Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'There’s so much more to do to ensure we don’t experience another season like last...'

Sean Livesey:

Gary Caldwell was quoted earlier this week that 'we have underachieved for too long now in League One. I feel like the club needs a real shake again this summer to get it going again...' Well one way to show that real 'shake' would be to see the departure of your sporting director on the day the transfer window opened.

It’s fair to say the reaction to Gregor Rioch’s departure has been mixed. Some, if not the majority, quite rightly recognise his work in turning our academy in to one of the most successful in the country. Along with his efforts in keeping the club alive on two occasions.

First through the sales of that first wave of academy talent in that horrible summer of 2020, and then through his work alongside Shaun Maloney and other club luminaries in convincing Mike Danson to buy Wigan Athletic three summers ago.

Arguably his time as ‘sporting director’ hasn’t gone as well as his time in charge of the academy. It’s been marked by poor recruitment, off-the-field issues, and unpopular managerial changes. Rioch threw himself all in with Ryan Lowe last season, which I suppose is natural for a man who had made such a decisive move in getting rid of a club legend.

It’s a shame Lowe didn’t have the same level of enthusiasm for the club as Rioch did in defending him. It went on far too long, and anyone could see Lowe was not a good fit for our football club. It’s difficult to say whether this is one of the reasons Rioch has departed, but the end of the statement talks about a ‘full football department restructure’ being announced in due course.

This is a crucial summer for the club. We have shown early ambition in the transfer market by bringing back Max Power and bringing in Connor Barrett, but there’s so much more to do to ensure we don’t experience another season like last one.

Hopefully it means Caldwell has been given carte blanche to go for what he thinks he needs ahead of the new season. But with concerns still remaining around the ownership and our future, it’s difficult to not see everything through that prism.

Could Rioch’s move be clearing the decks ahead of a sale? Or perhaps he simply decided his time was up. Whatever the reasons it represents an opportunity for a re-set of sorts. Let’s see how Latics take it.

George Arkwright:

Gregor Rioch...we hardly knew ye. Which is perhaps a strange thing to say about a man who spent so much of his career at Wigan Athletic. If ever there was someone you could describe as part of the furniture at the football club, alongside Graham Barrow, it was Gregor.

Yet despite holding one of the most senior positions at the club, many supporters barely knew him at all. Outside of fan forums and the occasional appearance, he was rarely heard from publicly. In many ways, that was always my biggest criticism of him. At a time when the ownership group appeared reluctant to speak directly to supporters, the club often felt rudderless.

I remember telling Gregor exactly that. His voice, I felt, could have gone a long way towards reassuring fans and explaining the realities of running a League One football club. His response was that it wasn't really within his remit, although he did make one final public statement shortly afterwards.

That criticism aside, every interaction I had with him left me with a positive impression. I met Gregor on several occasions, most notably during a visit the training ground, and later in the directors' box before our home fixture against Exeter.

On both occasions he was approachable, engaging and generous with his time. He was happy to discuss recruitment, finances and the realities of operating within League One, all while retaining a sense of humour about the ever-rising price tag attached to Joe Taylor every time he found the net.

When I later spoke with Sarah Guilfoyle, she was equally complimentary. They had known each other for years and it was clear that Gregor had earned enormous respect internally. That respect wasn't difficult to understand.

His lasting legacy will undoubtedly be the academy. While his responsibilities ultimately extended across the entire Wigan Sporting Group, youth development always felt like the area closest to his heart. From his early work running the academy through to his role as sporting director, creating pathways for young players remained central to his thinking and proved invaluable on innumerable occasions.

It is thanks to him, at least in part, that we still have a football club. That said, there will be supporters who argue that he was not entirely suited to the sporting director role. And that debate is fair enough.

But I think it's also important to acknowledge the circumstances in which he was operating. He inherited a club that has spent much of the last decade lurching from crisis to crisis. Restrictive budgets, ownership uncertainty and challenges beyond his control would have made the job difficult for anyone.

