While he continues to plan the Wigan Athletic rebuild, Shaun Maloney has pledged that he will be a different coach for the upcoming campaign.
This season, Latics more than met their seasonal objectives, guaranteeing their spot in League One by the international break in March and finishing with three victories to guarantee a 12th-place finish.
Maloney could be forgiven for wanting a lengthy vacation after the off-field drama of the past 12 months, which dates back to the club’s uncertain future during the previous preseason.
“No, I’m still full of energy, and there’s still so much to do,” he said with a grin. “I’ll assess the team as soon as I can, and all of the squad building needs to take place.
“It is evident that improvement is needed when examining this year’s away form.
“There have been games where we haven’t been able to win, and it is my responsibility to come up with a solution for the team.
Thus, I have a tonne of work to do in order to be ready for the upcoming year.
“I’ll go away for a few weeks.We’ve survived this season, and I want the next one to be even better. I might return to Scotland for a week, but no.
“We’d have been, what, six points off sixth place right now with the deduction?”After the Blackpool victory in March, during the international break, we were five points out of sixth place.
“The task is to see if we can get closer to that sixth place by the international break in March of next year. That’s what I do.”
Maloney said, “I hope not!” in response to the question of whether this summer would turn out to be as exciting as last summer.
“I feel like I’ll be a different manager and coach than I was last year, but hopefully it will be much more stable.
“I’ve had to exercise patience because I have a very young squad, many of whom are in their first season.
“I’m going to be more picky next season.
“The young boys have had brilliant seasons, but I aim to be much more demanding for sure.”
