New Wigan Athletic manager may have to rip up Shaun Maloney blueprint | OneFootball

The incoming Wigan Athletic manager may have to rip up the blueprint used by Shaun Maloney

Wigan Athletic caught everyone off guard on Sunday when they announced that they'd parted ways with Shaun Maloney, owing to the fact their League One campaign had not progressed as anticipated.

A 2-1 home defeat to Reading on Saturday, in which Wigan led, proved to be the final straw for the Latics hierarchy, who pulled the trigger on Maloney just a day later, and they're now in the market for a new boss.

Maloney had been in charge at the DW Stadium for over two years before his sacking, overseeing a turbulent period for the club which resulted in a points' deduction last season, but he still managed to keep them up in League One.

Many had expected they'd kick on this season with their expansive brand of football, but it simply didn't work out that way, which leaves the incoming manager with a huge dilemma.

That's an issue shared by the Wigan board, who either appoint a manager who will go down the same route as Maloney's total approach, or they rip everything up and start afresh.

Shaun Maloney's blueprint may have to be ripped up

It's a great shame that things worked out the way they did for Maloney, who will always be regarded as a Latics legend for his part played in the FA Cup success of 2013 and Wigan's eight successive Premier League seasons.

Ultimately, though, as a manager, his shortcomings were exposed greatly in League One and the new manager may have to coach the football out of the players in order to get the results needed to solidify their spot in the league for next season.

Maloney loved to get the ball down on the floor and play, but without the players to truly play that system properly, it always looked a little disjointed for Wigan, with sideways and backwards passing often drawing moans and groans from the Latics fans.

The continued absence of star midfielder Matt Smith certainly didn't help Maloney's style of play, but it also posed the question of why Wigan didn't adapt in his absence, and that's something the new manager may have to do.

Wigan favoured young players in the market, whilst also trying to blood their own academy graduates, and that perhaps came at a cost as they've shown relative inexperience throughout the season, though that's something the new manager will have to work with for the rest of the campaign.

Shaun Maloney did a lot of positive things at Wigan

The total football approach Maloney took at The Brick Community Stadium certainly didn't yield results, and it poses whether their new manager should rip up everything he left behind.

The incoming boss certainly shouldn't rip up everything Maloney worked towards, particularly the focus he placed on the academy and blooding youngsters.

Academy graduate Sam Tickle is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in League One, while Charlie Hughes and Thelo Aasgaard have both been sold to Championship clubs for sizeable fees over the last two windows.

Others, like James Carragher, Scott Smith, Kai Payne, Chris Sze, Baba Adeeko and Harry McHugh, have all been handed first-team opportunities under Maloney, and it's in the DNA of the club to look close to home when identifying talent.

That comes with its pitfalls, as those names are all inexperienced, which perhaps played into Maloney's downfall, but selling on talent is one of Wigan's main income streams, so the new manager must continue the good work Maloney did at developing those players, even if the style of play alters.