SOCCER: Few players can have traded a grim relegation dogfight for the prospect of promotion to the English Premiership with less enthusiasm than Graham Kavanagh. Yesterday the 31-year-old midfielder admitted to having been deeply upset by his surprise move to Wigan Athletic, even though the switch offers him a real prospect of playing top-flight football next season, two divisions higher than he might have had to settle for with Cardiff City. Emmet Malone reports

The Dubliner goes straight into the Wigan squad for this afternoon's top-of-the-table game against Ipswich Town and is likely to play given the number of injuries manager Paul Jewell is having to contend with.

For the benefit of his new club's website, Kavanagh managed to take a moderately positive view of the day's events, observing: "It is great to join at such an important time of the season," and, "if I am involved I couldn't have picked a better game to be involved with."

But a more accurate measure of his feelings came later when he confessed to having cried when told by City manager Lenny Lawrence that the club were obliged to accept Wigan's offer of around €600,000 to pay the wages of the other players.

"I'm extremely upset about the whole thing, but I was told by the gaffer (Lawrence) that if I didn't go to Wigan the future of the club was in jeopardy," said the Irishman. "I'm an emotional man, and when I was told I had to leave the club I was heartbroken and broke down in tears. I love this club and planned my whole life around it.

"It has been a bloody disaster of a week," added the player who joined from Stoke City for €1.5 million four years ago. "I'm devastated and emotionally drained by the whole thing. I was told things were not right at the start of the week, and as skipper I was going around the players making sure they were up for today's game with Sheffield United. Then hours later I'm the first bloody player to be sold."

Kavanagh's departure comes as City attempt to cope with debts of close to €50 million. The club is fifth from bottom in the Championship and the chances of avoiding relegation will not be helped by the loss of the captain who was a hugely influential force in the centre of midfield.

And the player's reluctance to leave was clearly matched by his manager's dismay over his departure. Lawrence paid an emotional tribute to a man he has known since they met at Middlesbrough more than a decade ago.

"I have known Graham since he was a kid," he said. "He is a great lad and you just hope that he is someone who comes into your life again, in life and in football.

"He can leave here with a clear conscience. He has been a fantastic player and a great captain for the club as well as a leader on the pitch, and the fact the club accepted the bid took him totally by surprise.

"It is with a very heavy heart that everybody at this club says farewell to him," he added. "It will have a demoralising effect on the other players, but we all wish him well for his future football career."

For all the personal upheaval, however, the move to Wigan looks to be an extremely good one in professional terms for the Dubliner. Jewell's team lead the promotion race from Sunderland and Ipswich on goal difference with two of the three likely to win automatic promotion.

"I've admired him for a long time," said Jewell yesterday. "He will bring us a little more experience in the middle of the park and I feel he's a little bit different to the other midfielders we have here in terms of how and the way he plays the game.

"His track record speaks for itself," he added, "and I'm confident that he can be as successful here as he has been at all the other clubs he has played for."