The Wigan Athletic unpaid wages saga is rumbling on, and Latics defender Steven Caulker has furiously hit out at the club's Bahraini ownership for how they have handled the situation.

After they were promoted back to the Championship in 2022, Wigan first fell foul of not paying salaries on time in June but put this down to banking delays due to the Jubilee Weekend.

Further late payments followed in July and October, and for this the club were punished with a suspended three-point deduction in January for the remainder of 2023 and were ordered to deposit 125 per cent of the wage bill into a separate club account as proof that the money was there to pay players and staff on time.

However, in early March the news broke that once again that there was a failure to pay the monthly salaries yet again, this time the reason given was 'liquidity issues' from owners Phoenix 2021 Limited.

Senior Latics players turned down a partial payment and deferral of the rest of their wage packet earlier in the month but have continued to battle valiantly in their quest to stay in the division, but that was made even harder when the EFL imposed a three-point deduction to their current Championship total earlier in the week.

That has left Wigan eight points adrift of safety, and January signing Caulker has now spoken out on the issues via his LinkedIn page.

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The Sierra Leone international has revealed that the late payment is completely unacceptable and that players have been told every day for the previous two weeks that the money is 'on its way' - only to never arrive.

Caulker has also revealed that the club have refused to confirm if there will be enough money to pay players for April, with that payment due in just two weeks time on April 7.

The Verdict

Wigan players were finally expecting to get paid this week, but time is ticking on that particular front.

This is a lot more serious than the previous late payments of wages by Phoenix 2021 and Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi - the previous misdemanours were sorted out in a matter of days but this has dragged on and it almost looks as though the money has ran out.

It cannot be doing any good for the spirits of Wigan's squad as they try and find a way out of the relegation zone with just eight matches to play, and with another payment date coming up in two weeks we could see serious action taken by the squad if no money comes through.

It is a desperate situation that quite clearly needs sorting as soon as possible, but nobody knows if there is a light at the end of the tunnel with this one.