Why Wigan Athletic star James Vaughan is aiming to ruin Christmas for his dad!

Latics host Birmingham City this weekend at the DW looking for three points to arrest a slump that’s seen them win only once in the last nine matches.

But Birmingham-born Vaughan admits that could cause a family feud round the Christmas dinner table!

“Hopefully my dad’s already bought my Christmas present...because if the result doesn’t go Birmingham’s way I may not be too popular,” he told the Wigan Post.

“He’ll be here for the big game, and fingers crossed he won’t be speaking to me after the game – for the right reasons!”

Despite coming through the ranks at Everton and speaking with a distinctive Liverpudlian twang, Vaughan admits Saturday’s opponents were his first love.

“Birmingham for me is the one that’s most special in my heart,” the 30-year-old revealed.

“I’m from Birmingham, my dad’s obviously a big fan, and I was always a Birmingham fan as a kid before I joined Everton.

“From being there so young I’d consider them to be ‘my club’, but Birmingham is also very close to my heart.”

Which meant it was an easy decision to make when the opportunity arose in the summer of 2015 to sign for his home-town club.

“It was a dream come true for me to get to play for them,” he acknowledged.

“To be honest, I think I probably suffered at the time by being so desperate to play for the club and do well for them.

“I wanted to be such a success there I probably put a little bit too much pressure on myself, and it had a detrimental effect on my performances.

“That meant it didn’t work out as I’d hoped, but I fulfilled a dream of pulling on the blue shirt and it’s something I’ll always be proud to have done.”

Despite his clear affinity for Birmingham, there’s no doubting as to where Vaughan’s loyalties will lie on Saturday.

The first of three matches in the space of a week, it’s a massive game for a Latics side aiming to exorcise the demons of last weekend’s dreadful defeat at rock-bottom Ipswich.

“When you’re coming off the back of a disappointing loss, you always want the next games to come along quickly,” Vaughan added.

“And we’re looking at this week coming up as three great opportunities to put things right.

“Birmingham being at home means we can look to continue our good record.

“But for me we can’t be relying on that for points.

“It’s about time we started picking points on the road as well.”