Kai Payne

Defensive Midfielder - Wigan Athletic
28 Sep 2026
Monday
Process

Marked for Kai Payne

7 Edition

The Wigan Athletic Herald

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Herbie Cairns damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Wigan Athletic run riot against Stevenage

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

Elijah Igiehon breaks a bone — 29 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

A brace, and Joseph Hungbo takes the afternoon — 8.38

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joseph Hungbo provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Fraser Murray

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Hindolo Mustapha at 20 — 7.85

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hindolo Mustapha did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Sam Tickle in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Joe Taylor

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Squad

Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Hungbo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

Back issues
5 Edition

The Wigan Athletic Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Herbie Cairns

43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wigan Athletic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Fraser Murray

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Kai Payne puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Wigan Athletic, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Sam Tickle in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Fox is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Match

Wigan Athletic find a way past Burton Albion

Burton Albion made Wigan Athletic work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Joseph Hungbo at his very best

Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Wigan Athletic.

Squad

Will Aimson gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Morgan Fox

Defensive actions: 8. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

In brief

2 Edition

The Wigan Athletic Herald

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Wigan Athletic say no — this time

The offer from Middlesbrough for Fraser Murray was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Sam Tickle signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sam Tickle commits to Wigan Athletic for another 5 years.

Squad

Sam Tickle in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wigan Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Wigan Athletic training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Fox is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Dara Costelloe gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The clock runs on Baba Adeeko's contract

48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

In brief