- Latics Listen - Alan Mahon is our latest star guest on the club podcast.
- "I've got nothing but good things to say about Wigan Athletic." - Mahon.
- Former winger reveals how current Latics boss Paul Cook was a big influence on a career which spanned more than 350 matches.
Speaking during our Latics Rewind feature in the latest episode of Latics Listen, former winger Alan Mahon paid tribute to the impact current Latics manager Paul Cook had on his career as a youngster, as well as reminiscing about his time at the club and promotion to the Premier League.
"It's always been a good honest club and I've still got a lot of connections within the club.
"Paul Cook was a guiding light for me when I was a kid at Tranmere Rovers, I used to look after his boots. He was a senior pro when I was coming through as a young boy.
"I've got a lot of time and respect for Paul as a player and as a person. He looked after me massively as a kid, he gave me the guidance to be the player I became.
"With the staff at the club at the moment, it's in a very good place. I know things can be difficult and the results are hard at the moment, but with Paul and all of his staff on board, the club is in a good place."
On his arrival at Latics and how quickly he settled in, Mahon continued:
"My first game was against Ipswich at Portman Road and it's funny how things work in football because I came to Wigan off the back of a loan spell at Ipswich.
"We just missed out on the play-offs in the season I joined Wigan, but if anything it made us stronger for the following year.
"As soon as I arrived at the club and witnessed the characters in the dressing room and how we went about the games that the group was ready for success. It was a different feel to anywhere else I'd been the there was this magic chemistry between the boys.
"We all came from different backgrounds. I left Blackburn Rovers where I felt left out, Jason Roberts had a similar problem and then you mixed in players like Jimmy Bullard who left Peterborough United to try and take his career to the next step, so we were a bunch of lads with a point to prove.
"We all worked together for that one goal. There was a great atmosphere around the club, from the canteen staff, the kit boys, everyone at the stadium it was a really good time to be at the club and we all fought really hard for success.
"There was a lot of professional respect for each other and had had good manners, Paul Jewell and Chris Hutchings led in that way.
"We had good people in our dressing room, good senior professionals with the likes of John Filan and Matt Jackson, and young players like Leighton Baines coming through. It was the perfect balance.
"We understood early on that we had something special and the team spirit was difficult to beat anywhere else.
"Wigan Athletic is a brilliant club and I've got nothing but fond memories from my time. My nephew Craig still works for the Community Trust at Wigan, it will always be part of my life, I've got nothing but good things to say."