Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan believes Steve Bruce's success since taking over this season has justified his decision to dump Chris Hutchings.

In his column for the Manchester Evening News, Whelan said of Bruce: " He has transformed the side and there is an amazing difference in our make-up. The fighting spirit and the pride is back and I had to bring him in when I did.

"Waiting another week could have been fatal. People say give a manager time until Christmas but we couldn't do that because it could have been too late and if we hadn't acted we might not have given ourselves the realistic chance we have of staying up.

"We've climbed the table but don't forget we still have to play Arsenal and Manchester United at home, and these will be two extremely difficult games."