How former Manchester United man ended up on the field for Wigan Athletic at the weekend

The 37-year-old - a former team-mate of Maloney at Hull City - joined Latics earlier this month, after leaving a coaching role with the Manchester United Academy.

During his time at Old Trafford, Huddlestone turned out for the United Under-21s as an overage player, although he formally announced his retirement when he joined Latics.

However, Huddlestone's appearance as a late substitute for Thelo Aasgaard at Fylde - after the young forward had taken a heavy challenge - got some fans wondering if he may be seen on the field again during the coming season.

Maloney, though, says that won't be the case.

"It wasn't really planned," he said. "I appreciate what Tom did...he's obviously a very good coach, really diligent, he's been brilliant since he's been with us.

"I asked Tom to do something that I didn't expect to be asking of him, and I don't think I'll be doing so again. But he's made a big difference to our coaching set-up, in his own way, and he's very popular with the players.

"I wouldn't have ideally used him, but it was just with Thelo taking the tackle he did, I didn't want him carrying on with a sore ankle."

When asked whether Huddlestone had been signed with the possibility of playing in mind, Maloney replied: "No, absolutely not.

"It was just because of the numbers, which are a bit low at the moment. I don't think it will happen again, but I just needed an extra player in case of any injuries."

The Latics boss also had no issue with the tackle on Aasgaard - by former Latics man Luke Brennan, playing as a trialist for Fylde - which caused the substitution.

"We had a lot of the ball at Fylde, and obviously the opponent is trying to stop you," he added. "You have to feel the contact, it's exactly the same from our end, we do that to them, and it's fine. It's why we're playing these friendlies, you want them to be as competitive as possible."