Wigan Athletic boss candidate makes surprising admission

Latics surprisingly sacked Richardson earlier this month after a run which saw them pick up only four points from a possible 30.

Prior to that, Richardson had worked miracles, keeping Latics up against the odds - and during administration - in 2021, before winning the League One title last term.

Kolo Toure is expected to be confirmed as Richardson's successor any day, after being offered the job last Friday.

Prior to Toure's name entering the fray, former Blackpool manager and Aston Villa No.2 Neil Critchley had been backed into odds-on on Thursday night.

Critchley has since admitted he was surprised to see the vacancy arise after the job Richardson had done over the last couple of years.

“If you ask every manager one thing that is missing, they’d all say it’s time," he said during a podcast appearance with students from the University of Central Lancashire. "It’s a rare commodity now in football.

“Leam did an incredible job with Wigan, especially during administration and during the pandemic, getting them promoted.

“They had a bit of a tough spell recently, but I fully expected him with the players he had and the staff he had around him to come through that.

“Everyone in the Championship suffers a bad spell at some point, every team, and I’d have expected him to come through it.

“Every manager would want time. Unfortunately in football nowadays you don’t seem to get a lot of time or patience.”