As a rule, Paul Jewell tends not to do downbeat, so it should come as little surprise that even the grim reality of Wigan Athletic's season is not anchoring his mood. Asked what he made of his side's increasingly fraught season, the response was immediate: "We're in the shit." It was delivered with a smirk but, even as a flippant remark, said it all.
Wigan, last season's revelation, travel to Reading tonight apparently in freefall. Their past eight games have been surrendered, and the seven-match losing streak in the league has left them just two points above the relegation zone.
The collapse has been staggering. Jewell's newly promoted side set a benchmark last season which Reading are aiming to emulate, maintaining momentum from their Championship campaign to secure 10th position. Add a first appearance in a major final, albeit a somewhat humbling defeat to Manchester United in the League Cup, and supporters of a club who only entered the league in 1978 were left pinching themselves in disbelief.
Yet, within 12 months talk of Europe has been replaced by concerns that Wigan are being sucked back into the also-rans. Gates are down and last season's incisive style has been replaced by a more desperate direct approach.
"In the last few games we've been a bit too direct, but that happens when you lose confidence," conceded Jewell. "We find ourselves in a difficult situation, but we have to get through it. I think we will. When I was at Bradford we weren't out of the bottom three more than two or three times all season, but stayed up. You've got to make sure you cope with the pressure and not let it get to the players, but at the same time make them aware that they have got to show bravery on as well as off the ball."
It is off the pitch where the manager has expressed real concern. There is dismay within the club at their apparent inability - even with reduced ticket prices - to attract bigger crowds to the JJB. Reading provided the first opposition there this season in front of fewer than 15,000. The first defeat in the current sequence, to Arsenal, did lure 15,311 though the turnstiles, but the rows of empty seats and muted atmosphere suggested otherwise.
Jewell and his chairman, Dave Whelan, have been left exasperated at the apparent apathy, and it is hardly surprising that either retaining or enticing top-quality personnel has proved similarly problematic. The departures of Pascal Chimbonda and Jimmy Bullard to Tottenham and Fulham left gaping holes. With Jason Roberts and Graham Kavanagh also gone, the spine of last season's over-achievers has been ripped away.
The vast turnover of players - 14 have arrived since the end of last season, with 11 leaving - has added to a sense of chaos, though yet more may be signed by Wednesday's deadline. The Chesterfield striker Caleb Folan joined last week, with an appeal due to be heard in Sheffield this morning over the granting of a work permit for the Nigeria striker Julius Agahowa. Jewell will pay €3 million to secure his arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk.
"We tried to buy him 18 months ago," said the manager. "So it's not just a stab in the dark."
Yet many players already in England are far from keen to relocate to Wigan. There are talks with Fulham midfielder Papa Bouba Diop over a move but, while Chris Coleman and the player's representative are happy, Diop remains resistant. As Jewell admits, selling Wigan was difficult enough last season; when the team are fourth from bottom, it can be near impossible.
That tonight's opponents are Reading seems appropriate. "They have kept the nucleus of the squad together that got them up, and they are used to winning," added Jewell. "It was the same with us really."
That was then. Now the Latics must be reborn.
