Wigan Athletic chief sets out 'demands' for January - 'Get it done...'

The Latics boss was thwarted last summer in his desire to have '90 per cent' of the squad ready for day one of pre-season, because of the way the market 'evolved'.

However, that has not caused him to temper his ambitions for the next chance to recruit at the midway point in the campaign.

"In terms of the preparation for January, I think the recruitment team took two or three days' break in summer, and then it was straight back into it," he said. "And there's definitely some areas of our team I think we need a different profile, or a bit more support for the young players.

"I think the big pressure I put on Gregor and the team over the summer was to try and get everyone together for the first day of pre-season...and I think they found that really tough. They're really good people, I know they work really hard, but I'm going to put the same sort of demands on them for this window.

"I've asked them to get whatever work we want to do...get it done for the second or the third of January.

"Look, every single club has a budget...some will have more money than us, some will have less...and the challenge is to get the very best out of the budget you have. Within that, I want the players we want to bring in to come in as quickly as possible, because it does take time, and we will probably play a different way than the team they've come from.

"In terms of the finances, the ownership has been really clear, and they've not deviated from the plan that was in place when they came in 18 months ago...that plan for the club, and the phase we're in now. Honestly, the owner is incredibly supportive of what we're doing, and there are finances available should we need it.

"It's not a massive amount of money but, if we feel there is a certain player which we have to pay a small fee for, we have those funds available. They just have to be the right players, and be better than what we have at the moment."