Exclusive: Wigan Athletic accelerate move to appoint Gary Caldwell
Wigan Athletic are stepping up their pursuit of Exeter boss Gary Caldwell, sources have told Football Insider.
The Latics hope to have a new manager in place for next week’s clash against Luton Town to replace Ryan Lowe, who was sacked on Saturday.
Football Insider recently revealed that Caldwell was the front-runner for the Wigan job, with the 43-year-old manager impressing at Exeter.
Wigan are aiming to pull themselves out of the relegation zone in the coming weeks, with the side currently 22nd in the table, two points from safety.
Gary Caldwell’s managerial career explained
Caldwell’s managerial career started at Wigan, where he helped guide the Latics to the League One title in 2016 before he was dismissed after a poor start in the Championship.
Since then, the manager had a short spell at Chesterfield, where he won just three of 29 matches in charge, which led to their relegation to League Two, before joining Partick Thistle in 2018.
Here, he found more success and guided the club to Scottish Championship safety in the 2018-19 campaign before he was given the boot.
Following numerous coaching roles, he took over Exeter City in 2022, where he has been able to keep the club as a mid-table team in League One.
Good luck, Super GC! 👏
— Exeter City FC (@OfficialECFC) February 11, 2026
Gary Caldwell has been nominated for @SkyBetLeagueOne manager of the month for January!#ECFC #SemperFidelis pic.twitter.com/zafKQHfyKA
In his 179 matches in charge to date, he has a 36.87 win percentage at Exeter, which is no doubt an impressive feat.
Can Caldwell keep Wigan up?
With Caldwell now the heavy favourite to take charge at Wigan, his immediate task will be to secure survival.
As it stands, Opta on 11 February are backing the Latics to drop into League Two, with a 44.16 per cent chance of this happening.
However, Caldwell’s previous experience of being relegated to the fourth tier won’t win over too many fans.
If the manager is brought in for the Luton Town match next week, it will be the start of a tough set of fixtures for Wigan, with Stockport County and Huddersfield Town then following.
Nevertheless, whoever comes in will be hoping to see positive signs from the Latics on the weekend as they travel to Arsenal for the fourth round tie in the FA Cup.