Wigan Athletic are rising again, with due care and humility after two relegations in three seasons landed them in League One last May. Their 15th game in October took them into the play-off places, which they have not left since. A run of 11 games unbeaten lifted them to second and a 12th on Saturday, a 3-0 win over Bury at the DW Stadium, confirmed their position behind only Burton Albion.

It was almost embarrassingly easy. Bury had knocked Wigan out of both League and FA Cup and Gary Caldwell, Wigan’s manager, had demanded a high tempo. They were two up inside 10 minutes. “It was incredible,” he said.

First Yanic Wildschut robbed Tom Soares and crossed for Will Grigg’s head to beat Ian Lawlor’s arms at the near post; the goalkeeper had received two minutes’ attention after an even earlier collision. Two minutes later Ryan Colclough cut in from the right and thrashed a left-foot shot beyond him and inside the far post.

Mission was fully accomplished by the 21st minute when Grigg brushed aside Bury’s last man on to a through-ball and was fouled by Lawlor on the linesman’s say-so. Grigg converted the penalty, his 12th league goal of the season. David Flitcroft, Bury’s manager, said later he had been looking for a central defender for a month.

Bury raised a flurry of reaction just before half-time but Jussi Jaaskelainen, at 40 no respecter of titles, denied Mayor (Danny) and Pope (Tom), with two point-blank saves in three seconds that brought the crowd to a standing ovation. When he added another straight after the interval, palming away Ryan Lowe’s glancing near-post header, Bury accepted it was not their day and let the game peter out with Jaaskelainen and Wigan’s defenders passing the ball among themselves unchallenged.

Against such acquiescence there was no need for Wigan to stir themselves, though Grigg and Max Power did hit Lawlor’s crossbar, the latter from Colclough’s sharp burst and cross.

Those three – Grigg (Brentford), Power (Tranmere) and Colclough (Crewe) – reflect the necessarily new Wigan. Saturday’s starters comprised eight signed since May, the speedy Wildschut on loan from Middlesbrough and only Chris McCann and Jason Pearce of the failing old guard. Almost 20 players left and 20 came in as the wage bill was cut by 70%.

After faltering in the final stages of an astonishing 20-year journey under Dave Whelan from the ashes at Springfield Park, Wigan have recovered their touch after his last three managers failed to revive them. Whelan, who remains owner, had made plans. This week marks the first anniversary of his stepping down as chairman. His grandson, David Sharpe, stepped up a week later. It might have looked nepotic madness but he had been duly groomed.

Two years previously Wigan had won the FA Cup on Sharpe’s 22nd birthday. Now the club is in the hands of a chairman and manager with only 57 years combined. Caldwell, who lifted the cup that day, was appointed last April with five games to go. Four points left Wigan seven short. A clear-out and clean start was the chosen way.

Sharpe emphasised at once “the need to create a modern and robust player recruitment process … inside a sustainable long-term financial framework”. Saturday’s men endorsed a system whereby “every targeted player is researched, statistically measured and watched in different conditions”.

Sam Morsy, man of the match in front of the back four, was signed from Chesterfield last month after Wigan beat them 3-1. His fellow defensive midfielder, David Perkins (Blackpool), was a non-stop runner beside him, tackling and intercepting. Colclough, a wizard of control and acceleration at 21, proved himself playing for Crewe against Wigan last month when, targeted after the interval and hit by Perkins’ crunching yellow-carded foul, he refused to be subdued. He was signed within a week.

Caldwell, a central defender, admits he learned a hard mentality playing for Celtic under Gordon Strachan. On Tuesday he takes his team to Millwall, whose Jed Wallace was similarly targeted by Peterborough after half-time. Eddie Jones, England’s Australian rugby coach, may be picking up his philosophy from League One.

Millwall, fifth in the current table, were first to beat Caldwell in his second match last April, before they came down together from the Championship. There are scores to be settled. Matches in the remainder of the season may hang on the run of the ball or a referee’s whim but everything at the DW Stadium looks in place. For the moment the judges in the Wigan pen are nodding in approval.