Darikwa smiles to the bank as Wigan pays up overdue wages

LONDON. — Tendayi Darikwa and his Wigan Athletic teammates have been paid their overdue wages, while chief executive Mal Brannigan has stepped down at the Championship club.

The Zimbabwe international is the skipper of the Latics.

“Liquidity issues” were blamed by the club for payment delays this month, before they were docked three points by the English Football League (EFL).

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The players had issued an open letter earlier on Friday saying they had been “disrespected” by Wigan.

Chairman Talal Al Hammad said late wage payment would “never happen again”.

“I think it is important to be as honest and open with you as possible. As the Club statement dated 10 March stated, we had a cash flow issue which caused the delay,” Al Hammad said in a letter to fans on the club’s website.

“This issue has now been resolved and I can assure you that the late payment of wages will not happen again. It simply cannot happen again.

“I appreciate you have heard that message from me before and as I said from day one and as you have rightly reminded me, actions speak louder than words.

‘‘That is something I now must prove to you and I must rebuild trust with our players, staff and of course, you, the fans.”

Brannigan has been with Latics for almost exactly two years, since Phoenix 2021 completed their takeover of the club in March 2021.

During that time, Latics retained their League One status at the end of that campaign, before winning the divisional title the following year.

This season has been rather tougher, with Latics currently bottom of the Championship, eight points adrift of safety with only eight matches remaining.

“Mal has worked tremendously hard on leading this club as chief executive through some of our darkest days,” wrote Al Hammad.

“On behalf of the whole board and the Club, I want to thank him for his dedication and commitment to Wigan Athletic.” — BBC Sport/Wigan Today

Darikwa smiles to the bank as Wigan pays up overdue wages