Shaun Maloney: 'Raw' Wigan boss wants to stay despite drop to League One
- Published
Shaun Maloney became Wigan's third manager of the season when he was appointed in January
Wigan manager Shaun Maloney says he wants to stay at the club despite their relegation to League One next season.
The club's former winger was appointed as their third manager of the campaign on 28 January after Leam Richardson and Kolo Toure were sacked.
Wigan have won four and drawn seven of their 17 games since Maloney took over.
But Reading's stoppage-time goal in a 1-1 draw on Saturday sent the Latics back to the third tier after one season in the Championship.
"I spoke really emotionally and passionately after the Burnley game in a really difficult moment and said 'I'm all in' and that hasn't changed," Maloney told BBC Radio Manchester.
"I think in terms of next season and what we want to achieve, this is definitely not the day we want to chat about it but the work has to start pretty soon.
"It feels a bit raw."
Wigan have yo-yo-ed between the Championship and League One in recent years, with this their third drop down a level since the end of the 2014-15 season.
However the club's relegation plight was not helped by a three-point deduction from the English Football League in March for failing to pay players' wages.
'Players gave everything'
Maloney said he had no definitive answer as to why things had gone so wrong this season.
"I've been here for 17 games," he said. "It's such a unique situation to have three managers in one season - you can almost split it up into three parts of the season.
"You add in those unique circumstances, then the three-point deduction as well, there's just so much to it.
"The feeling is so raw just now that it might take me a while to answer that."
Wigan dropped into the bottom three at the end of October and have not moved out of it since. They also have the lowest goal-scoring record in the Championship.
They kept their slim hopes of survival alive with wins over Millwall and Stoke in recent weeks, but the draw with fellow strugglers Reading finally sealed their fate.
"The players have given me everything for these 17 games. Some good quality, they gave me absolute 100% work-rate. It's tough," Maloney added.
"The form and level that they've shown is probably not in that bottom three but I understand the table and over the course of the season it's tough. Particularly off the pitch as well has made it even harder."