Kolo Toure has been sacked by Wigan Athletic. The Ivorian was appointed manager at the DW Stadium two months ago, but in nine games under his management, Wigan failed to win a single one. The gatekeeper of the Championship intervened on Thursday: exit Touré.
In November, Touré signed a contract for 3.5 years, but exactly 59 days have been completed. After last weekend’s defeat, the board no longer saw fertile ground for further cooperation. “I want to thank Kolo for his hard work. Unfortunately the results were not what we hoped for so we have made this decision as we believe this is the best way to stay in the Championship,” said director Malachy Brannigan.
Touré was an assistant coach at Leicester City after his career until he moved to Wigan a few months ago. His first coaching job was not exactly a success. The consolation for Toure is that he has long since earned his place in British football history. He is the only player ever to go a season unbeaten in both England and Scotland: in 2003/04 with Arsenal, thirteen years later with Celtic.
2nd manager fired in three months
Wigan Athletic’s confidence in Leam Richardson had recently vanished at lightning speed. Two weeks after a new three-year contract, the manager was fired.
Wigan performed poorly prior to the appointment. Given the run of eight games without a win and a 23rd place in the Championship, a dismissal was not surprising. But the changing of the guard is striking given the praise less than a month ago, before the appointment.
Chairman Talal Al-Hammad proudly announced at the end of October that Richardson’s contract had been extended by three years. “We are extremely happy,” he shared news of the manager’s future at The Latics.
Richardson had impressed as a manager at Wigan. Not only had he led the club to the Championship despite major financial difficulties, but he had also saved the life of striker Charlie Wyke after suffering a heart attack in training. Wigan also mentioned this life-saving action in the statement about Richardson’s dismissal.
Hence there is little to no surprise about the dismissal of the former Arsenal and Liverpool defender among others.
