Wigan manager Malky Mackay is adamant David Sharpe is the perfect man to take the club forward after the 23-year-old was appointed the Football League's youngest chairman this week.
Owner Dave Whelan, 78, stepped down from his day-to-day duties at the DW Stadium after 20 years this week and entrusted those responsibilities to his young grandson.
Although that succession plan had long been in the pipeline for the Whelan family, the fact Sharpe is coming into a position of power at such a tender age still raised eyebrows.
However, Mackay is familiar with Sharpe having worked closely alongside him since his appointment in November and the 23-year-old, who was only officially appointed on to the board on Christmas Eve, took on a more central role with chief executive Jonathan Jackson during the recent six-week ban imposed on Whelan by the Football Association.
And Mackay has seen enough of Sharpe to be convinced the Sky Bet Championship outfit are in excellent hands.
"It's easy to have a throwaway line about a 23-year-old taking over a football club but he's been round about the football club since he was a young man," said Mackay.
"He's here every day, is at every game and knows the inside of the football club. I look at the experience and the amount of time somebody has been at a football club.
"He's got good people round about him and I know the things that drive him, the things he's passionate about and they are good values for wanting a football club to go forward in terms of academy and recruitment."
Whelan had cited his age as the motivating factor behind his decision to step back and he will address Wigan supporters to say farewell before Saturday's home clash with Leeds.
Mackay has only been at the club for a few months but paid tribute to the impact Whelan had made on the 2013 FA Cup winners, who he took from the fourth tier into the top flight, where they spent eight seasons prior to relegation two seasons ago.
"He's put his heart, soul and life into this football club over the last 20 years," added the Scot.
"I played at Springfield Park a long time ago and to then 20 years later have a team that have a beautiful stadium, a lovely training ground and have won the FA Cup and played in the Premier League is quite a story in anybody's book.
"He's manufactured and moulded that. It's a fitting tribute tomorrow to him."
Source: PA