From my conversations with him, it was clear he understood recruitment, valued the people around him and had genuine faith in the club's processes. Ryan Lowe and Shaun Maloney were both appointments that made sense at the time and, while not everything worked, I think he deserves credit for helping to steady a ship that often looked perilously close to the edge.

Ultimately, Gregor was a man who cared deeply about Wigan Athletic. He spoke about the club with conviction, consideration and genuine affection. Those qualities were evident every time I met him, and I suspect they will be missed long after his departure.

The more immediate question, however, is what happens next. Parting ways with your sporting director on the opening day of the transfer window is unusual timing, particularly when Gary Caldwell himself suggested only a matter of weeks ago that player negotiations were already underway.

Whether Gregor was directly involved in those discussions or not, his departure inevitably leaves supporters wondering who is now steering the football operation through what is arguably the most important period of the summer.

The club's statement referenced forthcoming structural changes to the footballing hierarchy, but offered little indication of what those changes might actually look like. Naturally, that has allowed speculation to fill the void.

Some will view this as the first step towards a wider reshaping of the football department as a precursor to new ownership. It could also simply be a change in personnel - someone more suitable and more adept at the job. Others may wonder whether it forms part of another round of cost-cutting measures.

Personally, I hope it is the former. Wigan Athletic has spent too long looking backwards, reacting to problems rather than building towards something. If these changes are part of a coherent plan to strengthen the club's football structure and position us for future success under an incoming buyer, then they should be welcomed.

For now, though, all supporters can do is wait for further clarity. Gregor's departure closes a significant chapter in the club’s recent history. Whether the next chapter proves to be a positive one remains to be seen.

Matt Auffrey:

We’re one week into the World Cup, and we’ve had our share of predictable results thus far - one of the most notable ones being Germany’s dismantling of Curacao by a 7-1 scoreline.

We’ve also had some massive surprises. How about ex-Latics loanee Omar Rekik scoring more goals for Tunisia against Sweden than Spain’s entire squad could muster against Cape Verde? Madness!

I unfortunately won’t have any commentary on England’s debut match against Ghana as I inadvertently scheduled a cavity-filling appointment at the dentist right on kick-off. Whatever the result is when my dental work is finished, I’ll be ‘numb’ to it all...!

Alright. That’s all for the bad jokes. With few legitimate transfer rumours circulating over the weekend, it seemed as if it would be a quiet start to the week for Latics news. Needless to say, the announcement of Gregor Rioch’s departure from the club sent shockwaves through our fanbase.

As our academy manager for nearly a decade, Rioch worked under various ownership groups and witnessed the club transition through different eras. Upon joining the club in December 2013, there were still real ambitions to make an immediate return to the Premier League after suffering our first relegation earlier that year.

We yo-yoed between the second and third divisions for the rest of the 2010s and remained in a relatively stable position. It was an exciting time for the academy as well with young teenagers like Joseph Gelhardt, Kyle Joseph, and Alfie Devine emerging as starlets who could help the club make major breakthroughs as we entered the next decade.

However, we entered administration in 2020, and many key figures abandoned what was presumed to be a sinking ship. Rioch played a massive role in keeping the club afloat day-to-day during that period.

It was also at that point where we needed to really cash in on our academy investment in the first team set-up. It soon became common for us to field line-ups with seven or eight academy graduates on the pitch at once. Some of these academy graduates such as Callum Lang, Thelo Aasgaard, and Charlie Hughes became cornerstones of the squad before moving on to play at a higher level.

I felt an immense source of pride when Rioch led my dad and me on a comprehensive tour of our academy in August 2022. The facility and its staff clearly formed a spine that would help keep the club upright, regardless of how the game's landscape changed in the years ahead.

Rioch’s promotion to director of football in 2023 coincided with Latics' transition to the ‘sustainable era,’ where transfer fees from selling academy graduates became a major part of balancing the chequebook within our new financial model. However, we have fallen quite short of our on-pitch goals over the past several seasons, and poor player recruitment has significantly contributed to our underperformance.

