Paul Cook resigns as Wigan manager

Wigan Athletic manager Paul Cook has resigned from his post after three years at the DW Stadium.

Having won the League Two title with Portsmouth in 2016/17, Cook joined the Lactics that summer and managed to carry over his success at Pompey by winning the League One title in 2017/18.

He was able to keep his side in the Championship in 2018/19 by finishing 18th, 12 points clear of the bottom three.

After a poor start to the year, Cook steered his side to 13th place last season, winning 10 of their last 18 games. Unfortunately, as a result of their administration at the beginning of last month, Wigan were deducted 12 points and were relegated to League One, finishing only two points adrift from 21st place Barnsley.

“It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave,” said Cook.

“It is well publicised that the club is going through an incredibly challenging period and, of course, we are all hoping a positive outcome can be found so this football club can write its next chapter under new ownership.

“That has to be the main priority for everyone involved and I know the administrators are working hard to ensure the club can get through these difficult times and find new owners.”

On behalf of the joint administrators, Paul Stanley added: “Throughout the past few weeks Paul has been an admirable leader for the football club. We have been inspired by the way he has worked with his staff and the players to produce an incredible run of results and performances.

“We have had an open and transparent relationship with Paul during our few weeks of involvement with Wigan Athletic and we have appreciated his integrity from day one.

“On that basis, we felt it was important we allowed Paul to leave his role as manager.”

Cook has been linked with the vacant Bristol City job, after Lee Johnson was dismissed before the end of the season. Former Brighton manager Chris Houghton has also been heavily linked with the position.