Coyle leaves Wigan

Owen Coyle has left Wigan after only five-and-a-half months in charge
2 December 2013

Owen Coyle has left Wigan 'by mutual agreement' just six months after he was appointed.

On Monday morning, Latics confirmed Sunday night's reports that the club had parted company with the former Bolton boss after a run of three successive home defeats in nine days left them 14th in the Sky Bet Championship and on the verge of Europa League elimination.

Coyle's side were swept aside 3-1 by Derby on Sunday with the manager using his post-match press conference to suggest some supporters' expectations were too lofty following an eight-year stint in the Barclays Premier League.

"It is with great sadness that we have made this decision and I would like to thank all my football staff and the staff at the club, who have been very supportive of me in my time here," said Coyle.

"I am confident that with this set of players, the team can keep moving in the right direction."

Latics visit Leeds on Wednesday night and the club have placed first-team coach and former boss Graham Barrow, along with assistant manager Sandy Stewart, in charge for the clash.

Boos cascaded down from the stands on Sunday when the Rams scored all three of their goals inside the opening 29 minutes and the away fans' cheeky claims Coyle would soon be axed were greeted with applause by certain sections of the Wigan faithful.

That speculative chant has now turned into reality and despite insisting Coyle was "far and away the best for the job" back in June, chairman Dave Whelan has a managerial vacancy to fill once again as Latics bid to instantly return to the top flight.

Coyle, chosen ahead of Steve McClaren - the man who led Derby to victory at the DW Stadium, was originally tasked with doing just that as he rebuilt following the Roberto Martinez-led exodus which followed their relegation and May's FA Cup final win.

The club's first-ever European campaign, the arrivals of youngsters such as Nick Powell and James McClean, and a 4-0 opening-day thrashing of Barnsley brought plenty of optimism too.

However, the tide soon turned with an 890-minute spell without scoring on the road epitomising the struggles of an attack often found playing in a different style to the one which earned Martinez's sides such wide-spread admiration.

Speaking after what turned out to be his final match in charge, Coyle called for a reality-check from those disgruntled by their start to the season.

"If it comes through expectation then so be it," Coyle said of the discontent.

"The expectation can only come from being in the Premier League because it's not as if Wigan Athletic have been winning games every week for four or five years, far from it. Wigan Athletic have been in the bottom three for the last four, five years and managed a few times to escape and they've done brilliantly to do that.

"They won the (FA) Cup which was brilliant but they lost their place in the Premier League and with them losing their place, the players, the ones of big value, left.

"It's building that team and putting it together. If people want to be ultra critical that's the nature of football these days.

"I'm old enough to deal with that; if they think there's something better that's all well and good. That's why we love football, it's all opinion."

The opinion of those voices no doubt swayed Whelan, though, as Coyle's short reign was brought to a close.

Former Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, who guided the Latics to FA Cup glory over Manchester City in May, admitted he still retained an interest in his former club.

"In football you get that sort of situation where if the results don't go right they are going to take (a) big decision," the Everton boss said.

"All I want is the best for Wigan. I always keep a close eye on them and I hope everything can have the effect that is needed.

"Owen worked really hard to try to achieve promotion and now the change has been confirmed hopefully everything works for the best for the football club."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in