Wigan Athletic Premier League hero tips Shaun Maloney for the top

The Scot is only nine months into his DW Stadium tenure, the first half of which was hampered by huge off-field turmoil.

Despite Latics being relegated at the end of last term, Maloney has reshaped the squad from being the oldest in the Championship to the youngest in League One.

And their results this season - taking away the eight-point deduction for financial indiscretions relating to the previous ownership - would be good enough to see them in the top half of the table after a quarter of the campaign.

Looking on from outside, Heskey - who played for Latics in the Premier League between 2006-09 - has liked what he's seen.

“I can see Shaun Maloney going on to having a very good career in management," said Heskey.

“He worked very closely with Roberto Martinez, when he was manager at Belgium and Shaun was a coach, as well as during their time together at Wigan, when Shaun was a player, so he will have learnt a lot from him.

"But you learn a lot on your own journey as well and learn from your mistakes.

“I’m sure he’ll be learning a huge amount now as Wigan manager, as well as from during his time in charge of Hibernian – especially with Wigan facing a relegation battle this season.

"He’ll be learning about how tough it’s going to be, but he’s impressed me so far at Wigan.”

Despite predicting a tough season for Latics this season, Heskey believes a degree of stability is imperative in order to progress as a club.

“Their main ambition should be to stay up,” he told stocklytics.com.

“They need stability, and the fans need it too.

"Obviously, Wigan is more of a rugby town, but their fans will come down and support the team as long as there’s stability and as long as they can see progression.

“Shaun Maloney’s done a fantastic job there – it’s going to be tough for them going forwards, but their main aim is just to survive.”