by To gauge the popularity of Shaun Maloney at Wigan, don’t expect the patrons of the Phoenix Lounge at the DW Stadium on Friday who saw the manager doing a pitchside TV interview, stood outside and chanted his name . They were attending a wake at the time.
Released from grief: the mourners in Phoenix and Wigan can agree with that. There is hope again at a club that went out of business last summer and started the League One season on minus eight points. Saved from a winding-up order when local billionaire Mike Danson, owner of Wigan Warriors, took over in June, Wigan are now above the relegation zone and rebuilding with a promising young team under Maloney.
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The priority this season is survival but the FA Cup has given the 2013 winners an early reward with a third round tie at home to Manchester United. It will be an event to savor for Wigan’s promising young manager, United boy as well as Celtic fans.
“I joined Celtic at 16 and started learning about the Lisbon Lions, the history and individual players, then I started doing the same about Manchester United,” he says. “You go through the era of the late 50s, early 60s and the story behind it and what they achieved under Sir Matt Busby. And there was Denis Law, Paddy Crerand, Brian McClair. Now there is Scott McTominay. There’s always been that connection with Scotland and I love the history of the club.”
Sir Alex Ferguson is Maloney’s strongest Scottish connection and the biggest influence on his decision to choose United as his England team. The 40-year-old grew up in Aberdeen, where Ferguson made his name breaking the Old Firm’s dominance of Scottish football before heading south in 1986.
“That’s why I started supporting United and I was lucky enough to meet him a few times,” says the former Celtic, Aston Villa and Wigan player. “When I was still in Belgium [as a coach under Roberto Martínez] I went to meet him in his office in Wilmslow. I was on a train going down to London with his son [Jason] walked by. We started talking and I said I would love to meet his father. We exchanged email addresses and the next day he emailed me. I got in touch and his secretary arranged for me to meet him. It was by chance, I was very lucky, and I sat and listened to him for two hours.
“Because I was such a big fan too, I just wanted to ask him about the history of the club. Also, Belgium had some really elite players, still huge players like Hazard, De Bruyne, Courtois, Kompany. He had a lot of players at that level through Manchester United and that was the main basis for talking to him. It was a big part of human management. He was very grateful to give me two hours.”
Remarkably, he helped Manchester City beat their local rivals on the final day and Maloney’s winner for Wigan against United in April 2012. That 1-0 win remains the only win at Wigan against United in 19 meetings. “He didn’t talk about it, no, and funnily enough I didn’t bring it up,” Maloney says of the goal. “You don’t forget it, though?”
Martínez was another major influence on Maloney’s career as a player and manager. The FA Cup-winning Wigan manager was back at the club last week to watch the 2-0 win over Carlisle and will be on punditry duty at the DW on Monday. The pair spoke at length at the Carlisle game, with Martínez sharing his thoughts on United after attending their Champions League thriller against Bayern Munich.
“He’s a good man, a very good man and I owe him a lot,” says the Scot. “He had a huge impact, especially with a certain style of play that I hadn’t been coached on before. And then with very big moments, like this on Monday, and the inner belief that must come to the players.
“Some of the best things about Roberto when I was a player and with Belgium in the biggest moments, he was constant. He had a stable mood, everything was completely stable. The way he acted and the way we trained was exactly the same whether you were playing Manchester United or a lower division team. If it was a game we had to win to stay in the division or go into the FA Cup final, his behavior was exactly the same. That was a great attribute of his and I hope my players will feel that in the coming days.”
Wigan are in cliche “unbeaten” territory against United, with the FA Cup their last chance at silverware this season and their manager, Erik ten Hag, cannot afford to be on the wrong end.
“I wasn’t a player or a coach at Manchester United but I know the pressures and I know the test is a lot better than the Wigan manager,” says Maloney. “But there is still pressure here. When you are a boy it is never as easy as ‘the pressure is off’. My job is to ask Manchester United a few questions. The history of that club, I know, is that if you wanted to fight them they would fight you and if you wanted to fight them they would be better than you nine time out of 10. I have to try my best on this Manchester. Team United those two questions and see if we can find the answers.”
