Wigan Athletic 'in a very good place' again, says Curtis Tilt

Curtis Tilt after survival was secured at Hull

The big centre-back was a revelation during his loan spell from Rotherham, helping Latics pull off the greatest of all ‘Great Escapes’ despite all the carnage on and off the field.

While his own future remains up in the air – Rotherham will be back in League One with Latics next term – Tilt is predicting good times ahead at the DW.

“I think Wigan are in a very good place now to move forward under Talal (Al Hammad) and the new owners,” he told Wigan Today.

“The season ended on such an uplifting note, everyone was left with a big smile on their face.

“For so long the future looked so unpredictable, but now there’s a buzz about the place and it’s great to see.”

Tilt joined Latics primarily to get much-needed minutes under his belt following a hip operation.

And despite the club enduring a car-crash campaign until the rainclouds cleared last month, Tilt says he’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

“It was such an eventful season, absolutely crazy really what we all went through as players, staff and fans,” he said.

“But we managed to achieve what we set out to do – staying in the division – so it was a job well done.

“There were a couple of occasions after bad results when we had a group discussion about how we were doing.

“But on the whole we were always very confident we had it in us to achieve the target we’d been set, and staying up.

“As players we knew one thing we could do to help was make sure the club stayed in League One, for when the new owners came in.

“And even though most of us were either loans or short-term deals, we managed to develop a spirit that got us through in the end.

“There’s now a platform for Leam (Richardson) to build the team and the club back up from League One, and hopefully back to the Championship where the club should be.”

Tilt, who won his first cap for Jamaica in March, is hoping to use his season with Latics to kickstart his career.

“I feel like I struggled a little bit to start with reaching my levels after my operations,” said the 29-year-old, who made more appearances for Latics than any other outfield player last term.

“But once I settled in, hopefully I showed what I can do.

“And with a good pre-season behind me, I’m hoping to pick up where I left off and play even better next season.”

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