Wigan Athletic have endured more than their fair share of hardships in recent years. Perhaps nobody is better served to recognise that than Shaun Maloney.
Although Maloney wasn't part of the Latics' original rags to riches journey from the lower divisions to the Premier League, he experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows during his playing career at the DW Stadium, including their FA Cup triumph and subsequent relegation back in 2013.
Just over a decade on, Maloney returned to find the club on its knees. Plagued by financial issues born through mismanagement, the severity of Wigan's plight was initally downplayed when Maloney replaced Kolo Toure as manager last January.
Finances were, to put it mildly, "completely out of control". Relegation followed months later, but the issues Maloney was forced to contend with spanned far beyond the pitch.
Staff regularly went without pay during some of the club's darkest days and Maloney, who had been greeted by plenty of familiar faces upon his return, quickly had to come to terms with the impact that Wigan's woes were having on others; on people he knew well.
Maloney, speaking to Mirror Football as part of the EFL’s youth development week, recalls: "I had a really difficult first job [at Hibernian] but that was generally down to the relationships with key people. It was still incredibly hard off the pitch. But then when I came here it was completely different in terms of people not being paid.
"Seeing familiar faces from my time at the club before almost made it worse, in a way. It was really hard to see people that I had a relationship and a connection with go through really difficult times which also impacted their families. That was really, really challenging.
"In some ways, the difficulties I experienced at Hibs helped get me ready for the situation I inherited here...but at the same time, those first six months back were just something that I could never have trained or prepared for."
Even as recently as the start of this season, the after-effects of the club's plight still lingered. Players put in their notice during pre-season with one issuing a transfer request just two days before the start of the new League One campaign.
To all extensive purposes, Maloney inherited a club which was on life support. Wigan were rescued by local billionaire Mike Danson in June but the damage from the previous regime ran deep. An eight-point penalty saw Wigan start the campaign as the favourites for relegation. They wiped that deficit out in just four matches, but again, the after-effects of said experience has more than left its mark.
"The minus eight points was really hard for me to push the mentality and the standard of the players because it was such a unique thing to fight against. And it really did feel like a fight, constantly. Every defeat felt like a disaster. We wiped out that deficit in four games and it was amazing - but we were still bottom of the table.
"We've consistently found a way, though. I can't give enough credit to the players, because there's things we've had to cut back on as a club. Things the fans won't see; budgets in every area. But the players have never once complained."
The manner in which Wigan Athletic have rallied under Maloney this season is all the more impressive when you take into account that the core of the squad is made up of fledgling young talent who, up until this season, were nothing more than promising reserve team players in stature.
Forty two per cent of all minutes played this season have been given to academy talent. The likes of Charlie Hughes, a homegrown defender who has captained the side in his breakthrough season; Sam Tickle, a promising goalkeeper in the England Under-21 fold; and Baba Adeeko, a talented midfielder who is a regular in the Ireland U21 set-up, have all established themselves as influential figures this term.
The club's plight meant that a focus on sustainability and youth development was a "necessity", but it's one Maloney and co have embraced; the days of Wigan "blowing other teams away financially" in the third-tier are well and truly over.
Maloney, whose fledgling young stars have experienced over 13,000 minutes of league action this term, explains: "We knew we had to figure out a different model. It's been extremely rewarding to watch them grow but I've had to be patient. I want to win as many games as possible, but sometimes I have to remember that for some of these lads it's their first ever year in senior football. They're going to make mistakes but there's also that pressure from above me [to win games].
"At times we've seen players literally learning on the job, because no game in this division will ever compare to any reserve game they've played in the past. It's too demanding a league. But this group will be so much stronger for the experience this time next year. I don't think any of them would have got the opportunities they've been given this year anywhere else."
Finances dictated that one of the Championship's oldest squads last season was gutted in the summer, even if Maloney believes a sprinkle of experience and nous would have complemented the club's supremely talented young core.
At just 41 years of age, Maloney is firmly in the young up-and-coming coach bracket. But being charged with the wellbeing of such a youthful squad in a division as physically taxing as League One has been just as demanding on him. He is the first to admit he hasn't got everything right.
"Sometimes as a manager it's been really tough to recognise when to push them and when to take a step back and almost understand what they're going through as a group. I'd love to say I've always got that blend right, but I haven't.
"We know that, as a club, our future has to be a self-sustainable one. We know that we need to produce our own players; that's a crucial part of that [being self-sustainable]. In that respect, we're doing okay."
Consolidation is a sensible target and sustainability remains the broader goal. But Maloney's burning ambition is, understandably, to get the club back on the keel they were on when he was lured to the north-west by Roberto Martinez many moons ago.
The Spaniard's influence still runs deep. A desire to play football the right way, fuelled by nothing less than 100 per cent effort and endeavour, is the formula Maloney hopes can help propel Wigan back to the upper echelons of the football pyramid. Crucially, it's a gameplan which does not rely on finances and the type of un-calculated risks which have become the club's calling card in their previous lodgings in the third-tier.
"We're just now starting to find our way again as a club but I know better than anyone the history of Wigan and League One. We come in here, we outspend everyone, we win the league and then we find ourselves back here. But that can't happen this time.
"Listen, we were in the Premier League when I was here before. What I see now is that we lost the training ground we purchased and we're now back at the training ground we were at previously. Everything on and off the pitch is geared towards us being self-sustainable.
"A big part of my job is trying to drive that; I want to stay here a long time but I want to leave the club in a better place than I found it. That involves bringing young players through and developing them, getting the club as close to self-sustainability as we possibly can. But I also want to win games of football. My responsibility on the football side is really important.
"We want to get out of this league but we need to do it in a different way. The days of Wigan having the biggest budget in this league are gone; we are not going to blow other teams away [financially] anymore. Those are my two biggest goals: to achieve [promotion to the Championship] and become self-sustainable. To really leave this club in an infinitely healthier position than what I walked back into last year. That's the aim; it has to be."
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