Former skipper hits out at 'unacceptable' and 'shambolic' situation at Wigan Athletic

The Egypt international is preparing to return to the Championship with Ipswich, having captained the Tractor Boys to promotion from League One.

They'll be swapping places with Latics, who suffered an immediate return to the third tier following a car-crash campaign on and off the pitch.

Latics' cause wasn't helped by a couple of points deductions imposed by the EFL for persistent late payment of wages.

They'll also start next term on minus eight points, and Morsy feels the actions of the previous owners leaves a lot to be desired.

"It's unacceptable, shambolic, what's happened," he said.

"And again the thing is no-one knows why things have been happening.

"The fans thought they had their club back, they got promoted last summer, and I know they were promised money for transfer fees and wages.

"They ended up signing one player on a free transfer, and you're asking for big, big trouble.

"Again, there was no clarity from the ownership, nobody knew what was going on.

"Mostly you have to feel for the fans, and for the good people who have lost jobs and their livelihoods.

"You also feel for the players, because if they hadn't got the points deductions, I think they would have had a big, big chance of staying up.

"When someone takes points off you, you lose a lot of momentum, it's a big, big kick in the teeth.

"Hopefully the new owners will be decent and they can get back to where they belong."

It's the second time in three years Latics have lost their place in the Championship due to bad ownership.

In 2020, Morsy was club captain when Latics were placed into administration - and almost went out of business.

More or less every single senior player was sold to save the club, and Morsy admits that disappointment still lives with him.

When on the 'Second Tier Podcast' whether he'd still be at Wigan had administration not occurred, he admitted: "Yeah definitely, definitely.

"I enjoyed it so much at Wigan, I loved the club, and we were on the cusp of something really special.

"It's such a shame that we all got robbed of the opportunity to be a part of that.

"I still speak to some of the lads in that team, we all think the next season we would have gone really close."

Morsy revealed it was at Wigan that he played alongside his best ever team-mate at club level - on-loan Chelsea defender Reece James, in 2018/19.

"Reece had incredible quality, his crossing delivery, with no backlift was amazing," enthused Morsy, who gave Liverpool superstar Mo Salah the nod at international level.

"He had every single physical attribute you'd want, but it was probably his mentality that made him stand out from the rest.

"Reece was very calm, he played like a senior player from a baby.

"He was always very calm, he was never flustered, and he was a great lad as well.

"It's been a delight to see him do so well...he's world class."

The 31-year-old also opened up about an infamous incident during his playing career, when he had a run-in with Jonjo Shelvey at Newcastle in April 2017.

Shelvey had been accused of making a racist comment, which Morsy made reference to - in colourful fashion - after leaving his calling card on his opponent.

"Obviously there were allegations at the time of racial abuse involving Romain Saiss at Wolves," Morsy said.

"Romain Saiss was a Muslim brother, he was playing for my hometown team, and it was one of those really.

"I left one on him, and usually what happens on the pitch stays on the pitch.

"I've had plenty of stuff said to me, that if I was to air out, people would be shocked.

"So I was a little bit surprised to see him publicising that in a national newspaper to be fair.

"You expect things that happen on the pitch, stay on the pitch, but that one didn't."