Sam Tickle opens up on eventful journey at - and away from - Wigan Athletic - 'You do grow up fast - you have to!'

The 22-year-old is flying high at the moment, having this week been voted the League One player of the year at the North West Football Awards.

It's the latest plaudit for a player recently labelled by Shaun Maloney as 'the best English shot-stopper', on the back of sweeping the board at Latics' own player of the year awards, and breaking into the Three Lions Under-21 set-up during the last 12 months.

In doing so, he became the first Latics Academy product to represent the Young Lions since Leighton Baines almost two decades earlier.

Not bad for a player who 'vividly' remembers the day back in 2018 when - after being with Latics since he was a kid - he was delivered his first major setback at the age of 16.

"I actually parked in my space at Christopher Park...I remember it so vividly," he told Wigan Today in an exclusive interview. "It was me and my dad...I went upstairs, obviously had the conversation...and I came out absolutely gutted.

“I remember in the car, I was trying not to cry in front of my dad...I just didn't know what to do...I just didn't see it coming. The way I saw it going, I'd get a contract...everyone was saying I'd be all right...that's what me and my dad went there thinking.

"But I never thought that was it...I just wanted to play football, and I didn't care what level it was at...I just wanted to be happy playing football."

Next up for Warrington-born Tickle was a spell in non-league with St Helens-based Pilkington...and a rude awakening to his path back to a career in full-time football.

"I think that spell helped me out a lot, to be fair," he said, with a wry smile. "Just going out and playing men's football at 16...it was a real eye-opener.

"It's constant balls into the box, and you're getting constantly smashed by angry non-league players. You do grow up fast - you have to!

"I was actually too young to even change in the same dressing rooms as the rest of the players. Because of safeguarding rules, I couldn't even have a shower in the changing room because of my age.

"I was arriving at games in January and February in shorts so I didn't get my trousers muddy afterwards! But I absolutely loved my time there, we won the league, and I was lucky enough to get player of the season.

"The rest of the lads protected me well, and I'll always be grateful for that."

Tickle also makes a point of two of his goalkeeping coaches at Wigan - Aaron Cameron and Dan Connor - for their unwavering support which helped him bounced back from initial disappointment.

"They would come down and watch the games to see how I was getting on," he said. "They stood by me right through it all, they kept in touch and they kept me positive.

"I owe them so much because they were there when I needed them. I then got offered a scholarship back at Wigan. I’d like to think I proved quite a few people wrong."

The rest, as they say, is history, with Tickle being a key part of the Latics Under-18 side that reached the quarter-final of the FA Youth Cup in February 2020 before - without the injured Joe Gelhardt - narrowly losing 2-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Tickle also admits he owes a huge thanks to Shaun Maloney, for opening the door to the first team within days of taking over as manager in January 2023.

After keeping a clean sheet on his league debut in the final match of the 2022-23 campaign against Rotherham, Tickle was immediately handed the coveted No.1 jersey for the following campaign, when he was an ever-present as Latics finished in the top half of League One despite starting with an eight-point deduction.

"The gaffer gives me so much belief and confidence, he's done that from day one," Tickle added. "I pretty much owe my career to the gaffer...he gave me my chance when no-one else did.

"The first thing he said to me was: 'I've heard a lot about you'...which was nice. He was the first manager during my time here that viewed me as someone who could play in the first team...and I'll never forget that."