Why Gregor Rioch is so sure 'over-performing' Ryan Lowe can achieve 'the impossible dream' at Wigan Athletic

So says sporting director Gregor Rioch, who wants the 46-year-old to bring his proven track record of success at Bury, Plymouth and Preston to Wigan.

"It's important to have a competitive budget, but it's also important to try to out-perform it as well," said Rioch, a former team-mate of Lowe's from their playing days at Shrewsbury Town.

"When you look at Ryan's CV, and his experiences at Bury, he managed to achieve a promotion under the most unique of circumstances, where players and staff weren't being paid for months. But he managed to galvanise and rally a group for a prolonged period of time, to achieve what was probably an impossible dream.

"He then won promotion at Plymouth, and he also outperformed at Preston...you only have to compare their playing budget to where they regularly finished in the league during his time.

"If we can provide a top-10 budget - which we will do next season - there will be expectations but also ambitions to outperform those expectations, initially over the next 12 months. But also still building and still improving over the next 24 months and beyond to get out of this division in the right manner."

Meeting the media on Thursday morning for the first time since being named as Shaun Maloney's successor, Lowe was also quick to underline his credentials for the post.

"I've always overachieved on my budget, and I think it's very important to do that," he said. "At Preston, I finished 12th, 12th and 10th on a budget of 19th and 20th, which I think is remarkable.

"We're not going to blow everyone out of the water with a massive budget. We want players to come here because they want to come and represent this football club.

"It's not all about the money, it's all about the project. And if we can get everyone on board to get this football club back where we belong, we'll do that."

When asked what his promotion secret was, Lowe replied: "Do you know what? The secret is to recruit smart, and have a real feeling of togetherness.

"It's all about the buy-in...if you buy into the hard work, the commitment, the culture of what I want, what I am...anything is possible."