Since Gary Caldwell deserves a clean slate as he enters the new campaign, a major personnel change like Rioch’s exit makes sense. There is surely another role for him in the game where he can experience the same degree of success that he achieved in the Latics academy for so many years.

There is a bit of speculation across the internet that Rioch’s departure is a precursor for bigger changes to come - possibly at the ownership level. Those who asked for some excitement in our neck of the woods after a dull start to the off-season will certainly get their wish granted going forward.

I couldn’t have predicted the changes that would take place in the immediate future last week, so I won’t try and predict what will happen over the next seven days. In the meantime, I won't schedule any more appointments that conflict with major World Cup matches over the next month!

Martin Lally:

It may well be pre-season, but it’s been another interesting week in Wigan Athletic world.

Our second signing of the season has arrived in Connor Barrett from Walsall. The full-back comes with a good pedigree from fans, but also seemed to have fallen out of favour in the latter stages of last season, with some suggesting not so happy with the club not allowing him to progress his ambitions.

This doesn’t worry me for two reasons. One, we want players with determination to succeed and push our club forward. And two, Gary Caldwell!

Fans have already had their say about the return of Max Power, and the rumour Stephen Humphries wants a return. Don’t get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I’m also not in the game of returns for old players. But it can work.

Also, if you’re a fan and can’t see that Max is what we need in there, I’m sorry but you are not reading the room correct. And you’re setting the lad up to fail before we even kick a ball. He will be fitter than most, and only missed games in a play-off Bradford City team last term due to suspension.

He contributed with goals and assists and will be brilliant in our dressing room - next year’s captain for me. As someone much wiser and better respected than me once said: ‘Let Latics gel’

Nothing on the outgoings yet in terms of players, but it feels like a relationship in decline and you’re just waiting for the final chat to say it’s all over.

One surprise for the fanbase this week was Gregor Rioch leaving the club. I have to find the correct words here, because I don’t want to be deemed as being hypocritical in any way, shape or form.

To start, whatever we think about Gregor, this club would not be in the place it is without the work he has done over the years. He has helped to shape the future, especially with the young superstars that have moved down the production line and onto bigger things.

However, I did find myself frustrated with the whole situation around the Shaun Maloney exit/Ryan Lowe arrival, and the subsequent 12 months that arose from this.

A friend, in a different context, said to me this week: ‘You can do 100 things correct, but you’re only remembered for the one thing you did wrong’...and unfortunately football fans can be short-sighted like this. And perhaps that’s why some will remember Gregor for the latter, and not be more objective to what he achieved at the club.

I wish him and his family the best of luck with their future endeavours and hope he will be welcomed at the club in the future. Possibly the best way I can describe this departure, this week.

In other news, Leicester have taken a gamble on Russell Martin, who has been really successful and really unsuccessful during his career in management, and in a fanbase that are unforgiving, he must get off to a good start.

I also noticed that Ashley Fletcher’s move to Huddersfield has possibly confirmed that Latics fans favourite Joe Taylor will be on the move...to possibly join his old Lincoln City boss Michael Skubala at Bristol City, possibly even with our very own Sam Tickle.

Finally this week, isn’t the World Cup great? Personally, I think it’s been a great start. There are teams we expected to be poor who have started great, and it’s the first time since 1966 that Spain had so many shots on goal and didn’t score against a Cape Verde side that you wouldn’t have put a bet on to get anything.

The Scots have got cops playing ‘keepy up’ and are taking over Fenway Park with baseball enthusiasts slowly becoming members of the Tartan Army!

Things you simply love to see in a Makerfield world consistently littered with doorstep visits and leaflets suggesting the shape of the future...let’s just get on with the flipping football! The sooner this by-election is over, the better!

Come on GC, let’s get some more on the ‘Believe’ bus and push onto August. Up the ‘things are moving’ Tics!