Wigan Athletic manager Shaun Maloney admitted his players had yet to receive their salaries and the club was prepared for an “expected” points deduction.
Wigan confirmed on 10 March that there had been delays in the payment of wages to players and staff due to “liquidity issues”. This is the fourth time in nine months that the payment of wages has been delayed.
Maloney will fly to Bahrain on Saturday evening to meet with Wigan CEO Malachy Branigan. The Wigan manager said he hoped the trip would provide “clarity”.
“No, not yet,” Maloney said on Saturday when asked if the Wigan players had been paid. “This is not the case unfortunately.”
Wigan were given a suspended three-point deduction in January for late wage payments in June, July and October 2022. Maloney admitted he had expected some form of punishment from the FFL.
The Wigan boss added: “I think we’ll have to wait and see but he was suspended last time and now it’s happened again so I think we have to expect there will be something from the Premier League.” “I don’t know what it will be, but we have to be realistic. If I sit here and say one more thing it won’t be true.
“I think the points deduction will be the EFL that will decide. We knew what the penalty would be: suspended and if it happens again… so we know what to expect and we have to leave that with the EFL.
“The situation has now arisen and that means the FA now has to look at it, and I understand that.”
Maloney flies to Bahrain on Saturday night and back in the UK on Wednesday morning, with Wigan not playing again until April 1 due to the March international holiday.
“I really expect to get some clarity,” Maloney said.
“I think it’s essential that we get clarity on where the club is in the short term.
“I think we need to be clear about what happened and why. And then we also have to have exactly the same for the long-term vision for the club, I think. But the priority has to be the players’ answers need to be pushed and we need to be clear about that.
“I’m not disappointed because I don’t have clarity, I’m just frustrated or frustrated with the players. I think they’re clearly the ones who suffer the most. So my feelings really are for them.”
Maloney was appointed Wigan manager on 28 January and admitted that when he took over he had been informed that measures were in place to ensure that late wage payments would not be repeated.
“No, it was the opposite,” he replied when asked if he had been told that the late payment would reappear. “Obviously I knew they were late before. So no, I was told the reasons for that earlier, and I was told there were certain measures that were put in place to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
Maloney was speaking after Wigan’s 1-1 draw with Watford on Saturday. The result leaves his team at the bottom of the championship table and six points from safety.
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