Wigan Athletic boss opens up on 'hardest part of the season for me'

The Scot was speaking after a run of one point from their last three games has left Latics sixth bottom of League One - only four points above the drop zone.

However, data has also been published this week confirming Latics have the youngest squad in the division - in terms of minutes played - with an average age of 23.5 years.

While keen to not to make excuses, Maloney says the two situations are interlinked.

"I think that's probably been the hardest part this season for me," he said. "The age thing, I guess it's always been there...and it's evolved that way through the window, and how it kind of worked out.

"But in terms of the stage of the club...and I think I've said this before...it's trying not to dampen expectations of the support, I don't think you should ever do that...because why are they coming to watch?

"There's lots behind that, though...and I've said before I've definitely found myself having to be more patient than I thought I would be.

"In terms of where we are as a club, and the phase of the rebuild...of course you always want to be further ahead than you are.

"But I definitely think fighting for the top six is still realistic...while at the same time I have to be patient with things like our ruthlessness.

"And maybe that is actually connected to inexperience in terms of age in certain positions.

"But we have what we have, and it's my job to get the team to perform in certain areas the way that I want.

"There's obviously some very good things going on, in relation to where we've come from over the last 18 months.

"On my part, the only thing most people will see is media, interviews, results on the pitch.

"But there's so much off the pitch as well, that I have to achieve, lots of things...in terms of what the club loses each year, bringing that down.

"Success within that, I know, will not be exciting for supporters to hear, it's not so much of a big thing...but it's actually a big part of my job...part of the rebuild.

"Certain things I have to achieve, that aren't always about results...albeit the main thing for a manager is always results on the pitch.

"The key thing is to try to marry those two, and we are doing quite well off the pitch in terms of trying to rebuild the club...and I mean we're at the very early stages of doing that.

"Clearly we need to get better results on the pitch, and we're trying our best to make that happen as well."

The nature of the League One table means Latics are also only nine points off the top six.

They have one more game before the next international break – the visit of Wycombe Wanderers on November 9.