Darby Rimmer MND foundation, he has been a guest at Town in the past and it wouldn't surprise me if he is there on Saturday.



I won't do team news, we seem to have lost Josh Koroma and Nigel Lonwijk now, so we are well and truly threadbare, ending with Jonny Hogg, and Brodie Spencer at centre half on Tuesday. Saturday will probably see Spencer joined by Turton and Ruffles in defence if we decide to go with three at the back and no one returns. On the plus side another midget target man returned on Tuesday in the form of Joe Taylor.

I'll add the press conference when its done.

Group A

Themaclad 16
Zinman 15
Twerton 11
Amelia 7
Minizin 1
A.A.A. 0

Seems Group A’s weekly scores are pretty much mirroring the league table. This week Themaclad takes top spot with 16 points, he only scored on 4 games but got a spot on Gamball and CR on the Bonus, so he didn’t need to get much right to be in 1st place. Zinman is right on his heels with 15 points, he scored on 6 games including his Bonus and 2 CSs, but he missed on the Gamball so had to work much harder that Themaclad!! Twerton rounds off the top 3 with 11 points, he too managed 2 CSs but missed on the Gamball.

Amelia is 4th with 7 points, a bit down on her recent form. Big drop to Minizin who scored just one point, his form has deserted him over the past few weeks after getting close to Themaclad at the top of the table. AAA was AWOL this week and therefore according to the rules scores one point t less than the bottom player and therefore ended with a zero!!

272 Themaclad
251 Zinman
237 Minizin
234 Twerton
189 Amelia
185 A.A.A.

Themaclad extends his lead by a further point to 21 points over Zinman, who now extends his lead in 2nd spot to 14 points over Minizin. Twerton is now just 3 points back in 4th spot and in with a shot of the playoffs. Amelia’s good form has now seen her overtake AAA for the final spot.

Cheers
SCO


Group B

SCO 13
Lady Jane 12
Stairs 10
Derby 7
BBB 7
BaggieOne 3
Snooty -1

Another average week for Group B with the gamball proving costly - nobody predicted a draw so minus one all round. Mixed results from the other balls, 2 spot on bonuses and everybody scored on the scoreball - unfortunately 2 of those scores were negative!

Lady Jane and SCO were the top 2 heading into this week and that won't have changed as they occupy the top 2 weekly places. SCO was the only player to score on 5 games , including his bonus, and equalled the week's best of 2 correct scores. He was let down by his scoreball, playing it the only nil - nil of the week. Lady Jane is just a point behind with one fewer correct score and result but securing a maximum on her bonus. 12 points represents her highest score since week 16. Stairs secures 3rd spot with 10 points. The only difference between him and Lady Jane was the scoreball - she got it right while Stairs followed SCO's pick to lose him a point.

Derby and BBB are firmly in mid-table with 7 points. Derby got 2 of his 3 correct predictions spot-on while BBB had one more correct result but just the one correct score.

BaggieOne scored just 3 points while Snooty at least had the consolation of improving as the weekend progressed - on Saturday, with 8 of the games played, he was in danger of collecting the minimum possible score but collected 3 points from Sunday's matches. Not enough to lift him out of negative territory but better than it could have been!

236 Lady Jane
221 SCO
214 Stairs
211 Derby
190 BBB
177 Snooty
154 BaggieOne

Just one positional change as Derby drops to 4th place behind Stairs. Lady Jane continues to set the pace with SCO, Stairs and Derby keeping an eye on Group A as they seek to claim a play-off place.

Just one stat this week - this set of games saw the 5th time that everybody failed to score on the gamball. That puts it level with the number of wipe-outs on the bonus.

Zin

Gamball:
Plymouth - Sheff Wed

Others:
Forest - Man City
Brentford - Villa
Brighton - Fulham
Wolves - Everton
Watford - Millwall
Derby - Blackburn
Swansea - Middlebrough
Spurs - Bournemouth
Man U - Arsenal

Milton Keynes Dons have put former midfielder Ben Gladwin in interim charge of the League Two side following head coach Scott Lindsey's sacking.

Gladwin, 32, was first team coach under Lindsey, and steps up to take the helm a day after the 52-year-old's departure.

Gladwin only retired as a player last summer because of injury problems, and it is already the second time he has taken temporary charge of a side after working as caretaker boss following Lindsey's exit from Crawley earlier this season.

