Wigan Athletic chief still finds EFL points penalty 'very tough to understand' - seven months on

Latics' well-documented financial difficulties under the previous ownership put them at the mercy of the EFL, whose punishment has meant this season has been one constant uphill task.

The issue came back to the fore ahead of Saturday's visit of Reading, who are going through a scarily similar series of events which affected Latics last term.

However, despite the problem showing no sign of abating, the Royals have so far still only been deducted four points, with the EFL seemingly content to go after the owner - Dai Yongge - rather than the club.

Many Latics fans have taken issue with perceived double standards in the way both clubs have been treated.

And while remaining tremendously sympathetic to the Reading staff affected by the current uncertainty, Maloney too says he's still struggling to come to terms with how severely Latics were punished - for issues that were immediately put right the moment Mike Danson completed his takeover last June.

"Yeah, I think it's tough, and I definitely hope this doesn't come out as making it an 'us and Reading' situation," he said. "Because whatever they're going through...I'm really not sure what their situation is.

"Regarding our own situation...I still find tough to understand. Last season was really tough, as everyone knows, the lack of payments, the finding of the club stopped.

"What was really tough to take was the punishment that was carried over into this season, under a new owner. And it was a punishment that was already there, before we'd even set foot back in for pre-season, we knew it was going to be minus eight.

"It is what it is, unfortunately, I wasn't privy to the emails between the club and the EFL.

"It is tough, and it does feel like we've been punished very severely for last season...yeah, it does. But having said that, I'm not entirely sure what the situation is with Reading, and whether it's exactly the same...I doubt that it is.

"If we take Reading out of this, I still find it tough to have the minus eight this season, when every issue we had was fixed before any player arrived or before any fixture list came out.

"But it's there, and we just have to fight it. And that's why - as I keep saying to you guys - this season has felt like a constant fight, where everything has felt magnified.

"We lose on penalties to Doncaster, there's renewed worries about how the club is being run.

"It just feels like one of the unique seasons where everything feels magnified because of the minus eight they gave us.

"There's a few things within that which I will leave for now, and perhaps discuss at the end of the season...hopefully when we're safe.

"I'm still not quite sure how they came about that decision to dock us minus eight points for this season...but let's leave that now."