NFR Wigan Athletic: Takeover of administration-hit club breaks down

[sunburywhite]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55547220

The prospective takeover of Wigan Athletic by Leganes owner Felipe Moreno has fallen through.

The club's administrators announced they had ended negotiations with the bidder on Tuesday morning.

They said in a statement that the bid had been reduced by almost 50% over the weekend and proceeding with it would have resulted in a 15-point deduction for the League One club.

Wigan are currently 22nd in the table, two points adrift of safety.

Moreno had initially been part of a Spanish consortium looking to buy the club before the English Football League rejected their application at the start of December because one of the group was subject to a disqualifying condition.

Moreno subsequently became the sole bidder and it had been hoped the deal would be completed at some point between Christmas and 1 January.

The Latics have been in administration since July 2020.

The 12-point deduction they received for entering administration saw them relegated from the Championship and they were then forced to sell the majority of the senior squad.

Manager Paul Cook left over the summer and his replacement John Sheridan also quit to take over at fellow third-tier strugglers Swindon Town.

The administrators added that they were "now starting to talk to other bidders who have expressed interest and will provide an update when there is any definite news".

[Fulham 442]

Such a shame.  So sorry to hear this.

[bog]

What an ever continuing nightmare for their supporters. 

[fulhamben]

such a shame, we came up the leagues together. when you look at clubs like this, charlton, bolton and blackburn, it makes you realise just how lucky we have been with our last 2 owners. on a side note, would it not be cheap enough for the whelans to come back in and save the day again

[Twig]

such a shame, we came up the leagues together. when you look at clubs like this, charlton, bolton and blackburn, it makes you realise just how lucky we have been with our last 2 owners. on a side note, would it not be cheap enough for the whelans to come back in and save the day again

Completely agree. new owners are a huge risk. We have been so very fortunate.

[gang]

The Whelans poured a lot of money into Wigan, both football and rugby, there comes a time when throwing good money after bad just doesn't make sense. I don't think the son is as interested in the survival of the club as the father was.

[The Rational Fan]

What an ever-continuing nightmare for their supporters.

Ten Clubs have run out of parachute payments: Wolves, Norwich, Reading, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, QPR, Hull, Sunderland, Wigan, and Bolton, but only two have returned to receive premier league money again. We need our owners to keep gaining parachute payments until this club is strong enough to stay up in the Premier League.

[toshes mate]

This is a very sad story of the incompetence of the football authorities in controlling who owns EFL clubs in much the same way as the Bury demise.  Two English football clubs still looking for and hoping to find their next owner is a decent owner. 

[SG]

This is a very sad story of the incompetence of the football authorities in controlling who owns EFL clubs in much the same way as the Bury demise.  Two English football clubs still looking for and hoping to find their next owner is a decent owner. 

To which you could add probably another dozen clubs where the supporters have been failed by the FA - Coventry, Charlton, Bolton are some of those that immediately come to mind

[toshes mate]

This is a very sad story of the incompetence of the football authorities in controlling who owns EFL clubs in much the same way as the Bury demise.  Two English football clubs still looking for and hoping to find their next owner is a decent owner. 

To which you could add probably another dozen clubs where the supporters have been failed by the FA - Coventry, Charlton, Bolton are some of those that immediately come to mind

The whole football scene is way out of kilter but what is do distressing for Wigan (as it was with Bury) is that the actions of the owner effectively loaded the Club with a debt it isn't in any way responsible for and does not represent money spent by Wigan; in one day the debt shot from £17.5m to £41m because the owner acted inappropriately and then refused to service a debt of his own making.

[Mince n Tatties]

Not that long ago they we're winning the FA Cup.
Sad what happens to clubs.

[fcfulham55]

I'll donate a few quid towards them if I come across a go fund.

A year of lockdowns, where we can't spend much money. I'm sure theres a lot of healthy bank accounts out there to help out.

[toshes mate]

We all need to ensure that our money goes to an effective takeover bid supported by Wigan's true football core and does not go to the despicable people motivated by greed who don't give a toss about the health of the football club they are responsible for.     

[RufusBrevettatemyhamster]

Someone get on the phone to Elon Musk. Tesla don't turn a profit but he personally does.

[H4usuallysitting]

Someone get on the phone to Elon Musk. Tesla don't turn a profit but he personally does.

I'm not a clever bloke.... I've never understood how a company can continually lose money, and in some cases state they may never make money, but somebody at the top make's bundles

[RaySmith]

It's hard for Bolton and Wigan to make money, especially if not in the top flight, being so close to Manchester, and the attraction of the  'glamour' clubs for their potential fan base, with the price of  tickets to football today meaning that  fans can only afford to go to so many games, and  most seem to prefer  seeing United or City play rather than their local team.

Investors are full of promises, but founder on the realities of running a club, and maybe having dubious intentions anyway.

It's true - we are very lucky to have been taken over by the Khans after  MAF.