Joyce: I knew what I was walking into

Warren Joyce watches from the stand on Saturday during a damaging 1-0 defeat at the DW Stadium

Latics lost another ‘must-win’ clash against a relegation rival by the only goal, with City climbing out of the bottom three as a result.

Once again a sizeable section of the home support chose to vent their displeasure at the end of the game, and the Latics boss says he fully understands the reasons why.

“Obviously the fans like everyone else are bound to be frustrated that we’ve lost,” said Joyce, who’s seen his side win only one of 11 home games since taking charge - and fail to score on eight of those occasions.

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion, and they pay good money to come to the game.

“They obviously want to see their side win and get out of the situation we’re in, so I have no problem with that.”

City leapfrogged Blackburn - who themselves beat Latics 1-0 the previous weekend - in the standings to go fourth-bottom, four points ahead of Joyce’s men, who were unable to build on their 1-0 win at Birmingham in midweek

“It’s been a real yo-yo all the time since I’ve been here,” acknowledged the Latics boss.

“It’s been highs and lows, and you’ve just got to dust yourself down and go again.

“Life’s not fair, never mind football.

“Things happen in life, and people have got to dust themselves down and battle.

“Football’s exactly the same, and it’s in situations like this where you should enjoy being a footballer and showing what you’re made of.”

When asked whether the job at Wigan was bigger than he’d realised when taking over four months ago, Joyce replied: “It is and it isn’t.

“I was under no illusion coming in about the budget and what’s happened here in the past.

“There’s a great massive divide between some of the teams in this league, and what they can pay their players.

“We’ve more than paid our way in the window, coming out with a big profit, and we knew that was the requirement at the time.

“Building sides and building a method of play and building a football club up again takes time, and I think there’s been inconsistencies here for some time.

“I knew what I was walking into in that sense.”