Wigan Athletic boss hails first year under Phoenix

But ahead of Saturday’s visit of Bolton – the first of nine games in the space of 28 days that will decide their promotion fate – the Latics boss believes it’s a 12-month period that everyone involved with should feel extremely proud of.

"It only feels like a couple of weeks, it's gone so fast, and everything that's happened,” he smiled.

"We could all write a book on what's happened here in recent times, that's for sure!

"But it's just a great milestone for the club and everyone who's been involved.

"From my point of view, it's been an absolute pleasure to be part of the first part of the journey.

"I feel very fortunate to be the custodian of the manager's job for now, to be steering people in the right direction.

"We know we've still got a lot of hard work and a lot of healthy challenges ahead, to get to that position in the football pyramid we deem we deserve to be.

"Through the owner, the chairman, the chief executive, myself, and the staff, we'll keep working hard to ensure that happens.

"It's a compliment to the owners that, from the very first day, they made everyone feel very welcome, and have made some fantastic steps forward - on and off the pitch.

"The supporters have really bought into that, and that's shown in the way we've gone about business this year, and the big games we have coming up."