Wigan part company with Owen Coyle after 23 games in charge

Wigan Athletic have parted company with Owen Coyle after less than six months in charge of the Championship club.

Boos cascaded down from the stands on Sunday when Derby scored all three of their goals inside the opening 29 minutes and the away fans' cheeky claims Coyle would soon be axed were greeted with applause by certain sections of the Wigan faithful. That speculative chant has now turned to reality and, despite insisting Coyle was "far and away the best for the job" back in June, chairman Dave Whelan has a managerial vacancy to fill once again as Latics bid to instantly return to the top flight. Coyle, chosen ahead of Steve McClaren - the man who led Derby to victory at the DW Stadium - was originally tasked with doing just that as he rebuilt following the Roberto Martinez-led exodus which followed their relegation and May's FA Cup final win. The club's first European campaign, the arrivals of youngsters such as Nick Powell and James McClean, and a 4-0 opening-day thrashing of Barnsley brought plenty of optimism too. However, the tide soon turned with an 890-minute spell without scoring on the road epitomising the struggles of an attack often found playing in a different style to the one which earned Martinez's sides such wide-spread admiration. Speaking after what turned out to be his final match in charge, Coyle called for a reality-check from those disgruntled by their start to the season. "If it comes through expectation then so be it," Coyle said of the discontent. "The expectation can only come from being in the Premier League because it's not as if Wigan Athletic have been winning games every week for four or five years, far from it. Wigan Athletic have been in the bottom three for the last four, five years and managed a few times to escape and they've done brilliantly to do that. "They won the (FA) Cup which was brilliant but they lost their place in the Premier League and with them losing their place, the players, the ones of big value, left. "It's building that team and putting it together. If people want to be ultra-critical that's the nature of football these days. "I'm old enough to deal with that; if they think there's something better that's all well and good. That's why we love football, it's all opinion."