Wigan Athletic's chief's long-term Kevin Miller hope

Gary Caldwell is hopeful the tragic passing of goalkeeping coach Kevin Miller can 'bring us even more together' as a club.

Latics paid tribute to Miller - who joined the club over the summer from Exeter City - before and during last weekend's home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.

And Caldwell believes the group will benefit in the long term from the short time they knew the 57-year-old.

"Football is the most important thing of the least important things in life, and we've found that out again this week," he said.

"You never think something like this is going to happen to our football club, to people in and around our group. But it shows you again just how fragile life is.

"We accept the responsibility that football gives us, but sometimes there's more important things going on than football.

"I think, in time, this will bring us even more together, and make us an even stronger group. It's been such a difficult experience that it has to bring us close together, and I'm sure it will.

"I hope we can use Kev's legacy and what he represented as a person to help us move forward."

The club's goalkeepers - first-choice Joe Whitworth, second-choice Joe Walsh, and youngsters Tom Watson and Matteo Spinelli - will inevitably have felt Miller's passing more than most.

"We spoke to the group as a whole, but I spoke to the goalies individually before that, because they were coming in just after we found out the horrendous news," he added.

"I've spoken to the goalies as a group since then, to see what they wanted to do, and we've tried to keep them with the group as much as we can.

"We had Matteo and Tom in on Saturday, working with the Joes to get them ready for the game, and it must be really difficult for them. Goalies by nature are different, they look after each other, they're tight.

"I still don't know why they do it, but they go out early and just catch the ball with each other, spending time with each other, so it's difficult for them, and they'll have to process that even more.

"We had plans in place for what we were going to do, and obviously that's all changed. We did the best we could...I said to the players, the effort and the application, they gave me everything.

"But they were drained a lot in terms of their mental energy, which I can totally understand.

"Yes there are areas where we can get better, and we will get better. But I think this international break has come at a very good time for us to try to reset, and try to find ways to move on from this."

Latics don’t have a League One fixture now until the long trip to Stevenage on Saturday, October 10.

Both Saturday’s scheduled fixture at Leicester City and the visit of Mansfield Town on Saturday week have been postponed due to international call-ups for the opposition.