Wigan Athletic: Leam Richardson shares his 'gratitude' after signing a new three-year deal with the club

Wigan Athletic manager Leam Richardson says he feels both “fortunate” and “grateful” after signing a new three-year contract with the club.
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The 42-year-old, who has been in charge since 2020, hopes he can continue to build on what he’s done so far during his time at the DW Stadium.

Richardson returned from Bahrain on Wednesday morning, after meeting with the club’s owner and signing a new long-term deal.

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He said: “It’s always successful and always nice to see the owner and the chairman, especially in their environment, having very good conversations about how we move forward in reflection of what has been happening since the takeover.

“I’m very fortunate to represent this football club, the town and the people.

“I’ve got a great amount of gratitude to the ownership for allowing me to lead. It all comes with hard work from the staff and the players.

“No one person can do things on their own and their support gives me the belief to keep driving forward and making those positive decisions.

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People quickly forget it’s been 15/16 months since the takeover happened, where we had three players and no ground staff.

Leam Richardson (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)Leam Richardson (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)
Leam Richardson (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

“We’ve built all the departments up around the football club, and we are still building. We are still way short of where we want to be, but it will come in time and those small steps.

“It’s a collective effort to continue the work we’ve been doing and be more thoughtful going forward to end up in that position on the pyramid where the ownership wants us to be.

“As a manager, it’s always your job to leave somewhere better than where you found it.

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“We want a really competitive nature and philosophy around the football club, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“We’re in such a competitive league in the Championship so we’ve got to be mindful in our process.”

The job Richardson has done during his time with Wigan has seen some fans talk about him in the same breath as Paul Jewell and Roberto Martinez.

“We’re in good company there,” he added.

“That might be my mum who put all the positive Tweets out, so thanks to her.

“The message to everyone is, they’ll get more of the same.

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“My own professional nature is a will to win and to drive forward.

“At this club I’ve experienced more or less most jobs, as well as the difficult times, the good times and the best times.

“It does have that extra nature to keep driving it forward because it does deserve to be in a certain place.

“Within this organisation I’m really fortunate, we’ve got to show a lot of gratitude to the ownership that came in when we were at our darkest days.

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“They took a football club from as low as it can be without going out of existence, and brought everything into a really positive place.

“They want to keep moving forward and have real energy for the football club.”