Dave Whelan: Time was right to stand down as Wigan chairman

Whelan, 78, will continue to be Latics' owner but the Sky Bet Championship club's day-to-day matters will now be left to Sharpe, who becomes the Football League's youngest chairman.

It means Wigan will remain in the hands of the family that purchased them 20 years ago, with Whelan having enjoyed great success in taking the club from the fourth tier to the top flight, where they stayed for eight seasons prior to their relegation in 2013.

Just days before that demotion was confirmed, Whelan enjoyed his finest hour with the Lancashire outfit at Wembley as Roberto Martinez's side famously beat Manchester City in the FA Cup.

If that was the highlight of Whelan's time as chairman, his lowlight undoubtedly came prior to Christmas when he was hit with a six-week ban by the Football Association for comments he made about Jewish and Chinese people in a newspaper interview following the appointment of Malky Mackay as manager.

Whelan had told The Guardian it was "nothing" to call a Chinese person a "c***k" and stated: "Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else" - remarks which landed him a ban, a £50,000 fine and a warning as to his future conduct, while the Latics chairman was also ordered to undertake a mandatory education programme.

When the FA first launched its investigation, Whelan had told ITV News that if the findings "even suggest" he is guilty he would resign from his position as chairman.

However, when Wigan issued a statement after the FA came to its conclusion, they stated the commission was satisfied that Whelan "is not a racist".

In an interview with Sky Sports News HQ on Tuesday, Whelan conceded he had felt "hurt" by the FA's charge.

However, he stressed that the call to hand the baton to Sharpe was motivated by the fact he will soon reach 80.

He told Wigan's official website: "The great thing is age affects us all.

"In 18 months I reach the grand old age of 80 and I am getting to the point now where I've got to take my age into consideration.

"I can't do things that I used to do when I'm watching a game. I can't analyse a game like I used to and it upsets me; I even forgot the names of some of our own players.

"That is sacrilege to me because I love football and I love every game I watch, but it is time that I step down from the chairman's position."