Interview: Gary Caldwell, Wigan defender and Scotland international

THERE are some who believe that once the SPL has conducted its investigation into undisclosed payments to Rangers players, the repatriation of league medals will have to follow. If it is deemed that the Ibrox club irregularly registered players through their employee benefit trust (EBT) years of 2001-10, all results achieved in that period must face being erased.

Such a scenario would put Gary Caldwell in line to receive SPL winners’ medals in the post from seasons 2008-9 and 2009-10. It would give him a complete set of championship badges from his time at Celtic, whom he played for from the summer of 2006 until leaving for Wigan in January 2010. The prospect, however, holds absolutely zero appeal for the 29-year-old.

“It is getting pretty messy for Rangers,” says the captain of the club currently at the foot of the Barclays Premier League. “One day after another new things seem to be coming out. I am sure they will get to the bottom of it. But every league medal I won with Celtic, I had to earn it, work for it. I worked harder and played better than others for those, and the ones I didn’t win others worked harder and played better. A medal dropping through my letter box wouldn’t mean anything to me. Not at all would I want that.”

The Scotland internationalist has only good wishes for the club he was required to enjoy an adversarial relationship with while playing in Glasgow and whose administration ills have been “big news in England”. “I think it is a fact that a club of that size has found itself in that scale of turmoil,” he says. “It isn’t a good situation for football, or the Scottish game. Whatever team you support you want to win, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have regard for those in the scene you compete against. I hope it all gets sorted out because without Rangers, Scottish football would lose a great deal of its wider appeal. The rivalry with Celtic brings so much of the global spectacle to our game.”

Not that he considers Rangers’ difficulties would in any way diminish what Neil Lennon’s champions-elect have the chance to see through. Their Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tannadice today represents the last game outside of Glasgow in which they require to avoid defeat in the pursuit of only a second treble in 43 years. “Celtic put a run together to pile on the pressure on Rangers before their financial situation began to bite, and that shouldn’t be forgotten. I was there for three years and we had a really good team but we never got close to a treble. If they do it this year it will be a fantastic achievement that shouldn’t be qualified.”

It is a very different football existence Caldwell is now living out at Wigan. It is not so much the winning but the losing just a little less than three other teams in your set-up that counts. Going into their trip to Norwich this afternoon, Roberto Martinez’s men haven’t been able to do that. With one win, two draws, and one defeat in their past four games, they at least aren’t being beaten at the alarming rate they were late last year. But they haven’t managed back-to-back wins in the entire campaign, and Caldwell declares that is a must to avoid being one of the three teams from the five separated by two points who loses their place in the monied market of the English top flight. It is not like winning titles at Celtic.

“That was more enjoyable, this is far more pressure,” he says. “You may have been nowhere if you were second in Glasgow but failure didn’t have the same ramifications. If we don’t achieve our aim it will be disastrous for the club. Our hope is that we were in the same position and came through last year by playing our football, so we know from experience we can do it. We just have to put a run together.”

Captain Caldwell is no different from straight centre-back Caldwell, the player says. “Whether I have the armband or not I’ll cajole and encourage team-mates.” But skippering a multi-cultural side at the JJB Stadium is different from when he undertook those duties at Celtic or Hibernian. “In those dressing rooms, it was mainly Scottish players. Our mentality is to fight, give our all every training session and every game. Down here I have had to adapt my approach for different people because other nationalities have their own ways.”

There is a Scottish strain at Wigan, with Caldwell frequently sharing pitch-time with fellow natives James McArthur and James McCarthy. Not so his old Celtic team-mate Shaun Maloney. The winger has all but disappeared from view since his move to Wigan in August. He has yet to start in the Premier League, and has only made three substitute appearances, his last way back in October. His two outings in the first XI came in cup competition, with Maloney not used since he was one of the guilty men in the FA Cup defeat at Swindon Town in January. Caldwell doesn’t pretend to understand Martinez’s thinking as regards Maloney.

“Shaun is as fit and looking as good as I have ever seen him,” he says. “He turns up to training every single day and gives it his all and is still so hungry. He is just not getting involved at the minute but to be fair to the wee man he is keeping his head up and working so hard. I know there was talk of a loan to Bristol City and that’s because he just wants to play. It is so unfortunate for him because he has had his niggles and injuries in the past but at Wigan hasn’t missed a single session. Football can be funny. You can be out of the picture one week and in the team the next. With his training and work ethic when he gets the chance, he can take it.”

Caldwell is the same age as Maloney. But with almost 450 senior appearances and 47 caps for his country that he was “honoured” to lead last month in Slovenia in the absence of the incapacitated Darren Fletcher – “we missed him and need him back” – his body has allowed him to pack in so much more. Caldwell doesn’t relish the 30th birthday party that awaits him next month.

“I’m not looking forward to it,” he says. “There is a stigma to the age and everyone looks upon it is as you getting on, being past your best. But the sports science means you can look after your body in a way that has allowed the likes of [Paolo] Maldini and [Ryan] Giggs to play some of their best football after 30. The experience you can call upon can make you a better player and I hope I am coming into my prime.” And even if his prime might not add to his medal collection, neither does he want his past to now do so.

n Gary Caldwell is encouraging fans to enter the Barclays Global Fans Survey – a survey by Barclays to find out the views of Barclays Premier League fans around the world. To take part and be in with the chance of winning a trip to see your favourite Barclays Premier League team play live, visit www.barclaysfootball.com