MK Dons have not specified how long Gladwin will be at the helm, but said the interim coaching team "will oversee the side in the coming weeks".

"MK Dons will now conduct an extensive and comprehensive interview process ahead of appointing a head coach to lead the team next season," a statement on the club website said., external

He will be looking to guide MK to a first victory in seven matches and help turn around the disastrous form of recent months, which has seen them win just twice in their past 16 matches.

It is a run that has resulted in a tumble from third in the table to 17th, and which cost Lindsey his job.

Jamie Day, who was part of Lindsey's coaching staff that made the move from Crawley to MK Dons in September, will continue as assistant coach.

Ian Watson, who was part of the coaching team at MK under Mike Williamson before Lindsey's arrival, returns to the Buckinghamshire club to work as a first-team coach as part of the interim set-up.

Carl Laraman follows Lindsey in leaving MK, while goalkeeper coach Steve Hale is staying on.

Accrington 2-1 MKD
Bradford 1-1 Cheltenham
Bromley 2-1 Doncaster
Carlisle 1-2 Walsall
Colchester 1-1 Chesterfield
Crewe 3 -1 Fleetwood
Grimsby 2-0 Tranmere
Morecambe 1-2 Wimbledon
Newport 0-0 Gillingham
Notts C 2-0 Barrow
Port Vale 1-1 Harrogate
Swindon 2-0 Salford

Bit surprised at this

Wigan Athletic have sacked manager Shaun Maloney after Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Reading.

That loss extended a run of just one win in seven games which has left the Latics 15th in League One, only six points above the relegation places.

Maloney, a member of Wigan's FA Cup-winning team in 2013, was in charge for just over two years in a difficult spell for the club which included relegation from the Championship and a points deduction last season.

But this campaign has not gone as hoped, with the club citing "disappointing" home performances in a statement, external announcing the 42-year-old's departure, along with his assistant Max Rogers.

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Glenn Whelan has been placed in interim charge, assisted by Graham Barrow and Frankie Bunn, for Tuesday's trip to Mansfield Town.

Maloney will always have a special place in Wigan folklore for his part as a player in a famous escape from Premier League relegation in 2012 and, even more memorably, the year after, as the Latics won the FA Cup.

In fact, it was his corner which was headed in by Ben Watson as Wigan beat Manchester City at Wembley.

So it was a sentimental return to the club for the ex-Belgium assistant manager when he arrived in January 2023.

But with the club bottom of the Championship, he could not perform his own great escape act.

However, in a very troubled period for the Latics in which players and staff were not paid on time and the team was deducted three points for that offence, Maloney received credit for how he handled the situation.


The club was taken over that summer by Mike Danson from the previous Bahraini ownership group, but Wigan began their League One campaign with an eight-point deduction.

Nonetheless, Maloney led them to a 12th-placed finish.

But with a clean slate this campaign, things have never really got going. Wigan are the lowest scorers in the division with only 31 goals from their 34 games.

Those problems have been even more pronounced at the Brick Community Stadium with just five wins from 17 games and only 16 goals scored.

And for a team with hopes of pushing for the play-offs, at no stage have they been in the top half all season, leading the Latics board to decide that "it was time for a change".

"It cannot be overlooked that the current League One campaign has clearly not progressed as anticipated," their statement said.

"Home results and performances, in particular, have been below the standard which our supporters expect."

Maloney himself alluded to a lack of consistency all season in his final interview as Wigan boss after the defeat by Reading.

"There has not been much consistency within the squad and team selection," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"We're definitely in a place where we could compete and beat anyone, but we're still in a place where anyone can beat us if we perform like we did in that first half."


To some football fans, seeing Wigan in 15th in League One may seem as if they are underachieving.

But Shaun Maloney has been on the treadmill ever since he took over.

He came close to keeping them in the Championship after taking over from Kolo Toure when the club's existence was in serious jeopardy.

Last season began with an eight-point deduction before a ball had been kicked but he still guided them to 12th place. Taking off the minus eight, they would have been in touching distance of the play-offs.

There's no doubt this season's disappointing home form and results have brought more scrutiny from some supporters.

But the majority had sympathy with Maloney after losing key players like Charlie Hughes and Thelo Aasgaard to Championship clubs, on top of some bigger earners also departing last summer.

Maloney's success as a Wigan player and the difficult circumstances he's faced in much of his time in charge make this hugely surprising news.