Gary Caldwell believes Wigan Athletic will see a much better head coach a decade on from his last spell in charge after being appointed by the club for the second time.
Caldwell, 43, opted to leave Exeter City and return to Wigan where he previously spent six seasons as a player and 18 months in the dugout from April 2015.
“I am so different to when I left this club 10 years ago. The experiences I have had good and bad have really shaped me as a coach,” he told Radio Lancashire.
“The job I have done in three and a half years at Exeter show that I can overachieve with what I’ve got and I have to do the same again here to get us out of this situation.
“I came back because I love the football club and think the club should be in a better position than it is. I think I can help take the club further up the league and even more than that in the future take them out of this league and back up towards the Premier League.”
Caldwell played 100 games in the top flight for Wigan and led them as captain to a shock FA Cup win at Wembley against Manchester City in 2013.
After hanging up his boots in the 2014-15 season, he accepted the challenge of trying to keep a relegation-threatened Latics in the Championship.
Although he was unable to achieve that Caldwell brought them back as League One champions in 2016 only to lose his job in October of that year after a poor start to the following season.
Caldwell went on to have spells at Chesterfield and Partick Thistle before taking charge of Exeter in 2022, racking up 180 games in charge at St James Park.
Wigan, who were beaten 4-0 by Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, have been without a permanent manager since parting company with Ryan Lowe on 7 February.
Caldwell inherits a side who are without a league win in eight games, having lost the last four, and are 22nd in the League One table, a point from safety. The length of his contract has not been disclosed.
A club statement described his return, external as “an exciting new chapter” in Wigan’s history.
