Wigan Athletic manager Shaun Maloney was linked to the Swans head coach role on Wednesday, purely down to the betting stats across a variety of sites. Now, he has responded with an affirmation he is happy at the Lancashire club.

Talking yesterday afternoon he stated, "There's nothing whatsoever in that, It was only this morning when someone here mentioned it to me that I even became aware. But I'm very happy here...and I just hope the chairman and the owner are happy with me. It's just one of these things that happens in football. You get it with players and you get it with managers, but there's nothing to say on it really. I really hope I'm here for a long period of time."

It’s a difficult one as some of the more astute managers have a distinct way with words, Russell Martin always left things reasonably clear - but there were always a few unanswered questions. For Maloney to say, “There’s nothing whatsoever in that” is a signal that he is walking away from any job offer, IF it transpires. But really, he only heard about it from someone at the club yesterday morning ? We are not buying that. He may decide to take that tact as there’s little hope of him getting the role at Swansea. There could have been a smattering of money placed to actually bring Maloney to the attention of the Swans, that’s a tactic used before. Or indeed to deflect from other work the club are doing.

That’s a big thing in American betting.

Maloney is right to say football has a way of throwing up these matters for discussion, but his name doesn’t just appear for no reason. Especially from nowhere. We wrote a piece on Shaun yesterday covering his managerial record at Wigan, it isn’t brilliant. Commenting on the alleged Swans interest when asked if he was flattered he said, "No, not really, I would never take too much notice of that, good or bad”

That’s a two way street, as we stated yesterday a manager with a thirty eight percent win rate is hardly flattering either.

Our Maloney baloney feature is below.
⚽️ Maloney, baloney ?

It looks like that Maloney has backed himself to stay at Wigan regardless of what the bookies tell us. Swans fans were never going to be happy with him being appointed, so we hope his words on the matter are fully noted by Swansea City.

For us even if he was interested, he has blown any chance he had. And to be perfectly honest we don’t need another League One manager out of his depth and not understanding the first thing about Swansea City.

Photograph licensed from Reuters

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