'Dealings have given ourselves a good chance' - Wigan Athletic boss

Latics managed to bring in Martin Kelly (West Brom), Omar Rekik (Arsenal) and Danel Sinami (Norwich) during the last 36 hours of an eventful window.

Also coming in were free agent Steven Caulker, Miguel Azeez (Arsenal) and Christ Tiehi (Slovan Liberec), with Graeme Shinnie, Nathan Broadhead, Rarmani Edmonds-Green and Gwion Edwards moving out.

The situation was complicated by the departure of Kolo Toure a week before the deadline - midway through the recruitment - but new boss Maloney's glass remains definitely half-full.

"I think the last few days have seen us strengthen the group, and we've given ourselves a good chance of staying up," he said.

"It's going to be a fight, a big fight, and I've relayed that to the players.

"It's going to start every day in training, but I've seen a positive response, the players have been working extremely hard.

"Let's see how the next few months go, but we're ready for it."

Maloney believes his past ties with the club - having spent almost four years here as a player between 2011-15 - will stand him in good stead as Latics prepare for another fight against the dreaded drop.

"It was obviously a different time when I was here before," he said.

"But hopefully I can bring that calmness, which will hopefully help the players.

"It's about being resilient as well, because there'll be games we lose as well as games we win.

"We're going to have to continue to fight if we're going to succeed in our aims."

Maloney is the third Wigan boss to sign a three-and-a-half-year deal this term, with Leam Richardson and Toure having seen their tenures cut short.

He says he’s not sought or received any assurances on his tenure.

"I haven't looked for any reassurances, it's not something we've spoken about," he added.

"Obviously whatever went before, it's difficult for me to speak about.

"What I will say is that, for the time I've been here, the chairman and the CEO have been very clear and very supportive, right to the end of the window to give us every opportunity to strengthen this squad...which we did."