This time 10 years ago, Wigan Athletic were second in the Championship and went on to secure their automatic promotion place on the last day to be promoted to the Premier League for the first time.

Now they will be inevitably relegated to League One, so what has gone wrong?

What has happened at Wigan Athletic?
What has happened at Wigan Athletic?

After the defeat to fellow Championship relegation strugglers Millwall on Tuesday night, it leaves the Latics in 23rd place on 36 points, 8 points be hide Rotherham United with three games to go.

They could stay up, and that's a big could when I say it. However Wigan have done it before, on the last day and on goal difference.

Although they weren't in a situation like they are currently, The Latics beat relegation threatened Sheffield United in the Premier League on May 13th 2007 after a dramatic 2-1 victory which still sticks in my mind.

But Wigan have lost that magic that they possessed during their first few years of a Premier League club and the problems have not just been on the pitch but off it as well.

This season has been eventful and not in a good way at the DW, compared to a well-performed last season, finishing 5th and a great run in the FA Cup, coming to the end in the semi-finals against Manchester City.

Wigan's results are hard to read, especially for Lactics fans having not won at home since August, losing to League Two leaders Burton Albion in the first round of the Capital One Cup and have lost twice to rivals Bolton Wanderers in the league and FA Cup.

Wigan now have their third manager of the season, having sacked Uwe Rosler in November which led to the misjudged appointment of Malkay Mackay, who was the subject of a well-documented FA investigation for allegedly sending sexist, racist and homophobic text messages during his time at Cardiff City.

Mackay failed to win a home game during his time at the DW and was arguably, the right man at the wrong time and possibly not at the right club either.

Chairman and owner Dave Whelan then made racist remarks during an interview with the Guardian which led to a six week ban and then forced him to step down and give the job to his 23-year-old grandson, David Sharpe.

Sharpe then appointed former captain Gary Caldwell on a permanent contract, citing that Caldwell was the only man for the job.

However it seems too little, too late for the Lancashire side as they seem destined for the third tier since 2004.

In my opinion, I think Wigan could bounce back next season with Caldwell at the helm, the Scot has been at the club since 2010 and can rebuild this broken Wigan team in League One.

If given enough time and the right resources, Caldwell can lead Wigan back to the top half of the Championship and possibly back into the Premier League.