Roberto Martinez’s appointment as Wigan Athletic’s new manager has been put on hold after a row over the cost of taking the Spaniard’s backroom staff from Swansea City to the JJB Stadium.
Martinez failed to appear at a press conference to announce his appointment today. Brenda Spencer, the Wigan chief executive, said that the formalities over the Spaniard’s move could not be completed until a deal was reached over his support team. Wigan had been unable to contact Huw Jenkins, the Swansea chairman, but were hopeful of concluding the deal imminently.
“We have an agreement with Roberto verbally but he cannot sign at the moment to be our manager until Swansea sign the agreement between the two clubs,” Spencer said. “It’s absolutely frustrating because at no time over the last week have Swansea ever mentioned anything about backroom staff.”
Wigan insist the deal is still on and are ready to continue negotiations over the additional staff. “We have agreement for Roberto, we just have to see what compensation they want [for the rest]. Unfortunately we cannot get hold of their chairman at the moment,” Spencer said.
“We just have to get on to Swansea about compensation for backroom staff. We hope to get something sorted today or tomorrow but certainly early next week. At about 11am this morning we did think this was something we could sort out in time but until we get hold of the Swansea chairman there is not much we can do.
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“I’d just say to the fans to hold on tight and keep their fingers crossed and their toes crossed and hopefully Roberto will be our manager today or tomorrow.”