Ben Goodburn explains how Wigan Athletic can succeed on reduced budget by being 'smarter'

So says chairman and interim CEO Ben Goodburn, who is confident Latics will be able to slash outgoings to a far more manageable level, while still providing manager Shaun Maloney with enough to achieve their on-field goals.

"It's about everyone working together in the right way, to best deliver on the budget we have, and delivering a team that is really going to compete," said Goodburn, in an exclusive interview with Wigan Today.

"And it's not just about budget - if you look at the pathway Shaun and Gregor (Rioch, sporting director) and Jake (Campbell, Academy chief) have created, for youngsters to come through, that really is one of the fundamental pillars of how we want to operate as a football club.

"We will continue to invest heavily in our Academy, bring on young talent, and give them game-time in the first team.

"A lot of Premier League teams have seen that, and that's how we've been able to attract loan players such as Luke Chambers last season and Calvin Ramsay for next season.

"So we're in a good place, with still a lot of work to do in terms of recruitment. Shaun wants most of the squad in place by the time they go to Hungary (for a training camp) in less than a fortnight's time, and the staff are working very hard to achieve that."

Goodburn was giving his first interview since Mike Danson assumed control of the club just over a year ago - which saved the club from the very real threat of extinction.

"We have to understand where we have started from," he added. "I think we went from the fifth oldest team in the Championship EFL when we took over, to having Academy graduates playing 42 per cent of first-team minutes last season - the highest across all four divisions of the EFL.

"As you may have seen from the financial results, we also had one of the highest playing budgets when we came into the club, and we have to work in a much smarter way as a club. We have set the budget for the coming season, as we do in every single one of the other departments.

"Everyone involved is crystal clear on what they are working within, Shaun and Gregor have known what the 2024/25 playing budget has been for some time now. But we also want to use tools that perhaps haven't been used here before.

"For example we come from a data analytics background, and we've given Shaun and Gregor access to an awful lot of data analytic insight to help us become smarter in terms of both recruitment and for approaching and reviewing matches."