Stoke City legend Glenn Whelan has been named caretaker boss of League One club ahead of massive FA Cup tie
09:15, 09 Feb 2026
Mikel Arteta grabs a hold of Glenn Whelan's shorts in an attempt to keep a handle on the Stoke City midfielder.
View Image
Mikel Arteta grabs a hold of Glenn Whelan's shorts in an attempt to keep a handle on the Stoke City midfielder. The pair will now go head to head as Arsenal and Wigan stand-in boss.(Image: David Rogers/Getty Images)
Glenn Whelan has been appointed interim manager of Wigan Athletic heading into a massive week for the club that features an FA Cup trip to Arsenal.
The Stoke City legend will take charge with fellow coach Graham Barrow following the sacking of Ryan Lowe over the weekend. Lowe had been in the job for 11 months and his side had dropped into the League One relegation zone with a run of one win in their last 10 games. They had been 11th in early December but are now two points from safety with 17 games remaining.
The Whelan-Barrow partnership is now preparing for a home league game against Reading on Tuesday night, a trip to Arsenal on Sunday for a fourth round tie, and then another mid-week home league match, against Jack Wilshere's Luton. There are tasty fixtures beyond that against Stockport, Huddersfield and Blackpool.
Whelan spent the best part of a decade in the Stoke midfield, helping the club win promotion to the Premier League and stay there while also reaching an FA Cup final.
FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest Stoke City news, analysis and more via the Sentinel
Now 42, as a coach he has worked in the Republic of Ireland set-up and at Bristol Rovers. He joined Wigan in September 2024, initially under Shaun Maloney. He drew with Mansfield and beat Cambridge United during a brief spell as caretaker last March before the arrival of Lowe.
As a Stoke player he won five times against Arsenal, including a 3-1 FA Cup fourth round victory back in January 2010.
Like the rest of the football world, he has laughed at the irony in how Mikel Arteta is now setting up Arsenal.
He wrote on social media as he was watching Arsenal lose to Paris Saint-Germain last season: "10 mins gone and Partey has sent 4 long throws into the box.. I would love to get a few words from Mr Wenger and get his reaction on how Arteta has reinvented the wheel."
What do you think? Click HERE to join the debate
Content cannot be displayed without consent
We have launched a new WhatsApp group to deliver the latest Stoke news directly to your phone. Click the link select 'Join Chat' and you're in. If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave at any time by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking 'Exit Group', simple as that.
Every day, the StokeonTrentLive football desk strive to deliver news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Stoke City content.
Our dedicated reporter Pete Smith - who you can follow on X - follows Stoke home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.
With so much going on, we send out a daily free Stoke City newsletter which you can sign up for - and means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox.
Article continues below
If you prefer reading our Stoke stories on your phone, consider downloading the Stoke-on-TrentLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Stoke City as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple