Shaun Maloney, the manager of Wigan Athletic, has admitted that Stephen Humphrys’ exclusion from the starting lineup against Bristol Rovers was due to factors unrelated to football.
A few eyebrows were raised among the audience before to the game when the 26-year-old forward was named to the bench for the trip to Memorial Stadium.
Humphrys replaced Thelo Aasgaard 10 minutes after the break, moments after Rovers had gone 3-1 up, and was powerless to prevent the hosts adding a fourth towards the end, with most of the play going on at the other end of the field.
“It was really difficult, because it wasn’t a footballing decision,” said Maloney, went with Aasgaard, stand-in skipper Callum Lang and on-loan Fulham winger Martial Godo behind Charlie Wyke.
“Stephen is a very good kid, and he’s been brilliant since I’ve been here.
“But he was late to a team meeting this week.
“Everyone is pretty clear there is a culture at the training ground, in terms of everyone being as punctual as they can.
“When somebody drops below that, I have to make a very tough decision, for the good of the group.
“What I will say in Stephen’s case, he’s worked extremely hard during my time at the club, and I do have a lot of time for him.
“But this is part and parcel of life…sometimes things get thrown up as a manager.
“It’s done, though, the matter is now closed, and it’s back to training on Monday with a clean slate.”
